pdp8/f (now Amiga poster)

From: Lawrence LeMay <lemay_at_cs.umn.edu>
Date: Wed Oct 13 16:07:07 1999

> > Yes, it's insane over there. I received good advice from this list about
> > the value of those two SGI hardware manuals I almost gave away for free...
> > the auction for one is at $121 this morning.
>
> Are you saying that you offered something for free here (or for the cost
> of shipping, or whatever), somebody told you it was worth real money on
> e-bay, so you decided to sell it there?
>
> If so, then I regard this as _very_ unethical behaviour, and not at all
> what I'd expect from a classic computer enthusiast.
>

Well, I dont agree with this at all. As an example, last week the junk
dealer that I got my PDP8/e from, in a discussion about other computers
with front panel switches that I might be interested in, brought up
the subject of an IMSAI. I told him those were worth a lot of money these
days, and when he said in disbelief that he had one at home he hadnt
used in ages, I didnt try to get the machine from him at a low price.
I went and explained that I thought he could easily get $1000, and more
likely at least $1500 for it on ebay, especially if it still looks
nice (working condition didnt matter). I further lowered my chances of
ever seeing this computer, by showing him how to do a completed-auction
search on ebay, and lo and behold the first item that popped up was
a IMSAI that sold for about $1800.

Unethical would be taking advantage of someone who thought they were
being slightly generous by giving away a several dollar item for free,
when you know its worth 50 times as much.

I lost out on an IMSAI (which i wouldnt know what to do with anyways, so
it would sit idle in my collection) and in exchange this guy will remember
me, and the next time some PDP rackmount equipment appears, he'll
remember the guy who was excited about the PDP8/e, and who told him
about his valuable IMSAI, and the odds of a digital photo of that
DEC rackmount equipment appearing on their web site so I have a
chance to see it, will have increased tremendously. AND, that IMSAI
certainly wont be thrown into a landfill now, so in effect i've saved
it as well, and its in the hands of someone who knows how to use it
and can tell his grandkids about it, etc. Ok, so i'm not as altruistic
as i'm making myself out to be, but this is the way i conducted myself
AFTER i had already set the purchase price on what i wanted.

-Lawrence LeMay
Received on Wed Oct 13 1999 - 16:07:07 BST

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.0 : Fri Oct 10 2014 - 23:32:33 BST