meh, on the one hand, I can understand that there will ALWAYS be both honest and dishonest salespeople in this world, and you know the saying about the evil you know being better then the evil you don't.... However, I am tired of reading through thread after thread, looking for useful info, trying to build my knowledge base of my newest obsession, and instead finding topic after topic of rants and drama. I partly want to vote yes, just to help end the rants and drama.
However ultimately, I have to admit, even a less then honest person is still a contributing member of the community. Having read several of the threads, and knowing nobody personally, it simply looks like "darkarmyofone" has definitely had some shady dealings.
Several topics look like they have gotten BADLY out of hand. There is still a lot of actual facts in them. As I see it, the facts are as follows:
There have been items sold that didn't meet the advertised specs, and judging by the findings, COULDN'T possibly have met the specs. Given that Darkarmyofone does have the means to verify the claims he made prior to making them, there is irrefutable proof of at least negligence in the responsibility as the supplier to verify the claims he made. Under US laws regarding truth in advertising, it is the sole responsibility of the advertiser to make certain the claims are true. So this negligence is simply a crime. minor, but still illegal to advertise a falsehood. However, this is sadly fairly common in the US still. it may be illegal, but many people do in fact do it. In my line of work, false claims carry a stiff penalty, because of the inability of the general public to determine the truth of any claims. In fact, if I were to stamp a ring 14k instead of 10k, the penalty is $250,000 US. This might be why I detest fake claims in advertising as much as I do.
Despite a deep dislike for false advertising, I still have to look and think that this community seems to be a smaller, tight knit community. Lots of people could easily get interested in lasers as a hobby, however there is finite growth room in this community, as if things get out of hand and too many people have high powered lasers, then simple numbers promise that the number of laser related crimes (such as aircraft related, or assault or blinding, etc) would rise to the point of banning lasers. So too many stupid people getting interested in this = eventual ban. So ideally, this will always be a small tight knit community.
I guess it comes down to this. In a small tight knit community, (while there are many thousands of people, given that this community spans the globe, it is definitely small) there is less room for people that spark controversy, or are dishonest. However, there is also a strong need for every person who is adding to the community in a constructive manner. So are things bad enough to sacrifice a valid DIY shop. or not? His prices are low enough, though his inventory seems to be weak. His advertising helps pay for LPF. While other people might talk about it's easily replaced, and people who want him gone will talk about paying for it themselves, the hard fact is, it's even easier to NOT replace that source of income, that continues to have a constructive impact on the community.
In short. he definitely has flaws, and his tone in his posts makes him a fairly unlikable character, he still has a positive effect as well. As to ban him or not. I might as well flip a coin before I vote.... I do NOT see his side of things much, but I do see that he appears to be an asset as well, not just a liability. Sadly, nothing in life is black and white
StridAst
(yes I know this is a gianormouslyfreakinghuge post that basically just says "I can't decide" but I am hoping for people to debate specific points in it, and to possibly help make some more balanced and less emotional choices about what they post.
EDIT: Forgot to add a large part of my point: While many people seem to think that banning or not banning one person will either make people view the forums as harboring dishonest thieves, The fact remains, that in ANY group of people, you will ALWAYS find more and less honest people. Nobody judges an entire forum by a single experience unless they themselves have some serious issues going on. And NOBODY is purely dishonest. Granted once trust is broken its quite hard to trust someone again. However people can and do change. I disagree with "once a thief always a thief" If that mentality was true, then I would have to be a thief, as once when I was 3 years old, I took a pack of gum from the grocery store checkout stand. Now regardless of taking it back, or scolding and spankings, if life was black and white, and once a thief always a thief was a truth, then MOST people would be thieves.
