I think everyone knows by now that I reside in a cardboard wasteland. There are no thrift stores that contain cards. No antique shops either. There are no flea markets. There are no card shops (there was once one that has since morphed into a memorabilia/sportswear shop). Card shows make a stop an hour away from me 2 or 3 times a year. Fortunately, the internet compensates for that. I often think what my collection and perspective on cards would be without the internet. No doubt, the collection would be much smaller and far less varied. And my perspective would probably be rooted in 1993. I'd likely still be on a quest to figure out what happened to Fleer baseball cards. I've come across collectors who don't follow the hobby online. It's obvious they are not up on the current state of cards at all. Often they are 20, 30 years behind. And that's fine if you're not interested in the cards being made today. It's not like you're going to be asked to...
Up all hours talking baseball, cardboard & collecting