Ok, maybe I should just start from scratch.
The issues I am discussing here, I feel, are larger than you or me or how we play the game. The original question was about the UCD and how "rare" a car is from the UCD. Let's forget about using "rare" to mean what it conventionally does about things like baseball cards or limited production vehicles. Let's define "rarity" as the likelihood that a car will show up in the UCD. We know from Duck's research and others that there is definitely a difference in the amount of times a car shows up in the UCD. Some (actually, I think we are down to 2) have never shown up at all. So, when referring to the UCD there definitely is a hierarchy of "rarity" among those cars. On this I think we can agree.
The original question came from someone with less than 100 posts and specifically about the UCD. I will assume from his posting status and the fact he didn't know about the UCD thread or Duck's "rarity" thread that he is what we would call a "newbie" (and I mean that in the best possible way, not pejoratively). For him to be told, "There are no rare cars in game except chromelins,stealths,carbon X2010, Edge Camaro and the Joey Logano naxcar." AND "There are NO RARE cars other than stated. I can get any car I want without trading any time I want," is misleading bordering on fallacy because it is stated as unqualified fact.
Let's deal with the first part about there being no "rare" cars. If someone does NOT want to bother with tickets (there are those out there that do not), then your method is irrelevant to them. Let's call these the people that don't have 2 PS3s, won't be bothered with memory sticks, don't want to quit and restart their game 1000 times, and are not particularly good with figuring probability. For them, the OCD, UCD, prize cars, and trading are their only ways of getting a car (We'll leave the NCD out since it is the exact same in car and color for everyone). If one of those people are told that there are "no rare cars" and then wait 4000 game days to see a GT-R LM or a 2J or, believe it or not, a Tarmac, then they would most decidedly disagree with your statement.
Further, there may be some, we'll call them "purists," who feel that using your method is tantamount to cheating. They don't want to cheat, so again the OCD, UCD, prize cars, and trading are their only resources. This goes for anyone that does not want to bother with tickets for one reason or another or has a moral objection to "recycling" tickets. These folks will most certainly not agree with your statement.
Moving on to the second part of your assertion, "I can get any car I want without trading any time I want," we find this to also be misleading if not fallacy. I believe I already covered this, but here's the quickest version. Each ticket has a certain number of cars associated with it. Most originally assumed that simple probability guided the cars that came from a ticket. That is to say, if there are 10 cars on a ticket, you will get each car 10% of the time. However, a couple of different members have done tests that seem to blow this theory up (Still searching for the threads associated with these tests, as they were done neigh on a year ago.). In those tests, the member ripped tickets repeatedly to see what would come. In most cases, cars did not pop out at the expected rate, in our example 10% for each car. Some cars seemed to be weighted more heavily. Now, you might say that you can't say that because the next XXX many cars may have tipped the scales. While that is essentially correct, these tests did not feature 10 pulls. These were HUNDREDS of pulls that did not yield an even split. So, even if you narrow the car you want down to a particular ticket, you are still constrained by probability in the number of times you need to pull. Could you get lucky and hit it the first time? Sure. Is it likely? It depends on the weight given to that car on that ticket. This is definitely not the description of "I can get any car I want without trading any time I want." It is more accurately described as (quoting myself), "You can have the cars you want, but by what some people would call cheating, in a more reasonable, but still uncontrollable, amount of time."
What bothers me about the two things in concert is that it gives a false sense of what is possible while encouraging what some might call cheating. In addition, to someone new to the game or this aspect of it, an unqualified, "I can get any car I want without trading any time I want," sounds pretty damned good. What you leave out is that it is not as simple as you claim, it requires time, memory stick, and relaunching the game repeatedly until you get your car, requires you use a trading slot to move the car to another account to keep it, and may cause the person doing it to feel like they cheated.
I do not care how you play the game. As you pointed out, you paid for it. However, broadcasting your method of getting a car and making blanket statements about "rarity" in a thread that was started regarding the UCD as unqualified fact effects all who read the thread. At that point, it stops being about how YOU play the game, and how you are encouraging others to play the game. I would have been much less bothered had you said something like, "The UCD has a pattern that has been tracked. Some cars show up more frequently than others. You can see which cars will show up when in the UCD by visiting one of a couple of threads that deal with that topic. There are other methods of getting the cars you want, including one I use myself that I feel is effective. PM me and I will share that with you." And really, I don't even care that you "teach" your method in open forum. I just wish you were completely honest about all of the steps and the possible consequences of using that method.
Lastly, and as a side note, there is your posting in Duck's thread on UCD "rarity." I don't know how Duck feels about it, and I am definitely not speaking for him. However, *I* was extremely bothered by what you did there. That is a thread very clearly and most specifically about UCD "rarity" that Duck has worked very hard to compile with help from many others. Seeing you post 3 times repeating the claim that "There are NO RARE cars other than stated," to me, was tantamount to giving Duck the middle finger, essentially branding his work as a waste of time. If you had said it once, maybe it wouldn't have bothered me so much. But three times in THAT thread, to me, is the exact definition of trolling.
I am sure you are not going out of your way to be harmful. In fact, I truly believe that you are only trying to help people. And, I do have a peculiar sense of right and wrong. That said, I think there are more constructive ways to disseminate your "method" without being as abrasive.
And to answer your questions:
I trade everything. Tickets, cars, gear, MCs, everything. I buy cars from the OCD and UCD. I occasionally open tickets when I have multiples. To answer the real question I think you are asking, yes, I do do things that others would consider cheating. I own 4 memory sticks that get a work out. I am aware of other "methods" that are even more clearly cheating than yours that I do not employ. What I do not do is oversimplify, sugarcoat, or just assume that the gray areas I am comfortable with aren't black areas for others. When I do share what I know, I make sure that I disclaim my statements in context so that folks know all the implications of their actions BEFORE they start doing anything.
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