Well put ;-) Interesting that clicking a button on a web site seems more effective than exchanging an email with a seller. A friend of mine died a year ago and his e-store site is still up as though nothing had happened; you could wait a while for a reply ;-)
A sign of the times I guess, when personal contact is perceived as riskier than a flashy web site... I suppose folks are used to actual business sites selling stuff for Commodores etc. instead of the more personal and friendly atmosphere in this community, where even 'serious' sellers are active and accessible participants. I'd think that just being on a site as community-based as Bitchin100 would suggest that it's not likely a scam. m On Wed, Dec 21, 2022 at 3:28 PM Brian White <b.kenyo...@gmail.com> wrote: > The main REX info page has a large link that says "ordering information" > > So far so good. > > Following that link presents you with text that says "orders are accepted > via email". > > It's not a big "buy!" button but it's hardly unclear. > > At that point I think any sensible person is now on the lookout for an > email address. Yes, it's annoying that there wasn't a mailto: link right > there in that line. > > And a few lines further down is something that is perhaps slightly > cryptic, but also cannot be explained any other way than by being an email > address, and it is far from uncommon to obfuscate email addresses on > publicly scrape-able web sites. > > All in all, the prior text explaining that you need to send an email, and > the page as a whole, provides sufficient direction. > > There is no store or cart system, but there absolutely is ordering > information as advertised. > > It's at *worst*, ever so slightly 90's. Oh the baffling horror. > > But there is no way it's actually any sort of minimum requirement or > obligation for an individual operating at this hobby scale to operate a > full shopping cart web site, or even an Etsy or ebay store, even if some > others do. "Order by email" is perfectly reasonable, and obfuscating that > email from scrapers is also reasonable, whether you happen to think it's > necessary or not. > > You could always build your own classic REX > http://tandy.wiki/REX but I promise it's not as convenient as decrypting > that order page. > > -- > bkw > > On Wed, Dec 21, 2022, 11:01 AM Wayne Lorentz <wa...@lorentz.me> wrote: > >> No, there isn't an ordering link on the Rex page. Clicking on "Ordering >> information" just brings you to a page that lists prices and methods of >> payment. >> >> Perhaps it's my fault for not knowing that "twospruces / gmail" after >> the sign-off was supposed to be an e-mail address, and that I'm supposed to >> write a letter to someone at that e-mail address asking for information >> about how I can order their product. My Little Orphan Annie Secret Decoder >> Ring is in the shop. What I expected was a link to a PayPal, or other >> service ordering and payment page. He already has a PayPal account. >> Making a proper, secure payment link only takes a few clicks. >> >> Gmail has the second-best spam protection on the planet (after >> FastMail). It's not perfect, but there's no reason to obfuscate a gmail >> address online anymore. That hasn't worked for years. Spambots know all >> the clever tricks already. >> >> While it's nice that everyone in this community is happy to vouch for >> him, how is someone who is not part of this mailing list supposed to know >> that he's not some fly-by-night scam artist? Or perhaps dead, which >> happens all too often in retro computing? Decode and send an e-mail, then >> wait six months for a reply that may never come? Asking someone to send >> $100 to another country requires establishing a basic level of trust. >> >> >> On Dec 20, 2022, at 3:03 PM, m100-requ...@lists.bitchin100.com wrote: >> >> There's a ordering link on the Rex page >> >> https://bitchin100.com/wiki/index.php?title=REX >> >> >> https://bitchin100.com/wiki/index.php?title=Ordering_Information >> >> Steve's email is on that page but he encoded it so he doesn't get spam. >> Point is you can send him emails through that or he is also on this list. >> >> >> >>
