The reason we don't allow pricing discussions on the GDF is because Jupitermedia, the multi billion dollar corporation and owner of the GDF as well as 29 other forums says it is illegal and not allowed. That's good enough for me. http://home.comcast.net/~rnick9/koolsmiley.gif
My personal opinion is that pricing is so subjective geographically that any information obtained would be mostly useless anyway. :)
I got curious, so I did some research.
The short answer:
1. It's illegal. The law in question is the Sherman Antitrust Act
2. Jupitermedia doesn't want us too. Thier website, thier rules.
The long answer (and some links):
It carries a pretty hefty price tag. I think that it's safe to say that none of us here can afford it.
From the US Department of Justice:
Enacted in 1890, the Sherman Act is among our country's most important and enduring pieces of economic legislation. The Sherman Act prohibits any agreement among competitors to fix prices, rig bids, or engage in other anticompetitive activity. Criminal prosecution of Sherman Act violations is the responsibility of the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice.
Violation of the Sherman Act is a felony punishable by a fine of up to $10 million for corporations, and a fine of up to $350,000 or 3 years imprisonment (or both) for individuals, if the offense was committed before June 22, 2004. If the offense was committed on or after June 22, 2004, the maximum Sherman Act fine is $100 million for corporations and $1 million for individuals, and the maximum Sherman Act jail sentence is 10 years. Under some circumstances, the maximum potential fine may be increased above the Sherman Act maximums to twice the gain or loss involved. In addition, collusion among competitors may constitute violations of the mail or wire fraud statute, the false statements statute, or other federal felony statutes, all of which the Antitrust Division prosecutes.
In addition to receiving a criminal sentence, a corporation or individual convicted of a Sherman Act violation may be ordered to make restitution to the victims for all overcharges. Victims of bid-rigging and price-fixing conspiracies also may seek civil recovery of up to three times the amount of damages suffered.
http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/public/guidelines/211578.htm
For those of you outside the US: You might not be here, but Jupitermedia's servers are. They provide this wonderful forum for all of us to chat, so the least we can do is respect thier policies. Also, you may have similiar laws affecting you. I didn't run across anything specific, but it was impiled that Europe has something similiar.
And some informative links:
Wikipedia: The Sherman Antitrust Act:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman_Antitrust_Act
The text of the Sherman Act:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode15/usc_sup_01_15_10_1.html
A FAQ from the HTML Writer's Guild on the Subject:
http://www.hwg.org/resources/faqs/priceFAQ.html
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer.