I think both Gary and Doris have valid points to make here. In my mind it was
clearly a 200/5 for $100 to the first person who replied, which is why I didn't
bother to reply. I knew from recent discussion that this lens is a hot item,
fairly rare, and the price was good. (and I'm in deep enough already...)
So the apparent auction nature which followed perturbed me a bit, but I thought
I would wait to see how Alain handled it, given the possible language barrier,
etc. George Sears latest reply sums up quite concisely how I feel:
========
"You posted an item FOR SALE... You posted a PRICE that you would accept.
Just SELL the item at the ADVERTISED PRICE to the first buyer.
Its not that complicated."
=========
On to Gary's points: while it would seem a good idea to look at such
guidelines, I think we must remember that the purpose of this list is
discussion, not buying and selling. A certain amount of FS and WTB posts are
tolerated, but I would not be prepared to adopt any official guidelines
sanctioning these posts, for fear the list would lose its technical discussion
focus, not to mention be at odds with the educational, non-profit nature of the
organisation hosting it. (Shawnigan Lake School)
Even if such guidelines were considered for fairness to all involved, a mailing
list such as this is inherently unfair in first come, first served sales, for a
number of technical reasons, and not just differing timezones.
A FS post to the list is usually done out of courtesy, with the seller likely
selling at a lower price than could be had on eBay. So if you see it too late,
better luck next time, or pay a bit more and roll the dice on eBay if you're in
a hurry for the item. But under no circumstances should such a post become an
auction on the list, it's just asking for trouble.
On 12 Nov 98 at 15:40, Gary Schloss wrote:
> On Thu, 12 Nov 1998, Doris Fang (of all people!) wrote:
>
> >Why would you want to own anything this Alain person has touched ?
> >This is a low way of doing business. Unacceptable. [...]
> >Let Mr. Duquet sell somewhere else, we don't need to put up with
> >this here. This two out of two similar deals.
>
> Hey, hey! Calm down, everyone! While I certainly don't advocate
> Alain Duquet's approach to selling photogear on this list, may I
> remind everyone that we, the List, never made an effort to agree
> on a set of ground rules, or guidelines, for conducting such sales.
>
> Until now things seemed to work out smoothly, with minimum or no
> friction between buyers and sellers. However, IMHO, as our list
> grows and attracts participants from a wide variety of cultures,
> languages, and traditions, such guidelines should be considered.
> This is an accepted mechanism on other mailing lists, and we ought
> to examine several such "Guidelines", and adopt the one that best
> suits our purposes.
>
> In the mean time, I do implore everyone to refrain from making
> comments they may later regret. Judging from Alain's posts, to
> me(!) he sounds quite sincere if somewhat misguided. Linguistic
> difficulties must be an inevitable source of miscommunication,
> and neither Alain nor the entire Quebec Province should be held
> responsible for that other jerk Remi(sp?). Sadly, there is no
> country I know of where jerks are in short supply.
>
> Finally, if we must have a food fight over this, may I at least
> request that the food be french, or at minimum, quebeqois? :-)
>
> Cheers,
> /Gary Schloss.
> Studio City, CA
> schloss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
========================
Shawn Wright
Computer Systems Manager
Shawnigan Lake School
250-743-6240
swright@xxxxxxxxx
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