I Am A New User. I Am Not Sure What To Do.

I collect stamps and have since I was 4. I do not have a lot of knowledge about them. I do not have any friends or anybody to talk to. I am not a member of any philatelic groups, online or otherwise.
I have several questions I want to ask, for myself and for other people who have asked me questions about my collection that I could not answer.
I do not know how active this site is. I do not know if I am in the right place at all.
I want to be able to talk to people about philately. I want to be able to learn about philately. I want people to value me and make friends.

Welcome. I suppose you just became a member of this philatelic group.

Knowledge is not a prerequisite for enjoying stamp collecting. It, always, can be gained.

The site is quite active. So, please, feel free ask your questions. You will find that the site is divided in different sections. To increase the probability of a helpful response, it is advisable to post questions in the relevant forums. (No penalties if you make a mistake.)

Hello and welcome to the forum. You will find a great group of people here, willing to answer all of your questions, or direct you (via a link) to a place where your question has already been addressed and that should be helpful to you.

Don't be afraid of posting multiple questions in the correct forums. And, have fun!

Welcome. You are in the right spot.
Lots of knowledge spread among forum participants and plenty of interesting topics mean we are all always learning about andthrough our stamps.

I'm curious about the sorts of questions people might have asked you about your stamps.

I am completely blown away by the depth of knowledge of the people that post here. I was poking through some of the questions that caused me to draw planks and people were patiently and in detail providing fabulous answers. I was amazed.

Have you checked to see if there are any local clubs in your area? If you are looking to meet people?

Now ask away.

@ohio_andy Where I am from, absolutely nobody collects stamps, at least there isn't any kind of public group or event dedicated to philately. It is really a hobby of the past.

Greetings. As you can tell already from other members' answers that there is a lot of help and expertise here. Just ask away and folks will be happy to answer. I am not sure if anyone else has suggested it, but if you don't have any catalogs, that might be a good place to start learning a bit more. Any good catalog usually has a lot of information about stamps.

You don't need a current one to help with all of your older stamps. Anything from the last 10 years would likely be a good one.

Best of luck!

welcome Ellie88!

I'm in Bridgeport, CT and NOBODY collects stamps around here.. nor coins. But that ain't gonna stop me!

I am lucky in that there is a club local to me, I just need to connect with them. Their web site is not maintained often, but I see that it has been updated this year.

Be sure to post your questions! And Welcome!

Trust me Ellie88, I live in northern Virginia / Loudoun County (grew up in Stratford, Connecticut) and I have never had any friends in my life who collect anything (except online friends) and I'm 55 now. I still have no friends to this day - I have no skills and very very few interests so I haven't had any friends for many years.

All of my co-workers and acquaintances either travel a lot, hunt/fish, gamble at the local casino, obsessively fix or upgrade their cars/trucks, are always doing house repairs, play sports, are gamers, are social media influencers, are trying to build their own business, are super involved with either their church, family, or some non-profit political group, or are immersed in outdoor activities and working out at the gym - so generally I have no friends around here.

Luckily I do have some local stamp clubs around me that I will eventually be joining, but right now I work two jobs and still have two more years before my kid graduates high school before I can have more freedom to go out and see if I can find a friend or two.

I am planning on traveling to Boston in 2026 to attend the World Stamp show for the first time in my life. Hopefully, If everything works out I will be able to go by then.

This is way more common than you might imagine.... And when you're working and have a family it's really hard to have time for friends anyway. I know a lot of people who are always doing a lot of things. They're spending a lot of time with people and I haven't really figure out how they can afford it either financially or from a Time perspective.

If you ever make it to the middle of Ohio, drop me a message somehow and I will treat you to some tasty food. If you let me pick. It's going to be Mexican though.

Thanks so much ohio-andy and thank you for the invite - that was very kind of you. I've never been to Ohio but maybe someday I will travel there or if I am passing through I would love to meet ya. I would love to try some of your mexican food - I love me some quesadillas and tamales.

You are right, working and having a family is super tuff...its tougher than I ever imagined. I do wish we all had more time off to spend visiting and meeting up with others who have the same interests.

Anyways, thanks again for the super nice gesture.

Warm Regards,

Bradley

edited: to include topic of Mexican food

One of the charms of having friends who have other interests is that you can share experiences. That way, you can enjoy your hobby and the hobbies of your friends.

Most of my friends are online friends. They all react with enthusiasm when I tell them about my stamps, my travels and my interactions with people in top hockey (including Olympians). Even if they do so just to avoid hurting my feelings, they do not stop communicating because I bore them. Instead, they ask questions.

They write me about their experiences. And I learn new things and new cultures.

And every one to three years I meet one or two. Recently two hopped in a car and drove from Italy to Ljubljana, I caught a train from Kamnik to Ljubljana. We exchanged presents, had lunch, talked, walked, and said our goodbyes to go home and eat the delicacies we had exchanged. I did not miss my stamps for a minute.