A LART is needed (was: VCF 4.0)

----- Original Message ----- From: "Aaron Nabil" &lt;nabil(a)SpiritOne.com&gt; Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2000 5:13 PM Subject: Re: A LART is needed (was: VCF 4.0) < lots snipped > Aaron, the reasons you give are rational and possibly defensible business decisions, but they might be irrational and counterproductive in the "Classiccomp" world. We are still a (relatively) small community of collectors/preservationists/whatever. The wonderful exchange of information and stuff that is the list depends on a degree of trust and goodwill. Anyone repeatedly acting against the prevailing ethos in the community risks a bad reputation or even "shunning" by the rest of the community. For example, if I know that someone routinely dumpsters machines or pulls them apart and sells the bits on eBay, I won't give them my [insert favourite comp here] that I don't have room for anymore. Look at what happened to the computer museum that _allegedly_ chopped up rare computers to make gift shop items; they acquired a hugely bad rep. that still haunts them from time to time. Similarly, if I hear that a vendor's prices are way out of line (compared to documented market values) and they're not willing to negotiate, I won't waste my time with them. I can always look for other sources or just wait for them to get a clue. So business decisions that in theory are rational and defensible can hurt a company if it's selling to a small community of buyers (as most classic computer dealers are). Regards, Mark.