• Is anybody reading this NG?

    From Victor Manta@21:1/5 to All on Thu Oct 8 17:24:48 2020
    The last posting on RCSD was on 5/15/2020, then nothing newer came...

    I still remember that a long time ago there were here over 1000 posting in a month.

    Victor Manta, PWO

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Philatelic Webmasters Organization & Abusives: http://pwmo.org/
    Art on Stamps: http://artonstamps.org/
    Romania by Stamps: http://marci-postale.com/
    Communism on Stamps: http://reds-on.postalstamps.biz/
    Spanish North Africa: http://www.sna-on.postalstamps.biz/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From David E. Ross@21:1/5 to Victor Manta on Thu Oct 8 16:47:50 2020
    On 10/8/2020 2:24 PM, Victor Manta wrote:
    The last posting on RCSD was on 5/15/2020, then nothing newer came...

    I still remember that a long time ago there were here over 1000 posting in a month.

    Victor Manta, PWO

    I check this newsgroup when I see a new posting, which is indeed rare.

    I was a collector for 40 years, actually more of an accumulator. I
    collected mint U.S. stamps. When the US Postal Service began issuing commemorative stamps that commemorated things that were not worthy and
    also issued definitive stamps with minor, unecessary changes, I decided
    to stop collecting. To have a complete, comprehensive collection would
    be just too expensive.

    I still have my collection, but I stopped adding to it in 2000.

    --
    David E. Ross
    <http://www.rossde.com/>

    Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, President Trump told us the
    virus would disappear by April. Later, he said it would be gone
    when the weather turned hot.

    In Ventura County (population less than 850,000), there were
    2,134 new COVID-19 infections in September as the temperature
    reached 117F. That month, there were also 36 deaths, a persistent
    daily death rate through the entire month of 1.2%.

    At one time, Trump claimed COVID-19 was a Democrat hoax. Now
    Trump has the virus. Schadenfreude!

    I don't think COVID-19 will disappear until after Trump disappears.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Victor Manta@21:1/5 to Victor Manta on Fri Oct 9 13:47:47 2020
    "David E. Ross" wrote in message news:rlo8f5$14jl$1@gioia.aioe.org...

    On 10/8/2020 2:24 PM, Victor Manta wrote:
    The last posting on RCSD was on 5/15/2020, then nothing newer came...

    I still remember that a long time ago there were here over 1000 posting in
    a
    month.

    Victor Manta, PWO

    <<
    To have a complete, comprehensive collection would be just too expensive.

    David E. Ross


    David, thank you for commenting. I'm glad that I'm not alone on RCSD.

    May I ask you why a stamp collection should be "complete, comprehensive"?

    I'm asking because none of mine is, and will never be complete, but nevertheless I enjoy them.

    Victor Manta, PWO

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Philatelic Webmasters Organization & Abusives: http://pwmo.org/
    Art on Stamps: http://artonstamps.org/
    Romania by Stamps: http://marci-postale.com/
    Communism on Stamps: http://reds-on.postalstamps.biz/
    Spanish North Africa: http://www.sna-on.postalstamps.biz/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From David E. Ross@21:1/5 to Victor Manta on Fri Oct 9 10:54:53 2020
    On 10/9/2020 10:47 AM, Victor Manta wrote:
    "David E. Ross" wrote in message news:rlo8f5$14jl$1@gioia.aioe.org...

    On 10/8/2020 2:24 PM, Victor Manta wrote:
    The last posting on RCSD was on 5/15/2020, then nothing newer came...

    I still remember that a long time ago there were here over 1000 posting in >> a
    month.

    Victor Manta, PWO

    <<
    To have a complete, comprehensive collection would be just too expensive.

    David E. Ross


    David, thank you for commenting. I'm glad that I'm not alone on RCSD.

    May I ask you why a stamp collection should be "complete, comprehensive"?

    I'm asking because none of mine is, and will never be complete, but nevertheless I enjoy them.

    Victor Manta, PWO


    My goal was to have every stamp, postcard, and stamped envelope that the
    public -- not merely a business, government agency, or non-profit --
    could use. I indeed have such for the period 1959 through 2000. This
    means I also have the necessary permit to use "bulk mail" stamps on
    regular mail.

    --
    David E. Ross
    <http://www.rossde.com/>

    Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, President Trump told us the
    virus would disappear by April. Later, he said it would be gone
    when the weather turned hot.

    In Ventura County (population less than 850,000), there were
    2,134 new COVID-19 infections in September as the temperature
    reached 117F. That month, there were also 36 deaths, a persistent
    daily death rate through the entire month of 1.2%.

