[the 'stache]

It's never been my intention to negatively impact anybody's enjoyment of the forum with my posting. I've made a conscientious effort to post less, but I realize, too, that I'm never going to be able to please everybody. I try to respond to multiple people within one post, or where warranted, I just message people directly. But I honestly don't see a problem with my posting. On average, I post 5 times a day, and sometimes, I may have a stretch where I'm posting a few times more than that. I honor the forum rules, and I treat the people I interact with respectfully. So, am I going to post less? No.

As for the pick up threads, I feel that it's nice to acknowledge somebody's post when they add a new card (or cards) to their collection. What can I say, I'm happy for them. Most of these cards that are being shared represent the first time I've seen them. Or, they're cards I want to add to my own collection in the not too distant future, and so I can identify with their excitement. I'll ease up on the complimenting everybody in the pickup thread, but at the same time, remember that nobody's forcing you to read what I say. If you see my name, and you don't like my posting, you can just scroll right by. Or, you can ignore me altogether, too. The vbulletin software offers you that option.

Believe it or not, I do a lot more reading than I do posting. I go back to the old forum and read. Or, I pull up topics here from a year or two ago, and read those. I buy books having to do with the hobby, and read the books people send me. Most of the time, I can find the answers to my questions without posting. But every once in a while, I'm going to ask a simple question. I don't need to be told "well, you can look up what a strip card is". No kidding? Sometimes I just want to interact with a person instead of wading through walls of text, and if I get an answer along with a few examples, where's the harm in that? Maybe that takes an existing discussion in a different direction. I try to enjoy myself, and help other people on the forum to have fun.

And lastly, I'm going to miss an inside joke that predates my membership here from time to time. So please don't tell me to observe more, and talk less. I'm not an idiot. There have been nearly 900,000 posts on this forum, and countless more on the old forum. I could read for a month solid, and still not be privy to what happened.