Thanks for the e-mail John. I don't have anything new to add, but will jot down a few of my thoughts.
I have been a collector for many years now. My collection varies from LE's to LL's to lightships. I am also in the camp that is not the target audience for the balloons or the Golden Gate bridge.
I did however, purchase one of the dragons they produced and sold at the Balitmore reunion. Makes a wonderful addition to our clan table at the Scottish Games.

1. I have not been much of a poster from the start. I, like so many others can be catagorized as "silent partners" (I like that term better than "lurker.") I joined the Forum a few years ago, but liked that it was connected to the HL site. In fact, I did not check the Forum for long periods of time after it left the HL site.

2. I am also part of the many that have had life changes so that I have less time to surf or stay involved on the Forum. I have an 8 month old baby who has had some health issues and until a month ago, we have been spending most of our time caring for her and her needs. We also moved and I have been very involved with my career's professional associations and we have been working to get legislation through our own state, not leaving much time to chat about lighthouses.
Don't get me wrong, lighthouses and preservation are important and folks at work as well as all my friends think of me when they see a lighthouse or a reference to it. It warms my heart that maybe one of these people will later become involved in some way or at some point in time with lighthouse preservation.

3. I enjoy the Forum, but I do agree with those that have mentioned the "good ole boy/gal" factor. Knowing that many Forum members see each other at HL events or other Lighthouse events is going to lead to friendships and a degree of creating a group of people I would catagorize as "in the know" or "experts." Sometimes opinions are very one sided on some topics, but then again, I don't have to chime in with my opinion do I? I always find interesting information on the Forum and it adds to my HL interests.

4. The Youngers--Having collected other collectables such as Dept. 56 and such, I have never seen a corporation or family for that matter so interested in their collectors or what the collectables represent in the real world. One thing HL does that has not been mentioned yet is the education outreach. If you read books for schools or wish to present to schools on lighthouses, all you have to do is call them and give them the details and they will provide all the materials you will need. Yes, it is marketing, but it is also on hands education.

You can add in other factors such as the ecomony, the War, and the fact that the fad of lighthouses is like all other fads and it can and will fade somewhat. People that collect knomes for example know that, but they can still find new collectables and dealers.

I hope the Forum keeps going. I would love to see other ways of raising the funds to keep it going, such as a drawing.

Thanks for all your hard work and I hope the lights keep burning.