Just me or what?


First off... Happy Holidays to all you Goners!
May the holidays be filled with joy and good health!
observation:
 I have been on the GON for over 12 yrs. and to me these last several years have gone quickly downhill!
Sellers who act like they're equipment was knighted by the Queen and priced like it!
Buyers who think nothing of going WAY below low balling you in the hopes your having a " fire sale"!
Rude and abrupt e mails with a " take it or leave it" attitude...
In addition woe be the member who has a newbie type question or needs further help grasping some new piece of technology and it' s bare the swords and slash away...:-)
I joined this site for great advice,great people with graciousness when they were helping out a fellow member ( which they were only too happy to do!)
I also joined because the items were overwhelmingly in very good to excellent shape because the owners were careful with they're hard earned equipment..
Members were grateful for the sale and grateful for the opportunity to own gently used items for A FAIR PRICE!
These last few yrs. seems to have turned these principals on their ear.
Lets all re- commit to be a kinder, gentler group who share this hobby with class and an open mind!
we "old schoolers" remember these things and have made great friends here.
 Best wishes,

Jake
128x128azjake
My good news is I've had 99% positive transactions on this site, going back 10 years. Only 1 exception, a guy who was a total asshat when I called him with a problem on a product he sold me. Tempting to name him but not into flame fanning. Besides, that's a darn good ratio.

Most of the forums are pleasant in nature here. A handful of bullying bad apples. Note I have my photo and most of my real name here. I wish that was mandatory, as the anonymity of masked user names feeds and waters the bullies.

I 2nd Jake's request to live by the golden rule.
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Jake, great post.  You nailed it bro.  Lowballers, I am sick of them; wish there is a way to block them forever...LOL!!!


Part of the problem is that many people trading on the site are not regular contributors and thus not really part of the community. For them its just a convenient place to gain access to a specialize market.
Very few people post here compared to the number of those who read posts. And I suspect that even greater number don't even read or read very little, only trade, so most are definitely not part of the community. It's not just Audiogon you know.
I don't trade here much, can't comment except that all my transactions went very well, though only one was recent.
As for low ballers, it can be subjective, sometimes the price seems to be too high. But yeah, it appears to be becoming a kind of bazaar. That's unpleasant.
Also, many Old Guard don't post often if at all. Not really interesting to them, I guess. I understand.
Some sites force you to have made a number of posts and be a member for a while before you can trade but I doubt that would even be a consideration here.