Timeliness of sightings

Are you a chaser who loves to go out on a scavenger hunt for a recently reported, unusual bird? If not, do you simply like to read listservs that disseminate such reports, keeping track of what's going on where in your state or region?

I like to keep tabs on New Jersey because of regular events in Cape May. The listserv recently included a post that came across as a complaint about not being able to see an unusual bird because those who had seen it did not disseminate details quickly enough -- by a matter of minutes and hours.

One of the responses to Sunday's post came from an 18-year-old fellow. He wrote:

Sometimes I really have to scratch my head when I read some of the messages which appear on this listserv...

I as well would like to say thanks to those who report their sightings, update the hotlines, and alert us to the whereabouts of rare birds. When I started birding at age 11 (in 1999), NJ-Birds and the Cape May hotline were my only real good sources for current birding information. Not only was the information distributed in a timely manner, it was always extremely accurate, and directions, if needed, were always dead-on (my parents appreciated that far more than I did). The contributions of Laurie, Paul and various others greatly assisted me during the beginning of my birding career, just as they still do today, and we should be ever-so-grateful that we have such a great network of information here in NJ.

Yet obviously, SHBO should be raising money during next year's World Series of Birding so that they can purchase a system which will instantaneously send out e-mails, phone calls, faxes, telegraphs and Morse code to every birder in the state within two minutes of the sighting of a rarity at the hook. Mark me down for$1.50/bird.

I think he makes a valid point within his sarcastic humor. What do you think?