"Software" & The Guy On This Forum That Pretended To Be Two Different People, But Was Really The Same Person:

Does it take a crook to catch a crook?

I stayed away from his software thread because something just didn't sound right.
--Christine

Well, if it's fake somebody went to an awful lot of trouble building a web site. What I'm not sure about is the database the software uses in coming up with its uncannily accurate results. It could be based on the personal experience of the guy who wrote the testimonials. (I wasn't kidding when I said the testimonials all could have been written by the same person. In case none of you have guessed I'm a published author and I know a little bit about writing styles.)

Anyway, I would think that the results of any such software, if genuine, would vary considerably based on the types of items sold. That is, you'd probably stand a much better chance of getting gypped by a seller of Oriental rugs than by a seller of used books. Comments, anyone?

Like Steve, the software would be of no value to me. I mostly purchase books, and I haven't experienced any "actual" fraud. Since I don't deal in transactions that involve thousands of dollars, perhaps I've been spared this abuse.

If the seller has fairly decent feedback, I'll take a chance. The worst that happens is that the book isn't in quite the condition stated in the auction (which doesn't happen all that often). But I don't think someone is intentionally going to rip me off, before they've tried it on someone else. I'm paranoid, but I'm not THAT paranoid.

For the type of item that I buy, all I usually need is to use some common sense. Of course, the longer you've been on ebay and the more transactions you've had helps in improving that common sense.

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I figured you were a person of letters, but had you pegged as a retired English or Literature professor.

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Remember: It's Sunday. Use longer lead times. Should you use short lead times and AS doesn’t place your snipe; consider yourself lucky. You’ll probably pay less for the item on the next auction.

I say this because I ran both of their posts through my "befuddled English language shill detector database," and the analysis showed that the same types of grammatical and spelling mishaps occurred in a similar pattern for both users. This is possibly an English-as-a-second-language issue, and is in no way meant to criticize either nom-de-plum. But it is meant to point out the similarities in the two threads, and the fact that both seem to be eager to promote commercial software to AS users here.

I figure Chatter writes Sci Fi books similar to "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy".

Let's see...Your first name is Steve...that's probably short for Steven or Stephen. And you're a published author....You didn't by any chance write a book about an old Plymouth Fury and name it after me, did you?
--Christine
(just kidding.)

Other possibilities: Stephen Hawking, Stephen E. Ambrose, Stephen Crane, Steven Millhauser, Stephan W. Sears, Stephen Jay Gould, Stephen B. Oates, Robert Louis Stevenson.

Uh, Rick, I hate to point out the obvious, but I think some of the guys you just named are dead....

But classics live on forever!

Christine, it's short for "Stephen." The books I've written have to do with what publishers call a "niche market" -- a fairly small, very specialized audience. So you could say I'm scratching a niche.

Oh, LOL, Steve, I like that one, in fact it's more of a ROFL than a LOL.

Lead, Follow or get out of the way!

If you continue to scratch your niche, it might get infected. Having a niche removed can be very painful.

I would avoid being a niche-picker.

A niche in time savez nine.