I have never been ripped off on the internet before. I have seen some very good people get scammed because they were trusting. Even by people who have been here a while. This is the internet. You cannot take anything on face value because there are no faces on the internet. People can say anything. Talk is cheap in life, on the internet its free. IMO you cant trust anyone new, and extreme caution must be given on all buys. It only makes sense. You accuse me of make assumptions. Well you are making assumptions too. None of you know this guy personally yet you add him as a friend? To me this is insane, and not very smart. Trust has to be earned, not freely given. Sorry, but its the way the internet is.
I've been burned quite a few times actually. More often in person and far less online.
I try to be optimistically cautious, and sometimes that means I do get hurt. Personally I'm very much OK with that because along the way I've had some amazing experiences that I never would have had otherwise.
If you read through the thread, I said time and again "use a middleman", and that brings the risk down to only what $15, $20? Not much of a risk at all IMO. I'm also as cautious as possible, but being cautious is different from never taking a risk.
As far as adding him as a friend, you said it yourself, this is the internet. A true friend does have to earn my trust in real life. For the purposes of this forum though - why not? To me he seems like a nice guy, who's in a bind. He came on here to sell a laser to get a little money. Price was lowered, pictures, were posted, replies were made... btw I think his replies are a hell of a lot more civil than most of yours. He requested my friendship, and while he hasn't done anything for me, well, that's not really what friends are for is it? Hopefully he'll back me up at some point, on some subject, but if he doesn't what exactly did I lose? In terms of what I gained... well, at least the goodwill of another person.
The whole gun in picture thing, while there are three other sales involving guns and arctics - weird yes, but no tie to what is happening here. Different pictures, jut the same overproduced, crappy laser.
IMO you cant trust anyone new, and extreme caution must be given on all buys. It only makes sense.
That's a very pragmatic approach, and as you indicate you've never been ripped off. The question to ask yourself here though, is how many opportunities did you miss out on because of this?
How is someone new supposed to gain trust, if no one is willing to offer any?
We're both making assumptions here. The thing is, my assumptions are based on what he actually posted here, not on what's posted elsewhere.
We have the same goals here but opposing viewpoints and approaches. This is fine, it's your right, just don't be surprised if others don't always agree with you.