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Sudden jump in membership

Started by BDM, May 16, 2009, 12:10:11 PM

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BDM

I noticed within say, the last week. A jump in membership, but especially lurking "guest". One night there were maybe 14-18 guest at once. That was within the last 3 or 4 days. Now it's dropped down to normal. Hmmmmmm, interesting.
--Brian--

St Clair Shores, MI

McHeath

Not to worry, it's just all my multiple personalities.   ;D


AET

I think they're scared.  I lurk around sites for a few days usually to get the feel for them before I join.
- Tom

HobieSport

I think the guests (lurkers seems a bit of a creepy term) are actually informers from the Dreaded Ebay Telephone Mafia  trying to infiltrate the market with those hideous flimsy Crosley "Henry Dreyfuss" (oh, the nerve) repros. ;)

But seriously, if you're a guest, come on in and say hi.

I joined the forum after just looking around for awhile and reading all the fun stuff.  I had no telephones and knew nothing about them, but wanted some advice on buying a classic WE 500.  Now six months later I have more telephones than I can count (many will be sold eventually) and I still know nothing abut them. ;) ;D

BDM

Quote from: AtomicEraTom on May 16, 2009, 03:45:14 PM
I think they're scared.  I lurk around sites for a few days usually to get the feel for them before I join.

Uhm, I seriously doubt that for the most part, trust me. I'm speaking within the last week.
--Brian--

St Clair Shores, MI

Tonyrotary

I noticed quite a few guests as well. I lurked myself for a couple of days before I joined. I agree though join and learn. Many newbies here, myself included! Plenty of knowledgeable people here who are more than willing to share their knowledge.

BDM

Quote from: Tonyrotary on May 17, 2009, 04:32:27 PM
I noticed quite a few guests as well. I lurked myself for a couple of days before I joined. I agree though join and learn. Many newbies here, myself included! Plenty of knowledgeable people here who are more than willing to share their knowledge.

Yes there are. But as I've said before, the heavy weights are in the clubs. Many club members are former Bell or independent employee's. Most have been involved in engineering the systems to one degree or another. That's where the core of collectors are, the clubs..................

--Brian--

St Clair Shores, MI

AET

I lurked here for about a day before I decided I had to have in on the fun, and about a day at the Station Wagon Forums.  Now the Fedora Lounge is a very intimidating site if you go there as a complete stranger.  I lurked around there for a couple months getting a feel for who was who before I joined.
- Tom

Dan/Panther

#8
I think it's like your first step into a real bar to have a real beer...
You don't know how to act or what to expect. Maybe poke your head in the door to see what it's really like.
When I was growing up in New York, we lived next door to a local hangout. Just about a hundred feet up the road, and across the Erie canal, that was in front of my house, just driveway distance width wise from my front door, no fence, no guard rail just a 20 foot drop to the water. I used to fish in the Erie canal when I was 4 and 5 years old. I'll post pictures tomorrow. I have to get themj from my Mom.
I have a couple interesting stories about the canal.
My Mom was fishing one day, and cast her pole, and thought she had snagged a bush or something behind her, It was the soft spot between the nostrels of my nose, with the hook cleanly trough it. My Dad had to cut it with Dikes to get the hook out.
Another time, my friend an I were mad at his sister, so we took her big teddy bear and on the count of 3, we were going to toss it into the canal. So One, Two, Three, off goes the Teddy and Butch, he couldn't count, and went in with the teddy bear. his dad looked out just as he went, Chet came running out and dove head first the 20 feet to pull his son out. I got blammed for that ?????
Another time I had hooked a large carp, I was not going to let go, and was screaming for my Dad, and sliding both feet closer and closer to the edge of the canal. I was not going to let that pole go. My Dad got there just before I ran out of driveway. I have a photo of me pushing that carp around in my friends sister babydoll carriage.
D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

mienaichizu

when I first ran across this forums at Mark Stevens web site, I didn't think twice and suddenly joined in even thought I'm living at the other side of the globe. I remember that the time I joined in was also the time when this forum was at its infancy.

