I think that sometimes it's incredibly rude and other times not as much so. I've
seen people post some pretty ignorant remarks when they do this, e.g., "DON'T
buy this, I just saw it in a bargain bin for 3$", etc. As if everyone in the
world has access to this idiot's local bin or the fact that someone somewhere
sometime saw the item in question for a lower price has anything to do with it -
especially when they insinuate that the person selling the item in question is
somehow 'shady' for selling it at a higher price than what the poster saw. I can
understand if someone is gouging or something, but there are a lot of factors
which come into play when making that call...the first one being you have NO
idea what the seller paid for his copy to begin with. And although all anologies
crumble when pressed, the owner of a convenience store may take offense at
someone stopping people outside of his store and directing them to the local
chain supermarket for a better deal, right? I mean, it doesn't seem to big of a
stretch to figure that you ARE stepping on toes when you do that, so an irate
reaction should be expected. Again, there are three sides to this (buyer,
seller, interruptor), but imo a good rule of thumb would be to ask yourself if
you would like it if someone pulled that on you. And given Chris' suggestion and
clear context of what he perceived as rudeness, I'm inclined to agree with him.
jeff
quoted 11 lines < I'm curious... this is the second time I've seen someone do this
> < I'm curious... this is the second time I've seen someone do this
> recently (for the Gescom MD). Somebody will post that they have something
> for sale/trade, and then almost immediately another person will post that
> they've either seen it for less somewhere else, or that they know of
> another place that may or may not carry it.
>
> This is just plain rude. Why would you side-step someone's sale?
> I've seen this done so many times on so many different lists.>
>
> Perhaps it's not done out of rudeness so much as out of some sense of public
> service - --