Every hobby has its sites like Joe's. I wouldn't hesitate to guess that lots of Joe's members visit and are members of other hobby forums that are totally unrelated to HW's. The longest I have been a member of a hobby forum is about 15 years. Some I have belonged to have slowly faded away or just plain shut down for various reasons and others are still going strong. On a daily basis, I usually visit Joe's, a couple of military toy sites, a couple of other diecast car sites, and a couple of Shelby owners forums. The military toy sites are my favorite but with the demise of 21st Century and the decline in companies making 1/18 & 1/32 military items, there is just nothing to be found at WM, Target, and TRU except on very rare occasions.

Its not hard at all to become familiar with other members over a period of time even if you never see them in person. Some members will open up their personal lives to all without hesitation on a forum while others are more reserved in that area. Joe's is certainly one of the more friendly sites which is why I think a lot of members ended up here. I left one of my favorite sites simply because of a couple of members who just enjoyed making nasty remarks a little too much. Even if you blocked their comments, everyone else was seeing any nasty remarks being made about your posts. Sad that some people are like that. Most sites, like Joe's, will let that kind of member know real quickly that things like that are not appreciated. Not everyone here at Joe's like the same style of diecast but if a negative remark is made, its usually in a civil manner. I like that about Joe's.