Postage Stamp Chat Board & Stamp Bulletin Board Forum
 

I have been looking through this board's topics, and in my opinion the content of the board has changed towards becoming too high end and losing it's helping the beginner focus.

I believe more and more people are not posting because of the lift in the content of posts. Whilst this is a natural progression as the board matures, it doesn't negate that it should be encouraging new members and new collectors to post.

The ins and outs of Kangaroos, KGV, kiwis etc doesn't help the beginning collector much, ---it does however help the more mature collector and the specialist.

What is the focus of the Board????

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Waroff49

The last chapter of the Never_Ending Story is being written.

Same as it has been since day one .. to answer the questions asked and ask the questions you want responded to yourself.

Both you and I answered today a member question of how to clean up a dusty album cover.

Hardly "elitist" I'd have thought?

Another member asked whether to rub off pencil notes on the back of stamps.

http://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=8153

Again pretty mainstream, and that member got answers from myself, Simon Dunkerley and a range of collectors.

Glen

L C D Lowest Common Denominator, but at least we are not watching the Olympics on the square box, stop being So old and So grumpy. I dont collect Geo V, but the idea of having it there encourages me....

I find this board great,it's easy to get questions answered,i think stamp collecting can be elitist thats why i have not joined my local stamp society,so i am happier using the board,i think it's really helpful,

Robert.

Hey Waroff.....as long as you and I are posting its obviously not too elitist

I think there's something for everyone here philatelic and fun, specialist and generalist, beginners and expert, selling and swapping and truly international. A true community.

I can't imagine an "elitist" board starting up, and keeping going, a popular thread called the Grumpy Old Men's Club ........

Replies so far... 2 Mods, a bottom dweller and a newbie.... what more can I say???

To RobK, thank you for your post. It is good to see newbies taking an active part in their board.

Best Post-- MargoZ again.

Now back to the GOMC issue--well what can I say!!!!!

(p.s. I'm not beaten yet.)

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Waroff49

The last chapter of the Never_Ending Story is being written.

I wouldn't say that this board is becoming too elitist.......there are topics covered that we can all benefit from and there are images posted that we might never see elsewhere. All good!

However, sometimes there are responses that make it intimidating for new collectors or someone who is starting an area that they have not worked on before.

There have been comments like "....get the literature and read up on it....." which has tremendous merit on its own, but in context for a beginner collector, may appear as though you are supposed to know the answer before you ask the question.

There are some that make use of the board's broad knowledge base and post many images and questions (I would fit into this group, I guess) because I don't have local collectors/specialists who I can bounce these questions off of. I learn by reading and asking questions.

I have a very extensive worldwide library and can offer assistance on occasion to other posters, but I don't always have the detailed, specialized information at hand when a question arises. I won't ask the same question more than once if I get an answer to the first question. That is what I like so much about this board and the participants. There is sharing of information going on all the time.

Elitist doesn't seem to fit the general function of this board in my opinion. It is rare that anyone claims that their knowledge is worth too much to share or educate others. When that does happen, then the perception may change, but only until someone else answers the "pencil mark on the back of the stamp" question!

Just my 2¢ worth...............

John A

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Armstrong'sStamps**http://www.armstrongsstamps.ca
Knowledge is Key.....Libraries work!

Thanks for asking the question, Bill.

I think this will generate quite a bit of discussion .... now that we're 18 months down the track its a good time to take stock and this is a topic that everyone will have an opinon on (whether they post to the thread or not)....as per John's comments about how new members might perceive responses.

Cheers
Margo

As Waroff said, it is interesting to see who has replied to this thread. While I am not a total newbie to this forum, I certainly consider myself a beginner and, as such, can only say that I have learnt a great deal during my five months here.

Yes, there are many very specialist threads but I consider this as "good". They may not interest me personally but they show how far one can go in this labyrinthic hobby. Everyone has to choose how far they want to go, and this may well change over time, as it has for me.

There are new members joining all the time and their questions show that there are people with many different levels of experience here. Beginners to experts (I loath that word personally but it seems quite appropriate here). And the seniors help the juniors. As it should be.

If I were to remark on content of the forum, I would have two things to say.