    At one time, Trump claimed COVID-19 was a Democrat hoax. Now
    Trump has the virus. Schadenfreude!

    I don't think COVID-19 will disappear until after Trump disappears.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Victor Manta@21:1/5 to All on Sat Oct 10 13:22:17 2020
    "David E. Ross" wrote in message news:rlq85c$17t4$1@gioia.aioe.org...

    <<
    My goal was to have every stamp, postcard, and stamped envelope that the
    public -- not merely a business, government agency, or non-profit --
    could use. I indeed have such for the period 1959 through 2000. This
    means I also have the necessary permit to use "bulk mail" stamps on
    regular mail.

    --
    David E. Ross


    A huge and interesting collection. Expensive too, of course, but fortunately less stamps were issued then.

    BTW, could you get and use all possible precancelled US stamps from 1959 to 2000? Did you also use postage meters and permit imprints?

    --
    Victor Manta

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From David E. Ross@21:1/5 to Victor Manta on Sat Oct 10 19:53:29 2020
    On 10/10/2020 10:22 AM, Victor Manta wrote:
    A huge and interesting collection. Expensive too, of course, but fortunately less stamps were issued then.

    BTW, could you get and use all possible precancelled US stamps from 1959 to 2000? Did you also use postage meters and permit imprints?

    Precancelled, yes. Meters and imprints, no.

    --
    David E. Ross
    <http://www.rossde.com/>

    Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, President Trump told us the
    virus would disappear by April. Later, he said it would be gone
    when the weather turned hot.

    In Ventura County (population less than 850,000), there were
    2,134 new COVID-19 infections in September as the temperature
    reached 117F. That month, there were also 36 deaths, a persistent
    daily death rate through the entire month of 1.2%.

    At one time, Trump claimed COVID-19 was a Democrat hoax. Now
    Trump has the virus. Schadenfreude!

    I don't think COVID-19 will disappear until after Trump disappears.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Droger Jean-Paul@21:1/5 to All on Sun Oct 11 15:38:51 2020
    Après mûre réflexion, Victor Manta a écrit :
    The last posting on RCSD was on 5/15/2020, then nothing newer came...

    I still remember that a long time ago there were here over 1000 posting in a month.

    Victor Manta, PWO

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Philatelic Webmasters Organization & Abusives: http://pwmo.org/
    Art on Stamps: http://artonstamps.org/
    Romania by Stamps: http://marci-postale.com/
    Communism on Stamps: http://reds-on.postalstamps.biz/
    Spanish North Africa: http://www.sna-on.postalstamps.biz/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Yes this forum is still in the list of the 28 forum I read each 1 or 2
    days if qI see a new contribution!

    But RCSD and RCSM don't have many threads in the last month (or years),
    and I am sorry it is so.

    I follow the French (fr.rec.philatelie) about stamp collection, nearly
    10/20 threads a week, the forum from "Bund deutschen philatelisten" in
    Deutsch (low activity) and no other!!

    I am 78, collect seriusly since end of 1958 and have never stopped! I
    have a nice US used collection (I stopped when US post issues too many
    sets of 25 or more stamps never used, nearly 1987) . I am still member
    from APS and CCCC (see here https://www.covercollectors.club/) where I
    find friends in foreign countries I collect.

    How it is difficult to find good friends in some countries (generally
    because they have no more money for stamps) I have stopped to collect
    all countries after Yugoslavia, Israël, Argentinia and have open new
    things I collect before 1939 in French stamps or 1910 in Swiss stamps!

    I could write long about collecting, but my English writing is not easy
    because I have lost vocabulary, I have not enough practice. I continue
    to collect US used stamps, but search only before 1929: spécialy all
    "straight edges" (= stamps with one or 2 adjacent sides without
    perforations and different cancelations on older "ordinaryu" (= not commemorativ) stamps!!!

    To day enough, but I think that to get a nice collection it is
    necessary to be member of at less one stamp club (here in France I am
    member of 6 clubs!!), the best I think is American Philatelist Society,
    and they issue each month a very nice newspaper ...

    Best wishes and continue to coolect.

    Jean-Paul DROGER (France - LYON).



    PS if you knew other forum about stamp collecting in US, please let
    know and send the adress on Net.

