16 Apr
2012
16 Apr
'12
11:02 a.m.
----- Original Message:
Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2012 08:01:00 -0500
From: John Foust <jfoust at threedee.com>
At 05:07 PM 4/15/2012, David Riley wrote:
On Apr 15, 2012, at 1:02 PM, Steven Landon wrote:
> <loads of crap>
How can this fellow continue scamming, year after
year?
- John
Well, as he gets banned from one forum/list after another, he just moves on
to the next; looks like he's found a home here at last...
To his credit some people have apparently bought from him with no issues,
but I'd still be wondering if any of the stuff he's flogging now is part of
the loot he stole from fellow hobbyists in his prime...
16 Apr
16 Apr
11:26 a.m.
On Apr 16, 2012, at 2:02 PM, MikeS wrote:
Yes, and given that much of the previous material I mention
specifically discussed how legitimate his merchandise seemed
and how he lied and made garbage up when caught, it makes me
uneasy. It's a shame; that's a lot of nice stuff that I'd
love to have, if it exists. I just can't be sure it exists,
and I'd need a bit more proof of redemption before I'd
commit money to this, because I've been burned by similar
things in the past and I'm not about to again. And, like
you said, it could be hot merchandise, which has legal
implications.
For me, his writing style is far too much like my old
landlord in West Virginia for me to trust him (not that I
think he's the same guy, but it throws up immediate
(possibly spurious) red flags because that guy was a liar
and a scammer as well).
- Dave
How can this
fellow continue scamming, year after year?
- John
Well, as he gets banned from one forum/list after another, he just moves on to the next;
looks like he's found a home here at last...
To his credit some people have apparently bought from him with no issues, but I'd
still be wondering if any of the stuff he's flogging now is part of the loot he stole
from fellow hobbyists in his prime... 
11:58 a.m.
At 01:26 PM 4/16/2012, David Riley wrote:
For me, his writing style is far too much like my old
landlord in West Virginia for me to trust him (not that I
think he's the same guy, but it throws up immediate
(possibly spurious) red flags because that guy was a liar
and a scammer as well).
I asked about about an item. He said he only accepts PayPal to
his fiancee's account at paskojes at msu.edu. He says he's under
ebay "flintsecondhandtreasures". I asked for his address and
phone number; he ignored me. He even refused my offer to send cash.
- John
1:07 p.m.
On 04/16/2012 01:58 PM, John Foust wrote:
At 01:26 PM 4/16/2012, David Riley wrote:
Although that's not necessarily dubious on its own; my wife and I have a
joint bank account (same account, different cards) and paypal refuse[1] to
link two separate paypal addresses to the same physical account - so I
don't have a paypal account these days and would have to use my wife's
paypal address for any transactions.
[1] well, they did as of a couple of years ago, anyway - I've not tried
again to see if they've changed the rules since. They weren't exactly the
easiest people to deal with.
For me, his writing style is far too much like my
old
landlord in West Virginia for me to trust him (not that I
think he's the same guy, but it throws up immediate
(possibly spurious) red flags because that guy was a liar
and a scammer as well).
I asked about about an item. He said he only accepts PayPal to
his fiancee's account at paskojes at msu.edu. I asked for his address and
phone number; he ignored me. He even refused my offer to send cash.
That does sound a bit fishy - if I'm selling something, I can't see a good
reason for withholding contact information.
cheers
Jules
1:52 p.m.
At 03:07 PM 4/16/2012, Jules Richardson wrote:
Although that's not necessarily dubious on its own;
my wife and I have a joint bank account (same account, different cards) and paypal
refuse[1] to link two separate paypal addresses to the same physical account - so I
don't have a paypal account these days and would have to use my wife's paypal
address for any transactions.
Plenty of bad feedback for her, too, same modus operandi:
<http://groups.google.com/group/swap-feedback/search?group=swap-feedback&q=pasko&qt_g=Search+this+group>http://groups.google.com/group/swap-feedback/search?group=swap-feedback&q=pasko&qt_g=Search+this+group
- John
2:14 p.m.
