That's too bad. I hope it does not dissuade you from future participation here. I, for one sincerely appreciate your generosity and would like to Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for the gifts you gave to the seemingly ungrateful recipients. I had a bad experience once too. Years ago in the original PIF thread (back when it was a single thread, before there was a PIF forum) I gave a pristine metal housing TG that had been modded with Power Custom internals, an OT set screw, custom mag release and polished trigger return plunger. It was a sweet trigger. The recipient turned around and sold it a month later on another site. I gave away many things back then, and I tried to be sure I let the TGs go to enthusiastic members who were building customs but couldn't afford to go all the way.
It stung, but it didn't stop me.:bthumb:
+1 I look at some people's post that receive pif items. There's people who have been members for a long time that only have a few post and they are all to claim free items without giving anything back.
That's true and the original PIF rules stated that you could not claim back to back items without offering something to the community in between. I thought it was a great rule but it was lost when the separate forum was created.
I tried to pass on some really Nice books to '3' different people [in asking for them];--BUT,...Not a one got back to Me!!!
They Went to the '4th' person that asked for them!!!
There's nothing wrong with that- and for that matter, nothing wrong with putting a qualifier in place for more valuable items....
Like :
"Send me a PM and tell me your story- Why do you want/deserve the widget?"
Answers like
"I'm building a rifle for my granddaughter"
Or
"I lost my job last year"
Would likely float to the top of my list.
I'm going to post a rules and etiquette reminder in this forum in the weeks ahead addressing the following topics:
1) If you claim something, have the common courtesy to communicate with the donor and show your appreciation, in the thread when you claim the item and after you receive it- via PM or post. We have often run into trouble because people do not follow the rules which state that you should claim items in the thread. They claim items via PM, then the donor is left with a sticky situation regarding who had dibs first.
2) If you do claim something, keep a bookmark in the back of your head regarding the purpose of this forum. So PAY it FORWARD -
be on the lookout for something useful that you can afford to part with and donate it before claiming another item.
3) Folks need to stop posting requests for items in the threads in this forum. At least once a month I get a reported post that I need to delete it because it breaks the rules here. There is a Want to Trade/Want to Buy section in the Trading Post Classifieds where you can post a free ad looking for specific items.
4) If you did claim something and then decide to upgrade or replace it or you find you just no longer have a need for it, honor dictates that you should put it back in the donor/recipient pool here where it came from, rather than turn a profit. Selling items that were given here is just tacky and wrong. If you find yourself in this situation and can't afford to ship it to the next person, contact me via PM and I'll cover shipping for you.
Respectfully,
DrGunner