    --
    anti.jean-paul@invalid.fr
    Pour m'envoyer un mail, remplacer anti par droger ,invalid par wanadoo;
    to send me directly a mail replace anti with droger, invalid with
    wanadoo;

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Victor Manta@21:1/5 to Victor Manta on Mon Oct 19 16:28:01 2020
    "Victor Manta" wrote in message news:hu9ed1FhvpfU1@mid.individual.net...

    The last posting on RCSD was on 5/15/2020, then nothing newer came...

    Thanks to only two collectors who participated in this thread.

    Of course, it is disappointing to see how this once so popular NG has
    "melted" to the point where it has become rather insignificant.

    It was also strange to notice that even in these conditions of quasi
    anonimity the amount and frequency of themes OFF TOPIC added was
    surprisingly high.

    Anyway, have fun with stamp collecting and stay safe!

    Victor Manta

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From David E. Ross@21:1/5 to Victor Manta on Mon Oct 19 17:38:31 2020
    On 10/19/2020 1:28 PM, Victor Manta wrote:
    "Victor Manta" wrote in message news:hu9ed1FhvpfU1@mid.individual.net...

    The last posting on RCSD was on 5/15/2020, then nothing newer came...

    Thanks to only two collectors who participated in this thread.

    Of course, it is disappointing to see how this once so popular NG has "melted" to the point where it has become rather insignificant.

    It was also strange to notice that even in these conditions of quasi anonimity the amount and frequency of themes OFF TOPIC added was
    surprisingly high.

    Anyway, have fun with stamp collecting and stay safe!

    Victor Manta

    [begin rant]

    It's not merely this newsgroup. Many newsgroups used to have quite
    robust, on-topic discussions. That seems to have ended. And that is
    very sad.

    NNTP (network news transport protocol) has a large advantage over
    Web-based forums. A Web-based forum is owned and controlled by whoever
    owns the Web site. On the other hand, newsgroups propagate over many
    NNTP servers. If one NNTP server fails or the owner decides to shut it
    down, we can always go to another server without missing anything.

    Similarly, if the owner of a Web-based forum decides to censor messages arbitrarily, nothing can be done about it. No one NNTP server operator
    can block what is propagating among the other servers. Yes, there are moderated newsgroups; but often, there are multiple moderators for a
    newsgroup limiting the ability of one person to be a censor.

    [end rant]

    --
    David E. Ross
    <http://www.rossde.com/>

    Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, President Trump told us the
    virus would disappear by April. Later, he said it would be gone
    when the weather turned hot.

    In Ventura County (population less than 850,000), there were
    2,134 new COVID-19 infections in September as the temperature
    reached 117F. That month, there were also 36 deaths, a persistent
    daily death rate through the entire month of 1.2%.

    At one time, Trump claimed COVID-19 was a Democrat hoax. Now
    Trump has the virus. Schadenfreude!

    I don't think COVID-19 will disappear until after Trump disappears.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Droger Jean-Paul@21:1/5 to All on Tue Oct 20 11:04:43 2020
    Victor Manta a utilisé son clavier pour écrire :
    "Victor Manta" wrote in message news:hu9ed1FhvpfU1@mid.individual.net...

    The last posting on RCSD was on 5/15/2020, then nothing newer came...

    Thanks to only two collectors who participated in this thread.

    Of course, it is disappointing to see how this once so popular NG has "melted" to the point where it has become rather insignificant.

    It was also strange to notice that even in these conditions of quasi anonimity the amount and frequency of themes OFF TOPIC added was surprisingly high.

    Anyway, have fun with stamp collecting and stay safe!

    Victor Manta

    Yes you are right, but the number of member from APS has also seriouslu decreased from more then 80 000 to less then 30 000 in less then 10
    years ....

    Here in France it is the same and a lots of clubs or associations have
    died in less then 10 years.

    I continue, but it is no more easy to find friends through the world,
    it is also difficult to find used stamps isuued last 5 years but older
    French stamps (before 1960) are sold berween 10 to 25% from catalog
    price (because all older collectors have it and nobody begins a
    collection.

    Have a nice day.

    Jean-Paul DROGER FRANCE

    --
    anti.jean-paul@invalid.fr
    Pour m'envoyer un mail, remplacer anti par droger ,invalid par wanadoo;
    to send me directly a mail replace anti with droger, invalid with
    wanadoo;

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From me@21:1/5 to David E. Ross on Wed Oct 21 16:49:50 2020
    In article <rmlbi5$1n30$1@gioia.aioe.org>,
    "David E. Ross" <not_me@not_there.invalid> wrote:

    On 10/19/2020 1:28 PM, Victor Manta wrote:
    "Victor Manta" wrote in message news:hu9ed1FhvpfU1@mid.individual.net...

