Quote:
Originally Posted by Kontact
I don't really understand how a thread entitled "PSA - I wish this Klein was my size" is different than the post to an ad "Great bike, I wish this Klein was my size".
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If we are splitting hairs I suppose that those two versions could be read in a similar manner.
In either case, if a great Klein has been PSA'd, and someone here benefits from that, does it really matter whether they have been alerted to it in post #1
("PSA - I wish this Klein was my size") or in post #8
("Great bike, I wish this Klein was my size")?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kontact
As far as this idea of "protected research" goes, no one needs the forum to do them any favors. I was just illustrating how it can be annoying to have disinterested third parties involved in the buying process - little different than someone making annoying comments in a sale ad.
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Annoying to whom, exactly? At least some PF members, and perhaps more, appear to be appreciative of PSAs, rather than annoyed.
Well-intentioned PSAs are not at all comparable to "annoying comments in a sale ad". Those posting a PSA are not "involved in the buying process" by definition; they are minimally involved in the advertising process, period. They are also disinterested by one definition (acquisition, etc.) only, but not the other (no interest or feeling at all). This
Croll mtb does not fit me, and so I would never buy it; it is still a nice bicycle, for a good price, and so of course I would be happy if another PF member might see it, maybe buy it, and maybe be happy...hence my sole interest in posting the PSA. If
you liked it, you might have bought it by now....
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kontact
Forumites can and should share interesting things they see on the net, but that isn't what is happening with Classifieds. People read the Classifieds to buy things, not of edification.
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Again, I do not feel that the distinction is quite so black-and-white.
Charles (cnighbor1) posts Classifieds PSAs here all the time. I read them (even though they have often already appeared in my emails from BOBlist); I have yet to buy a single item from these PSAs; and yet much of the time I do learn something from them.
Not a bad deal at all, for a few free moments of my spare time, right?
Finally, as "bob heinatz" pointed out above, every time you reply to a post you are in effect PSAing your own business via your signature line, without being listed in either the "Vendors" section of the Classifieds or among the banner-ad sponsors. Talk about free advertising.... "No harm, no foul" imo, and more power to you in your ventures. But while nobody, including myself, is complaining at all about any of that, the tangential irony is clear.
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