I can understand the frustration of not knowing what the actual number you need to achieve is, but that's the point. They don't WANT someone just posting away to try to get to that magic number because that again means that member is only here to try to sell something. Doesn't care about the community, or is not interested in/too lazy to give back to it. And I doubt those types of posts would help a would-be seller's cause, as a series of those would reveal the intention of the poster. The posts would most likely get deleted once a pattern is discovered, and the member would most likely get banned. The idea here is that most owners of a message board want contributing active members. They're not looking to be another craigslist for people at their own expense.Originally Posted by pe4me
Indeed there are many sites that are free to use, but you're comparing apples to oranges. Most of the sites you're talking about generate revenue just by you being there (more traffic/active members = can charge and attract more large/commercial companies to advertise with them). That is not the case for a simple message board like this, where the more members you have, the more it's COSTING you. Sites like this one survive off the handful of people who advertise their small businesses/services through here, as well as people who voluntarily donate money to them, so I can understand why people who run such sites don't want a bunch of people who have never helped the community at LEAST in the form of advice/info, if not through a monetary donations, signing up for the mere purpose of a one night stand.
You're right. Contrary to the popular belief of owners of such cars, a modified car is not worth as much as an unmolested car. People don't seem to understand that modding a car cosmetically means you have tailored that car to YOUR taste, which has now eliminated a large portion of prospective buyers. You basically have to find someone who has your same exact taste just to be INTERESTED in the car, much less be willing to pay what you're asking. Modding a car mechanically means it has been driven hard to most. Otherwise, why would you alter it to make it faster? So now you have the added factors of was it modded correctly/did the guy know what he was doing, as well as the risk of the extra wear and tear from those modifications on the car even if they DID know what they were doing. Such cars are worth LESS, not more than a stock car, which I wish people would get (instead of trying to factor in the cost of the modifications into their prices). It's not a house. Modding a car doesn't add value to it. You EAT that cost.
On the other hand, we have to face reality. Regardless of mileage, condition, how well maintained it is, etc...we are talking about cars built by GM during a 30 year period where they were trying to put cars together as cheaply as possible. The reason GMs in general have no resale value is because the mass public is aware of how poorly they're designed and built. They've dealt with engines dying prematurely due to garbage LIM gaskets leaking, or window regulators going out frequently, or this and that sensor failing, or really cheap, brittle plastic buttons, trim pieces, center console lids, etc breaking, and so on and so on. We as enthusiasts might be willing to deal with and forgive much of this, but the mass public said "ain't nobody got time for DAT!" long ago, thus why you can buy a GM product that's just a few years old for so cheap. So while I can appreciate a very clean, well cared for example of these cars, and you may in fact find someone willing to pay a premium for one, in all reality, it doesn't make them worth much more in true market value than an average condition example. That's why a lot of people decide to hang on to these things until the wheels fall off. What you're going to get for them is seldom worth it.
I don't see why it would be illogical to buy a Pontiac just because that DIVISION went out of business. Almost every part on their cars (with the exception of the G8) was used on several other GMs, which means parts for most cars will be available for quite some time to come, not to mention the large aftermarket offerings. That would not have warded me off from buying one. Hell, I still fully plan on getting a G8 one day, despite the far lesser availability of parts because I'm confident there will still be enough parts made for it for some time.
