I've been lurking on this talk list for about a month now which is
about how long I've been participating in this hobby. A few times,
I've really wanted to post but thought I would wait until I saw how
things worked......

Except now, I want to speak up. I am new. VERY new. I love the
actual hobby and was looking forward to getting the chat on this
talk list. I cringe now when I see that there are 43 messages in my
in-box because it can be time-consuming and disheartening to sort
through all of the "flame" to get to the good stuff.

In light of this, I have a little story to share about another of my
hobbies. I am also a Swing dancer. I started about 5 years ago,
right after a GAP commercial and Brian Setzer made it very popular.
Clubs opened; things were good. EVERYONE was dancing. A couple of
years later, the buzz lessened. When clubs closed, people banded
together to form groups that would host dances, lessons, and
performances to keep Swing alive. It worked for a few years until
people got nasty.....mostly about web sites, e-mails, and "turf"
wars. Now, Swing is dying. No one new is taking lessons, groups
are breaking up and there is almost no where left to dance. People
have been left with a very bad taste in their mouths and it's all
very sad.

Looking back, I wish we had all done things differently. We should
have put the pettiness aside and focused on the important things.
We should have been kinder to each other and not so hasty to preach,
insult, or demean. We should have approached each other
individually instead of airing dirty laundry in very public places.
We should have realized that only a finite number of people were
involved and that, without everyone's participation, Swing would
just go quietly into the night.

I say all of this because I feel like I want to walk away from this
head ache in my in-box. I'm thinking about just printing out my
clues, contacting placers when necessary,and carrying on by myself.
But, I don't want to. I want to stay here, listen to others with
more experience, and meet others that have the same sick obsession
with rubber stamps and RubberMaid containers. (: If people continue
to make this as intimidating for newbies as it is right now,
letterboxing, too, will go quietly into the night.

On that note, I think I've covered everything....I now anxiously
await all of the flame that is certain to come my way! *wink* LOL

Thanks for hearing me out,
Kerri