On 04/16/2012 04:07 PM, Jules Richardson wrote:
I can. Phone calls are disruptive and a pain. Some people (like me!)
despise phone calls.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA
I asked for
his address and
phone number; he ignored me. He even refused my offer to send cash.
That does sound a bit fishy - if I'm selling something, I can't see a
good reason for withholding contact information.
2:59 p.m.
On 04/16/2012 04:14 PM, Dave McGuire wrote:
On 04/16/2012 04:07 PM, Jules Richardson wrote:
I can. Phone calls are disruptive and a pain. Some people (like me!)
despise phone calls.
Oh, I do too. Worst gadget ever invented IMHO, the telephone; it lacks the
convenience of email and the visual cues that meeting someone face-to-face
provides. I just don't mind giving my number out on the offchance there
might be a reason that it ends up being the only way that someone can
contact me - although chances are very high that they'll just get my
voicemail and will have to wait for me to call them back :-)
(my cell phone's in the bottom of a closet in my office, where it has been
for more than four years; as you can probably guess, I don't miss it.)
cheers
Jules
I asked
for his address and
phone number; he ignored me. He even refused my offer to send cash.
That does sound a bit fishy - if I'm selling something, I can't see a
good reason for withholding contact information. 
3:17 p.m.
> > I asked for his address and
> > phone number; he ignored me. He even refused my offer to send cash.
> That does sound a bit fishy - if I'm selling something, I can't see a
> good reason for withholding contact information.
On Mon, 16 Apr 2012, Dave McGuire wrote:
I can. Phone calls are disruptive and a pain. Some
people (like me!)
despise phone calls.
Giving out your phone number to people who are not already qualified as
serious buyers gets you middle of the night phone calls from people who
"goofed on the time zone", "just got back from the evening", or
assume
that EVERYBODY is up by 06:00 Sunday.
Giving out your address to people who are not already qualified as serious
buyers gets you people on your doorstep, knocking hours and DAYS ahedad of
time, even if you had EXPLICITLY stated that nothing would be available
until Saturday at 13:00
It is amazing how many people will abuse that kind of information!
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at xenosoft.com
3:55 p.m.
At 05:17 PM 4/16/2012, Fred Cisin wrote:
Giving out your phone number to people who are not
already qualified as
serious buyers gets you middle of the night phone calls from people who
"goofed on the time zone", "just got back from the evening", or
assume
that EVERYBODY is up by 06:00 Sunday.
I know you're "grumpy", but that's pretty grumpy.
I fished for his digits because I wanted to help people avoid him.
I had no intention of buying a Tandy laptop.
This guy is already targeting oddball classic computer collectors,
it's not like he's including his address and phone number in
a Craigslist ad.
People selling stuff are motivated to do so. They are willing to put up
with a few phone calls. The average person has a cell phone for this
sort of work. There's nothing forcing them to answer the phone or
even respond to a voice mail, unless of course they're motivated
to sell, which is obviously the case here. Dinging around with
an exchange of a dozen emails to answer my questions is a lot of work, too.
You want effortless sales? Your grumpiness reminds me of the old adage
"Business would be a lot of fun if it weren't for all those pesky
customers."
Selling a laundry list of old computer crap for $40 a pop isn't the
most sensible way to make money. It's going to take some effort.
If he wanted to save effort, he's hand it to the scrapper.
The good guys selling old computer crap? They're probably motivated
by a personal sense of satisfaction that their stuff will find a
new home with someone who will appreciate it.
For this guy, he's probably picking up the junk for free and he regards
scamming as a way to increase his profit margin.
Think he's grumpy, too? If I were a scammer, I bet being grumpy would
be my second approach if someone didn't fall for my first excuse as
to why the goods weren't as promised. Unpleasantness can make
people stop bothering you. "Once you get their money, never give it back."
- John
4:40 p.m.
On 04/16/2012 06:55 PM, John Foust wrote:
People selling stuff are motivated to do so. They are
willing to put up
with a few phone calls.