1) As this is a truly international forum, a common language is required. English has been chosen, not without good reason. However, I feel many people for whom this is not their native tongue may be put off. While I have found posts from these people have been very much welcomed, the use of acronyms such as "AFAIK" and "IIRC" may be disconcerting to them. Also, the use of colloquialisms does not help. Further, abbreviations such as "PNC" (which I had to look up!) when not explained can be off-putting.

2) It would be helpful it thread titles were more explicit. There are many members from Australia and they sometimes seem to forget that the world is actually a bit larger than just that island and that there are also many members from other countries.

I think this forum is just great and wish it a long life. I am sure many other people have also found it extremely useful. A bit of care on the part of posters can make it even better!

Happy stamping,
Alastair

Good points Alastair well made.

In the early days there was more care with use of English but that has fallen off a bit and yours is a timely reminder.

Having said that, many of the Boards non-native English speakers do a lot better with English than some of the anglo members

Well, the more technical threads, particularly Geo V and Kangaroos intimidate me to the extent that I rarely even read them anymore. There is a language there I do not quite understand, and I will be the first to admit it. Having bad eyesight and poor colour sight does not help with these sorts of stamps either. So, Bill, in these examples, I am an ignorant newbie as well. It does not stop me from being here.

But they are essential to the Boards, and that is why the technical questions have been split up into what are really "beginners" and "advanced" sub-forums. It is not elitism though. People can only reply and comment on what has been asked.

As far as acronyms go, I am as guilty of using them as anybody else. I suppose 10 years on forums of various kinds makes old habits die hard. I will try to be more careful in the future.

I do not see how any concious decision to change the nature of the threads can be taken. People post what they post. It is the nature of the beast. Any attempt to deliberately try to move in any direction is doomed to fail - I have seen it happen several times, where Boards have tried to change and become something different than what they were. They turned into "new coke".

Norm

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Geelong, VFA Premiers 1878, 1879, 1800, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, AFL Premiers 1925, 1931, 1937, 1951, 1952, 1963, 2007, 2009, 2011, .

As a newbie myself, I can not really comment of the direction the board has taken since I haven't been around long enough to see an evolution. That said there is a definite slant toward Australian issues, which is to be expected as many of the most active members are either from Australia or specialize in that field.

I have to disagree with the elitist label though. Personally I would see elitist as having contempt for basic, inexperienced questions. I do not see that here. Although many of the posts are highly specialized, beginner posts are responded to with as much thought and courteousness as any Roo or KGV post.

I think what you have here is several hundred active users that are very experienced in their chosen fields of study and that has a tendency to keep the posts highly technical and skewed to a common topic.

To balance to board out, those of us that are not experienced seasoned collectors or Roo specialists need to carve out a little more board real estate by being more active (posting topics more).

All in all, I think the boards are a great place to sharpen your stamp knowledge and meet others that share your passion. So I have no complaints.

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The Torah says, Love your neighbor as yourself. The Buddha says, There is no self. So, maybe we're off the hook.

My opinion is that I have learnt tons from this site.

I am a relatively new member who has found the answer to a dozen or so questions which I would in reality, probably never have answered otherwise, plus i have a hundred or so other questions queued up for when i get the chance!!

Some replies may seem a bit negative but I think this tends to be where the person posting appears to have made little effort to think about what they are posting and this means more work for the helpful moderators and other frequent posters who perhaps get a little frustrated with having to offer the same posting help many times when a good effort to read around the site would have helped them.

The more technical posts can be read or not read its a matter of choice but i think these can open the door to an interest in a particular field that you would not have realised otherwise and finding a little flaw lurking in your collection that you never knew you had helps a lot!

Perhaps also, regarding the less technical questions they may have nearly all been covered and are therefore readily found by searches thus saving them having to post the query?

At the moment I feel a bit like I am taking from the site and giving little back, but I aim by learning more and acquiring knowledge and literature that i will be able to assist others more in the future, i think many others are in the same boat.

Just my thoughts on the matter though.

John

Elitist isnt something I'd call the board in the way I think Waroff means it- the mixture of in depth tutorials and general questions works well and has been both informative and entertaining from my perspective. I think the threads which are none philatelic add to the site- interest and a human touch.

What I do think, from a real newbie to collecting perspective, is occasionally an expectation of a Mod when newbies use the board inappropriately, and the way they can be expressed could be off putting- dont forget these often are people who have little or no experience of the nuances of the internet, let alone philately. To try and learn how to do both at the same time can be tough but also intimidating when you've got it wrong. The way that is put across can easily put someone off both the internet and philately.

