Why don't more of our members post?

[okdoak]

I enjoyed reading thru the glove census posted by Mr. Mitt and one answer to "What is the glove hobby's biggest challenge?" especially intrigued me. Scott wondered why more members didn't post, why is it always the same people over and over? Believe me, I often wonder the same thing and it's not because I don't look forward to the topics from our regular posters (of which I probably am one). They are knowledgeable and dedicated and post interesting topics and replies. But a post from someone who has a different perspective or comment or collects from an era that I'm not into is refreshing, too. Someone who researched participation in online forums (what don't they research these days?) came up with these stats: 90% of members just read the topics and virtually never posted, 9% were infrequent or occasional posters, 1% posted frequently. If you do the math, that makes our forum pretty average. We've got 10 frequent posters. Do we have 90 infrequent/occasional posters? I don't know. Then again if you subtract the members who joined just to ask that one question about a glove they found, how many hundreds less do we have to begin with? I can relate to them, too, because I read the Net54 Forum every week and I posted once about a year ago with a question about an ad piece and may never post again. I enjoy looking thru it, though. Anyway, long story (and it's a lot longer than I'd thought it'd be) short, I don't have an answer as to how to get more members to post. Maybe that's just the way it is. Anybody else?

[Mr. Mitt]

I have some ideas as to why this is the case. First is it “seems” that we’re not as insecure as posters on other forums who need constant reassurance and ego boosts. Those non-glove collectors “appear” to seek approval in one sentence and then belittle others in the next. We’re much more civil, respectful and helpful, in my opinion. Perhaps this is why other forums are more active than ours, we tend not to propagate bs!

More importantly, what we collect is a completely different animal than most memorabilia. Certain gloves are much, much tougher to acquire than cards, autographs, etc. Simply look at the population of the rarest, most sought after cards in the hobby, for example. If you have the means, you could acquire whatever you want in a relatively short period of time given abundant liquidity. Want a T206 Wagner or a Baltimore News Ruth, you’ll be able to get one with a few phone calls or have the opportunity to bid on one several times a year in an auction. Gloves are not liquid at all. Populations of our scarcest examples are far fewer than other segments of the greater baseball memorabilia hobby. Given this, I believe that glove collectors keep certain details of their collection and their general glove knowledge close to their vest. Sure, we’re all helpful to varying degrees, but there is information that many simply won’t disseminate because it takes away their perceived advantage in acquiring a glove over someone else. Right or wrong, it happens. I believe that this is the primary reason why there are not more “experienced collectors” posting.

On the flip side, perhaps there is a plethora of lurking “neophyte collectors” who are simply absorbing knowledge. They may not be ready to join in on the conversations or are afraid to write something they feel would be embarrassing. If this is the case, I say to them, ask away! This is what the forum is for. Even the most knowledgeable glove collectors had to begin amassing their database of information by asking questions of those who came before them.

So, to answer your question, I don’t think we’ll ever convince the long-time glove collector who doesn’t already participate to all of a sudden join in. What we need to do is to be more accepting of those who are seeking answers and direction and encourage them to utilize the great resources available to them on this forum.

[vintagebrett]

Mr. Mitt did an excellent job stating why people don't post. Our membership number is inflated because a lot of the members were modern collectors who posted when we had a section for them. I didn't delete any of the memberships so they are still listed but don't post.

We have a close bunch of collectors and tend to get along well with one another. Although we do have debates and disagreements, we generally do so in a professional manner. Usually threads get really long when people argue and bicker back and forth. I like that we don't have issues with this (knocking on wood as not to jinx it).

A lot of the questions that are posted can usually be answered with one post - what model number, what year was it made, etc. Therefore, people probably feel less inclined to post if the question has been answered.

There are a plethora of reasons for only a small number of people posting. Sometimes it bothers me and sometimes it doesn't. We have had a lot of new members sign up lately and hopefully they will join in the fray. I'm hoping John's book and our booth at the National will draw more people in as well. All manner of collectors are welcome - newbie, veteran, etc.

[Mr. Mitt]

I overlooked the obvious last night with my initial response. I can't speak for all of the frequent posters, but for me, I have nothing better to do with my time and this keeps me out of trouble.

[murphusa]

From someone who has run and participated in a lot of different forums, I think the number one reason people join a forum is for information.

You can go to a website and get general information but when you need the nitty gritty on a subject you need the people who are knowledgeable on the subject.

This site like others is all information, look what I got, I can get it fixed here, it cost this, this is a fake, etc

This place helps other from making a mistake.

[Nuts4Mitts]

Hi all, I'm a new member from the Raleigh, North Carolina area. I've been collecting gloves for about 12 years or so and was excited when I found this forum. I was particularly interested in reading the postings about how to repair, clean and condition the gloves. I've learned a lot and have already put it to use on my collection. I don't know if i'll be a frequent poster or an occassional one.....but i'll certainly be an enthusiastic one.....because I get a great deal of enjoyment from this hobby. I look forward to getting to know everyone! Greg

[vintagebrett]

Welcome to the forum! It's always nice to welcome new veteran collectors to the fold. What are your glove interests??

