That also applies to the Swapmeister.
My son and I began tying flies about this time last year. So we are both beginning tiers. Earlier this year we had the opportunity to join in on a swap from another Board with the intent of not so much "contributing" to the swap, but we (myself in particular) saw it as a way to get our tying critiqued. So we volunteered to participate as long as they understood what they were likely to be getting from us. To which we were heartily welcomed and encouraged to participate. In the end this swapmeister organized a number of swaps on a couple of different Boards, and I participated in three of them, while my son only did one. We tied at least a dozen flies for each swap, and sent them in way before any of the deadlines. That was months ago, and we still have not received any flies back, had any critique of our tying provided to us, nor even had any word from the swapmeister.
In fairness to him, he had some real health issues come up, and for all I know he's back in the hospital or worse. So please recognize that I'm not bringing this experience up to "point fingers", as I harbor no ill will towards him. A couple dozen flies don't mean a thing when you consider someones welfare.
But I think this experience clearly illustrates that there is responsibility on both sides of the equation. And despite the validity of the reason, our experience has made me wary, and caused my son to have absolutely no interest in participating in another swap.
Which validates in some way your comments Allan. One bad experience, regardless of who is to "blame" can sour someone from ever participating again. And without participants, there is no swap.
---David
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