Stampboards stands out as the best networking philatelic site on the net by a country mile and I have learnt gathered a huge amount of valuable and worthwhile knowledge in just 9 months- just be gentle with the newbies

Thank you to all the posters , so far.

I hope there are a lot more. Put your thoughts into action, make a post.

Sometimes it is good to cleanse the mind.

Already I have picked up some of the areas, that I may also be guilty of; -such things as using acronyms , as if everyone knew what I was writing. The use of colloquial language or the use use of obscure or little used words.

At times I forget English is not everyone's native language and so what is written does not interpret well into the mindsets of those whose native language is not English.

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Waroff49

The last chapter of the Never_Ending Story is being written.

Not having a go at anyone, but I thought I would look back to my original post and see if I used the word "elite/elitist". The closest I came to it was specialist.

Someone else used the word "elitist" and after that post, many of the following posts have used it, referring back to my original post.
It is interesting to sow a seed and see how it grows... sow a thought and see how it develops.

While it may have been in my mind, someone took it that it was my intention, then it grew like a weed. A quite normal thing but it can be dangerous at times.( the weeds that is/ are....)

As MargoZ said, if she and I post, then it can't be elitist. I agree with her wholeheartedly. My intention was that the board is leaning towards the top end specialists and the intermediate to top end collector and maybe forgetting about the beginner and lower end collector.

Most newbie posts tend to prove me wrong.

Edit: I apologize to all for my incorrect assumption that it was someone else....when it was me all along.

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Waroff49

The last chapter of the Never_Ending Story is being written.

I can understand point 1, and this is very easily rectified. I'll see if we can get Amy to dig out an abbreviation thread from the Wiki etc, and we can get the techie to have a blue tab on each page for "Abbreviations" or the like.

Point 2 is the bane of my life, and I'll ask the other Mods to be even more helpful in this area to members who simply do not think when writing vague and generic headings. "The Rules" all members agree to follow, do already say:

9. Create Descriptive Titles

Make thread titles as specific and descriptive as possible. Sometimes posters will start a thread with a very general title such as, "Guess what?" or "Help needed" or "Russia". These are simply meaningless to most members, who are busy and simply do not have time to click on vague thread headings.

Be as SPECIFIC as possible in your thread titles, and if you want to improve or change your thread's title after you create it, ask a moderator in that forum for help - or edit it yourself, which you can do within an hour of posting it. This board has 1000s of members from 70 countries. Do not ASSUME they can read your mind. If you are asking a question about an Australia 1937 3d Blue, KGVI head Die 1A identification .. do not start a thread headed "3d Blue".
.

Memory loss is also dangerous at times Bill.

Did you or did you not head this thread:

"Is this Board becoming too elitist?"
.

Gees. I'm glad we have MODS here. I didn't go that far back.

No excuses. Bl*****dy wrong again and again and again.

JUST AS WELL AS YOU ARE ON YOUR TOES AND MINE GLEN.

Thank you..

If I add a few smilies, can I get away with it...

Must be the weeds taking over......

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Waroff49

The last chapter of the Never_Ending Story is being written.

Marlboro is a lot cheaper Bill .......
.

Elitist? Hardly!

Now go away and stop bothering me.

There is a definite Aus-centric focus in the content on the board, which can be put down to it's genesis here. However, the world map of members shows how truly world-based the board is now.

KGV heads and Roos aren't my interest, so I don't look into those threads at all any more. Sub-sub-cliches with a double reverse twist and all that.

I really enjoy seeing newbies start threads that take off, which then encourages them to become valuable and regular contributors.

I've learnt a lot from stampboards and look forward to learning a lot more. That can't be done unless everyone, from newbie to mega-posters, keeps on posting, and are encouraged to do so.

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Always looking for KGV British Commonwealth, mint, used, covers, anything

Fantastic thread, Bill/Waroff

It's good and healthy for any kind of organisation/entity/whatever to occasionally question itself in this way. Whether the answers are what we like to hear or not, it will almost certainly help Stampboards to grow.

One observation from me: while it may sometimes seem that the Board is elitist (in Bill's meaning of the term), bear this in mind: in discussing a detailed/specialised topic such as plating early Australian issues, many posts (sometimes hundreds) may be generated. On the other hand, in responding to a Beginner's question, a single post may be all that is necessary to provide the necessary information.

