Dear ANA,

I meant that, what I just wrote above, calling you dear. You are dear to a great many collectors, myself included. For 125 years you have been the go to resource for numismatic informationand education, not that I need to tell you. Lately though, there is a lot of talk about declining membership and your relevance in general. That's why I am writing this letter; I don't wantto see you disappear. You are capable of so much and it hurts me to watch you dwindling away. In the past I had turned a blind eye to your suffering and said things like, "If the ANA isdetermined to kill itself, that's its business." No longer. You need an intervention.

Interventions are for addicts who are destroying themselves. In a way, that is the problem I see with you. You're addicted. You're addicted to old ideas. I see you trying to pull yourselfback together, to modernize as best you can, and hopefully rescue yourself from oblivion. However, I do not see those efforts bearing fruit. I'm using the only measuring device I have at mydisposal, my desire to become a member. The next thing I say is going to be harsh, so I wanted to warn you ahead of time, and to reiterate that, as with all intervention letters, it comes from aplace of love.

I do not want to be a member of the ANA. Your organization is a relic of yesterday's numismatics and, even though you are making an effort to incorporate technology into what you do, it isobvious your thinking hasn't changed. You're acting as if it is still 2000. Collectors my age (I'm 34) have a few expectations on which you do not deliver.

1. We expect free information. Look at Wikipedia. It is easily one of the most visited sites and that is because they bring the free info. It seems most of your information is under lock and key,only available for a fee. I'm not willing to pay for answers to my occasional questions. So, when I need a numismatic answer, I ignore money.org and Google it.

2. We expect an answer when we ask a question or some kind of response when we make a statement. I see your posts on Facebook and Twitter, I sometimes comment and never hear anything back. Itmakes me think, "Why should I bother?"

3. We love real people. Right now, I don't see you as a real person, or a collection of real people. Intellectually I know you are, that there are employees doing their jobs everysingle workday, but I don't feel a human vibe from you at all. It's like you are a government agency. It's a real turn off.

4. We like to share what we know. Another reason Wikipedia kills it in the information area is because users can modify the entries. Reddit is another example of information sharing done right.Users are able to share articles and get instant feedback from all sorts of people. It's interactive and we love that. I don't get that kind of interactivity at money.org, so I go where Ican.

Those are four behavior driven reasons why I am not interested in becoming a member. Here is how you could win me over.

Stop treating your social media accounts like they're a billboard. Social media is supposed to be social. Comment on things, have an opinion, take a side. Don't be an unfeelingcorporate-esque impartial robot. I'm not saying get into arguments with people, but having an opinion is okay. My generation respects it, even if we disagree.

Get more free information on your website. There is no reason why money.org can't be the best free online numismatic encyclopedia, and making it member driven would be amazing. Think of thewealth of knowledge (bringing a sharp upswing in web traffic) that could rapidly accumulate if members contributed material. Keep it members only, as far as contributions go, no one would fault youfor that. Also, make all the entries in the public domain, don't claim a copyright to any of it. You're not going to make money off the free encyclopedia, so why bother claiming a copyright?The information on your site will be cited much more often if people don't have to worry about violating a copyright.

Another way to get me on board, change your billing options. I'm much more comfortable paying $3.99 per month (Netflix style billing) than $46 per year. I realize the $3.99 is more moneyannually, but I don't care. $3.99 feels like a pittance while $46 is a nice condition Walking Liberty Half that I can't buy.

Please understand, I want you to get to your 250 year anniversary and am not sure you will without altering your approach to fit with what younger collectors expect. I hope my candid approachwasn't too offputting. I think it is better to be upfront and honest rather than dancing around difficult subjects.

To read Kendall's complete blog article, see:
An Intervention Letter to the ANA (www.thecoinblog.net/2017/01/an-intervention-letter-to-ana.html)