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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;ewomack, post: 24675178, member: 15588&quot;]I have never known, via a face-to-face tangible personal relationship, another coin collector in my entire life. I&#039;ve collected completely in isolation for that entire time. I was the only one I knew who bought coin magazines, or went to shows, or went to coin shops. Sure, I ran into other collectors at shows or shops, but I&#039;ve never made any personal connections in either venue (we were all probably too focused on the coins). In this way I fit into category &quot;1.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>My interest in the hobby had waned pretty much to nothing before I found out about coin forums. Many virtual interactions, a great number on this forum, fueled my second phase of collecting. I <i>highly</i> doubt that I would have started up again had I not joined the coin forum community. The ability to buy coins online didn&#039;t hurt that resurgence, either. In this way, I arguably fit into category &quot;3.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>At many times in the past, I&#039;ve tried to find non-virtual &quot;coin friends,&quot; but I have never found a single person who showed the slightest bit of interest when I mentioned the subject. In fact, some people seemed to think I was a little strange for bringing up coins in that context. One or two told me so outright. As such, over the years I&#039;ve become pretty shy about coins with people I meet. The only other collectors I&#039;ve ever known to this day were virtual. In this way, I identify somewhat with category &quot;2.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>Given all of that, and given how my interaction with coins has changed over time, I think it&#039;s fair to say that I&#039;m likely now a &quot;3,&quot; in that I don&#039;t think that I would enjoy collecting entirely alone in complete isolation. If the internet vanished, I think I would completely lose interest, similar to the way I did following my first phase of collecting. Without the Internet, I don&#039;t think I would have bought a single coin in the last 20 years.</p><p><br /></p><p>I think my second phase is starting to wane. My interest in the hobby feels weaker than ever over the past few years and the Internet interactions feel less meaningful than they once did. Other things have begun to draw my interest and I feel coins moving more into the background. Perhaps I&#039;m more like GDJMSP in that I would prefer to talk and read about coins, but the desire to actually buy and possess them no longer appeals to me.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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