Originally Posted by khatfull

Not trying to be a killjoy or anything (because I think this is a gracious and wonderful idea) but I noticed something about the pay-it-forward thread...

When I offered the two items I did above I got a couple of PMs asking for both items nearly immediately. That seemed rather odd so I looked at the post history for a couple of those respondents and it seems that there's a few members who request lots of items...outside the spirit of the thread and the original intent as outlined by miamijim on the first page IMHO.

So while there may come a time that I see something here that I can really use, and may request it...know that my paying-it-forward goes on privately as I read threads where folks can perhaps use what I have to give.

And personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with the recipient offering to pay for shipping, or the gifter asking for the cost of shipping. Let's face it, most of what's offered here is probably gained through take-offs, donor bikes, swaps, what have you such that there's generally not a specific monetary outlay for the item. The item is the gift, the shipping cost is simply transmission of the gift. Yeah, I know, Santa doesn't ask for shipping...