I never cease to be perplexed by the number of times I see folks coming on to AML and attempting to defend autographs and the sellers of autographs that are clearly bogus!

A common cry is something like, "You experts are so good that you can look at a fuzzy photo on eBay, or some other site, and tell me that it's fake? You better be careful what you say cuz I'm gonna set my lawyer on you!".

I know I'm stating the obvious but when will these people realise that THE VAST MAJORITY OF MEMBERS ON AML actually have a great craving for autographs? The signatures that interest them get a LOT of their time!!

I don't know how many Bob Charles, Walter Hagen, Bob Jones, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Gene Sarazen, Tiger Woods etc etc signatures I've looked at over the years but - - - it's a lot :)

If you're into baseball - how many Mantle's have you looked at? If you're into boxing - how many Ali's have you looked at? If you're into LOTR - how many McKellen's have you looked at .... and before Roger joins this discussion let me tell you that the number system probably does go high enough to count the number of Elvis (to name but one) he's looked at :)

So - to all you folks who criticise those of us who point out (sometimes very forcibly) bogus autographs the point I wish to make is this ............. it is this very fact that members interested in particular signatures have looked at\examined LOTS of exemplars of these signatures over the years that makes their opinions carry so much weight.

From looking at an autograph anyone who is truly interested in that signature may not be able to put his\her hand on his\her heart and tell you definitely that it IS authentic but in the vast majority of cases they will be able to definitively state that IT IS NOT authentic because it is varies too much\it is too atypical to the RANGE of exemplars they have studied.

When folks 'hammer' bogus autographs it is because they don't compare to the RANGE OF KNOWN VALID EXEMPLARS that have been examined.

If these defender\critics would please bear this in mind it will save an awful lot of keyboard strokes :)

For those who need this "RANGE" point hammered home - let me illustrate this with my latest exemplars. The absolutely stunning and talented German, operatic soprano - Dorothee Jansen - has spent the last week here in Queenstown having a little holiday and giving two performances. I was fortunate enough to "track her down" and she very kindly signed 3 photos for me. Here are the signatures from these photos :

Now just look at these signatures - all signed within a two minute period.

Pay particular attention to the formation of the capital "J" and "s" in her surname. None of them are the same.

Look at the capital "D" that begins the signature - none of them the same.

BUT - as you examine the rest of the signatures you begin to see things that remain fairly constant in Dorothee's signature - "orothee" is ALWAYS unbroken. There is ALWAYS a break after the "an". The "sen", to finish, is ALWAYS unbroken etc etc.

SO PLEASE - BEFORE YOU WASTE EVERYONE'S TIME CRITICISING MEMBERS WHO HIGHLIGHT BOGUS SIGNATURES - STOP, THINK AND REMIND YOURSELF THAT .... while individual signature exemplars may vary, members on this site who have a particular "thing" for certain autograph(s) have most definitely looked at a large range of exemplars and if they "cry foul" IT IS NOT WITHOUT REASON.

To the members of AML my personal comment is - MANY THANKS for all your input, keep up the good work because by highlighting the bad, you protect the good.

David now steps down from the soapbox :)

Best wishes to you all.