Matt O.

In considering whether or not to join StampBoards, you have to look beyond it's hosts' unusual behaviour.

As a novice collector I joined the site over 10 years ago and got a rocky introduction to the world of Philatelic opinion and a front seat to the blogs grist mill.

The site is hosted by Glen Stephens and it's fair to say that some of his perspectives are confronting. Glen doesn't appear to be all that aware of the impact that his statementing, often personally directed, has on his sites participants. I think that's very unfortunate. If you can learn to put up with that side of things, Glen Stephens has actually established a philatelic blog that does contain some extremely valuable and insightful information including a significant image library.

However the wrinkle in all this is that, much of this very good information, some of it unique to the site, is (and has been) propagated by participants and not Glen. Therein lays the dilemma.

If you want to get the gold then you have to deal with the slurry. Don't give up on StampBoards because of how you might feel about it's host. If you do, you'll be giving up on many other fine contributors to this useful reference site. And also remember, these same contributors can equally benefit from your own contribution whether or not you are a novice or a specialist expert.

Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater!