posted 10-06-2007 07:36 PM               

• requesting astronauts' and other personalities' addresses; and

• sharing "successes" when receiving responses in the mail.

Address requests

It has been a long standing policy on collectSPACE not to allow addresses to be posted without the permission of the person whose address it is, as to avoid violating anyone's privacy. That rule gave rise to posts asking for other members to e-mail them addresses.

Having a forum full of single post threads asking for someone's address doesn't seem to be a very good use of a board, so I want to present two choices and entertain other ideas as to a solution.

Choice 1: Begin a single catch-all topic where all address requests would be posted. Each post in the thread would be a different request. If another member wants the same address as one already posted, they are to e-mail the person who first asked for it, rather than post the same request again.

Choice 2: Recognizing there are other groups for the discussion of astronaut addresses, as well as commercial address lists, ban address requests altogether, and refer those who do post them to other venues.

"Successes"

Some have expressed a concern that by members posting when an autograph request is received, that it in turn can cause a rise in requests to the sender, which can then sometimes dissuade further responses (especially when the sender is someone who is not known to be a prolific signer).

Others have suggested that such "success" posts may either be read by the astronauts or get back to them, which can have either positive or negative consequences.

Perhaps these concerns are in the minority, or maybe they are of the silent majority. To learn which, I am suggesting two options, and entertaining other ideas.

Choice 1: Restore (the temporarily removed) "Autographs in the mail" thread and allow posting of "successes" to continue.

Choice 2: Leave the thread removed and while not banning collectors from sharing the autographs they receive, encourage that they do so with more than just a status report based on the daily mail.

Members and readers are welcome to post their thoughts about these topics as responses to this thread, or if you prefer, e-mail them to me for consideration.

posted 10-06-2007 09:07 PM               

On the "Address Request", I think having it as a seperate topic altogether and not mix the requests in with other autograph questions, and then have collectSpace members follow your Choice 1.

On the "Successes" make this also a part of the seperate topic above, and have members follow your Choice 2.

posted 10-07-2007 02:24 AM               

Let's imagine for a moment that someone had a TTM success with Neil Armstrong (I know this is HIGHLY unlikley) and posted that success to this forum. Instead of having to deal with a handful of requests per day his assistant would end up having to deal with sack-loads of requests. I use Neil Armstrong only as an example.... but this statement is valid for ALL signers.

I seem to recall that someone posted a success with Fred Haise on this forum around 18 months ago and heard that Freddo got inundated with requests... to which end he stopped signing TTM completely and now only signs via dealer organised signings/shows.

If you must share your success you could share it with your close friends rather than sharing it with however many read this forum.

Just my tuppence-worth,

posted 10-07-2007 03:03 AM               

Nobody wants success messages on this board to have a negative effect on future requests.

posted 10-07-2007 08:03 AM               

Regards,

posted 10-07-2007 09:02 AM               

I heard the Freddo signed TTM 6-7 years ago, got an item signed by him but kept it quiet through the reason that Derek mentioned. So when a TTM success was posted I thought he would get swamped by request in the end.

posted 10-07-2007 11:19 AM               

Alex.

posted 10-07-2007 12:19 PM               

When it comes to successes, even though I love reading about other people's successes I think Choice 2 is the right one.

posted 10-07-2007 06:50 PM               

Address requests:
Choice 1: Begin a single catch-all topic where all address requests would be posted. Each post in the thread would be a different request. If another member wants the same address as one already posted, they are to e-mail the person who first asked for it, rather than post the same request again.

Successes
Choice 2: Leave the thread removed and while not banning collectors from sharing the autographs they receive, encourage that they do so with more than just a status report based on the daily mail.

posted 10-08-2007 09:12 AM            

Decades before this website the first question one wants to know about a person whose autograph is considered is how well they sign, what they sign or what they don't sign.

Successes are just as noteworthy if not more so than those who go about getting them by mail rather than in person.

posted 10-08-2007 09:13 AM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by Wehaveliftoff:
Don't be such a control freak!

---

I think the intent here is to continue to provide some level of assistance for folks while trying to "protect" the astronauts/test pilots/program officials from a torrent of new mail requests because someone posts successes on a web site.

I admittedly don't send very many requests, but for those times when I do I buy an address list from a known source. I get it updated every 1 1/2 yrs or so. And I don't normally post my "successes".

