Disclaimers: 1. I thought about this overnight in order to compose this reply. 2. I have great respect for John's experience and knowledge. 3. I have received emails on this topic, so am not speaking solely from my own perspective.
From: John Robertson[SMTP:jrr@flippers.com]
Well, what would you like me to do? I send out lots of email looking for one unit, and several come back with various assortment of units and pods that they want to sell as a set.
I don't know. I guess I expected something different from this list. Perhaps I thought it would be similar to the vector and raster list (from which this list sprung, vaguely) where interesting items are offered to members before being sent to ebay (a dirty enough word in itself).
They do not like breaking up sets. I have made private trades with folks for these, plus I have sold some off. We have a business here to run, and I need to make money to support it.
Sounds exactly what an amateur (we all know the etymology of that word) would do. Sometimes you have to take in more than you need.
So I buy them wholesale, then I see that some on eBay went for a fair dollar, I should give them away?
That's where our paths would start to diverge.
I bought a bunch of damaged probes and am fixing them up, should I not profit from this service?
Certainly, but why not from some of the very people that joined this list in order to discuss, discover and collect these same tools? Or offer some of the broken ones that you don't want to fix. We know that your time is money. Only you can determine when you are losing profit by working on a pod vs another game that you should get out. I've been attempting to retrieve some of the archives of this list, but off the top of my head, I don't think I've ever seen any of your pods for sale or auction. I also wish that I could retrieve the charter for this list. It's slipped my mind what the full intent was.
I bought a bunch of Z80 pods in various states, so I fix them and test them. Again, should I not do what my skills enable me to do? This is MY livelihood!
Once again, no argument. You, Ray Johnson, G. Stair, E. Spain (marginal), and others are all invaluable professional resources. Clay Cowgill is on the fence and he has his own detractors. Then there are the hobbyists, many with similar and varied skills. There just seems to be two separate factions in each of these lists. Maybe it's never been spoken out loud, but believe me, I know that they exist now. Let me reiterate: You are an exceptional resource. I have been fortunate enough to visit your shop. I have seen the voluminous reference materials. I have discussed with you some of the rare and obsolete platforms that you still support. I have drooled over your drool-worthy racks of PCBs, parts and machines. And I gladly bought the ESR and FBT tester kits. But you're not a hobbyist. I'm not picking up any harsh resentment from others, just a feeling of dismay. It's too bad that this "collection of pods" (5, 15, 50?) isn't spread around the list members. It also means that they are in the hands of the high bidders and, because they were so dearly bought, likely won't come back on the market. Dismaying. That's all I have to say on this. You're a businessman, I don't think your feelings will be hurt. I'm a hobbyist, I'll keep pegging away in my little basement workshop and scrounging for the deals. Your compatriot, nonetheless, Brendan Keith brendan.keith@wilcom.com To UNSUBSCRIBE from techtoolslist, send a message with "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the message body to: techtoolslist-request@flippers.com. Please direct other questions, comments, or problems to jrr@flippers.com.