Mr. Abenheim, a major intellect and highly valuable contributor to this forum and others, seems to have blown to the four winds.

Is it for good this time? I can't be alone in hoping someone can draw him back to The Fold. For now, IMO he's sadly missed.

Hi I emailed Donald and will not discuss his private business here however his leaving had little to do with this forum. He will be sadly missed but has indicated that he will not be returning. It is a shame. His leaving is a severe blow and a loss for the forum in general. Ryan S

As much as I hate admit it I believe the forums have had their heyday and are now on the decline; not in pure numbers perhaps but certainly in the quality of the membership. Many moons ago there were a large number of the older and more knowledgeable collectors here. I guess they came to see what the internet forums were all about. The forums were great to begin with. Now the sort of people who like to cause trouble and argument abound and it is these folks who have caused the experienced guys to leave. When you get older you really have no time for some of the nonsense that goes on here. The older guys were (are) in it for the love of the history and the hobby. The newer guys???...I don't know...investment??

The newer collectors in my youth (like me) always listened to what the "old guys" had to say and learned from their sage advice. Nowadays the young ones don't seem to have the same respect and they like to question their opinions and time-gained experience. After a while, enough is enough and they (for the most part) have all left.

Once the others leave I'm afraid it will be the blind leading the blind on the forums while the older guys continue to collect the way they used to...by networking and discussing amongst themselves.

I too have talked to Donald and he will not be back. For a few of us older guys though there may be something else in the works. I hope it can happen.

Cheers,

I just can follow Darryl's words. There where days here with the top guys.

While I too hate to see someone with Donalds expertise leave perhaps it's ineventful. We've had a lot of very knowledgeable people leave over the past few years. This has always been puzzling to me since you can always ignore any thread that's not to your likeing or not communicate with those that displease you.
I will contine to participate here if for no other reason then that it allows me to stay in touch with the many friends I've made in the hobby over the years.
I think most of us learn after a while that there are certain topics,and I'm not alluding to politics here, that it's best to avoid. Additionally we've had participants it times who have just come here to start something and they are IMO no loss at all.
Well I guess time will tell!!
Jim

All though I am not a contributer to this forum I do enjoy the post here for the learning.I have been on the site for a couple of years and as Darryl write's there have been people who I see and I'm sure other's see who come here to stir nothing but trouble.Donald will be missed .

In my humble opinion the GDC and other fourms are an invaluable place for us to share knowledge and learn, I've learned so much here, and it is always sad to lose members whose knowledge is so defined and researched, be it through pouring over original items, documents and publications for years,or a combination of all of the above.

Like all things, forums like this have a lot of give and take.

It is incumbent on the old guys to have patience with the new and inexperienced, which is difficult as ignorance usually talks louder than wisdom.

Newcomers should be obliged (although not many follow this) to:

do a search of the forums to see if something has already been discussed to death (if I see one more SS enamel M1/4 "member's pin" I think I'll scream)
spend $500 on books before they buy $5 in militaria
don't howl and get insulting when they get 9 replies that something is bad
keep a civil tongue in your head (which goes doubly for the old dogs who should know better)
assume people are trying to help and be generous with their hard won knowledge

We're in a hobby that is sadly full of lies, deceit, fakes and fakers, (not to mention egos) and it's hard to not say something harsh when someone posts: "...I know nothing about German medals - could someone look at this Blood Order I bought?" If you don't now anything about it, why are you buying it?

Some suffer fools more gladly than others, and it is a loss to us all when someone with exceptional knowledge leaves and takes it with them.