awildman wrote:
You mean like the Uilleann Obsession guy...?
No. Not even close.
You seem to have missed that I said
grey market. Go back and read my explanation of it. Uilleann Obsession is a venue where legitimate owners and makers can sell their own stuff. Patrick's site simply provides the space. He's not selling it himself, nor for himself - which you also seem to have missed. Posting here what's available there is not Pat trying to line his pockets; he's letting us know in case we're interested. It's a service, and in good faith. When sales there are completed he receives a small commission for having provided the space, but that's entirely fair and above-board. If he ever sells anything there that he owns personally, he would say so, but that's going to be quite a small percentage of the whole.
As kkrell says, Pat's a busy man what with performing, recording, and teaching workshops, not to mention a family - or his own website for that matter, plus a day job - filling his time. He used to be quite active here socially, but there comes a point where you realize that there are plenty of C&F members qualified to give the same basic advice you would, so given life's pressures and the knowledge that the Board's in good hands, you feel less urgency than you used to about lending input. By contrast, a sell-only person is just that, who from the beginning has no interest in the Board other than the money he can get out of it. That's not Pat one bit. If it helps any, as it happens I recently exchanged a series of PMs with him only just the other day, and not a word of commerce was uttered. Strictly friendly catching-up stuff, and I think I even made him spit out his coffee at one point. At least I hope I did.
awildman wrote:
Or like that JD person who advertises flutes for sale here a lot and only really socializes to support maker's products whom he might sell? (Meanwhile soliciting members here privately trying to buy their instruments -not listed for sale- at unreasonably low prices? I'm not the only person who has had this sort of thing happen)
I don't know offhand who you mean by "JD", because a member search turns up nothing for me on the username. As you no doubt can imagine, member names become something of a blur, and here two letters have proven not enough to jog my memory, much less narrow the search. If you've known of a problem you should have contacted a mod instead of belatedly airing public accusations about some vague someone. If your purpose is mainly to suggest that Admin have been remiss, 1) Unfortunately we can't catch everything, and 2) You've said nothing about it to us before, which lack of teamwork spreads the culpability around, don't you think? It's no secret that we rely on the membership to help from time to time, because we're all in this boat together. You need to do better if you intend to make any kind of case. Be careful, here.