Steve, you are correct when you indicate that Bruce insinuating other auctions do not offer good customer service or honest auctions etc are aggravating statements. He does it to create a competitive advantage for himself. But facts are that the insinuations are false. I of course understand it is "business" but it isn't like he doesn't try to take digs at other sellers very much in the Saul Allinsky method. That's okay.. I don't take it personal, but as a businessman who is being dissed, I will say something. For my money, if you don't want people critiquing you, it's best not to make critiques about others that will turn around on you. No one says Bruce doesn't do a great job, no one indicates you shouldn't bid with or consign to Bruce. But Bruce makes regular insinuations that (for instance) Heritage is bad, and that buying from or consigning to Heritage is bad and has for almost a decade. All companies, including Heritage, eMovieposter or even my own can be critiqued for this issue or that issue. There are ways to manage comparisons between you and your competitors without stepping over such lines and creating acrimony, but regardless, if you do such critiquing, it eliminates any gripe you have when you are similarly critiqued.
For instance, my gripe about the thread that Holiday moved from Dealer to Let It All Out was not that Bruce was griping, it was that 1) he was griping in MY thread when just a few weeks earlier he was griping I had posted a funny line into one of his dealer threads (I removed my post after he griped and I even apologized to him) and that 2) he was stating my thread did not belong in Dealer, which was complete and utter bullshit. If he felt it didn't belong where it was, he should have just sent a message to Holiday (clearly Bruce was wrong in this situation because I was allowed to repost the thread in dealer, with no edits). Also as was noted by several other members, my thread was no different than (according to OZ) 7500 of Bruce's threads.
The moral here being: you determine your own road to travel. If you make insinuations about other auctions, you can't be angry when people point out hypocrisy.
Business is business. But getting personal is personal.
concerning the thread at NSF, you do realize that thread was for 8 solid months used by Bruce for promo (and the most recent posts there are Bruce promo). Other people including myself using it for promo are therefore, right in line and if you read the thread from start to finish, I defended Bruce against both people who were whining about him, largely because I thought both posters were being unfair to Bruce. So it is clear evidence that my comments are on both sides of the Bruce fence. I have no personal gripe against Bruce, never did. From a business perspective however, you can't complain if I turn the tables on you and use your own methods to counter your claims, or your insinuations..
