Most All Questions...

I drove old Studebakers exclusively for 30 years. Driving around town in a black 1950 Business Coupe or other bullet nose always drew all kinds of attention. Sometimes I wanted to simply buy my carton of milk and go home and not stand in the freezing wind and chit-chat about cars or someone's grandpa who had a Studebaker (I swear, if half the people who told me their family owned Studebakers actually did they would still be in business).

But I always felt obligated to be a good ambassador for the old car hobby, Studebaker's Driver's Club, and did the best I could even if they were simply 'kicking tires'. Truth is that some of my fondest moments and great experiences with other people came about this way. Sure, some of the people were not my cup of tea nor people who I would ever become close to; but a great many wonderful people were met and some became life-long friends. Some of these meetings ended up allowing me to network further and find new sources of cars and/or parts.

This forum reminds me a lot of this experience. I have made some great friends and certainly have learned a tremendous amount over the years. Yes, the 'tire kickers' can be a bit tiresome at time especially when you know the will never end up becoming part of the hobby. But we all still should be good ambassadors and keep in mind that it behooves philately for us all to support and encourage anyone who has an interest in this great hobby.
Don

My problem is that most of these are not newbie collectors, they are people who came across a pile of used 1950s stamps and are convinced that it's going to put their kids through college. These are not, by and large, people who have the slightest interest in collecting stamps, they want to sell them to the highest bidder and they expect us to do all of their work for them in determining price. It's one thing if they are trying to identify a stamp, I think we should be helpful in that case, but when all they care about is value, tell them where to find it and they can do their own work. What we're doing here, even among the budding collectors, is training them to be lazy. Nothing worthwhile in life is achieved by being lazy, by refusing to put in the basic legwork to do it yourself.

If I had my way, even with all of the stamp identifications, people would stop attaching values. Give them the Scott# and if they care about value, they can go look it up themselves.

You are perfectly welcome to ignore these questions and not participate. That is certainly your prerogative. However, if the rest of us choose to be helpful, I believe that is OUR prerogative.

Complaining about it serves no purpose at all other then reinforcing the stereotype of stamp collectors as a bunch of bitter, cranky old men.

Don, well said.

regards, Theron (former owner of a beat up '52 Studebaker)

If someone is excited about chance at finding a valuable stamp and that leads them to appreciate the the vibrant and challenging world of philately, then bring it on. I have seen this happen myself so I will not wish for an end to such questions.

I agree with Smauggie - I love to see pictures of what collectors and non-collectors think is valuable.

I believe this forum is successful by virtue of the fact that any question can be asked and (usually) a courteous response will be given. At least that aspect was what attracted me to this forum. I think we've all seen or heard about other forums self destruct, in part, because of bad manners, exclusivity and vitriol.

Further, as stated earlier, if the forum as a whole truly wants to foster stamp collecting, then any question should be welcome.

I agree.
Doug

Same here. This is not the first stamp forum I joined. The first, which I rarely visit anymore, frequently degenerated into petty bickering and axe-grinding, and this from some very recognizable names in the hobby. When I discovered this place, it basically fit my idea of what a stamp collecting forum should be - friendly, welcoming, and frequented by many knowledgeable collectors. Frankly, if there are particular topics or threads one doesn't like, the easiest thing to do is ignore them and/or not respond.

Not all people that inherit collections want to continue the collection, many people just don't have the time. Most people here don't mind the questions it's the ones that ask a question, get answers from very knowledgeable collectors and choose not to accept the answers they get. These people do leave a bad taste in the mouths of some of our resident experts that come here and share their research & studies for free.