Cingular:
Heatware (or heat as it is commonly called) is simply a feedback system similar to eBay's that is used by several of the larger forums that host classifieds. The benefits are obvious. You can check it out for yourself at
http://www.heatware.com/
Now as for the rest of your post, frankly I was a little taken aback at being chastised (albeit mildly) for offering to send someone a graphics card without receiving payment first. The impression I got was that you felt this was somewhat "un-
TG" of me.
As you yourself recognize, this community has grown immensely over the past few years. I've only been here since 11/05 and even I have noticed the significant increase in size. I can only imagine what it is like for people like you who have been here even longer.
While in many respects,
TG is a tight knit community, I think it has grown beyond the days where credibility/maturity/honesty can be assumed simply because someone has taken the time to register for forum access (which is all it takes to post on the buy/sell/trade area). A few rounds in our
BF2142 server will show that despite the outstanding efforts of our admin team, there are plenty of people who claim to play the
TG way, yet fail to live up to the expected standards. Maturity, honesty and integrity are standards we strive for, but to say that everyone who comes to these boards meets those standards is idealistic. Using Heat is simply a way to ensure that, on some level, those standards are being met.
The simple fact that you've never seen me in game (although I think I have seen you back in my
BF2 days) lends credence to this point.
TG has grown beyond a small group of friends who can implicitly trust one another. We host a stunning array of games (which is probably why you don't recognize me--I don't play the ones you do). Whether or not this growth is good is a debate for another day, but the bottom line is that along with
TG's growth comes a certainly level of anonymity that can be abused by the unscrupulous among us. Using the tools we have available to avoid this abuse is something that I'm hard pressed to see as detrimental in any way.
Perhaps I am reading too much into your comments, but when they are made by someone with 14K posts and such heavy involvement in the community they carry a lot of weight with others and as such, I feel compelled to "defend" what I believe was a reasonable action. In fact, IMHO, what I did, offering to send something before receiving payment, seems to be even more in keeping with the ideals we strive for. It indicates a willingness on my part to trust someone who can demonstrate that they are worthy of that trust. That doesn't seem contrary to anything that
TG stands for.
KZ17
