Disc Wars- The looser , the finder, and ebay

[Texas Made]

So here is the scenario-
Every year hundreds, and I do mean hundreds of discs get tossed into the Brazos river in Waco. Each year the city also drains the river to inspect and maintain the dams that control the river. So there is an anynomus two or three that find everybody's discs when the river is down and sell them on ebay. They remove the names, so I know they don't make an effort to call anyone. It is my understanding that the main rule in disc golf is to keep good karma and give peoples discs back. I have an uncanny nack to find a disc just about every time I play. If it has a name and a number, I make the call and try to return it. 60% of the time they tell me to keep it, but at least I tried to return it,wich seems to help my Karma becasue I hardly ever loose a disc. So what do you think about someonewho looses there favourite disc and then months later sees it for sale on Ebay, when the person or persons that found it are at the local course regulary and have even played rounds with you? I don't understand the greed that it would take to be so sorry about the whole deal. I consider it dishonesty, and a hearty "FUCK YOU" goes to those individuals who choose to capitalize on someone's unfourtunate loss. Someone either paid good money for that disc, or they won it giving it meanigfull value.
Jeez.

[kvanorsdel]

You could always get in touch with the city and find out when they are going to drain it and then go and retrieve the discs yourself. It would be interesting to see how many of them would be claimed

[Solty]

i think those auctions were put on ebay last nite....lol..stack of 38 discs...LOL

[the invisible tree]

I pity the fool that I see on the course throwing one of my discs!

[swel304]

this kind of stuff sucks. And the mentality of people who participate is even worse. That finders keepers attitude. But as was pointed out in another thread, replace the word disc with wallet or car keys and they would change thier tune real quick. If I find someones car keys does that mean they dont want the car anymore, I can just take it? If someone gives up on looking for a lost wallet does that mean it's ok for me to keep it if I find it? I think not. I'm not sure how the law would go on this but just because you lost it does it mean its not your property anymore? coulnt these guys get in trouble for unlawful possesion or sale of stolen property? arent they legaly obligated to turn it in and wait 30 days to see if its claimed? Some people just refuse to acknowledge that just because something is inexpensive does not mean it has no real value to its owner. My friend left his zippo lighter laying on a bench on hole 12 a while back, realized it when we were on 14. as he was walking back he passed two guys and asked if they had picked it up, they said "we havent seen it", they walked right past me where I was waiting on him and didnt finish the round (big hurry to leave) the zippo was gone, they had obviously taken it. 10$ lighter no big deal right? except that it was a gift from his father and irreplaceable. needless to say they better hope they dont run into him again on the course.

[Texas Made]

Good too see everyone seems to agree.
I did get up at 4:30am the day after the river was dropped, it drops about a foot an hour when they open the damn gates. So the next day at that time it was about 12ft lower thatn the previous day when those guys got to them. I found 63 discs, and returned 16 of them. The rest were nameless or they said that they didnt want them. From the 16 that I returned to different people I got a six pack of Budweiser, 5 DX rocs practicaly new from different individuals, a Dyed Firebird for this dudes ace disc, 3 Champion Orcs and a total of $12.00 cash and a clear conscience. To me the value of all of that equals way more than the money I would have made off of 16 discs on ebay- Plus something far more valueble- a reputation of a person that returns discs. Now when I play people ask me if I happened to find this one or that one on this hole, and they tell me what they would give me if I did.
Doesn't that sound alot better than a stack of 30 discs sold for $30 on ebay?

[roadkill]

You can't make snap judgements if you don't know who is selling these discs on eBay and if they are actually removing the names and numbers.

You just said you retrieved 63 discs and only 16 had names and numbers?

Could it be that the people who have the 38 discs on eBay actually fished out 55 and returned the other 17 to people who had contact info on them?

Actually in that situation I think if you have 38 discs that have no contact info the best thing is to put them on eBay and then take the proceeds minus eBay's fees and donate it to the local club for course improvements.

38 discs could yield $75-100 which could be used to purchase a couple tee signs or a bulletin board or scorecard holder or a bench or two.

If a person doesn't take the time to put a phone # or email addy on their disc they can't expect it to be returned if they lose it in the shule or the water. Contact the people who have contact info and do what you feel is best with the ones that don't.]

[swel304]

You can't make snap judgements if you don't know who is selling these discs on eBay and if they are actually removing the names and numbers.

I wouldnt call it a strech of the imagination that these people are in it for the cash. Even if this one particular incident is someone that is attempting to return them and/or donating them for charity, we all know there are plenty out there that dont. I think more to the point is, if you know people like this, dont let them justify it by saying things like "no one ever returns my discs" or "well they gave up looking for it so they must not want it". let them know that what they are doing is wrong.

If a person doesn't take the time to put a phone # or email addy on their disc they can't expect it to be returned

that kinda goes without saying dont it? seems in most cases people who dont put name/number in the disc have just gotten so sick of putting writing on them to just not have them returned so they just dont bother anymore. if you know the person, know its their disc, contact info or not, its not like they threw it in the water because they dont want it anymore.

best thing is to put them on eBay and then take the proceeds minus eBay's fees and donate it to the local club for course improvements.

this is a good idea too. another good thing to do with them is donate them to the organization that distributes them to needy children (cant remember the name of it right now but anything that gets turned in to our local course director that cant be returned to the owner within a certain time period goes to this place).

