Post #144929 by Kono on Sun, Mar 6, 2005 6:57 AM

I have no problem with anyone forming a little private group for whatever purpose. The part that bugs me (and hey, I slept fine last night, it doesn't bug me THAT much) is the whole inviting people w/o big collections but have knowledge and then tell them please don't share anything you've learned in our forum. Why hoard the info? What do these knowledgable people get out of the deal? They get to look at pictures and maybe learn a bit more but if they can't come back here and share that with people who are really interested in tiki, then what good is it?

Al, I think it is very telling that the list of proposed members is primarily based off of ebay competition. When I read the list I immediately thought of several TC members who should be on the list (Sabu was first in mind) and I think it just goes to show us that this is first and foremost about ebay. The people in this forum are into many different aspects of Tiki: art, urban archeology, history of PolyPop, history of Hawaii and the South Pacific, folklore, drinks, food, drinks, socializing, exotica, all the different types of music associated with HI and the SP, surf music, drinks and yes, collecting (thrifting, antiquing and garage sales) and ebay. But the collecting is only one part of it here on TC. If these "high end collectors" had such great love and dedication to TIKI in all it's forms then they couldn't help but be active participating members here.

Here's an idea for any "high end collector" who may be reading this and feels too intimidated and worried about being judged to actually post here. Don't tell us who you are! Maybe a half dozen TC members have ever learned my ebay handle, and that's just because I won something from them. I originally kept it secret to prevent bid stalking (an easy way to look for cool stuff is to search what another ebayer is bidding on) but now I keep it secret only so that if I beat out another TCer there are no hard feelings.

If Frank invites Dan and Wendy and Tim and all the others over to his house for a big trading party and I'm not invited, it doesn't bother me at all and neither does this proposed private forum. What does bug me a bit is that the COLLECTOR people (which is as far as we know at this time maybe two people) want to invite a few TIKI people to the party, obviously to pick their brains, but then they cannot go back to the other TIKI people and talk about the wonders that they have seen. It's just weird. It is very unlikely that there will be group trips to the Mai Kai, or that drink recipes will be shared nor will there likely be discussions about great exotica albums, it'll be about ebay and trading items through the mail. And that's fine. I just don't get the purpose of keeping what information is gained a secret from those of us who can live happily without that mug or menu but still want to know about the history of PolyPop.