The Philatelic Establishment

This comment will demonstrate why I not very positive about a lot of the established philatelic organizations. Let's take the main German one, the BDPh. I was nearly 31 years a member, yet due to employment issues, in these 31 years, I was a member of several “local” clubs. The government always preaches that employees should be mobile and flexible. Yet, even though, I sent the info to my local club and should have gotten my 25 year pin, nobody in my former local club lifted a finger.

When I complained at the central office in Bonn, the reception of my call was something else. To call it bureaucratic would be insulting the bureaucrats. The same sort , and other slightly different additional griefs caused me to chuck the two ArGe's that I was a member of.

Since I was a teenager, I've been a member of the US society, the GPS, except for the time I was in Brazil. The currency controls made me stop paying dues. Later, when I was back in Germany, I restarted. One day a small package came in the mail with my massive 25 year medal. I didn't have to lift a finger!

Another quarrel is my website. When I asked if the BDPh could contain a hyperlink to my Zeppelin-site (the one you're in) and a mention in the “Philately” of the BDPh, the answer was, should we say, unmistakably negative. Yet when I asked Janet Krug, when she was president of the APS, she looked at the site and found it worthy to add a hyperlink to my site on the official APS page.

Also some editors (past and present) of journals seem to resent websites and refused to publish stuff form my site, just on principle. Exceptions that have no problem with using my shtick are worth mentioning:

The Airpost Journal

The German Specialist

The Bull's Eye

The Zeppelin Post

And yet the others always talk about research and information for the members and always begging for articles.

I though hobbies were something special, but it's like normal life.