# eBay and tragedies: a match made in hell **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 1, 2003, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-and-tragedies-a-match-made-in-hell/152173 "2003-02-01T22:20:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linus_Van_Pelt)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-and-tragedies-a-match-made-in-hell/152173/21 "2003-02-02T08:33:45Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by matt\_mcl_ > oh, and from the same article: > > ## quote: > > ## EBay recorded a small increase Saturday in the number of listings for Columbia memorabilia, including coins, mission patches and even one listing for the official vertical stabilizers used in earlier voyages. Collectibles related to NASA’s space program are perennially popular, Mr. Pursglove said. I don’t know that 22 pages of items posted today after 2 pages the week before is a _small_ increase. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by red\_dragon60 \* > \*\*I have been thinking about it, and I think that I want a mission patch to sew to my backpack. Of course I would be buying it from NASA if possible, but does anyone see offence in this? I want to do it to remember and honor the astronauts and not as some jingo ultrapatriot thing. \*\* I see absolutely no problem with that - getting a mission patch, and wearing it proudly as a memorial to the crew. What I have a problem with is the people who are using the tragedy and the strong feelings that are naturally evoked in people in order to line their pockets. To be honest, if I see Columbia memorablia on e-bay 6 mos. from now, I’ll have no problem with it. It’s the _timing_ of these things that’s the issue. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-and-tragedies-a-match-made-in-hell/152173/22 "2003-02-02T18:17:47Z")
Just a correction… The link in the OP didn’t show someone selling shuttle debris, but web domain names. Still tasteless, but he didn’t go out and find parts of the shuttle to sell. Just snapped up some URLs and tried to sell the rights to them. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-and-tragedies-a-match-made-in-hell/152173/23 "2003-02-02T19:14:49Z")
Yeah but I saw two auctions selling debris. Probably not REAL debris, but claiming that it was. One of them claimed to be a “fuel injector” and the other looked like a piece of scrap metal. ---
**Author:** ![white-tigeress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f475e1/32.png) [@white-tigeress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/white-tigeress)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-and-tragedies-a-match-made-in-hell/152173/24 "2003-02-02T19:27:39Z")
Far too sick !! ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-and-tragedies-a-match-made-in-hell/152173/25 "2003-02-02T21:45:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Max Carnage \* > \*\*Just a correction… > > The link in the OP didn’t show someone selling shuttle debris, but web domain names. > > Still tasteless, but he didn’t go out and find parts of the shuttle to sell. Just snapped up some URLs and tried to sell the rights to them. \*\* There is nothing to correct. I didn’t claim that the link was to a debris sale…but that there **had** been debris sales seen by others… (apparently OpalCat and others have seen the auctions, they tend to get taken down rather quickly I guess) I just included the link as another example of the shameless behavior of some people…I even identified it as “some loser’s domain squatting efforts.” ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-and-tragedies-a-match-made-in-hell/152173/26 "2003-02-03T01:10:11Z")
Let’s hope the toxic chemicals NASA claims are a risk have the effect of rendering them sterile. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-and-tragedies-a-match-made-in-hell/152173/27 "2003-02-03T03:01:48Z")
I hoped this was an evil rumor, but visited eBay tonight. A pox on these people! Seven people are no more. Their families, husbands, wives, parents, lovers, children, and friends are left with a hole in their heart. I cannot fathom their grief. No face to view, no bier to visit. Closure is sufficiently difficult under ‘normal’ circumstances. My heart goes out the the bereaved. ---
**Author:** ![Yong\_Lee\_Fampee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ba8739/32.png) [@Yong\_Lee\_Fampee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yong_Lee_Fampee)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-and-tragedies-a-match-made-in-hell/152173/28 "2003-02-03T08:48:39Z")
What is wrong with selling pieces of the shuttle? What’s with all the venom? If I found pieces of the shuttle, I would sit on it for a year then sell it on the underground market (probably via the internet). Most of you hypocrits would too. Those who went the EBay route are fools in the first degree. The reason that you are bitching is that an opportunity did not fall from your sky yesterday. People who buy this stuff are the same people who buy things like Jeffrey Dahmer’s tools or Hitler’s underwear or cars. There is no limit to the depravity of a collectors mind. BEAM ME UP JOE HUSBAND ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-and-tragedies-a-match-made-in-hell/152173/29 "2003-02-03T08:59:56Z")
Regardless of their integrity, the people who put “debris” up for auction yesterday were frauds, and deserved to have their submissions taken down for that reason alone. This wasn’t even like Ground Zero, where at least people knew where to find the site. The wreckage was scattered across ~140 miles in Texas and Louisiana, and nobody knew exactly which bits fell where. There’s no way someone could get on the road and **find** genuine Columbia debris before noontime yesterday, much less cart it home, photograph it, scan the photo, and submit it for auction. eBay offers some items that people think are in poor taste, but they take down anything that’s bogus. It doesn’t matter if yesterday’s submission fit the first criterion or not; it definitely fit the second. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-and-tragedies-a-match-made-in-hell/152173/30 "2003-02-03T14:25:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Yong Lee Fampee \* > \*\*What is wrong with selling pieces of the shuttle? What’s with all the venom? > > If I found pieces of the shuttle, I would sit on it for a year then sell it on the underground market (probably via the internet). Most of you hypocrits would too. Those who went the EBay route are fools in the first degree. The reason that you are bitching is that an opportunity did not fall from your sky yesterday. > > People who buy this stuff are the same people who buy things like Jeffrey Dahmer’s tools or Hitler’s underwear or cars. There is no limit to the depravity of a collectors mind. > > BEAM ME UP JOE HUSBAND \*\* :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-and-tragedies-a-match-made-in-hell/152173/31 "2003-02-03T14:39:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Yong Lee Fampee \* > \*\*What is wrong with selling pieces of the shuttle? What’s with all the venom? \*\* Would you have the balls to say that to the face of the family members of the crew, dumbass? Oh…apparently reading comprehension falls low on your priorities as well…you missed matt’s post > [@](#): > > Taking a part of an aircraft involved in an accident is a federal offence, U.S. attorneys in Texas warned, and a conviction could result in up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 (U.S.) fine. > [@](#): > > \*\* > The reason that you are bitching is that an opportunity did not fall from your sky yesterday. > \*\* Or we have just a smidge more class and humanity than what oozes out your pie hole. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-and-tragedies-a-match-made-in-hell/152173/32 "2003-02-03T14:41:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Yong Lee Fampee \* > \*\*What is wrong with selling pieces of the shuttle? What’s with all the venom? > > If I found pieces of the shuttle, I would sit on it for a year then sell it on the underground market (probably via the internet). Most of you hypocrits would too. Those who went the EBay route are fools in the first degree. The reason that you are bitching is that an opportunity did not fall from your sky yesterday. > > People who buy this stuff are the same people who buy things like Jeffrey Dahmer’s tools or Hitler’s underwear or cars. There is no limit to the depravity of a collectors mind. > > BEAM ME UP JOE HUSBAND \*\* Yeah, perhaps those pieces would be better off as a part of the investigation you fuckwit. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-and-tragedies-a-match-made-in-hell/152173/33 "2003-02-03T14:43:53Z")
Presumably, eBay won’t support an auction where the seller clearly does not have legal title to the item being auctioned … which would seem to apply here, as well as the whole “repulsively insensitive” thing. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-and-tragedies-a-match-made-in-hell/152173/34 "2003-02-03T14:57:22Z")
> [@](#): > > There is no limit to the depravity of a collectors mind. That’s probably true, but you’re still a butt-mutching toad-felcher. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-and-tragedies-a-match-made-in-hell/152173/35 "2003-02-03T15:50:43Z")
**Yong Lee Fampee** , it’s not your complete lack of class that disturbs me, but the fact that you would commit a federal crime that hinders the investigation into the cause of a deadly accident aimed at preventing the death of any additional astronauts in the future. Don’t you dare say we are no different and would do the same. It’s simply not true. You’re a jackass of unusual proportion. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-and-tragedies-a-match-made-in-hell/152173/36 "2003-02-03T16:56:28Z")
Judging from the [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=160408) and [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=160411): YLF = JAFT[sup]\*[/sup] \*Just Another Fucking Troll ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-and-tragedies-a-match-made-in-hell/152173/37 "2003-02-03T19:27:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by beagledave \* > \*\*There is nothing to correct. I didn’t claim that the link was to a debris sale…but that there **had** been debris sales seen by others… (apparently OpalCat and others have seen the auctions, they tend to get taken down rather quickly I guess) I just included the link as another example of the shameless behavior of some people…I even identified it as “some loser’s domain squatting efforts.” \*\* I realized my mistake after posting, **dave**. Sorry about that. I was going to write a correction post to my correction, but my keyboard was crushed under the weight of the irony. ---
**Author:** ![yme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/35a633/32.png) [@yme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yme)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-and-tragedies-a-match-made-in-hell/152173/38 "2003-02-03T20:52:14Z")
Uh… DOMAINS not REMAINS. Idiots. This again confirms the notion that people in large groups will agree on anything. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-and-tragedies-a-match-made-in-hell/152173/39 "2003-02-03T21:56:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Yong Lee Fampee \* > \*\*What is wrong with selling pieces of the shuttle? What’s with all the venom? > > If I found pieces of the shuttle, I would sit on it for a year then sell it on the underground market (probably via the internet). Most of you hypocrits would too. Those who went the EBay route are fools in the first degree. The reason that you are bitching is that an opportunity did not fall from your sky yesterday. > > People who buy this stuff are the same people who buy things like Jeffrey Dahmer’s tools or Hitler’s underwear or cars. There is no limit to the depravity of a collectors mind. > > BEAM ME UP JOE HUSBAND \*\* **Yong Lee Fampee** , the first rule of posting on the Straight Dope Message Board is “Don’t be a jerk.” This post shows insensitivity at least, and may be trolling. A quick review of your other posts shows a similar disregard for the feelings of others. Either learn to play nicer, or find another playground. Lynn For the Straight Dope ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-and-tragedies-a-match-made-in-hell/152173/40 "2003-02-04T00:26:49Z")
There is a current auction for “Ceramic Tile Debris” Description: FOUND DEBRIS APPEARS TO BE SOME TYPE OF TILE. FOUND IN OPEN FIELD. BLACK AND GREY A LITTLE OVER 7 INCHES. Added later: Not from the Shuttle. Sorry for misunderstanding. Just a tile. I’m pretty sure that they were initially trying to pass it off as shuttle debris. Starting bid was set at $100. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-and-tragedies-a-match-made-in-hell/152173.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-and-tragedies-a-match-made-in-hell/152173.md?page=3)