Rabid collectors in virtually any field are unquestionably experts. Providing content to a community of collectors is an especially tricky undertaking because of the level of expertise already attained. CollectSPACE has done a terrific job building a portal for collectors of space memorabilia, artifacts, and autographs. The site covers the early days of Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo through to the Shuttle age of today.
On the site, you will find message boards, history, auction information, places to buy and sell, and many other resources. The design is clean and crisp and organized into categories to make browsing easy. It is not uncommon for space buffs to spend hours on the message boards.
CollectSPACE debuted online on July 20, 1999, the 30th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing. Conceived as a hobby site, collectSPACE has since grown to become the leading resource and community website for space history enthusiasts and space artifact collectors through the provision of original news reporting, collecting guides, and as a virtual meeting place for a truly global audience.
CollectSPACE is run by Robert Pearlman, one of the first independent developers to recognize the Internet as an effective means of popularizing space exploration. Pearlman has driven the content and creation of some of the most popular and influential sites devoted to the space.
Anyone considering creating a hobby site should look to CollectSPACE as a model for what to do right.
