Information Completeness, Web Logs and Car Sales

Being an idealist has its share of challenges. You see, I have this
idealistic belief that recording and sharing your life online is
inherently good because it generates nostalgia/learning for authors and
tolerance/understanding for readers. On the whole it makes the world a
better place as we learn from our own past mistakes and learn about other
people. I still believe this.

One of many challenges: often the artificial repository is a more
complete memory store than my natural repository... my brain.

Case in point: Selling my car. I took a couple for a test drive
yesterday afternoon. Told them all about the car. They liked it. I
sent
them an
email. All was fine and dandy.

They emailed me back saying that they'd found the joereger.com site and
noticed that I took the car
to the track. They're not interested in owning a car that's been driven
that hard.

Fair enough. Nothing wrong with that. They're making an informed
decision. My ideal of information sharing has made the world a better
place. Everybody's better off.

So why do I feel so crappy about the whole thing?

I'm struggling with my own responsibility to disclose. Certainly I've
disclosed more than most people who sell a car. But should I have
actively sent them to joereger.com for some car reviews and pictures?
Should I have mentioned the track day? Should I create a crib sheet of
facts and figures that I need to share to all possible buyers? Where
does my responsibility to disclose end and their responsibility to
research begin?

Yesterday I felt like I was being completely honest and sharing as much
as possible. I know that I never lied or even stretched the truth. I
pointed out weaknesses with the car that I'm aware of and outlined how my
driving habits have changed over the years.

Today I feel like I didn't share as much as I could have. I feel that I
accidentally omitted some information. I feel that I inadvertently
misled the
potential buyers.

This is the complexity that recording your life online creates. The bar
of sharing and recollection is raised. Instead of being able to
complacently
believe that I remembered and shared enough info about the car, I was
forced by the site
to understand that there was more to share.

Damn technology. Kidding.

Well, the world is now a better place and I've learned a little about my
own limits as an information repository.

Anybody want to buy a (slightly used) M3?