What I think really happened with Mel is that he loved collecting but not really for the posters themselves. I am still not sure how one can find attachment to a poster without ever watching the film. Or at least having seen 80% of the films you own posters on. He enjoyed collecting, cataloging, researching, authentication, and at first the comradery from a forum like this. He also enjoyed helping new collector and busting dealers that were selling fakes - he had big brass balls when it came to that.
In the end I think he realized that there was no sentiment attached to what he was doing, he was like a machine operating on a command structure and movie posters happened to the be one of the programs. He was also towards the end trying to find real human companionship (i.e. girlfriend) and replace us. Maybe he has.
His drive also created headaches with feedback from here and trolling - so much trolling. Although, I generally like Mel and think he is a good guy - in the end I found it hard to to be friendly with him. The poison of trolling from this forum and others, conflicts with dealers, and generally negative responses from his "friends" on the forum started to impact how he dealt with everyone.
I know that some of the trolling even went so far as to impact his work, apparently someone called his boss or office...
I think a lot of us would have said the hell with it, if we weren't really here for the posters... The foundation was weak, the building fell and he just scrapped what he could.
