Jim D -

For most purposes, hearsay is all we hear, and it's good enough.

Since I'm occasionally inclined to pass on things I think I know something about (and have been trying to overcome my tendency to blather on about things I don't know anything about) I find a need to keep things sorted into a variety of pigeon holes:

1. Things I'll probably never pass on, because they're BORING. I hardly ever make notes on these. (Religions, Politics, "What Physicists Think About" threads, etc.)

2. Things I'll never pass on because you guys are all idiots, and would just argue with me. I make a lot of notes on these, but usually don't keep them very long.(Religions, Politics, "What Physicists Think About" threads, etc.)

3. Things I just enjoy, and want to know more about. Being COAR, this is a constantly fluctuating category with several sub-divisions, the most persistent of which are my (our) "music collections" (currently 38,840 Title entries in index) and my art index (now up to about 45 inches of drawer space on 5x8 index cards, but I haven't counted them recently).

4. Things that are interesting enough that I might pass them on to friends. Because I'm approaching terminal CRS, notes are needed here but often get lost before I wish I could remember where I put them.

Several other less interesting categories.

What we've found on this painting puts it in a sub-note of category 3, because of subject matter; but I'd really prefer a little more authoritative info before I "card it" into my index. I don't usually make card entries until I have a confirmable artist credit and know where to find a decent copy of the work. I also usually have to like the work after I've seen a good image. (I've found it difficult to evaluate images that won't print passably at 13 x 19 inches or more. You frequently get a "totally wrong" impression of a work - and the artist - at smaller scale.)

I can also make a footnote in category 4, but wouldn't feel right about passing it on in most cases, simply because at present "confidence," the information I could pass on is as likely to be misleading as helpful. The only firm/reliable, and possibly helpful, info I could give would be that people can go look at Joybell's can.

John