That's a big, inaccurate generalization. I sell stuff all the time,
always have and probably always will, and I am most certainly NOT
willing to put up with phone calls.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA
5:01 p.m.
>Giving out your phone number to people who are not
already qualified as
>serious buyers gets you middle of the night phone calls from people who
>"goofed on the time zone", "just got back from the evening", or
assume
>that EVERYBODY is up by 06:00 Sunday.
On Mon, 16 Apr 2012, John Foust wrote:
I know you're "grumpy", but that's
pretty grumpy.
YOU WOULD BE, TOO, if you posted your hours and conditions, and people
called you at inappropriate times.
I fished for his digits because I wanted to help
people avoid him.
I had no intention of buying a Tandy laptop.
OK
AND, you were, at that point a "qualified serious buyer".
Yes, you DO give out contact information to people who are interested.
This guy is already targeting oddball classic computer
collectors,
it's not like he's including his address and phone number in
a Craigslist ad.
To SOME extent, then anybody here would be a "qualified" buyer.
People selling stuff are motivated to do so. They are
willing to put up
with a few phone calls. The average person has a cell phone for this
sort of work. There's nothing forcing them to answer the phone or
even respond to a voice mail, unless of course they're motivated
to sell, which is obviously the case here.
Yes, it IS the case HERE. But, you are
telling me that if I want to sell
things, that I have an obligation to get ANOTHER phone, just so I don't
have to answer it at inappropriate times?
Dinging around with an exchange of a dozen emails to
answer my questions
is a lot of work, too.
By which time, it WAS appropriate to give you better contact information.
I posted my van foir sale on an enthusiast forum. I got a dozen VERY
enthusiastic emails, all of which I followed up on.
I did NOT follow up on
"ADDRESS?"
nor on the ones SIX MONTHS LATER, saying "Still got it?"
but I responded to "What's your phone#? I want to talk about the car."
with "What would you like to know about it? Are there any details that
you need? I'll be showing it on Saturday at 13:00"
You want effortless sales? Your grumpiness reminds me
of the old adage
"Business would be a lot of fun if it weren't for all those pesky
customers."
No, grumpiness comes from ASSHOLE messages like YOUR ad hominem current
one.
Selling a laundry list of old computer crap for $40 a
pop isn't the
most sensible way to make money. It's going to take some effort.
If he wanted to save effort, he's hand it to the scrapper.
A little hard to be sure of HIS exact motivations.
The good guys selling old computer crap? They're
probably motivated
by a personal sense of satisfaction that their stuff will find a
new home with someone who will appreciate it.
Agreed
Think he's grumpy, too?
NO.
He's an asshole, like you are currently being.
If I were a scammer, I bet being grumpy would
be my second approach if someone didn't fall for my first excuse as
to why the goods weren't as promised. Unpleasantness can make
people stop bothering you. "Once you get their money, never give it back."
NO.
A Scammer's approach is to be their "best buddy"!
Yes, you need to sometimes put up with some hassles when selling things.
That's why I usually give the stuff away, instead.
Giving out too much contact information to total strangers, before even
discussing what they want is an open invitation to ridiculous levels of
abuse.
Do you know WHY auto mechanics don't give out their home phone numbers?
Yes, some of it is to be able to cut off access to disgruntled
ex-customers. But it is ALSO to cut off access to "Hi! Did I wake you?
You don't know me, but I heard that you are really good. My car is broken
down on the freeway, and it'll cost $25 to get it towed to the garage!
That's too much! So, could you come out here and fix it?"
REALLY.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at xenosoft.com
17 Apr
17 Apr
12:57 p.m.
On 04/16/2012 04:07 PM, Jules Richardson wrote:
I can. Phone calls are disruptive and a pain. Some people (like me!)
despise phone calls.
I agree with you. Telephones are interesting things to investiage and
repair, but totally unsuitable for communication. I object ot be
interrupted when I am trying to get somethign running. And I flatly
refuse to answer technical questions o nthe telephone, I want to be able
to take time to think about them, look things up, etc.
