04-08-2004, 05:52 PM
I can't believe this guy is a philosophy major, and yet he tried to defend himself at the basin. My personal favourite (from the AB thread linked to above) was this bit:
"What I meant to convey there was that I may sell hacked items but that doesn't make me a dishonest person. I agree with you in that Hex charms did ruin the game. I put off selling those items for a long time before I finally gave in. To remain competitive, I had to sell them. People don't want to shop around for their order. They might want to buy 9 legit items and 1 hex charm and if you aren't selling the hex charm, they're not going to buy the 9 from you and go find a hex charm somewhere else--they're going somewhere else for their whole order. Asking a d2 store not to sell a certain high demand item is like asking a convenience store not to sell alcohol. Sure, alcohol is bad for you and it ruins lives but as long as it's legal and it's demanded, you have to sell it if you want to stay in business. If you like the convenience of convenience stores, you'd better just learn to live with it. If Hex charms ruined your life, you've got problems."
Ahem. So let's get this straight. He puts off selling hex charms, because he agrees they ruin the game. Then he decides to sell them because it's the only way to stay competitive. And this is his PROOF that he is NOT A DISHONEST PERSON. "Putting off" selling hex charms until it's financially inconvenient does not equal morals. That would be economics. He admits to doing something that goes against his views of right and wrong in order to make a profit. And uses that as proof that he's not dishonest. How well does he do in psycology classes?
His comparison to selling alcohol is ridiculous, too. A more apt example would be this: I'm a convenience store owner, and I'll only sell crack to teenage kids if my competitors do. After all, crack will ruin the kids' lives, but I need to stay competitive. Therefore, if selling crack makes me money, I'm a moral person.
It's actually a shame he kept posting. His initial post or two weren't too bad. Frankly, in some ways I sympathize with the guy for the bashing he gets. But frankly, he deserves it. He (and every other person that runs a site like this or sells stuff on ebay) perpetuates the supply AND the demand for hacked, duped and stolen items. Claiming he's not responsable for the demand (while technically true) is akin to my convenience store clerk saying "since some kids will want crack whether I sell it or not, my selling crack to kids has no affect on the situation." In short, it's a dodge.
*shrugs* I know I won't exactly meet opposition for my views on this here. But I'm annoyed when someone like him, clearly intelligent enough to write legible posts, talks about how he's a psycology major and therefore his views are correct. This guy is lying through his teeth, claiming he acts following a moral code when he obviously breaks that code when it's financially profitable to do so.
As a final note, I was most impressed by how the basin handled that one. Ban the guy for breaking the spirit of the basin, without degenerating into a flame war.
gekko
"What I meant to convey there was that I may sell hacked items but that doesn't make me a dishonest person. I agree with you in that Hex charms did ruin the game. I put off selling those items for a long time before I finally gave in. To remain competitive, I had to sell them. People don't want to shop around for their order. They might want to buy 9 legit items and 1 hex charm and if you aren't selling the hex charm, they're not going to buy the 9 from you and go find a hex charm somewhere else--they're going somewhere else for their whole order. Asking a d2 store not to sell a certain high demand item is like asking a convenience store not to sell alcohol. Sure, alcohol is bad for you and it ruins lives but as long as it's legal and it's demanded, you have to sell it if you want to stay in business. If you like the convenience of convenience stores, you'd better just learn to live with it. If Hex charms ruined your life, you've got problems."
Ahem. So let's get this straight. He puts off selling hex charms, because he agrees they ruin the game. Then he decides to sell them because it's the only way to stay competitive. And this is his PROOF that he is NOT A DISHONEST PERSON. "Putting off" selling hex charms until it's financially inconvenient does not equal morals. That would be economics. He admits to doing something that goes against his views of right and wrong in order to make a profit. And uses that as proof that he's not dishonest. How well does he do in psycology classes?
His comparison to selling alcohol is ridiculous, too. A more apt example would be this: I'm a convenience store owner, and I'll only sell crack to teenage kids if my competitors do. After all, crack will ruin the kids' lives, but I need to stay competitive. Therefore, if selling crack makes me money, I'm a moral person.
It's actually a shame he kept posting. His initial post or two weren't too bad. Frankly, in some ways I sympathize with the guy for the bashing he gets. But frankly, he deserves it. He (and every other person that runs a site like this or sells stuff on ebay) perpetuates the supply AND the demand for hacked, duped and stolen items. Claiming he's not responsable for the demand (while technically true) is akin to my convenience store clerk saying "since some kids will want crack whether I sell it or not, my selling crack to kids has no affect on the situation." In short, it's a dodge.
*shrugs* I know I won't exactly meet opposition for my views on this here. But I'm annoyed when someone like him, clearly intelligent enough to write legible posts, talks about how he's a psycology major and therefore his views are correct. This guy is lying through his teeth, claiming he acts following a moral code when he obviously breaks that code when it's financially profitable to do so.
As a final note, I was most impressed by how the basin handled that one. Ban the guy for breaking the spirit of the basin, without degenerating into a flame war.
gekko
"Life is sacred and you are not its steward. You have stewardship over it but you don't own it. You're making a choice to go through this, it's not just happening to you. You're inviting it, and in some ways delighting in it. It's not accidental or coincidental. You're choosing it. You have to realize you've made choices."
-Michael Ventura, "Letters@3AM"
-Michael Ventura, "Letters@3AM"