quoted 23 lines Finally, over the course of my bidding in the Takagi auction the thought
> > Finally, over the course of my bidding in the Takagi auction the thought
> > crossed my mind more than once of the potential for fraud and abuse in
> > participating in a 'blind' competitive bid situation on the internet. Wasn't
> > it Charles Manson that said "paranoia is a heightened sense of reality." How
> > do you know if the bid increases are real or just the 'bidee' pimping the
> > price?
>
> No offense, but who cares? If there's someone who's foolish enough or has a
> deep enough pocket to pay more than $100 for one CD, by all means, let them!
> The ethical validity of the forces that instigate the final sale become
> irrelevant once it's over - no one's forcing anyone to do anything. As long
> as the final transaction is entered into voluntarily by both parties I don't
> know that one can fault the process.
>
> On a separate but somewhat related note:
>
> I've noticed that the crabby responses that auctions (and, in a similar vein,
> Thad's recent lists) have evoked are more a reflection of either (a)
> resentment that someone actually has the balls to ask a high price and get away
> with it, or (b) resentment that they themselves haven't got the dough to meet
> the aforementioned high prices, than of anything else. Both are understandable
> reactions, but I don't think that ad hominem attacks on the sellers are
> in any way warranted.quoted 4 lines The ethical validity of the forces that instigate the final sale become
> The ethical validity of the forces that instigate the final sale become
> irrelevant once it's over - no one's forcing anyone to do anything. As long
> as the final transaction is entered into voluntarily by both parties I don't
> know that one can fault the process.quoted 1 line Ah, the pungent beauty of wild, unregulated, full-strength capitalism :-)
> Ah, the pungent beauty of wild, unregulated, full-strength capitalism :-)