    The last posting on RCSD was on 5/15/2020, then nothing newer came...

    Thanks to only two collectors who participated in this thread.

    Of course, it is disappointing to see how this once so popular NG has "melted" to the point where it has become rather insignificant.

    It was also strange to notice that even in these conditions of quasi anonimity the amount and frequency of themes OFF TOPIC added was surprisingly high.

    Anyway, have fun with stamp collecting and stay safe!

    Victor Manta

    [begin rant]

    It's not merely this newsgroup. Many newsgroups used to have quite
    robust, on-topic discussions. That seems to have ended. And that is
    very sad.

    NNTP (network news transport protocol) has a large advantage over
    Web-based forums. A Web-based forum is owned and controlled by whoever
    owns the Web site. On the other hand, newsgroups propagate over many
    NNTP servers. If one NNTP server fails or the owner decides to shut it
    down, we can always go to another server without missing anything.

    Similarly, if the owner of a Web-based forum decides to censor messages arbitrarily, nothing can be done about it. No one NNTP server operator
    can block what is propagating among the other servers. Yes, there are moderated newsgroups; but often, there are multiple moderators for a newsgroup limiting the ability of one person to be a censor.

    [end rant]

    This newsgroup is in my subscription list, but this is the first time
    I've ever posted to it.

    Usenet in general has been losing popularity over the years. I started
    on Usenet back in 1983 in college. Picked it up again in the late '90s,
    and have been a regular subscriber to several groups since then. Some
    of the binary groups get a lot of traffic, but discussion groups are
    pretty much non-existent anymore. I subscribe to a discussion group
    related to a band that I like, but it seems like it died about 15 years
    ago. There are still posts to it, but they are from psychotic people
    ranting about politics instead of discussing the band.

    Stamp collecting in general has also seen a major decline in popularity.
    I'm 55 years old, and I go to stamp shows a few times a year. We have
    one locally that's once a year that used to draw dozens of vendors and a
    couple thousand people. Last year, it was noticeably smaller. I
    overheard one vendor saying that at least half a dozen vendors from the previous year had either died, or were in such poor health that they had retired. At the shows I go to, I am usually by far the youngest person
    there (as I said, I'm 55).

    There are websites devoted to stamp collecting that get a fair amount of traffic. I think that's where most collectors are going.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Stan Fairchild@21:1/5 to All on Wed Nov 25 15:54:29 2020
    On Wednesday, October 21, 2020 at 4:49:52 PM UTC-4, me wrote:
    In article <rmlbi5$1n30$1...@gioia.aioe.org>,
    "David E. Ross" <not_me@not_there.invalid> wrote:

    On 10/19/2020 1:28 PM, Victor Manta wrote:
    "Victor Manta" wrote in message news:hu9ed1...@mid.individual.net...

    The last posting on RCSD was on 5/15/2020, then nothing newer came...

    Thanks to only two collectors who participated in this thread.

    Of course, it is disappointing to see how this once so popular NG has "melted" to the point where it has become rather insignificant.

    It was also strange to notice that even in these conditions of quasi anonimity the amount and frequency of themes OFF TOPIC added was surprisingly high.

    Anyway, have fun with stamp collecting and stay safe!

    Victor Manta

    [begin rant]

    It's not merely this newsgroup. Many newsgroups used to have quite
    robust, on-topic discussions. That seems to have ended. And that is
    very sad.

    NNTP (network news transport protocol) has a large advantage over
    Web-based forums. A Web-based forum is owned and controlled by whoever
    owns the Web site. On the other hand, newsgroups propagate over many
    NNTP servers. If one NNTP server fails or the owner decides to shut it down, we can always go to another server without missing anything.

    Similarly, if the owner of a Web-based forum decides to censor messages arbitrarily, nothing can be done about it. No one NNTP server operator
    can block what is propagating among the other servers. Yes, there are moderated newsgroups; but often, there are multiple moderators for a newsgroup limiting the ability of one person to be a censor.

    [end rant]
    This newsgroup is in my subscription list, but this is the first time
    I've ever posted to it.

    Usenet in general has been losing popularity over the years. I started
    on Usenet back in 1983 in college. Picked it up again in the late '90s,
    and have been a regular subscriber to several groups since then. Some
    of the binary groups get a lot of traffic, but discussion groups are
    pretty much non-existent anymore. I subscribe to a discussion group
    related to a band that I like, but it seems like it died about 15 years
    ago. There are still posts to it, but they are from psychotic people
    ranting about politics instead of discussing the band.

