First, i would just like to encourage everyone to help cultivate the
interest of beginning conchologists or budding malacologists, whether
they are young or old: not only is this the kind and proper thing to do,
but take a look around you in the Shell World: is the average age of its
inhabitants getting younger or  older?  Which is more common to hear of:
an eager new arrival, or someone dying or losing interest gradually?
However, i think it is prudent, when entering into a trade with a
beginner, that they should send first - to help minimize
misunderstandings later, the less established person is usually the one
that should send their material first: i think this is a common sense
general principle.

Whenever i hear someone publically denounced as a "shell thief",
"swindler", "cheat" or any other of many unwelcome name-callings, i
think "Well, here we go again"!!  There are only a tiny handful of true
Dark Hats in our little domain, but many are are accused, most of them
wrongly in my experience. Take the example of someone who has not
returned a trade after 2 or 3 months or even longer - the possible
reasons are numerous: they could be ill, the package sent might not have
arrived for any number of reasons, it or the return package may be held
up by customs or the Fish and Wildlife boys, the recipient may have had
to take a sudden trip due to ill fortune of one sort or another, they
could simply be unsatisfied with the sendings for any of a variety of
reasons and just didn't reply (the "hang up response"), they could have
misplaced the shells they had intended to send and are looking for
more.....the list is endless.  In the meantime, if the initial sender
gets up and announces to the world that they are rotten to the core,
their reputation is SERIOUSLY harmed - even if things work out in the
end and there is an apology, or if others rush to the accused's defence,
the harm has been done.  So, i put out this plea: Before saying
something that can harm someone's reputation for years and years, get
OVERWHELMING evidence from several sources - i could put this principle
in simpler, less kind terms (like "engage brain BEFORE opening mouth"),
but let's just leave it at this: the more drastic the action considered,
the greater the evidence should be required.

Regarding Sim from Borneo, i fear something has happened very drastic
there: to my knowledge nobody has heard of or from him in months. Given
that he vanished at the same time that severe riots and civil unrest
were occuring in Borneo, i fear the worst.  He was an enthusiastic, very
active sheller for a number of years, and was engaged in a number of
transactions, on both the sending as well as the recieving end when he
dropped off the radar, and 8 of the 9 people i've heard from had kind
things to say about him.  Therefore, i am sad to conclude that it seems
we have lost one more member of our too-small community.  Let us hope i
am wrong, however......

From the Edge of the Universe (ok, it just feels like that at times!!);
Ross Mayhew.