Sorry Vic. I had to put in one last thing here, as Devpin tried to contact me.

He sent JD3 this lovely email:

I'm crushed & dismayed to find I'm banned from your pinball group. Maybe you can take the time to explaine why?

Personal attacks, I did nothing more than address personal attacks.

Sparky

so your the administrator, that placed the ban? I really honest to god don't care about the ban. What does bother me is that it appears you may work for Starburst Coin.

I would like to know if that's a fact. If so in what Capacity.

Thanks.

Devron


ROTFLMAO!!!!

Here is my answer:

Hello Devron,

  Yup. I am the guy that locked your account. The post you wrote on your lot for sale stirred up a lot of crap. So let me go through it for you.

I do agree with a lot of what you say. I understand your position as a reseller/operator or whatever you might be. BUT... your position is one of a business owner. We as collectors or mere owners do not take into account inherent costs such as rent, mortgage interest, heat, light, water, phone & internet, insurance, vehicle insurance, wages, employer deductions, building & vehicle maintenance, fuel and office supplies. Yes, I am one of those guys that works from his garage. But by condoning person-to-person transactions is just plain ridiculous. You cannot compare the home market and the business market. They are 2 different things.

And yes... I believe it when you say a Road Kings sold for 3695$. The same principle applies to cars. I can buy a car at a used car lot and pay in upwards of 50% more for a car, versus buying it from the original owner. And do you know what?

... YES. IT IS OUR FAULT THAT USED PINS SELL FOR LESS. Why? Because we created MAACA in order to help people with their purchases. Don't believe me? Ask Azatotht. Before he was an admin, he was our 2nd member. He got STIFFED by a local operator that sold him a piece of junk for twice the price. That's all we did for the first year. We got calls from potential pin owners asking for our help to assess machines.

But there is always a geographical factor involved as well. Remote area + few pins = higher prices, and that is OK.

I digress... back to the reason I banned you. Your whole post is just fine, until you got to "On a personal note". Everything after that is pretty much the reason.

Menace and Pinballed may have gone a bit heavy on comments, but they are more directed at your auction. You could have simply said that you were hurt by the comments. I am positive they would have apologized. But you made it personal.

So I made the call.

And NOW... for the comment towards me. That I work at Starburst. Nice...

No... I don't work for Starburst. I do get along great with them, as I do other distributors in the area. I help them ALL out. Why? Simple... keeping them going keeps the hobby going.

And yes. Starburst is contributing to this forum. But not a single red penny has come my way, and that's the way I and the other admins have rolled since 2004. So before you pump up your chest and start questioning my morality, dude, when you do something for others like we admins have been doing for the last 6 years by putting 20+ hours a week into it, and in my case, paying thousands of my own pocket to keep it all rolling, THEN you will have the right to question me if you want.

And I just want to point out that in your sale, many of us have put up amounts of money in order to do a group purchase, including myself and Redketchup... the guy that you offered 75$ to for his EM. I guess you aren't that focused on your clientele base...

If you are truly crushed and dismayed by being banned, I am truly sorry you feel that way. but if you are not and it is just more sarcasm, then parting ways will make you feel better, and the group as well.

Good luck on the sale.