I chose not to post when John first posed his questions as to the future of the Collector Forums for several reasons. The two most important were my desire to not influence what other members said and to not pre-empt others from posting. Members who have responded have hit on the same thoughts I have always had concerning the forums. My beliefs:

• The forums are an invaluable treasure trove of information for those willing to do a little searching. Sometimes the searches can be cumbersome, but they do produce results. There have been some great discussions. Many questions have been posed and answered. Insights have been shared with other collectors.

• In the past, many of us shared travelogues of our lighthousing adventures. Those travelogues are still available and have guided many in their adventures. I have used other’s trips to plan my own, and I know people have used some of mine. Unfortunately, several years ago the forums changed servers and at that point all the images were moved, the links lost. That is one of my biggest disappointments as there were many, many really great images shared. Search the Lighthouse Travel Center.

• I do believe that many of the people who show up as “guests” are regular visitors and even members who are not signed in. Unlike other sites, we have never required someone to be a member or sign in to read the various forums (with the exception of the few private ones). The only hitch to this is that if you are not signed in you can’t see images posted using the new method of posting the images. Some, like me, just stay signed in permanently so we do show up in the visitor logs.

• While we don’t have the same level of interaction we had “back in the day”, many do still stop by the forums to check up on the friends they have made thru Harbour Lights, collecting and the Collector Forums. The members truly did become an extended family, especially when there were HL events to attend. We planned and plotted and got everything set up to have a great time. The highlights of those gatherings were the Rosemont shows (and the one at Navy Pier). I would venture a guess that many reading this have some great memories of those events or meeting up at regionals or store events!

I have enough funds available to pay the server bills through early next year. The domain registration is good thru sometime next spring. I believe there is great value in leaving the Collector Forums open for business at this point. We are the sole remaining open source of information on Harbour Lights so people will continue to look for and find us – whether or not they register.