[Poita (Peter)]

I keep reading doom and gloom about how crapulent society has become, so I just wanted to state for the record, that the IIS crew are really the best people.

About 6 months ago, I decided to do an experiment and start loaning out some of my gear to noobs or people who were about to spend money that couldn't get to try stuff first. I know I have bought things before and been disappointed, and my money is extremely tight, I average minimum wage each year, so hate making a wrong purchasing choice!

So I started posting gear out to people who really could use a trial run of things.
Over the last 6 months I have loaned out a range of eyepieces, zooms, focal reducers and correctors, a QHY8 CCD, DMK21 CCD, a Celestron Neximage, an OAG, some OIII and UHC filters, some other things I've probably forgotten, and even a C8.

I haven't met a single one of the people I have posted these things out to, yet everything always came back in as good, (or better!) condition than I sent them out in.
Some just came back as they were, some had lovely notes of thanks, some had lovely notes of cash(!) to cover postage, and I even got a bottle of wine and choccies once!

So to any naysayers that talk about how untrustworthy the general populace has become, I'm not buying it. There are always bad eggs out there, but I tend to assume that most people are good, and I am rarely disappointed. This seems especially true here, but I must say, in the general public I get mostly good experiences as well.

I've also never had a single thing go missing in the post!

Thanks everyone, you are all bloody wonderful, and a great big thanks to everyone that helps me out when I ask my often thoughtless questions, without the accumulated knowledge here, I would be still shuffling around in the dark and would have wasted my money on many an occasion.