Re: Lurkers

[Ffishnfly]

I say amen.  There are so many groups around who suffer from terminal "elitism."  I recently was in Utah and had occasion to visit a fly shop in Park City.  When I walked in the door, the place smelled like money.  Pictures on the wall with the guides with the likes of Martha Stewart and others.  Not the same atmosphere as my favorite fly shops in the Seattle area.  I spent some money buying the flies I would use the next day on a local lake.  Then I made the mistake of showing my son in law a Winston rod I had purchased at a fly fishing auction.  The rod was bought with the promise that it had an unfilled warranty card.  However the individual who donated the rod to the auction could not find the card.  I bought a T&T LPS rod a few years ago from an individual and contacted T&T to see if it h! ad ever been registered.  They said no, and sent me a card to fill out.   Anyway, the owner of this fly show in Park City overheard me telling my son in law about the refusal of Winston to stand behind their product and send me another warranty card.  He then proceeded to lecture me for about 10 minutes on the importance of buying a rod through a "franchised auction, or dealer."  He would hear nothing of my arguments about Winston's refusal to stand behind their products.  I ended up selling the rod for what I had paid for it to another person who understood that it did not have a warranty card with it.  I will never buy another Winston product again because of this experience.  Interestingly, I received an email from the person who donated the rod to the auction that he had found the warranty card just a few days ago.   The bottom line of the above verbiage is that if we don't let the lurkers, and I really don't like that word, stay on, then we will be no different that the attitude of the owner of that fly shop.  Lots of us, due to health, work schedules, etc.,  just enjoy the vicarious experience of reading the posts to this website.  I lots of times will just drop into a flyshop to enjoy the feeling, talk to the employees, and buy a few flies.   Same thing on this website.  Some are more adept at expressing feelings, reports, etc.  But many are just enjoying the experience of being able to learn the small tidbits.  I have been flyfishing for many years.  I consider myself pretty knowledgeable, but I learn something new almost every day from this site.  So let the lurkers remain.   Let's not turn this into an elitist group, self centered and forgetting that each of us at one point was a novice.  I am still learning, whethe! r from experience, or others experience.  When I have something to say, I will say it.  Otherwise I will keep quiet, but my presence is still there contributing to the sport we all love. Roger Bellevue, WA