Dear Dan,
 
Welcome to the club. Conch-L is the most vivacious listserver I've seen on
the Net, and one of the most informative. The members really do listen to
one another and answer each other's questions. Some of my favorite
discussions have been on:
 
the best places to collect modern and fossil shells
how to distinguish species that the reference books don't distinguish
adequately
book reviews and announcements, some of them hot off the press
announcements of new web sites and catalogs
how to catalog shells, on paper and electronically
how to photograph microshells
how to clean shells
what to do with smelly old shells
how to recognize shells with faked colors
the ins and outs of Latin nomenclature
stories about shells
dreams about shells
thoughts on why we collect shells
 
Conchlers have participated in the planning stages of a new mollusk exhibit
at a major museum, written letters of inquiry about upcoming legislation on
shell collecting, and written letters of support for museums whose mollusk
collections were in danger of losing their funding. We have an ongoing,
direct communication among collectors, shell dealers, shell-book
publishers, editors, researchers, and curators. All ages are represented.
Not everyone speaks up; we have a large number of "lurkers" who write in
only occasionally. We also have a few vivid personalities whose jokes are
the stuff of legend.
 
Conch-L's parent organization, the Conchologists of America, operates a
highly informative web site whose authors have benefited from these
discussions. Past discussions ("threads") are archived and contain a wealth
of good advice. And if the volume of messages threatens to overwhelm your
computer account, you can arrange to have the subscription turned off for a
while, or to have the messages arrive in a condensed "digest" form.
 
I hope you enjoy Conch-L. It's great to be in a world-spanning conversation
about shells, and get to know other people who are interested in your fa
vorite subject.
 
Andrew K. Rindsberg
Geological Survey of Alabama