Welcome to Net54, Greg!
I think the other hard-core T207 collectors (you all know who you are
) have covered things pretty well. Learn as much as you can from all the sources you can find - Tim (and Bob's) VCBC articles and previous Net54 threads are great resources. Leon's description to your "drinking from a firehose" analogy is sound advice - take your time and enjoy the learning... but it sounds like you're already doing that.
Its one of those sets that someone - I think it was tbob - described as a "labor of love" trying to assemble. There are a good number of folks on the board that have completed it - some multiple times, I believe. I suspect each has his/her own story of the joy(?) of getting there, and can tell you precisely which cards tormented them to the end... many/most(?) have been mentioned in the thread already. If it wasn't obvious already, T207 remains my favorite set - my avatar was my tormentor. I believe it took me about 5 years to complete.
As for your question about how many new collectors it takes to influence the market, it really depends. One or two is sufficient in most cases, but for some specific cards, none... the need is still great among existing collectors. You'll come to know which cards those are over time...
Looking forward to hearing of your progress.
--
Mike