For Sale: Santini Pista

And by consciously misquoting me, you have proved your capability at reasoning - thanks! (:

Ok, I'll rise to it.

You sure as shit weren't misquoted.
You typed those words.

If you mean to suggest I took your words out of context in order to alter their meaning for the sake of humour, then you'd be right. That wasn't lost on you. Well done.

I didn't mention anything about donating or that i was against it so not sure why this came up?

I was attempting to highlight to you the fact that this forum is not-for-profit, has no adverts (despite offers) and has an unpaid staff. The intention of which was to bring to light the hypocrisy and questionable moral nature of using a self-governing, independent service provided to you for free in order to turn a profit when the people behind-the-scenes who make great pains to keep it going, in fact, make nothing whatsoever. They even at times, make a loss. That is to say, if you insist on using the forum for profit, it is good practice to donate (although, not essential). Even better still, simply don't use the forum for profit, pass your savings to other users who in turn will do the same for you.

The mention of 'worthy causes' was in reference to the funds frequently raised here for charities, often directly benefitting cyclists. To break it down; we are a community of giving and sharing, not profiteering.

Again, interesting but how is this relevant?

Those few people with the skill and time to embark on often fruitless missions into niche market businesses utilising the forum as a customer base may be seen by a newcomer as people garnering profit from the community here. My intention was to quash that thought in advance because it is simply not the case. Big x Top or BRP for example sell their wares through the forum but in order to maintain a karmic balance, they offer heavily discounted products exclusively, prompt and direct customer service, advance notice of new releases, sometimes even taking onboard opinions for product development etc AND they donate back to the site which was provided to them for free in order to help with the costs of keeping it running.

Noone is saying to "hold an item for several years" - but if i buy a used antique item (such as a campagnolo scirocco front wheel) from this site, and then 6 years down the track (after having used it), i want to sell it - naturally it is even rarer than what it was 6 years before hand. I'm not saying the price is to double, but certain items will undoubtedly go up in price, regardless of whether that was the intention of the buyer or not..what's the point of selling it at less than the market value, just because you bought it cheaper 6 years before? Do you see where i'm getting at..i completely agree with the community feel, but if the value of my hypothetical scirocco front wheel goes up, i will sell it for what it is worth - which is normal in my opinion. Just as selling it for 1/10th of the price is, if they suddenly come back into production and there are thousands of new ones being sold on shelves.

Being purely an exchange of ideas and a discussion of principles, everything we're discussing here is hypothetical, hence my need to clarify with you in the first place...

If your imaginary wheel is purchased from a forum user and subsequently increases in value, I'd suggest that in order to obtain that new, greater monetary value, you sell the item elsewhere rather than benefit from the forum twice (once with the initial saving you made, and a second time with the imaginary profit).

I'm certain many users here (myself included) have opted at times to sell items elsewhere because they have a price in mind that doesn't sit within the ethos of sharing benefits amongst the forum.

The greater point being brought to your attention is that we try our best not to rip each other off, either on purpose or by accident. Anyone who does, is quickly caught out and it tends not to happen again.

Some consider it futile and others hold it in higher regard but the 'REP' function of the site comes into it's own when users attempt to sell. For demonstration purposes, and in order to give you reason to invoke Godwin's Law in your rebuttal, I've nerged you.