I have kind of mostly lost interest in collecting lighting, but I still have a reasonably sized collection of lamps that I don’t know what to do with GLS (mostly comprising of incandescent and CFL), linear fluorescent (mostly F40T12s), and some HID too.
Most of them will need to go, but I will still probably keep some of my rare/interesting-to-me lamps as curiosities.
(I also will stay active in the community too)
I want my lamps to go to good homes, like other lighting collectors who are just getting started collecting. Does anyone know how I should go about distributing them?

Depends on how many things you're trying to get rid of. Many people cannot accept large numbers of collectables, even if they're free.

In general you can choose between:
- Selling everything in large batches but getting little money for it, because only very specific people can accept large amounts of stuff - such as resellers. This also has the risk of the new owner just tossing most of it in the bin, only keeping what they actually wanted.
- Selling bit by bit for the best price, but having to deal with the hassle of having many separate buyers
- Contacting potentially interested people privately for things you know they are interested in.
- Organizing a couple of 'Just come over and take what you want' days so you don't have to bother with shipping, having people picking up stuff every couple of days for weeks on end etc.

Incandescents are often wanted in the electronics repair community for use in dim bulb testers. Random, boring lamps without box/sleeve you can probably unload there.

You're in luck You are here, on the best lighting community in the whole world! I want to boost your mood by letting you know that I personally would love to purchase some T12's from you if possible My collection is missing T12 bulbs, I mainly have T8! I am also capable of accepting quite a large amount of bulbs, as I have a fairly large storage area. and I would enjoy them all - I love testing and swapping bulbs all the time, so none would be left out and I also wish to be able to help other lighting collectors get their hands on tubes they want too, so they would not just be for me I am certainly not a selfish person My only caveat is that I live in sweden, so shipping can be a bit pricey. But I would gladly get some T12 bulbs from you

My best advice is honestly the same as Laurens, I hope everything works out <3

Tiger, unless you want USA specific T12s, i would recommend just looking for European offers. They aren't super common here but they do show up.
Transatlantic shipping costs a whole lot of money and you gotta add VAT too.

Look into your local DIY store's lamp recycle bin and pull them out if you see them. In about 50% of cases they are still in working condition, just thrown away due to the LEDification.