Collectors are a strange breed. On one end of the spectrum you have people who are willing to share their finds and be a part of the community and then there's the other side which wish to be anonymous and never reveal what they have. Over the years I have gotten over the secretive thing and trying to figure out why some are more willing to share than others, but I have given up. It is what it is. You make the hobby what you want it to be. For the past couple of months I have just dealt with people that I have clicked better with for my own sanity. I don’t reach out as much because some people prefer their privacy and that is fine with me. Creating those lasting friendships with people who share your same interest is what makes collecting enjoyable for me. Hell, JD and Rob are some of my best friends in the hobby and live closest to me, but I talk to Joel like he just lives up the street from me.
The registry is a wonderful idea, but I feel it will be the same cast participating just like the forum and JD’s site. (I’ll just keep to the serenity prayer)
As for the emails, I would absolutely love to have people drop me a line on my gloves or make a trade proposal. Unfortunately, my emails consist of former classmates trying to locate me or pill offers for you know what.
My only pet peeve with buying and selling is I don't like when people don't have a price and tell me to make an offer. If you have a price and best offer, that is perfectly fine for me. But, the whole make me an offer bothers me because you run the risk of offending someone (to me, when someone gets offended the person already had a set price in mind (which they should have just told me in the first place).
As for trading, the whole trading then selling thing I have learned to let it go. In the beginning, the old me would have been pissed and bothered. But having seen so many gloves trade hands and seeing how things go, these gloves keep rotating and eventually find their owners or a permanent residence. Plus, if you traded it in the first place you probably didn’t love it that much compared to the item you got in the trade. Also, nowadays you can win the glove you traded for cheaper if it’s put up on Ebay!