[Nuts4Mitts]

Pretty much any era with a nice endorsement of a player I watched or read about will get my interest. I want to find more nice gloves of the Mets and Yankees players from the 60s that I grew up watching. I like catchers mitts, hall of famers, Brooklyn Dodger players, Yankees of all era's....etc. I can't say that i've got a favorite brand of glove...but I do prefer USA made gloves.

[fungo8]

I have known about this forum for a long time and bretman was very gracious in inviting me several times to become a registered member. To answer the question for myself as to the reason I haven't signed up until today was that I really didn't feel worthy to post opinions on things realting to gloves when there are so many of the "big dogs" of collecting. I am one of those guys that has always loved gloves. I played orgainzed baseball from age 5 until sophmore year in college. In all those years I only had 3 gloves. I still have my first two and 3rd was the one i used all through high school and college and also to play softball so it disintegrated a few years back.

I really wasn't much of a collector of anything and decided i needed a hobby back in the early 90's. I had some cards from my youth that i still have but as most of you know the card market went saturated. I have always loved baseball and I was at a flea market and saw an old beat up Jimmy Piersall glove. Even though I grew up in the 70's I knew the player from the movie so I bought the glove for $5 thinking i got a steal. I had never heard of anyone collecting gloves but that was going to be my new hobby..............little did I know about the whole glover world out there. I found Ebay and just dabbled at first. I found Joe Phillips stuff and purchased the guides and newsletters and the rest is history. I love baseball gloves. I am what I call an eclectic collector.........no real rhyme or reason. I am one of the few that love the red white and blue 70"s glove because that was from my playing days. I tend to be partial catcher's mitts. I have found that i really like catcher's equipment and love the different styles of masks. I like obscure baseball stuff hence the name fungo. I tried glover1 through glover9 and they were all taken on Ebay so I used fungo and my High/college number of 8.

Anyway, I won't be as long winded in future posts i just wanted to chime in why some folks may not feel as learned about gloves as others so may lurk more than they post.

[ScottWNJ]

Since my survey answer triggered this thread, I'll throw my two cents in. I took a quick look at the membership list, sorted by number of posts in descending order. Of the top 50 posters, 23 have posts in 2010. Since 13 of the top 50 last posted in the Modern Glove Forum, the number becomes 23 out of 38 posting this year in the vintage section. Of the total 1135 members, only 471 have posted anything. The number of posts hits zero on halfway down page 10 (out of 21 pages). On the other end of the membership list, there are 102 new members who have joined this year without posting anything. There are also a handful of new members who have posted more than once. Out of 471 total members who post, lets say half are Modern Glove guys. (Brett would probably know the exact number) Now we are down to 235 vintage glove posters. 10% of that is 23. So adding in some familiar posters who have less than 100 posts, can we conclude that we have a core group of vintage glove posters that number around 30-35 members?

As to why more people don't post I'm not really sure. Mr. Mitt had some good theories in his post. Perhaps some members are intimidated by the experts on the forum. I've been collecting for just over a year now, and I am often awed by the stuff you guys come up with. New glovers might be discouraged from posting their finds because they may feel that it isn't up to your standards. I know I've felt that way about posting some of my stuff at times.

I would guess that some members joined out of curiosity, just to see what is going on. Others joined for a specific question or two. And others may have just lost interest after a while. This hobby can get expensive if you are chasing the good stuff, so perhaps some collectors just drop out. There probably isn't any one single reason for members not posting. I would hate to think that they don't want to share their wisdom or ideas for finding gloves. That seems a little selfish. But I am happy to be a part of this hobby, even if I don't have the experience that many of you have. If I hang around long enough, I'll get better at making glove choices and continue to learn about the gloves. Hopefully, others will join in and that core group will grow larger.

Scott

[vintagebrett]

I hope we don't appear intimidating to any new posters - I know I still have tons to learn and pick up something new everyday. Plus, it's important to collect what one likes - that's the fun part about glove collecting. Don't worry about if you collection measures up to someone elses - we all have different tastes and that's the beauty of the hobby.

[okdoak]

I read the forum for a few months before I joined it and I'll admit that I was intimidated, too. Crescent pads, King patents, rare early gloves...Yikes! I enjoyed reading the posts, but I couldn't (probably still can't) add to the discussion because that's earlier than what I collect. The gloves I post about are mostly 1920s-50's and maybe our advanced collectors have already been there and done that especially as far as the common ones go. (In fact there may be a 50s gloves retrospective soon, just to take your minds off those webless ones for a while. I guess it's like a "cool down". ) I've never felt snubbed or put down, though, and most times our veteran posters added to the discussion. I agree with Jerry's view that this is a very civil and tolerant group. That survey on online forums mentioned that a lot of members had a sense of community from their favorite forum and that's the way I feel. In a way, we're all neighbors here on Glove St., talking gloves over the fence. Except for Rob M who must live in that exclusive new gated subdivision . Thanks for keeping this going, Brett!

[fungo8]

I pick up new stuff all the time too in fact I am always looking for new things to clean gloves with and just bought me a couple of bottles of the Fast Orange yesterday on the way home from my lake cabin. Can't wait to try it.

I do want to tell all of the veteran glove guys that although intimidated may be a word used to describe my knowledge compared to your knowledge I can honestly say that in my 10-15 years of collecting and all the calls and emails I've made I have never met a more gracious and helping group of folks. That alone is probably one of the biggest reasons I've stayed in the hobby.