[Rockhounds] "list where the knowledge of many is shared freely"

[Tim Fisher]

That's a bizarre debate. Sounds like the smog is getting a little 
thick down in SoCal. Greed and selfishness is killing this already 
dying hobby. Sharing collecting sites makes sense if only from a 
survivalist perspective; if everything was kept secret, what would 
newcomers to the hobby do? Spend years tracking down new places to 
find rocks, fossils, minerals etc.? Wrong. They would get 
disillusioned and find something else to do with their spare time. I 
have seen it happen, in fact this "hoarder" mentality has caused the 
death of some of the local rock clubs. You can only tell someone "no" 
a few times before they get the hint and go away for good. Maybe I 
will Join LA Rocks just to post a few hundred pairs of GPS coords I 
have for CA collecting sites :D

At 06:33 PM 12/20/2007, you wrote:
>PawPawTiger  said Rockhounds is a "list where  the knowledge of many is
>shared freely". A furious debate is raging on the  LARocks 
>discussion group about
>sharing the locations of places to collect rocks  and minerals at, 
>and I'd like
>to see some opinions of the rockhounds on  this list.  Do you think
>rockhounds should share the location of collection  sites, or should 
>people have to
>earn the right to this knowledge by going out  first with someone 
>else?  Is the
>knowledge of a collecting site  "intellectual property", and thus should be
>paid for?  Is it wrong to post  GPS coordinates for others to 
>use?  I'd sure like
>to hear what you have to  say.
>

Tim Fisher
Ore-ROCK-On!
Email address at http://OreRockOn.com