McHeath

Mark Stevens e-mailed me about the idea of starting a phone forum after I'd been posting some on his phone blog last year.  I told him that I thought it was a great idea and would find many interested takers, and he pretty quickly put the forum together.  ( I think there were about 2 days between his first e-mail to me asking about the idea of forum and him having the forum up and running)  He had me test the membership process as the first member to see how it worked and if it had any snags, and he got Dennis Markham on right away as the first moderator.   (Dennis and I share the same membership date of Sept 4, 2008) 

Pretty quickly people started joining, and many of those early folks are major players here. 

I haven't done any sort of online deal like this since the late 80's, back when it was all command line interface and no graphics.  It's been a lot of fun, and I've learned a lot about telephones and the telephone system, but I'm no expert on any of it. 

One nice thing about this forum, unlike a lot of others I lurked on, is that the people are not a-holes.  No snarky know it alls, no mean jerks who mock others, none of that, just good solid folks who enjoy the phone collecting hobby and like meeting others who are also interested. 






Dennis Markham

#11
Heath, I agree with your comments about our members.  All a very nice bunch.  No one, INCLUDING ME has ever claimed to be an expert on telephone collecting by any means.  I think we are all new to collecting telephones with some having a little more experience than others.  This is a good place to share ideas and just talk about stuff related to our telephone hobby in a relaxed forum. 

Mark and I struck up a "friendship" after he had contacted me via my web site to ask about getting a 302 to ring.  We exchanged many e-mails.  He had web experience and thought about starting a blog site, which of course he did.  He had been so successful with other sites that he created.  When he decided to go with a forum to add to the blog site I think he asked a few of us to log in and give it a try.  I remember how excited he was when we had about 20-25 members.  I felt bad when he decided to back away due to his heavy work-load and other commitments but felt honored that he asked me to take over the operation of the forum.  I could not have done that without the help of everyone here.  I have never had forum experience other than to log on to a repair forum, ask a question and then disappear.

This forum is a nice place to socialize, compare notes and make suggestions.  Like BDM I urge those individuals that are seriously interested in collecting phones---whatever style you enjoy----to get involved with one or both of the national telephone clubs (ATCA/TCI).  I happen to belong to both and have learned very much from just reading what others are asking.  There is truly hundreds of years of combined experiences there.  For the most part the members are all friendly and eager to offer help.  In our neck of the Country there are many collectors so I was lucky enough to meet several in my area.  We are able to meet in person to discuss various aspects of telephone collecting and to view each others collections.  If there is a show near where you live or within a couple of hundred miles, it's well worth attending.  There are many benefits to joining the club(s).

There was some recent discussion about this forum on the ATCA list serve the other day and that may have prompted a few to come over and see what's going on here.  Some say the forum is attempting to "re-invent the wheel" and to a degree it appears that way.  But in reality by new collectors talking about even the most basic stuff, although most of it has been hashed out in other places, it allows one to learn from the ground up.  This forum was not intended to replace the telephone clubs, but just a place to socialize and have fun talking about something we all enjoy.  Personally I enjoy sharing what little I know with anyone that has an interest.   I have been helped and continue to be educated by those with more experience and want to pass it forward.  Everyone has something to share and varying interests---that's what makes it fun.

Keep posting gang.  And to all our new members---Welcome!  We would love in-put from everyone, especially those long-time collectors that are already involved in the phone clubs too.

Finally (thank Goodness), as I said I'm new at this forum stuff.  If you guys (and gals) see something that needs to be changed, added, removed, whatever, I'm open for suggestion.


Tonyrotary

#12
McHeath said,
QuoteOne nice thing about this forum, unlike a lot of others I lurked on, is that the people are not a-holes.  No snarky know it alls, no mean jerks who mock others, none of that, just good solid folks who enjoy the phone collecting hobby and like meeting others who are also interested.

I couldn't agree more.

Oh as Dennis and BDM stated it seems like a good idea to join and support the clubs. I will very soon myself. And thank you too all the memembers who don't mind sharing their knowledge with the rest of us. I hope to learn at least half of what some of these members know!

HobieSport

Yep.  This is a great forum where both beginners (like me) and those with much more experience can all feel welcome, and I've never "met" a nicer and more helpful group.  "Hero member" I'm certainly not (give me a break! :D) but I'm honored to be a permanent newbie.


Bill

The "guests" are quite often the Search Engine spiders (crawlers) just reading the site and cataloging the content so they can respond to search requests. On the RV forum that I moderate, we sometimes see dozens at a time.

Bill