Therefore in determining the solution to Bill's original post, it is wiser to consider the number of questions in each category than the number of answers.

I think not. It's great just as it is, and I think covers both the "newbie" and "specialist" collectors. I have been a collector longer than the average age of half of the people in my country (!) as have many of you, but am a total "newbie" when it comes to boards and using computers. But I am learning, which is Great! If one thinks we are too "elitist" just look at the main forum index --- "counting up from X" --- when is your birthday?--- Jokes--- what has that to do with being "elitist"?

I have learned SO much about India in particular, which is my current "love", and although I have never had an intrest in Austrailian stamps (mainly because I have known no one who collects them) I find it most intresting and challenging. I do collect GB and much of what I have found about plate flaws etc. on Austrailian stamps can be used in looking at GB stamps.

Knowledge is Power as Glen would say. I have even started a collection of plate flaws on the NZ "universal" penny red (thanks to Roly) which I had never seen until he posted it and shared his vast knowledge!

As they used to say in this part of the world, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"!
.

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Jim M.

Oh yes! Another thing! I have learned to be very careful when driving to pick up stamps in Sydney!

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Jim M.

Glen wrote:


It's not the weeds but the lack of fine Cuban cigars, which I have run out of, in the last week. I so enjoyed them, but once they're gone, they're gone.

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Waroff49

The last chapter of the Never_Ending Story is being written.

Having been away at a Fair yesterday,and out last night,this has come as a bit of a shock to open up Stampboards this morning and find a "Peasant is Revolting".

and I can,t agree with Waroff that this Board is too Elitist,

Having spoken to Waroff in the shop.I think perhaps he may mean something a bit different.

as we progress we will be asked lots of 'Silly questions,which will duly be answered,some with 1 post, many with lots of posts,as sometimes there are many answers.

But as this happens,all the answers are stored away in this great big cupboard,and when a Newbie pops in with a question,the answer is already there, and often that post DIES with a trite,"This question has been answer look up this link."

so instead of encouraging more posts from that member,he/she finds the info and we don,t get to talk anymore to them.

So taking this to a logical conclusion, in a few months/years time,will we still be talking to people or will this Board just be a great big cupboard of knowledge.with no chat

That is where this Board stands out from all the others,it IS THE Chat and the banter that goes on between members,
A heated discusion over a dot here or a slash there, to simple silly questions,but if we build up a store house of knowledge,
which is accessed with a ".Check this link,sub paragraph 4 sect 2,"

Then we could shooting ourselves in the foot.
Perhaps we really do need MORE silly questions,

I hope this makes some sense to you all,its a sort of difficult area to put into words.but reading all your posts on this subject I think the concensus is we are doing ok just now, BUT we must encourage more chat from newer members,not flick them off to a link.
.

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Nunawading Stamp Fair
Last Sunday of Every Month - Jaycees Hall Silver Grove - Nunawading.

It would appear that there is a thin line between disposing of a comment for "re-inventing the wheel" by using links, and satisfying a newbie comment with a repeat answer to establish a "raport".

Unlike some other chat boards where the replies are transitory ( can be less than a day in case of eBay chat), the replies on this board are stored and can be accessed via the "search" button at the top of the page.

I believe Margoz today, linked to at least five threads regarding "rust" on stamps which probably contain more information than anyone would ever want to know about the subject.

Is the link the viable alternative?

Or should she just have cut-and-pasted everything on those sites as a question answer?
.

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If it erupts, don't blame me!!

I try not to ask too many questions now, as I "worry" that the heading might not be good enough. I know what and why the rules are there, but sometimes it's hard for me to come up with an appropriate heading.

Arlene

Don't worry, we all have that problem. I've had mine "corrected" a few times as well.

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Always looking for KGV British Commonwealth, mint, used, covers, anything

Simply put - if this board was truly elitist, I (and I'll bet 99% of members) wouldn't bother with it.

This board really has everything

I've posted questions on relatively obscure subjects and got multiple answers back within minutes from experts from all parts of the globe.........where else can you do that

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Tony

Just go back to studying your navel, give up on the star gazing, and remember that although birth records were very patchy back then, there is no confirmed case of a person born in the 17th century still being alive today, but urban myth has it that back in the mountains of........