That said, if I was selling something, I would give the buyer my telehpne
number, but tell him that hw should only use it if there's some kind of
major problem (e.g. he's coming to collect it and his car has broken
down).
-tony
I asked
for his address and
phone number; he ignored me. He even refused my offer to send cash.
That does sound a bit fishy - if I'm selling something, I can't see a
good reason for withholding contact information.
5:32 p.m.
On 04/17/2012 02:57 PM, Tony Duell wrote:
I'm an expert at ignoring my landline, and it diverts to voicemail after 5
rings. I do generally check it reasonably soon after to see who called, and
my time before calling them back is dependent on various factors :-)
On 04/16/2012 04:07 PM, Jules Richardson wrote:
I can. Phone calls are disruptive and a pain. Some people (like me!)
despise phone calls.
I agree with you. Telephones are interesting things to investiage and
repair, but totally unsuitable for communication. I object ot be
interrupted when I am trying to get somethign running. I asked
for his address and
phone number; he ignored me. He even refused my offer to send cash.
That does sound a bit fishy - if I'm selling something, I can't see a
good reason for withholding contact information. That said, if I was selling something, I would give
the buyer my telehpne
number, but tell him that hw should only use it if there's some kind of
major problem (e.g. he's coming to collect it and his car has broken
down).
That's what I've always done, and it's served me well enough - an awful lot
of things have left my paws over the years and I've not had any annoying
experiences that I can think of (same with giving out an address - I've
always found that people turn up when they say they will, plus or minus a
few minutes).
cheers
Jules
7:28 p.m.
On 04/17/2012 10:07 PM, Evan Koblentz wrote:
Mmm-hm. ;)
I got the machine running RSTS/E last night, working on getting the
serial mux configured tonight. Pic in a moment.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA
I can. Phone
calls are disruptive and a pain. Some people (like me!)
despise phone calls.
That reminds me, I have to call you tonight, we're rejecting your
PDP-11/70 exhibit for VCF East.
Just kidding. :) 
18 Apr
18 Apr
12:55 a.m.
On Wed, Apr 18, 2012 at 3:28 AM, Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com> wrote:
?I got the machine running RSTS/E last night, working on getting the
serial mux configured tonight. ?Pic in a moment.
We're waiting! (;
--
Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems: ?"The Future Begins Tomorrow"
Visit us at: http://www.yoyodyne-propulsion.net
--------
"Under the Obama plan, NASA will spend $100 billion on human
spaceflight over the next 10 years in order to accomplish nothing"
-Robert Zubrin
11:56 a.m.
On 04/18/2012 03:55 AM, John Many Jars wrote:
Hey, that pic was for Evan, not for you clods! ;)
Hmm, ok. Here you go:
http://www.neurotica.com/misc/pdp1170-buildout-running.jpg
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA
I got the
machine running RSTS/E last night, working on getting the
serial mux configured tonight. Pic in a moment.
We're waiting! (; 
11:36 p.m.
Nice!
-----Original Message-----
From: Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com>
Sender: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org
Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:56:35
To: General Discussion On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Reply-To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Subject: Re: Official Spring cleaning sale
On 04/18/2012 03:55 AM, John Many Jars wrote:
Hey, that pic was for Evan, not for you clods! ;)
Hmm, ok. Here you go:
http://www.neurotica.com/misc/pdp1170-buildout-running.jpg
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA
I got the
machine running RSTS/E last night, working on getting the
serial mux configured tonight. Pic in a moment.
We're waiting! (; 
16 Apr
16 Apr
1:15 p.m.
How can this
fellow continue scamming, year after year?
To his credit some people have
apparently bought from him with no
issues, but I'd still be wondering if any of the stuff he's flogging
now is part of the loot he stole from fellow hobbyists in his
prime...
2:05 p.m.
At 03:15 PM 4/16/2012, Mouse wrote:
Of course, for all I know it's also possible
he's selling (eg) a G3
case with a fried CPU and a broken disk drive and RAM and claiming it's
a totally working machine, which would be another flavour of scam....
