[meteorite-list] EBay analysis (preliminary)

From: John Gwilliam <jkg_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:28:37 2004
Message-ID: <4.2.0.58.20031030195833.009a0d50_at_mail.theriver.com>

List Members,
I've been sitting back quietly watching this thread get over-baked over the
past few days and finally decided I'd step in a make a comment.

In his remarks, Jamie talks about his potential "right" to publish data
that is extracted from publicly available documents. Personally, I believe
that with this "right" comes a lot of responsibility.

For example, did you know that if you've ever been a party in a divorce,
arrested and charged with a crime, or been to Tax Court, the written
records of those proceedings are public information? That is, unless the
judge in the case sealed the records, which is rarely done. That means
that I, or someone else, could access all court records involving Meteorite
List members throughout the United States and publish those findings. Now
wouldn't that be lovely? We'd know who the drunk drivers and the wife
beaters were and we could sit in our chairs and snicker about all the nasty
accusations that are part of every divorce trial. No thanks, I don't need
to see it...even if it is publicly available information. You see, there
is no beneficial value in doing so.


Rather, it sounds like a good way to loose a bunch of friends to me.

I don't see any real value to compiling information about Ebay sellers and
purchasers either. Sure, you can figure out what's been selling well and
what hasn't, and you can find out who has been spending the most money on
meteorites lately...so what? Do you contact these buyers and offer to sell
them more meteorites? I'm pretty sure that would be a violation of Ebay
rules.

How many list members are forty-hour-a-week "Meteorite Market Analists" anyway?

Someone else mentioned something about "getting a life." I vote for that.

Best to all...but tired of the thread,

John
Received on Thu 30 Oct 2003 10:29:06 PM PST