Note I'm not posting this because I've seen much of this going on here lately, but rather because I thought it was worth reinforcing the point by an example of what can happen:

Ironically despite my topic starter I'm going to be discussing an open auction, this one to be precise:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewIt...amp;ih=009


This guy is selling a url where fakes are being discussed. He doesn't say it's here, I hope it's not but this is just one of the reasons why it's not a plan to discuss open auctions. A couple of other good reasons being:

1) It opens this forum up to potential legal action.

2) By critiquing a fakes flaws, we provide information to fakers on how to make their fakes better.

Yet most of the "fakers" seem interested in making a quick buck off of some unsuspecting stooge. I wonder how many of them actually would take the time to read how to make their fakes better? Most of the "antique" armour I have seen is either been left outside during a rainstorm/had a vinegar bath, or is 1970's SCA gear.

Excuse me for being blunt, but since this is my site I feel I have every liberty to do so: The auction linked in the original post of this topic is flat-out, plain and simple, passive aggressive crap. If the person posting that auction truly wanted to offer a "service" to the community, he should contact the admn of the site in question that is hosting the item. For the sake of full disclosure, nobody has contacted me about such a thing so it certainly isn't here. Anyway, such passive-aggressive stuff really gets me annoyed. As if posting such an auction is going to actually provide any good and positive service to anyone. Come on. If one is truly concerned about the passing of fakes on the market via the Internet, create a Web site and fight against such things. For completely different reasons, not fraud-related, I started myArmoury.com to fill a need. Creating a fake auction with little to no information in it simply isn't a positive and effective move.