Which indeed matches the complaints from several buyers that I saw in
some simple Google searches this morning.
- John
2:12 p.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mouse" <mouse at rodents-montreal.org>
To: <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2012 4:15 PM
Subject: Re: Official Spring cleaning sale
I was wondering. Given his insistence on pickup-in-person, it would be
hard to be a total scammer (by which I mean the "take money and give
absolutely nothing in return" sort). So either he's selling for real
or he is (perhaps very) willing to be talked around on the won't-ship
point. (If he's selling for real, the provenance of the things being
sold is another question, one I have no basis for more than speculation
on.)
Of course, for all I know it's also possible he's selling (eg) a G3
case with a fried CPU and a broken disk drive and RAM and claiming it's
a totally working machine, which would be another flavour of scam....
/~\ The ASCII Mouse
\ / Ribbon Campaign
X Against HTML mouse at rodents-montreal.org
/ \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B
The guy seems like a compulsive liar and will not pass up a chance to screw
somebody if he can get away with it (and the community has made sure that he
does get away with it for a decade or more).
I would bet he gets quite a bit of his spending money selling old equipment.
You could ask him a dozen times where he gets that equipment and you will
hear a different answer every time. I would guess that he snagged a bunch of
stuff from that warehouse find he bragged about last year all over the
internet (not his, helping a friend sell it etc). I would bet he took the
best of the lot without his "friend" knowing and is selling/sold it off and
kept the money (just my guess) and wants the broken stuff that's left gone
(come and get it, sorry its in a shed with no power so you can't test it,
trust me it all works sucker).
I do wonder why he joined here, since most people here may be trusting but
they have been around the hobby for ages and have heard of him. The sad
thing is there are tons of people who don't care how he got his stuff as
long as they think they are getting a deal. Just the fact that he can rejoin
68kmla and Applefritter AFTER he screwed the members over and still get
sales is rather sad.
How can this fellow continue scamming, year after
year?
To his credit some people have apparently bought from him with no
issues, but I'd still be wondering if any of the stuff he's flogging
now is part of the loot he stole from fellow hobbyists in his
prime... 
17 Sep
17 Sep
3:17 p.m.
On Mon, 16 Apr 2012, MikeS wrote:
----- Original Message:
Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2012 08:01:00 -0500
From: John Foust <jfoust at threedee.com>
At 05:07 PM 4/15/2012, David Riley wrote:
[Reading back through my spooled messages from when I was inactive, even
though this is months old now this is one thread I have to add to.]
http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/2012-April/thread.html#315098
I wonder if this is one of the guys who burned me? After getting burned on
a number of trades of old boards and misc stuff, I pretty much stopped
trading entirely and for years was inactive here and instead bought/sold
small classiccmp type stuff on eBay. I've seen some of the stuff I sent
one guy listed repeatedly on eBay at insane prices by a seller with 1000s
of overpriced "vintage" PC parts (386/486 generation stuff listed for
insane amounts, etc).
On Apr 15, 2012, at 1:02 PM, Steven Landon
wrote:
> <loads of crap>
How can this fellow continue scamming, year after
year?
- John
Well, as he gets banned from one forum/list after another, he just moves
on to the next; looks like he's found a home here at last...
To his credit some people have apparently bought from him with no
issues, but I'd still be wondering if any of the stuff he's flogging now
is part of the loot he stole from fellow hobbyists in his prime...
4246
days inactive
4400
days old
21 comments
13 participants
participants (13)
-
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
cisin＠xenosoft.com -
dm561＠torfree.net -
evan＠snarc.net -
fraveydank＠gmail.com -
jfoust＠threedee.com -
john＠yoyodyne-propulsion.net -
jules.richardson99＠gmail.com -
mcguire＠neurotica.com -
microcode＠zoho.com -
mouse＠Rodents-Montreal.ORG -
teoz＠neo.rr.com -
tothwolf＠concentric.net