[meteorite-list] IMCA, Michael Blood's comments...another idea

From: John Gwilliam <jkg_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:04:50 2004
Message-ID: <4.2.0.58.20020520162035.009cce60_at_mail.theriver.com>

After thinking about this issue all day, I've come up with an idea that can
potentially educate all prospective meteorite buyers on Ebay.

An auction(or several) could be run every week by various concerned
meteorite people offering the winning bidder some simple printed
information about how to tell meteorites from meteorwrongs. Start the
bidding at just $1.00 and the auction listing fee and the final value fee
should total than a buck. Granted, not very many people would bid on a
brochure containing this information, but the proper text within the
auction description could provide valuable information about the problems
we're talking about.

Here's how to reach a lot more people.

The description in the auction could have a link to a web page giving all
the same information that would be offered in the brochure and more. With
the click of a few buttons, a neophyte meteorite buyer could access a
website offering all kinds of information about meteorites, and more
importantly, meteorwrongs. Ebay allows links to websites that further
describe the item being offered. However, it would have to be a site that
doesn't have an other link to a page offering meteorites for sale.

I think it's doable and could be quite effective. Let's toss the idea
around for a while and see what some of us think about it.

Who currently has an educational webpage devoted to identifying meteorites
and wrongs that we could be linked to?

Best,

John

At 01:05 PM 5/19/02 -0700, Michael Blood wrote:
>Hi Tom, John, & the whole fan damly,
> Well, ok, then, howsabout a statement something like, "All
>IMCA members guarentee their material to be authentic - as
>do some reputable non members. We encourage you to buy only
>from individuals that guarentee their material to be meteoritic."
>This does not impede ANYONE or limit anyone, or require
>membership or anything other than ethical behavior regarding
>the sale of meteorites - and if they DON'T guarentee their material
>to be meteoritic, they do not have my support in any way, means or
>fashon. They are a threat to the stability of the field and I THOUGHT
>this was the primary stated goal at the founding of the IMCA.
> Perhaps I was under the wrong impression when I joined the
>IMCA. I thought the founding IDEA was to form an organization
>that would guarentee new collectors (and all collecrors) they
>were getting getting legitimate meteoritic material - PARTICULARLY
>on eBay. (If you check the list archives, I belive you will find this is
>the case - but, like Dennis Miller, "I could be wrong") If there is
>no statement encouraging people only buy with a guarentee of
>authenticity (whether from a member or not) then WHAT IS THE
>POINT?
> I may or may not agree with other "ethical" issues of other
>members - but this is the REASON I joined - to improve the
>respectability - the reputation, as it were, of our field.
> Best wishes, Michael
>PS: Yes, Mike Farmer, it was in reference to you as an example of
>a trustworthy dealer who was not (yet?) a member of the IMCA
>- it was in response to a posting in which your last name had been
>included.
>PPS: I respectfully request I not be referred to by various members
>or our alustruous community as "Blood." We are not privates in
>the Army or high school students - which are the ONLY arenas in
>which last-name-only referencing is deamed apropriate.
>
>
>--
>"Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things."
>-- Dan Quayle, 11/30/88
>--
>Worth Seeing:
>- Earth at night from satalite:
>http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0011/earthlights_dmsp_big.jpg
>- Earth - variety of choices:
>http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/vplanet.html
>--
>FREE COLLEGE MONEY
>CLICK HERE to search
>600,000 scholarships!
>http://us.click.yahoo.com/iZp8OC/4m7CAA/ySSFAA/jFYolB/TM
>--
>Michael Blood Meteorites, Didgeridoos & Insects in Amber for sale at:
>http://www.michaelbloodmeteorites.com/
>
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John Gwilliam Meteorites
PO Box 26854
Tempe AZ 85285
http://www.meteoriteimpact.com
Received on Mon 20 May 2002 07:37:02 PM PDT