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Gimmie-Gimmie syndrome

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Pyro

N=R* fs fp ne fl fi fc L
Moderator
Hey all,

I just want to pop a note in here for everyone.

In the course of the past month or so I have received a number of PMs or emails that have gone well beyond the norm of inquiring about the possibility of acquiring a plant through trade and have instead passed into the realm of rude demands.

For example, I actually received the following message:

Hi, i heard you gave person X (name removed to protect identity) a hippo plant (again, name changed to protect identities). I want one too. Here is my address...

That was the most bold one I got but others were pretty gutsy too.

Now by and large I am a very generous guy. I enjoy passing material around to others when I have it to give. And I do not mind when someone contacts me to discuss the possibility of a trade or the like. And that is the crux of it. Of late, more and more of the messages I have been receiving have not been trade oriented so much as they have been request/demand oriented.

And I am not the only one who is experiencing this, if it was just me I probably would have let it slide off me as I usually do. But in emails and conversations with some of my regular contacts there have been mentions of the same things happening.

Anyway, point I am trying to make is that there are proper ways to go about contacting someone if you are interested in trying to get material from them. Be polite, be civil and be respectful.

For example, here is an excerpt from a message I recently sent another grower:

If you ever have divisions available and are open to trading would you mind giving me a holler? Do not know if I have anything (Sarr or otherwise) that may interest you but if not I may be able to track something down through my networks

By this point they and I had already exchanged a few emails so we had a bit of a rapport going but still notice that my message was

1) Conditional ("If you ever have...")

2) Gave them the power to choose whether or not to engage the idea of a trade ("...would you mind giving me a holler?")

3) I made an offer ("...anything [Sarr or otherwise] that might interest you...")

4) I also followed it with a second offer ("...I may be able to track something down...")

These things show that I am making a serious effort to take their thoughts and position into consideration.

This is a far cry form messages like:

"I don't have anything to trade but could you give me XXX"

"Hey. Nice pics. Got any spares I can have?"

"I don't mean to bother you but I really want XXX and I have not been able to find one, Any chance I can get one of yours?"
 
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