    Stamp collecting in general has also seen a major decline in popularity.
    I'm 55 years old, and I go to stamp shows a few times a year. We have
    one locally that's once a year that used to draw dozens of vendors and a couple thousand people. Last year, it was noticeably smaller. I
    overheard one vendor saying that at least half a dozen vendors from the previous year had either died, or were in such poor health that they had retired. At the shows I go to, I am usually by far the youngest person
    there (as I said, I'm 55).

    There are websites devoted to stamp collecting that get a fair amount of traffic. I think that's where most collectors are going.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Stan Fairchild@21:1/5 to All on Wed Nov 25 15:55:07 2020
    On Wednesday, October 21, 2020 at 4:49:52 PM UTC-4, me wrote:
    In article <rmlbi5$1n30$1...@gioia.aioe.org>,
    "David E. Ross" <not_me@not_there.invalid> wrote:

    On 10/19/2020 1:28 PM, Victor Manta wrote:
    "Victor Manta" wrote in message news:hu9ed1...@mid.individual.net...

    The last posting on RCSD was on 5/15/2020, then nothing newer came...

    Thanks to only two collectors who participated in this thread.

    Of course, it is disappointing to see how this once so popular NG has "melted" to the point where it has become rather insignificant.

    It was also strange to notice that even in these conditions of quasi anonimity the amount and frequency of themes OFF TOPIC added was surprisingly high.

    Anyway, have fun with stamp collecting and stay safe!

    Victor Manta

    [begin rant]

    It's not merely this newsgroup. Many newsgroups used to have quite
    robust, on-topic discussions. That seems to have ended. And that is
    very sad.

    NNTP (network news transport protocol) has a large advantage over
    Web-based forums. A Web-based forum is owned and controlled by whoever
    owns the Web site. On the other hand, newsgroups propagate over many
    NNTP servers. If one NNTP server fails or the owner decides to shut it down, we can always go to another server without missing anything.

    Similarly, if the owner of a Web-based forum decides to censor messages arbitrarily, nothing can be done about it. No one NNTP server operator
    can block what is propagating among the other servers. Yes, there are moderated newsgroups; but often, there are multiple moderators for a newsgroup limiting the ability of one person to be a censor.

    [end rant]
    This newsgroup is in my subscription list, but this is the first time
    I've ever posted to it.

    Usenet in general has been losing popularity over the years. I started
    on Usenet back in 1983 in college. Picked it up again in the late '90s,
    and have been a regular subscriber to several groups since then. Some
    of the binary groups get a lot of traffic, but discussion groups are
    pretty much non-existent anymore. I subscribe to a discussion group
    related to a band that I like, but it seems like it died about 15 years
    ago. There are still posts to it, but they are from psychotic people
    ranting about politics instead of discussing the band.

    Stamp collecting in general has also seen a major decline in popularity.
    I'm 55 years old, and I go to stamp shows a few times a year. We have
    one locally that's once a year that used to draw dozens of vendors and a couple thousand people. Last year, it was noticeably smaller. I
    overheard one vendor saying that at least half a dozen vendors from the previous year had either died, or were in such poor health that they had retired. At the shows I go to, I am usually by far the youngest person
    there (as I said, I'm 55).

    There are websites devoted to stamp collecting that get a fair amount of traffic. I think that's where most collectors are going.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Tony Clayton@21:1/5 to Victor Manta on Mon Feb 15 23:05:57 2021
    On 08/10/2020 22:24, Victor Manta wrote:
    The last posting on RCSD was on 5/15/2020, then nothing newer came...

    I still remember that a long time ago there were here over 1000
    posting in a month.

    Victor Manta, PWO

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Philatelic Webmasters Organization & Abusives: http://pwmo.org/
    Art on Stamps: http://artonstamps.org/
    Romania by Stamps: http://marci-postale.com/
    Communism on Stamps: http://reds-on.postalstamps.biz/
    Spanish North Africa: http://www.sna-on.postalstamps.biz/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------


    I have a look occasionally, but with many internet chat areas this idea
    of using newsgroups has declined

    Best wishes

    Tony

    --
    Tony Clayton
    www.coins-of-the-uk.co.uk


    --
    This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
    https://www.avg.com

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From James@21:1/5 to All on Mon Mar 15 06:12:33 2021
    Greetings from Tokyo. Stamp hound swamped with mostly used Japanese from
    1960's to present. Just rediscovered usenet after many many years. Glad
    to see this is still here! Any lurkers?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)