A pointless rant about morons on the internet...

[Fred Perreault]

....or it's the board in the middle of my new 3 board dining table that turns out to stain a very different color than the boards on each side of it. Grrrhhhh

[ken masoumi]

Since we are talking about morons on the internet,here's new one:
a couple of months ago I was looking for a used small outboard motor, found this seller who lived in a small town not too far (~40 minute drive),he answered all my questions and I finally decided to buy the motor from him so I asked for his address, he ignored me and kept saying we should meet in a parking lot somewhere,I said no,I need to see the motor running ,look it over before buying it, he still would not give his address but suggested I drive to the town where he lives and call him when I get there!
He was obviously too paranoid to sell anything even though he had my name and address, etc. so I just told him to forget it,I wasn't going to drive that distance without knowing where I'm going.

[Brian Elfert]

I don't blame folks for not wanting to give out addresses with all the warnings about doing Craigslist transactions in public places so thieves aren't scoping out your house or whatever. A number of the police departments now have designated spots for selling/swapping that are recorded on camera. If it is a boat motor and he has a boat to put the motor on you could have met at a lake to demo it.

[ken masoumi]

You may have a valid point Brian but I could also be worried as a buyer to go to a strange town with $500 cash in my pocket and meet some strange guy or him and a couple of his friends ,well, you can guess where I'm going with this but the bottom line is,all I wanted was to buy a motor but after giving my name and address /phone #, I instead was offended for being treated like a predator.

[Jerome Stanek]

Since we are talking about morons on the internet,here's new one:
a couple of months ago I was looking for a used small outboard motor, found this seller who lived in a small town not too far (~40 minute drive),he answered all my questions and I finally decided to buy the motor from him so I asked for his address, he ignored me and kept saying we should meet in a parking lot somewhere,I said no,I need to see the motor running ,look it over before buying it, he still would not give his address but suggested I drive to the town where he lives and call him when I get there!
He was obviously too paranoid to sell anything even though he had my name and address, etc. so I just told him to forget it,I wasn't going to drive that distance without knowing where I'm going.

I was looking for some items on craigslist and we would not meet at the sellers house I requested a safe place to meet as we have had people killed answering craigslist ads here. Our police department recommends meeting in their parking lot it is what they call a safe haven. You could inspect that motor just as well at a place like that as at his house. I have some stuff to sell and I will insist on meeting at a safe haven.

[Tony Zona]

I have an antique sink on Craig's list right now.

One woman responded, with some form of cryptic wording, and I think she asked about the size. I wrote back with the size, but it's right in the ad. My mistake was in answering. It was a waste of time. She wanted me to haul a porcelain sink to a parking lot. Fat chance, I thought, if I break it at the parking lot, no sale. And from the tone, I knew there would no no sale anyway

I asked her to think about having somebody accompany her to meet my wife and me in the driveway.

Three or four days later, I received another response from a different email address, but it was the same cryptic wording. It was like fingerprints. You can't change that language easily. I said we talked before, and if she was interested read my previous response. That was the end of that.

Simultaneously another ad for my sailboat drew a protracted email exchange. I finally said we could exchange information better by telephone, and gave my number. Several more emails and he said he was coming to see the boat. No phone number. I knew he would not show. And sure enough a couple hours before meeting, he wrote an email and said his friend just been to his house and is going to give him a boat. Right.

Then three days ago another sailboat inquiry arrived. He said he'll be in town and would like to see it. He put in his phone number, and I called. Being bitten twice, I was reluctant, but thought I have his phone number. So I made an appointment to meet at the dock.

He showed up yesterday, early, with his wife and he looked the boat over. It was an excellent encounter, and we sat on deck chatting for quite a while. He's coming back to see the bottom when it's out of the water. I'm betting he is sincere.

Another ad for rough lumber was up for only two hours when I got a response and sold it that night.

So, as it stands:
Nitwits, 2; me, 2.

(The two happiest days in a boat owner's life: The day he buys his boat, and the day he sells it. And old saw, with some truth. But I will be sad to see the old girl leave. We've been together since 1976.)

[Wade Lippman]

Since we are talking about morons on the internet,here's new one:
a couple of months ago I was looking for a used small outboard motor, found this seller who lived in a small town not too far (~40 minute drive),he answered all my questions and I finally decided to buy the motor from him so I asked for his address, he ignored me and kept saying we should meet in a parking lot somewhere,I said no,I need to see the motor running ,look it over before buying it, he still would not give his address but suggested I drive to the town where he lives and call him when I get there!
He was obviously too paranoid to sell anything even though he had my name and address, etc. so I just told him to forget it,I wasn't going to drive that distance without knowing where I'm going.

Ah, because he has an old motor, you will be robbing him rather than someone at random. The fact that he has seen your, and perhaps noted your license plate is unimportant. I just don't understand that.

I had someone call me from my driveway to tell he was here. Might have been a prudent thing to do; he was a young black man covered with tattoos and some of my neighbors probably would have shot him if he rang their doorbell. Sale went well.