Hello everybody,

I feel comfortable here and don't reckon Stampboards is too highbrow. Like Andrew this is the only online community that I am a member of - no MySpace or Facebook for me, and I check in every hour while I am working ( ).

I have never been to a club or a meeting as I have been worried that I would have nothing to contribute and my collection would be scoffed at.

While I very much doubt that I would be treated badly at a club, I have learnt enough from my five months here to realise that my collection would be worthy of scoffery!

When I signed up to Stampboards I was in the process of rehousing my childhood worldwide collection. My collection was basically about 3000 different stamps from across the globe. I still enjoyed leafing through it occasionally and thought it would be worth a couple of grand (at about 80c a stamp).

What have I learnt since then; my collection was worth maybe a couple of hundred! Many stamps were toned, rusted, missing perfs, from uncompleted sets, not sought after and mainly low values. Over the last four months I have begun to concentrate on certain areas. I now collect stamps on piece and am intested in aerophilately (a word I did not even know existed until a couple of weeks ago!).

What is the single greatest thing I have got out of Stampboards? Basically I am happy to know that I know very little about stamps indeed! And this is great! I now have a hobby made up of thousands of different areas that I can chose to specialise in and spend hours upon hours delving into. I no longer need to sign up to uni papers part time just to keep the grey matter working - I can spend hours just looking into one cover!

Thanks Stampboards and Stampboarders.

Ewen

Ron, my personal practice when responding to questions which have been asked (and answered) before is usually to provide a succinct one para response aimed at the heart of the question, and then providing links to further more detailed information on the same subject.

Doing this, the question may be satisfied in one, or the person posting may then go on and do more research. But I do really not see any point in providing NO links. I have never been big on reinventing wheels.

If anybody has a better suggestion, I am all ears.

Norm

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Geelong, VFA Premiers 1878, 1879, 1800, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, AFL Premiers 1925, 1931, 1937, 1951, 1952, 1963, 2007, 2009, 2011, .

Yes Norm I have noticed the way you do it,and that is THE way it should be done.
Not with a One Line,"Search is your friend,",,or This has been covered follow this link.........
So perhaps we should list a few ways that we should respond to questions,
Not large letters all in Black.....but a much quieter,, perhaps probing method to encourage two way conversation.
A little more time consuming perhaps,but judging at the amount of time we spend here already ,,would it matter.

People in General Love to be helpful.and I would much rather do what Norm does,answer the question,perhaps not fully,if I know it has been covered before,then point that person in the right direction,after taking the time to talk to them,
I truly think newbies would react MUCH better if this were done as a Standard format for early enquirers to the board.
I know there are some who don,t suffer fools gladly,
but lets no throw the baby out with the bath water,but rather encourage more talk,on basic subjects,which in turn can turn into more interest as the post grows,

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Nunawading Stamp Fair
Last Sunday of Every Month - Jaycees Hall Silver Grove - Nunawading.

I agree Ron,

I have noticed how you will answer a question and then end your response with a question back to the person. I think this is a great way to keep a thread ticking over until more people join in. Thread's with 20+ replies are much more interesting than 2 replies.

Ewen

I like the diverse topic range, including the specialised knowledge areas - I don't consider this elitist. From my perspective those with such knowledge are sharing their wisdom and passion on their areas of interest. 'Sharing' as such has the opposite effect: breaking down boundaries and deliniations of elitism. Indeed, I would say that those who have knowledge but are not particpating where they can otherwise help answer queries are rather the elitist type, not the topic(s).

As commented by others, I do find the extreme specialisation with the KGV, Roos (as an example) beyond me and my stamp interests, and considering the extent of specialisation in this area and the many adherents to it, an area which I will likely not follow through with anytime soon - not because it's specialised, but because I'm not ready to specialise myself (if ever). I get too much enjoyment from dabbling (although stamps on commercial covers are looking more and more interesting).

Yet, knowing that such specialisation does exist, and knowing that there is good information available in the forums, is comforting if I ever do end up moving into these areas. In this way, the forum provides for all types of stamp enthusists from every part of the 'industry' - collectors (neophyte and professional), philatelists and industry (dealers, retail and auction houses).

It has been amazing to have access to the storehouse of accumulated knowledge available in the membership - I know it has saved me countless hours (and likely years) attempting to find this information through books. The benefit here has been to collectively educate many members on a wide range of issues which otherwise would not have occurred.

