Spare the snark, spoil the numpty...
Came home to this letter in my inbox:
Dear babies_stole_my_dingo,
Just read your sniper turorial [sic]. Interesting. A lesson in what appears to be good Christian "values." This was very helpful information: as of this moment, bidding on eBay is forbidden in my household; the eBay site is closed to all but my wife and myself. And I'm warning everyone I know. Thank you again.
Thank you,
Name-Changed-to-Protect-the-Stupid
Dude. First of all, no one under 18 in your household should be bidding on eBay anyway. So I'm glad to hear that none of your minor children, who can't legally enter into binding contracts, will be attempting to do so, in violation of eBay's rules.
Second of all. Chill out. It's just a bidding strategy. I'm not sure what "Christian values" have to do with anything at all. What, it's more "Christian" to bid back and forth in little bitty increments instead of throwing my best offer on the table in the last few seconds and letting the chips fall? Thanks for the theology lesson, but I don't think Jesus really cares how I bid on eBay as long as I pay for my widgets and fulfill my obligations.
Third of all. You're "warning everyone you know"? You go ahead and do that. You might be shocked to find out that some of them already use the dastardly sniping method. Any of them that are frightened off of eBay because of sniping? Less competition for me. *evil grin*
Fourth. You say you read my sniping tutorial. Yeah, okay. Were you paying attention to the part where I outlined my reasons for sniping? Like, not having my money tied up for a week, even if I'm outbid? Like, not being used for a personal shopper? Like, not wanting to have my bid hanging out there with a target painted on it saying "SHILL ME!!!" Yeah. I have my reasons. You don't? Then bid how you want to bid, and allow me my own bidding method. I'm not breaking any eBay rules by sniping. In fact, Pierre and Meg set the site up with last-second bidding in mind, right from the start.
Fifth. It isn't that hard. If I can do it with a $250 laptop that I sniped on eBay, with a dialup that runs about 26,400bps on average, with a P2 chip running Win98, using a wristwatch I yanked out of a dumpster over 13 years ago...you can too.
Anyway, I looked up their bidding history on eBay, and sure enough, they got sniped, although not by me. And it was a pretty weak snipe, sixteen seconds before the end of the auction--but enough that my nastygrammer got outbid. The person who wrote this letter has a total of four feedbacks and has been a member of eBay since September of this year. Me? On my main ID, I've got 414 total feedbacks and have been a member since April of 1999. It's entirely possible that I know what I'm talking about.
Sheesh.
Dear babies_stole_my_dingo,
Just read your sniper turorial [sic]. Interesting. A lesson in what appears to be good Christian "values." This was very helpful information: as of this moment, bidding on eBay is forbidden in my household; the eBay site is closed to all but my wife and myself. And I'm warning everyone I know. Thank you again.
Thank you,
Name-Changed-to-Protect-the-Stupid
Dude. First of all, no one under 18 in your household should be bidding on eBay anyway. So I'm glad to hear that none of your minor children, who can't legally enter into binding contracts, will be attempting to do so, in violation of eBay's rules.
Second of all. Chill out. It's just a bidding strategy. I'm not sure what "Christian values" have to do with anything at all. What, it's more "Christian" to bid back and forth in little bitty increments instead of throwing my best offer on the table in the last few seconds and letting the chips fall? Thanks for the theology lesson, but I don't think Jesus really cares how I bid on eBay as long as I pay for my widgets and fulfill my obligations.
Third of all. You're "warning everyone you know"? You go ahead and do that. You might be shocked to find out that some of them already use the dastardly sniping method. Any of them that are frightened off of eBay because of sniping? Less competition for me. *evil grin*
Fourth. You say you read my sniping tutorial. Yeah, okay. Were you paying attention to the part where I outlined my reasons for sniping? Like, not having my money tied up for a week, even if I'm outbid? Like, not being used for a personal shopper? Like, not wanting to have my bid hanging out there with a target painted on it saying "SHILL ME!!!" Yeah. I have my reasons. You don't? Then bid how you want to bid, and allow me my own bidding method. I'm not breaking any eBay rules by sniping. In fact, Pierre and Meg set the site up with last-second bidding in mind, right from the start.
Fifth. It isn't that hard. If I can do it with a $250 laptop that I sniped on eBay, with a dialup that runs about 26,400bps on average, with a P2 chip running Win98, using a wristwatch I yanked out of a dumpster over 13 years ago...you can too.
Anyway, I looked up their bidding history on eBay, and sure enough, they got sniped, although not by me. And it was a pretty weak snipe, sixteen seconds before the end of the auction--but enough that my nastygrammer got outbid. The person who wrote this letter has a total of four feedbacks and has been a member of eBay since September of this year. Me? On my main ID, I've got 414 total feedbacks and have been a member since April of 1999. It's entirely possible that I know what I'm talking about.
Sheesh.