Few things tick me off more than seeing items posted on e-Bay by folks who probably saw that someone is having "success" getting items signed -- they mail off a request and then put 'em on e-Bay before the ink is dry. No wonder many of the early astronauts stopped responding.

posted 10-08-2007 03:00 PM               

Success - Choice #2

I think most of the posts in the "Autographs in the mail" were shuttle related. I think it is useful to know who does and doesn't sign through the mail. I don't think if a reader reported a success with Janice Voss (or any of the other great signers) that there would be an influx of requests to that astronaut. Anyone that had a desire for Janice autograph, that has been collecting for more than a few years, probably got it long ago and would not send a new request. I am not sure being an astronaut fan and collector is a bad thing for either the collector or for the astronaut getting the support and well wishes. But I would really hate to see any astronaut be turned off from autographing through the mail because of over zealous collectors.

posted 10-08-2007 03:43 PM               

On the 2nd question, I tend to abstain. For one, reporting successes is part of my own yahoo list, and doing so again on Collectspace is simply placing the same information on two sites.

Most of these reports are fairly uncontroversial as they concern fairly uncomplicated astronauts with fairly average careers who will never be victim to uncontrolled floods of requests as the early veterans have been and are.

Most if not all of these early veterans have stopped signing through the mail anyway. That is a fact, and in the few years those impressive people still have remaining they will not change their policy. So reports about those successes will be very few and far in between.

Personnally, where I had those unexpected successes, I kept them for myself, for the very reason Robert cites: making it public would have triggered an unprecedented wave of requests in their mailbox, making them hopeless in the process.

The late Wally Schirra, for instance, was always generous enough to grant the one or other request through the mail even though he had signed up with commercial businesses. Why spoil the source by stupid bragging? I never did. Of course, the world is full of self-possessed idiots, and consequently these things happened. Is it necessary to stamp out the field where the occasional bad flower was flourishing? I don't think so. Alas, the damage is done.

------------------
Jürgen P Esders
Berlin, Germany

International Director (Europe), Space Unit
Vice President, Weltraum Philatelie e. V.

posted 10-08-2007 04:26 PM               

I have reported successes on this board in the past and I also loved reading about the successes that other people reported.

In my case I was always proud (and happy) to report about a success I had. (I always ask astronauts to dedicate the pictures to me because I have never sold or will sell any autographed pictures in the future... even double items). They are just for my personal collection.

The moment Derek posted his message I understood his point. So I immediately removed my success messages at the Astroaddies board as well, because I don't want to harm the astronauts or the other collectors by posting my success messages.

For collectSPACE I would choose to change the rule to choice number: 2 in both topics.

A monthly success list on Astroaddies without mentioning the turn around time and details should be sufficient... Oh and also keep some successes a secret (like I do as well).

Friendly greetings,

posted 10-08-2007 05:35 PM               

I am a enthusiast who simply wants to share his little moment of glory with people who enjoy the same hobby and i have no interest whatsoever in making any financial gain from it,this is in fact i believe a greater harm to our hobby then simply disclosing our successes.

Alex.

posted 10-09-2007 01:49 PM               

Imagine someone came to your door and asked for £1 to buy a cup of tea and you happily gave the caller £1. Then the caller bragged about it publicly and you had 1000 people at your door looking for £1. You'd be pretty disgruntled wouldn't you?

posted 10-09-2007 02:29 PM               

Alex.

posted 10-10-2007 07:25 AM               

Perhaps it might be interesting for us to know how many people do actually visit Collectspace regularly and how many go to the "Autographs" section.

I'm sure many people would be quite surprised by the high number of people attending this site.

Jürgen

------------------
Jürgen P Esders
Berlin, Germany

International Director (Europe), Space Unit
Vice President, Weltraum Philatelie e. V.

posted 10-10-2007 11:01 AM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by eurospace:
Perhaps it might be interesting for us to know how many people do actually visit Collectspace regularly and how many go to the "Autographs" section.

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posted 10-11-2007 01:51 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
collectSPACE averages 100,000 readers per month. 'Autographs' is the 10th (out of 26) most popular forum and 30th most popular area/page of the site as a whole.

---

Now let us imagine that just 1% of the monthly visitors feel motivated to write a letter to one astronaut about whom he/she has read a message about a positive reply. That would be 1000 letters to this poor fella in one just month. Now imagine the name of the astronaut is "Wally Schirra" or - beware - Neil Armstrong, and you can imagine what happens in their mailboxes.

To compare, my own yahoo group "Astroaddies" (that allows both posting addresses as reporting about successes - actually this is what the group is about) has just 429 members. Another similar group on yahoo is a little larger, but still a far shot from the Collectspace audience. Posted there, I doubt a "success story" makes much of a difference.

In any case, these comparisons allow a better appreciation of what the actual debate is about.

------------------
Jürgen P Esders
Berlin, Germany

International Director (Europe), Space Unit
Vice President, Weltraum Philatelie e. V.

posted 10-11-2007 01:58 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by eurospace:
Even though I suspect that "100.000" means hits, not readers, as people might visit several times. Or am I wrong?

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