'Knowledge is Power' is Glen's message - true, but why have the knowledge if no-one else other than a few know about a certain aspect of a stamp that makes it valuable? Without this sharing, that one million dollar stamp is next to worthless because no-one other than a few knno why it is worth one million dollars! As such, elitism is not what it used to be

Keep the topics rolling - specialist and otherwise!!
.

Don't worry! The admin will adjust your title for you if it is not too clear.

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Stamper12

1910-12 German South Polar Expeditions

May I make a little, elitist, plea on behalf of the non-native English speakers here? Could the English speakers please spend the few moments in Preview to check the spelling and grammar of their postings before they post?

I spend my days reading languages other than my first language, and I know how exasperating it is to be confronted by a spelling or grammar error in another language. I can spend a long time worrying over it, trying to work out what the writer meant to say. I can't give up in disgust, and pass on to the next topic, but some of our readers here will be doing that, and missing out on posts that might be of enormous help to them.

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'First I'll steal all the money, then I'll kill everybody, and then I'll go away', Père Ubu

That was my first reaction too. In fact I went back to check and was going to ask "who put the title there?"

As for me I enjoy Stampboards immensely!

Cheers, Kev.
.

A GREAT point Tony. And it is not elitist - it is common sense and good manners, and polite!

We have HUNDREDS of members for whom English is not their first language.

We insist each member adds their locality to be visible to all, so all members can make allowances for folks who clearly do not have English as their first language.

I am proud at the helpful and patient way members respond to queries from these members. And to those members, trust me - posting on this kind of board is a SUPERB way to improve your fluency. I have a friend in Switzerland who learned all his now perfect, fluent English from a board such as this.

When those members read sentences here using proper grammar, proper spelling, and proper punctuation, it really does assist them better understand replies to them. Or to understand threads that interest them.

This board will be a permanent archive for decades. I'd like to think ALL members are proud to see their posts presented neatly and carefully - "you are what you post" after all, and other members judge you on what they see.

As Tony says, the "PREVIEW" button is there for everyone to use BEFORE hitting "SUBMIT". If you have messed up the links for photos or the "quote" feature etc, you will readily see that, and can correct it before anyone else does.

Sadly, a few regular members are just lazy and sloppy in their presentation. They know full well it is not good, but do not seem to care that what they post often looks like rambling gibberish written by a 12 year old.

The same way no one will refuse entry to Sunday Church to someone dressed in thongs, stubbies and a beer stained singlet, no-one will stop any lazy posters from participating here. But do bear in mind you make EXACTLY the same impression on-line, as you will on the churchgoers.

Replies here in all lower case are a particular irritant. Great for quick text messages to your kids, but NOT good or welcome on this Bulletin Board. EVERY sentence in English starts with a capital letter, and EVERY member on this board knows that.

If it is "elitist" to ask folks to take a moment to prepare their posts with some thought and pride in how they will look - well too bad, I plead guilty as charged.

I can't stress enough how important it is for EVERY member to download the free www.iespell.com and run EACH post through it before hitting "SUBMIT". It sits up on your "Tools" bar and takes just seconds to use. Try it out.

EVERY member when signing up agrees to abide by "The Rules" which are clickable atop each page. Part of them says:

17. Please Present Your Posts Thoughtfully and NEATLY

"You are what you post". You can come across to others here as either slap-dash and sloppy and near illiterate - or neat and tidy and professional - the choice is always yours. Some wise members even take a little time to use the "PREVIEW" button to look over their posts, to see if the image has loaded correctly, to see their HEADING makes sense and uses normal punctuation, to see whether the "Quote" feature worked, and to check the colour and bold and highlights are coded correctly etc.

Best of all they download the superb and free www.iespell.com tab that lets you quickly spell check every word in the post box BEFORE hitting "SUBMIT".

And they use PARAGRAPHS every couple of sentences. Vast globs of type with no paragraphs and no capital letters, and no spell check might be just fine for quick text messages from 12 year olds, but we hopefully will not see much or ANY of it on stampboards.com.

"You are what you post". Remember that. And others judge you on that. Please help us keep this board looking neat and professional. We all can do our bit.
.

Well I for one can relate to just how helpful this board is, not only to the beginner, but even a seasoned old Vet like Glen.

I have seen articles posted and responded by Glen and others, saying they had no idea, but were willing to admit that and they to learned a few things.

