[Leica] condemn e-bay

[Summicron1@aol.com]

I've been lurking here for a bit looking at this whole e-bay debate and I 
think the problem can be settled easily.

The FS friday policy was, I gather, set up to allow the LUG to operate 
without being bothered by people trying to sell stuff all the time. To 
accomodate people who do want to sell stuff, one day was set aside.

It seems now this was not enough. So what is needed is some happy volunteer 
to vet all the FS ads -- go through them, make sure the prices are all fair, 
make sure the equipment works as advertised, and finally post the ads, 
properly indexed and cross-referenced. This person will also have to handle 
the transactions, enforcing a 10 percent discount on all e-bay sales, dealer 
sales and sales in which the equipment was not made in germany. This person 
will also be repsonsible for delivery.

Gets kind of rediculous, doesn't it? But it seems to be close to what some 
posters want.

What they really want, of course (and I do not criticize them) is a more 
genteel and  regulated method to talk about Leicas than the internet 
provides. The internet, however, is by definition governed by no one, with 
few enforcable rules, and that is what we have.

People on the LUG are, on average, astonishingly self-regulating. Try to 
crank down on everything, though, you only ruin it for all and frustrate 
yourself. The Average will always include the extremes. You cannot get rid of 
them.

Require e-bay listings to have "e-bay" in the subject line, if you like, and 
then people offended by them can set their filters accordingly. 

Dealers? Well, some dealers are much loved by the LUG -- tom abrahamson and 
don chatterton, to name two, and considering the value they provide, let them 
make a buck in the process. I don't begrudge them that.

Discount for lug members? Why? From all the discussions of european trips, 
single malt, expensive cars and ASPH lenses, I'd say this is the last bunch 
that needs a price cut. There are exceptions, I am sure, such as us poor 
journalists, but I can negotiate discounts on my own, thanks, and dont need 
an institutional bully to demand one for me.

C'm on folks, it's capitalism in action. Jump in and get dirty.

charlie trentelman
ogden
utah