Well, I've been here since about the time Bill set up the site. I have always felt at home here and Tuco's site with both sites acting more like brother sites than competitors. Somehow my original log-on information went bye bye so I had to re-register thus my low post count.

I knew Big Mike and he did post here from time to time. Near the end of his life he got bogged down with blood sugar problems so his posts tapered off all over the internet. He is sorely missed and was one of those guys who was a one of the kind, broke the mould, not going to be another like him sort of man. You either loved him or hated him and I really loved that big guy.

I also want to mention Dan Mayfield. Dan went by DM_FL but he may have logged in here using some variation of that name. Dan passed on in 2006 as the result of a sudden heart attack at the age of 43. Dan was generous to a fault and always pleasant to every person I ever saw him talk to. He was also one of the best amateur historians I ever encountered. He amassed an amazing collection that spanned rare French, Italian, Dutch and Austrian pieces but went out in all directions. When his collection was liquidated a lot of people were really amazed at the depth and quality of Dan's collection. Dan was not an educated person but he was one hell of a great guy and is deeply missed by myself. Indeed, I stopped going to the Ft. Myers gunshow after Dan died as it I just could not stand to see his spot filled by someone else.

As to the slowing down of the gun collecting related sites. I agree with much of the sage discussion that preceded my comments. I would only add that for those of us who involved in these sites in the mid 90s it is so true that we really had a large family, tribe, community, what have you. We all basically knew each other, followed each others posts, usually behaved pretty well, played jokes and pranks on each other and felt we were on the cutting edge of collecting that represented history that had been ignored by the previous generations of collectors. They were truly halcyon days and will remain in the minds of those who were part of the community with warm tones and broad smiles. The good news is that collecting, like the economy is cyclical. I saw the community starting to slip as early as 2003 when large numbers of collectors and potential collectors were called up for duty in SW Asia. Within a few years after that time the economy began to slide for many of us and the ability to be involved in gun collecting with all that entails became strained. As bad as things are today, with large numbers of folks still in war zones and the economy seemingly bottoming out I am hopeful that we may well see a return to collecting within the next five years or less. We are still a strong community and we are , frankly, better informed now that we ever were in the past. Don't write us off yet! The 100th anniversary of the beginning of WWI is approaching and I would be willing to bet that will really coincide with a much larger and wider interest in the arms used in that conflict.