You tell me where else on the World Wide Web, you can get the help given here. Most of the seasoned Dealers who are on this board are more than willing to give you all the help needed and then some.....

I have learned some very "Valuable" lessons here, things you cannot find in books ar even on the net, though I am still learning at the ripe old age of (at)!, the most important lesson to be learned is ""LISTEN"", to which I must say I have embarressed myself a few times

Listing items for sale at prices I honestly thought were reasonable, but only later to find I was overpricing big time.

One can only learn hopefully from their mistakes and take on board all the advise given to which I now have myself.

I hope that in the future this board will expand beyond even Glen's expectations

I started out with only a very outdated copy of SG catalogue and not a bloody clue on even how to use the darn thing, now I have a very decent library of books for referencing for the material that interest me, and all this was Thanks to the board in pointing out which books were best suited for my personal collecting.

I know I will continue to make mistakes and at my age it is forgiven, but I will never stop learning from all here and hopefully give some useful advise to others as well.

So in summing up, Keep up the Good Work done by all to have time and Patience in maintaining this site hopefully for many years to come.

Ok I said my bit, I will hand it over to others to further this discussion and add their own comments.

Lisa (slipping away to hide again) Glen knows why
.

_________________
I was online when the magic 400,000 was hit.
http://allisastamps.com/
I Listen to CMR ONLINE at http://www.countrymusicradio.com.au/# While sorting stamps, helps to relax..

I must admit, when I posted this thread, that there would be so many divergent thinkers in our group.

Each comes with their own sets of values, standards and beliefs. It is good that we can have such divergence but not get hot under the collar and start flaming. (Not that it would do any good, the MODS would just kill it.)

It is also good to see so many different posters at all levels, from the top to the newbies.

There seems to be a few common threads coming through, which in time may make this board even better than it is.

To those who have fear of posting, because their question may be too silly or they haven't got their heading quite right...... don't let it stop you....the worst thing you can get is a dressing down from Glen (I know...I've had it several times) but I reckon under it all, he's a real softie. It's his job to give us the big stick when we wander. With this in mind all I can say is...Have no fear.

AND..... a few smiley's appropriately placed can do wonders.

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Waroff49

The last chapter of the Never_Ending Story is being written.

With respect to handling questions from beginners (to the forum and/or stamp collecting), the most common solution within the computing world is to create a FAQ. This is a list of Frequently Asked Questions with their corresponding answers, which may themselves contain links elsewhere for further details.

FAQs are typically organised in a tree-like structure based on category of question, sub-category etc.

In this forum, the most appropriate place for such a FAQ would be in the wiki section. It could thus receive input from all while being kept clean from extraneous comment, by the FAQ owner.

Alistair,you make a good point,my only fear with that is ,would we sanitize it too much, would be like asking a computer for an answer you only get whats been programmed in,
Think about E-Bay as an example.if you want to contact them , as Waroff tried last week, he found it almost immpossible
I feel let us humans contact each other while we can.

_________________
Nunawading Stamp Fair
Last Sunday of Every Month - Jaycees Hall Silver Grove - Nunawading.

This board is not elitist.

I enjoy it. I am a specialist collector of used British Commonwealth of the KGVI Reign. I've had lots of help, and learned lots from the people, here. i appreciate the tutorials and lessons on identifying certain stamps.

Colin's South African KGVI Definitives comes to mind.

Keep striving for the better information, it's nice to learn more!

David Giles
Ottawa, Ont. CANADA

I have collected U.S. stamps for most of my life, never belonged to a club, never knew many people who collected stamps and have been to only one show. Most of my collecting came by way of the mail. Then came e-bay and my collecting went on fast forward.

After a few years I found I had come to the end of my U.S. collecting as I had purchased all I will ever be able to afford. I enjoyed stamp collecting so much I began to look at other subjects to collect.

I made my mind up that I would start a collection of Canada, they spoke English and I could understand there catalogs and what was written on the stamps and so forth.

Then I read about the Arthur Gray collection of Kangaroos at auction in New York. They were so intriguing I went on line looking for these stamps and came across this web site.

I purchased a Seven Seas album from Glen, some stamps from Lisa and Glen, and the rest is history.

Don't change a thing.

As word spreads this will become the best thing that ever happened for those of us who love to collect and chat. As a newbie, I started the Bullseye cancels thread, and it's still going
.