Quick tidbit on integrity

'Allo fellow TF2'ers.  Every once in a while we like to address things going on in the TF2 community.  Today is a busy one, as you can already read about the Genuine Purity Fist & Clean 2011 Skull post here.  However, it is also important to talk about some hearsay about our little spreadsheet and "price fixing".

While we have already discussed our methodology, we never thought our actual integrity was being questioned until some other competing websites started popping up looking curiously similar to ours.  Their creators were claiming that TF2 Spreadsheet (that's us) is corrupt!  With no evidence of course they go on to accuse us of price-fixing for our own gain, therefore their new price website is the white knight in shining armor coming to save the day!

Let us just say this: we would not have lasted as long nor be as often used a resource if people thought our prices were fixed.  All of our editors are active traders who submit their price reports and I, your humble Admin, compile them to one price for each item.  I personally do not trade for profit anymore.  My gains were made trading unusuals (we don't even offer prices on them) and regular items way back in the early months of 2011.  However, I am on trade servers and forums for several hours a day.  Yes I am probably watching you right now.

So when someone says something insane like we're fixing prices, and when they can't offer proof tell them to go and play Naughty Bear instead.

Genuine Purity Fist & Clean Spine-Chilling Skull 2011

Ok, traders there is some genuine controversy going around on a couple of items.  Let's address them one by one.

Genuine Purity Fist:  Apparently there are several (at least) hoarders of this item.  They have many of them in their respective backpacks.  Facepunch has the story here.  There were several SPUF threads however most have been deleted (not closed, per usual) by moderators.  Strange but conspiracy theorists we are not.  There remains a semi-informative SPUF thread here.  The bottom line: don't buy a genuine purity fist right now.  If you do, buy it on the cheap only.

Clean Spine-Chilling Skull 2011: As with Spine-Chilling Skull 2010, there is another "glitch" that made some of the 2011 versions craftable (note: the 2010 glitch made some of that year's version tradeable).  This is verified in the official wiki here.  The bottom line: this does appear to be a rarer item and a price-clarification is coming on both clean/dirty versions.  However, there appear to be many for sale right now at values all-over-the-map.  Until the market sorts out, we will watch and see.