[Moses Yoder]

I have let people directly to my house that I still own but when I was selling stuff for mom I would meet them in the CVS parking lot in Middlebury (public place) about 5 miles from the house and then take them to the house for larger items if they appeared to be honest. My sister insisted on this. A couple things about that. 1) She trusted my judgement 2) How do you tell if someone is dishonest? It's not like they have a DH tattoo on their forehead.

I think the best thing to do is to trust people until they prove themselves unworthy of your trust.

In the boat motor instance, look at it from the other view. He puts an ad on Craigslist and some guy responds with a number of questions he has to answer, going back and forth for weeks and then finally refusing to meet in a public place, insisting on meeting at the owner's house. He is probably posting a Craigslist thread of his own somewhere.

[Larry Edgerton]

I was about to place an ad for my 67 Amazon on craigslist, now you guys have me thinking twice about it.

[Kent Adams]

I've bought and sold several items on Craigslist. Only one time did I find someone "fishy". We were selling a car and this guy leaves a message on her voicemail asking to see the car. Something triggered me, my gut telling me there was something wrong, so I called back, left him a message saying I would be happy to show him the car but my wife would not be there. I never heard back from him. A lot of time our gut instinct can be right and we need to learn to trust it more.

[ken masoumi]

I think the best thing to do is to trust people until they prove themselves unworthy of your trust.

That's what I think should have happened although in some places/big cities etc. it may not not be a wise move but where I am(small city/mainly retired folks) is a common practice.

In the boat motor instance, look at it from the other view. He puts an ad on Craigslist and some guy responds with a number of questions he has to answer, going back and forth for weeks and then finally refusing to meet in a public place, insisting on meeting at the owner's house. He is probably posting a Craigslist thread of his own somewhere.

The only reason I insisted on meeting at his place was, the outboard motor had to be tested with water running through it (a pail of water/garden hose) in order to test the water pump,couldn't do it in a parking lot .

[Jerome Stanek]

That's what I think should have happened although in some places/big cities etc. it may not not be a wise move but where I am(small city/mainly retired folks) is a common practice.

The only reason I insisted on meeting at his place was, the outboard motor had to be tested with water running through it (a pail of water/garden hose) in order to test the water pump,couldn't do it in a parking lot .

Why not take a bucket of water with you? Like I said we always try to meet at a safe place even the time I bought from one fellow and I called him back about 3 days later to buy another item that he had he insisted on the safe place.

[george wilson]

I just rode to Richmond the other day in a pickup truck's rear seat. It can carry 4 people comfortably,and a sheet of 4x8' plywood with the tailgate down. It was a Chevy.

Re: Moron; A guy had a Swiss pattern watch maker's hammer on Ebay listed as a "salesman's sample",to jack up the price,probably. I told the guy what it was. His reply; "I never heard of a Swiss watch maker". I replied "Ever heard of Rolex?" You can't deal with idiots and con men.

[Eric DeSilva]

There are no intelligence tests issued before people are allowed to get on the internet.

Some people can make mud look smart.

I was looking at the "Q&A" for some inserts that go in a food dehydrator on Amazon this weekend, just to see if people had tried to use them in for the same thing I was. Ran across this gem... "Sheets are advertised as 14" x 14", what size are the other two sides?"

[Tom Stenzel]

Not about morons on the internet but my newest story on craigslist:

Last week I spotted an ad that had:

2 block planes
2 #4 smoothers (1 Craftsman and 1 Sargent)
1 #5 Sargent jack plane
a portable vise of some sort
some assorted wrenches

For $10.

I sent an email asking if it was still available and if the $10 was really for everything. In it I only wanted the #5 jack.

Turns out the seller was a civil engineer that I had worked with almost 25 years ago and ran into periodically ever since. He sent a message back that it had already been promised to someone, but if he had known I wanted the stuff he would have given it to me.

Which is why if I could still drink beer I'd be crying in it.

On Craiglist I've sold my Trek 520, Mongoose mountain bike ( buyer spotted the Tange tubing sticker in the picture), two tandems, Burley Duet trailer, a utility trailer, Plymouth minivan, and a bunch of other stuff.

A guy drove from Windsor to my front door to buy my Brooks Pro saddle- and didn't even try to dicker with the price. I at least expected him to ask for something to pay the Ambassador Bridge fare for two crossings.

We've bought several bicycles, my Invacare handcycle, Ikea chairs and other things I don't remember. The handcycle came from the other side of the state, I was close to Moses Yoder's stomping grounds.

For the handcycle I told the seller that it would be a cash sale, and he didn't have to talk to my Nigerian brother in law who had 2 1/2 million British Pounds Sterling that nobody seemed to want. He laughed about it.

I can't say we've had a bad experience so far. Except we just ignore the scam emails and anything where the person wants me to send them some money when I'm the one selling something.

-Tom