In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.3.95.990301181341.12293B-100000_at_genco.haggle.com>
On Mon, 1 Mar 1999, Doug <doug_at_blinkenlights.com> wrote:
] On Sun, 28 Feb 1999, Noel Fields wrote:
] > So far, the bid is 1.00 on it. Thought someone here might be interested :)
]
] If there was already a bid on it, somebody was obviously interested in it,
] but I guess he won't be getting it for $1 anymore :-(
Doug wrote once before (21 Jan 1999):
... the moral is the same: if you're contemplating an
action that has an equal chance of helping or hurting,
watch a movie instead.
That stuck in my head, because it has the Ring of Truth(TM)
to it.
Of course, if posting these "heads-up" messages has an equal
chance of helping or hurting, then *failing* to post them
does too, as does discouraging people from posting them. So
how come people keep doing that, instead of watching movies?
Anyway, as far as I can see, posting it here is a win,
probabilistically, because it increases the chance that a
list member will get the item.
If I don't favor any particular list member, then posting
the news here is the best way to get the item to the person
that wants it most. Keeping it secret means hurting the
guy that wanted it most, more than it helped the guy that
wanted it less - a net loss.
We are all friends here, right? Giving the same news to
everybody is perfectly fair, and increases the chance that
one of our friends will win (instead of a total stranger).
As for the "logical extreme" of posting 17000 items from
e-bay to here, nobody does that because, contrary to your
assertion, it is not a duty to post these things; it is a
nicety. Making the leap from that to "duty" is nuts. (And
I think your guestimate of 17000 interesting items is high
by about a factor of about 10000. But that's beside the
point.)
The more ridiculous the arguments become, the more obvious
it is that you are just being selfish, and want the rest of
the world to help you along with that. Prove me wrong here;
the next time you find a great deal out there, post an article
here saying how much you bid, and explaining why everyone
else here should let you have it for that great price and
not interfere. Explain why you deserve it more than anyone
else. If you can't do that, then you have no right to be
upset when people notify others whom they think will be
interested, and those people bid.
Having said all that, I must also point out that since another
mailing list was set up just for posting these announcements,
that is the most appropriate place. Snipped from another old
message of Doug's (from 26 Jan 1999):
] ... the idea of an auction mailing list, so I've created one.
] You can subscribe by sending a message to:
] majordomo_at_nut.net
] with the body:
] subscribe ccauction
]
] I, for one, will not be on this new list, but I'll respond
] to admin requests.
YOU ARE ALL HEREBY COMMANDED TO SUBSCRIBE!
... thus ending the notification wars once and for all.
Hey, a guy can dream, can't he? :-)
(BTW, is the ccauction list mentioned in the classiccmp FAQ?)
Cheers,
Bill.
Received on Wed Mar 03 1999 - 02:03:58 GMT