Pathology or hobby?

[Teo Zenios]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Foust" <jfoust at threedee.com>
To: <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Monday, May 16, 2005 11:02 AM
Subject: Pathology or hobby?


> At 08:17 PM 5/14/2005, Tom Jennings wrote:
> >It's cause for serious personal reflection -- are you a packrat
> >or a collector?  Packrat syndrome is serious, the cliche is a
> >house filled with bundled newspapers and magazines stacked to
> >the ceiling, that falls on the elderly 'rat, killing them, etc.
> >I know someone else with packrat-itis. I suspect it's rampant
> >in this list.
>
> I'm confident it's rampant on this list.  Sellam said "A collector
> collects.  A packrat accumulates."  There's plenty of room for
> semantics here.  So where's the fine line between collecting
> whatever you can get your hands on, and packrat-ism?  It's slippery
> slope, starting with one of something, then more for spare parts.
> For some, the only upper bound is available space.
>
> I could write a book on it.  Many other people have.  There are
> many motivations, many potential causes and behaviors and beliefs
> that perpetuate it.  I'm all for a libertarian view of life that
> lets people live in their parent's basement and collect old
> computers, but on the other hand there's also room for advice
> about what makes life worth living, and how an excess of possessions
> can overwhelm your life.  There is a cost to collecting / accumulating,
> even if the computers are free.
>
> - John
>

In my view a collector looks for specific machines and parts to complete his
collection and does not have many multiples of duplicates. A packrat will
take anything in that is offered to him working or not, even if he has no
space for it.