At 09:49 AM 10/30/98 -0800, you wrote:
>Okay, I apologize for what might be perceived as threats against innocent
>buyers in general. My threats were against a specific person who purchased
>it, knowing it was already promised. I have reason to believe this is the
>case, and I should have stated so in my mail to the group.
>
>However, I'm simply amazed at the "get over it, crybaby" mentality of this
>group in public. I have received nothing but supportive email by private
>correspondance, but almost nothing but criticism in public email to the
>list. (Thanks, Denton and David, for being somewhat supportive in public.)
>There's probably a lessen there. These weren't 50/1.4 lenses -- there were
>rare and unusual items in that offering.
>
To be honest, Jan, I had sort of skimmed over the part where you threatened
the _buyer_ of the equipment with legal action; it was still early in the
morning :-). My response then would probably have been a little different,
although not as strong as some you received. Not as strong because I would
have seen that threat as simply amusing; you would have had realized soon
enough that there is no legal or other grounds for such action, and even if
you didn't the sum was so small as to not be worth it. The issue would
further be complicated by the fact that the transaction crosses
international boundaries.
I must also say that sometimes greed makes otherwise good people do bad
things. Any deal like that is potentially too good to be true and you
should have approached it like winning the lottery; it would be nice, but
it probably never will happen. I'm not saying you alone were greedy; we all
were, myself included.
The difference is in our response. Do you get this bent out of shape not
winning the lottery, or not winning a slot machine? (not that I indulge in
either).
Living in NYC I have seen every scam in the book from the 'can't cash my
winning lottery ticket' to the 'ask at Macys' loading dock for that 35"
color TV'. They all play to our greed.
People aren't stupid. If someone put something up for sale at a price way
too low, he'll sure enough realize it when twenty people are all clamoring
to buy it, and he'll act accordingly. Wouldn't you? Maybe you wouldn't, but
most people would...
I know you've always been a great contributor to the list, and I think you
should stop worrying about camera scams, insurance scams, and everything
else. No one is perfect in the ethics department!
Regards,
Denton Taylor
_______________________________
Photogallery at www.dentontaylor.com
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