Good question

It's no coincidence that the latest Hound Central 5.0 poll is related to Through-The-Mail, or TTM, autograph requests. With Moody, Hound Central 5.0's senior correspondent, entering the blogosphere with his Moody's TTM Blog, I wanted to raise more awareness here at Hound Central 5.0 of the TTM practice and his new blog.

Now, Moody's taken it up a notch, offering to dig deeper into the issue of whether TTM is truly hounding. Between the poll's results and comments that he's soliciting at the post, Moody will answer the question, for once and for all. More than anything else, though, we need your input. Please, as a favor to us, participate in the poll and stop by Moody's blog and share your thoughts on this issue.

For the record, I believe there's a huge difference between the two approaches.

After having completed a 1,000-request TTM project from 2000 to 2002 (averaging close to 70 percent success, too), I understand that it takes a sincere effort. For the most part, too, it's a useful tool, as it's the only way that some people can get autographs from hockey players.

In-person hounding, though, is much more in-depth, from the preparation to the travel and expense to the actual face-to-face interaction with the players. There's just something about the process, as well as actually meeting the players, that adds to the experience.

From where I sit, TTM is not hounding. It's not even close.