Dear Conch-L people,
I had vanished for months but fortunately not kidnapped or harmed. I am just
not well.
With great sadness as I come to know about the passing of Mr. Frank Walker
and many collectors and conchologists. Health is more important then wealth
and shells. The shell bugs are always in me. Even though I'm not well I'll
still follow the conch-l when I feel strong.
Sorry to anyone (including Ross) if I had not reply.
Conch-L keeps people alive ! At least there is something to look forward to.

SIM of Borneo.
[log in to unmask]

I had just asked my worker to dispatch a box of shells this morning by
registered airmail to Tennessee USA.
----- Original Message -----
From: Ross Mayhew <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, June 23, 2001 10:12 AM
Subject: Re: Reputations, Sim from Borneo, and beginners


> 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.