I joined VFB when Byard first started it. Prior to that, I subscribed to a list run by Ross Purnell under the auspices of Fly Fisherman Magazine. That list died for a while, probably due to a server failure, and the owners of that list at that time had other priorities to deal with and so we were left without a fly tying & fly fishing list until Byard came to our rescue with an invitation to join VFB.
I believe that it is very hard to reinvent ourselves and go back to what the list used to be like. For one, the list is not the same without the people that were on the list at the time it was fun. My local fly fishing club has a similar problem and many long time members complain that the club is not as good as it used to be. The point is that members and people come and go, sometime due to lack of interest, due to job location and sometimes due to death. A list is like a club and is influenced by its members. When the members change, so does the influence. I believe that it is not possible to have the same rapport, respect, knowledge, fun etc as in the early days of this list without the same people. Hopefully we can have similar. Nothing remains the same for long however and change is constant. Like Tony, I can think of a lot of former VFB'ers that no longer subscribe to this list. Others come and go for whatever reason. Are we clicky? I think we are to a point. We should welcome new members more that we do currently. When we go off on tangents which I am not interested in, I just find the delete key. Perhaps we are stale or bored and that is why the conversation has little to do with fly tying & fishing. Byard, you used to have more to say than you do now. Your postings are now quite rare. Neville (Nev) Gosling Greater Vancouver, B.C. Canada