[roadkill]

Believe me I'm not out to defend greedy people out to make a fast buck on someone else's misfortune.

I was just referring to the situation described here and cautioning let's not automaticly assume the worst in people. Are there idiots who fail to return discs with proper info clearly written on them? Yes, unfortunately there are some, but I wouldn't assume that were true in this case without any real evidence.

And anyone who says it's a waste of their time to put contact info on their disc because people won't return it anyway gets no respect from me. That's just defeatist thinking.

As far as donating them to needy children, I'd say fine if the lost disc was a fastback or 130 gram whamo 40 mold. But c'mon a champion orc and star teebird are not child toys. No name, no number no real way to identify its owner then sell and put the funds toward course improvements. As long as the $ goes back into the sport it's all good. Any disc lost without first puting proper identification on it is a donation.

[Jwt4412]

I think in this particular case... he saw his disc in the pics on the Ebay Auction...

[swel304]

a champion orc and star teebird are not child toys.

im not talking about toys for tots here. Im pretty sure its for a disc mentoring type program, kinda like big brothers big sisters. Geared toward keeping teenagers off the streets and out of trouble, not 5year olds.

but I wouldn't assume that were true in this case without any real evidence.

if you look at the first post, he is saying he knows they guys without naming thier names, has played rounds with them. they hang out on the course and probobly know lots of people there. but no one is getting calls from them. And if you see one on ebay, with your hometown listed as thelocation, with the same disc/color/identifying marks it becomes pretty obvious. in a perfect world we could assume the best in everyone, but our world is far from perfect. If it were you and your friends discs on ebay you wouldnt need a signed confession to believe it.

[some call me...tim?]

This probably sounds bad asking this in this thread, but I SWEAR I'm asking legitimately! What have people found to be the best way to take a number off a disc? I just traded discs with a friend and have one with his name and number all over it, and I'd rather not feel like I'm throwing a pirated disc around. I've used rubbing alcohol in the past, and that's worked pretty well, but you can still see the sharpie if you look. I was thinking maybe nail polish remover would work well, but don't want to cause any damage to the disc?

And as for the value of putting your name and number on a disc...well, I agree with you roadkill, about not thinking the worst of people, but I'm afraid in the case of disc golf, the general population is far less scrupulous than we are. In the 4 years or so that I've been playing, I've had one, count it, ONE disc returned to me out of god knows how many I've lost. I put my name and number on all my discs, and even my email address on a lot of them for people that don't like calling strangers. Even at Morley Field in San Diego where they have an attended pro shop with a lost and found bin, I never got my disc returned. So yeah, maybe it is defeatist thinking not to put your number on a disc, but at the same time, it could be illegitimately optimistic. That being said though...I think right now I'm going to break out the sharpie and trace over all my numbers that are wearing off.

[swel304]

fingernail polish remover, particularly 100% acetone works well. I have heard that denatured alcahol will take off sharpie but havent tried it. Id guess that depending on the plastic and how well the sharpie set in it may never come off completely. oh and I have also use the cleaner called oops! which seem more or less to be lighter fluid on a newer dx wraith that I was tradeing to remove my name. It came off completely but it was new and hadnt been written in there very long.

[roadkill]

I've generally found 99% of regular disc golfers (not casual duffers but people who play semi competitively or atleast regularly) to be very honest and not the sort to stoop so low as to remove names and numbers off found discs.

The initial post appears to beat around the bush and makes assumptions. How does the poster know that names are being removed? If he knows for sure who is doing such a dastardly deed then he should confront them directly. If he doesn't know than he's spreading a lot of negative vibe on a public forum with no evidence of wrong doing. If he recognizes his own lost disc (which was properly marked) on eBay then he should contact the seller with a WTF? message and straighten the situation out.

There's alot of reading between the lines done if you're convinced there's definite wrongdoing taking place based on vague hearsay in the initial post.

Texas Made:

If you know the guys removing names from discs confront them. If you see your disc on eBay contact the seller. If neither is the case lighten up and don't assume the worst in people. Apparently you know when you can retrieve these discs so maybe you can coordinate a "disc retrieval party" with your local club or TD and decide as a group what should be done with found no name, no number discs.

Swel301

You seem to be reading between the lines of the initial post quite a bit. You appear to be jumping on the bandwagon of disgust at a situation you don't have firsthand knowledge of. I don't have firsthand knowledge either, but I generally try to think the best of people, especially golfers until I see evidence to prove the contrary.


Moral of the sermon is this: You have a problem with someone you confront them, you don't make disparring remarks in a public forum based on accusations predicated on foredrawn conclusions.

[kvanorsdel]

im not talking about toys for tots here. Im pretty sure its for a disc mentoring type program, kinda like big brothers big sisters. Geared toward keeping teenagers off the streets and out of trouble, not 5year olds.

This is what I do with discs that I have found. If it has contact info on the discs I attempt to get the disc back to the owner if it doesn't have any contact info I post information on our local forum about finding a disc on x hole if they can tell me what color and kind of disc I return it to them. If no one claims the disc in 2 months I put it in a box of discs I give to kids I mentor so that they can have their own plastic.

I work for a non-profit and this is one of the few ways I'm able to get local at-risk kids their own discs. Shameless plug but if you have any beginner friendly discs you want to donate to a Youth mentoring program with a disc golf component let me know and I can send you some more information. It's even tax deductible