21 Nov
2014
21 Nov
'14
11:20 a.m.
On Fri, 21 Nov 2014, Mike Stein wrote:
On Fri, 21 Nov 2014, Tothwolf wrote:
Maybe, just maybe, there was a whole lot more to it than that? Sellam no
doubt made his share of mistakes, but his former landlord and the scrap
dealer he contracted were absolutely in the wrong with what they did.
Period. That landlord thought Sellam's gear was worth huge amounts of
money, got greedy, and began looking for ways to take stuff for his own
financial gain.
Was that /after/ they tried selling items
piecemeal with all those eBay
accounts they created? IMO those guys were -way- over their heads with
the ill-gotten gear they took from Sellam. Greed plan and simple, from
the landlord's imagined riches to the to the scrap company he convinced
to take take it on. I for one hope that particular scrapper lost their
ass once the final numbers rolled around.
I don't get it.
Sellam should have simply paid his rent instead of jerking his landlord
around for month after month with missed deadlines, broken promises, a
law suit etc.
Period. Whether you call it 'greed' or just the
landlord trying to collect the
back rent owed, we should thank them and the scrapper for the
opportunity to save some pretty rare equipment instead of just scrapping
it.
The amount of rent supposedly owed was far less than what the landlord
thought he could collect when he sold much of Sellam's palletized gear to
that scrapper.
In fact, that landlord would have never pulled that stunt had he not
contacted that scrapper who in turn convinced him they could make a ton of
money if they were to sell off Sellam's stuff.
What did the folks who refused to buy any of it out of
'loyalty' to
Sellam accomplish other than ensuring that some worth while stuff did
end up being scrapped?
Do you know first hand if anything irreplaceable or of real value ended up
scrapped?
I rather doubt avoiding those eBay listings made much difference in the
larger scheme of things. While I tried to avoid any eBay listings that
scrapper posted, there were plenty of other people who were more than
happy to bid on those listings (including quite a few individuals who were
also happy to publicly express hate towards Sellam on various computing
forums because they were jealous of how he had acquired so much gear). The
only thing avoiding those listings did was potentially cause them to sell
for a lower amount than they -might- have otherwise.
If everyone refused to do business with people and companies like that
scrapper, it would do a lot to discourage them or someone else like them
from attempting to take advantage of others in the
future. It is my choice
to decide with whom I do business, and if I don't agree
with how they act
or do business, I don't have to do business with them. I also see it
somewhat akin to being held hostage; ie. buy this stuff or else, and I'm
not about to do business with someone like that.
And how do the folks who donated items to Sellam's
'museum' in good
faith feel about him letting it end up on eBay and as scrap because of
his intransigence and refusal to ask the community to help save the
collection?
I had previously given some stuff to Sellam and I later saw some of it
listed on eBay by that scrapper. Are you asking how I feel about that? If
and when I feel Sellam has a stable facility again sometime in the future,
I may very well decide to send him some more stuff.
I do think Sellam should have been more open and up front with the
community regarding his financial problem and should have asked for help
sooner. That said, I can understand why he didn't (pride) and even had he
done so, how much help would he have actually gotten? [I once asked trying
to find locals to help me pull stuff that was being dumpstered and got -0-
response from anyone in the classiccmp community.]