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Posted By: bcornell

On an endless plane ride back from Cleveland last night, 4.5 hours highlighted by a showing of "Firehouse Dog" and an 18-month-old two rows behind me who wailed some incoherent "gimme" phrase until he passed out, I thought a little bit about moderating this forum. Leon, Elliot and I were in Cleveland and had a few chances to talk about how it's done.

Some people assume that the job is thankless and likely to drive anyone out of the hobby. We all disagreed. In fact, 99.9% of the time, it's a joy. None of us ever did it with a departure date in mind. Among the perks are a chance to correspond with many of the frequent posters, as well as some lurkers. All three of us got plenty of thank you's, certainly a lot more than we deserved. People are, generally, polite, thoughtful and avid about their collecting.

Attending a National means that you get to meet and talk to many of the people on this forum. I have yet to meet a single one that I didn't like. Someone may break this streak, but I've been to the last five and no one's come close so far. I'm betting anyone else who's been to one also feels the same way: collecting is a solitary pursuit, yet meeting others like you is a pleasure, which is why I wish everyone would stop and think twice (or more) before they say anything negative about someone else. It never achieves what you intend and usually gets you the opposite result.

Lurkers are 'in control', in their own way, by not posting, but we all know they're out there and a great forum would be better with their active participation. The best thing Elliot ever did (in his unrepentantly hands-off, non-y'all way) was to make this an open forum where anyone could post. I hear from some that they don't know much about collecting. Try asking a question or making an observation - that's how most people get on board. Frankly, I think a lot of them are savvier than they admit to being.

Post-National, I always get warm & fuzzy. It usually wears off the next Monday at work, but it's fun while it lasts. Remember that we're all in this together.


Bill