I commented your BS propaganda on keys.

This is LONG, but stick with it.
Hello! I am Asterian Starfall
//cool for you
and today I will be talking to you about a topic most of us simply hate: Backpack.tf Key Suggestions.

Before we can begin to analyze where we are now, we have to go back to the beginning of this.
//Going back to September '10? Ok.
Although there is no definative way of judging when this all began, I think we can safely say that this all began back in late October, early November of 2012,
//No. This happened before, but regulated.
 which was when backpack.tf started to become popular.
//Nice false correlation.
This popularity started because people were tired of spreadsheets that could be easily manipulated and controlled for a single person or group's interests.
//More visually appealing too, but that's beside the point. The main source of this paranoia was the blogspot spreadsheet scandal. Regardless, people should take spreadsheets with a heavy grain of salt.
 At the same time, key prices began to rise slightly.
//People were unboxing more. Supply and demand.
Some people, including the administrators of backpack.tf,
//Because they're smart people
attribute this to the fact that new halloween items were now in circulation, as well as festive items that were on the way.
//Yep.
While this in a perfect world would make sense, it doesn't quite work in our world. If this statement were true, keys would have stopped rising after christmas and would have stalled at about 3.55 each, before finally going back down to their original 2.77 price,
//They were about 1 ref when they were created and stagnated at 2.33 for a very, very long time. You seem to forget that Valve began to crack down on carded keys, which hadn't happened in the previous key rise. Because of a lowered supply and a panicked demand, keys shot up.
 which leads us to this question: Why did they continue to rise?
//See above comment.
Well, we know that the halloween/festive items didn't actually influence the price,
//Oh? It appears you don't really know... well, anything about TF2 item demand.
and we also know that backpack.tf became popular around the same time keys began to rise. This is very revealing,
//It's a bullshit correlation. If I believe that women should cover their faces, and Islamic radicals do too, I'm a Islamic radical?
especially when you take into account that the public at large does not control backpack.tf's prices.
//It's true that it's mostly proof-based but votes do actually matter.
 As of 5/6/2013, the admins, or the people who control whether price suggestions pass or not, consists of the following people:
Soundtrack, Sir J-j-jon, shenanigans, Chief Shoe, Michael Puddington, cleverpun, Mr. Bucket, A Distinctive Lack of Vincent, Brad Pitt.
//You finally got something right.
Vincent seems to be the one who accepts most of the key suggestions, and his net worth in TF2 also equals $2600 USD, thanks to keys and unusuals. However, to be fair, he may just be a very good trader, but that seems unlikely, as his backpack was worth only a third that amount less than 3 months ago.
//Aaaaaand you've descended into BS again.
So what does this mean? Backpack.tf started getting popular at around the same time as keys began to rise. We also know that the admins have complete control over the site, and thus have a virtual stranglehold on the market, which influences roughly 8 million TF2 players.
People are now trusting a monopolistic market,
//It's really not, not at all. If it were monopolistic, the pricing suggestions would be suggested, voted, and accepted only by the admins.
which is what they hoped to avoid by joining backpack.tf in the first place. So what about the suggesters of key prices? Unfortuneately, it seems they are in the same boat as most of the admins.
//What, they know some stuff about TF2 and aren't afraid to touch currency?
Every single admin has a net worth of at least $1000 USD,
//Shenanigans does not. Cleverpun does not. Soundtrack does not. Check your facts before slandering.
and the price suggesters themselves have a sizeable amount of keys.
//That should show experience.
Although there have been some key suggestions recently by the community, the three most pronounced are:
Long218, Mattje, Hatch Rawer Beryl.
//Mattje made like, three.
Long has made the majority of the recent key suggestions, and he himself has about 600 keys, as of 5/6/2012. Most of these suggestions are hated by the community and recieve far more downvotes than upvotes,
//Because people vote based on what they want, not what should happen.
but the suggestions usually pass anyway. Again, this is because an admin is chosen to pass or deny the suggestion;
//Which is completely based on proof.
one person influences whether or not to give someone and probably themselves and additional 50 or so in refined metal, which is USD translates to about $18.
//Except that the dollar value of metal decreases, as everything is related to keys.
Long was however banned from making key suggestions for a short time, as the community caught on to the fact he was manipulating the price.
//No... No. No. He was banned for being an asshole to people. He was not manipulating the price.
While this is true, most people miss the bigger picture, which is admins control everything on this site, and one person determines 8 million people's fate.
//You even pointed out above that there are several price mods on the site.
Sadly, greed has overcome, and keys have risen to over double their original value in less than half a year.
//Greed is a factor. But it's not that of the key suggestors, those people sell keys for CASH. Not metal.
Going back to Long being banned. The admins were profitting greatly from Long, so why did they ban him?
//Because he was being an asshole.
The answer to this is rather simple: To create a false sense of security to the general public that they influence the price. As we can see, nothing is further from the truth.
//You know what's further from the truth? Your entire propaganda page that I'm so helpfully disproving.
Onward to Mattje. She
//He
 has only made one key suggestion that has passed, so she's not entirely manipulating the price,
//Lol.
 but she does have the most expensive backpack is TF2 history; over $26000 USD.
//Jesus Christ, that user's name is "Mattie!" and HE has never made a single key suggestion. Please, next time you slander, look at some fucking facts and check them.
//Mattie! pays with cash, buds, etc. I don't think he even deals with metal anymore.
She had about 8,600 keys at the time of her suggestion, which passed a one scrap change. 8,600 x .11 x $1.50 USD = $1419 USD in pure profit.
//And then metal is devalued. Net profit? It's hard to sell $1500 of metal in a short period of time.
Hatch Rawer Beryl is essentially Long with a different name. Whilst Long was banned, he stepped up and single-handedly raised key prices roughly 12% in less than one month.
//It needed to happen, which is obvious from the proof given on the key suggestions.
So what is clear from this?
//That you don't check facts and are letting your opinion get the best of you?
We know that a select few individuals with corrupt intents
//Welcome to libel.
control hundred of thousands, if not millions of dollars of virtual goods. These individuals rob the public of what little wealth they have left.
//It's really not their fault that keys are such a driving factor in the TF2 market.
They have a monopolistic stranglehold on the market, and have managed to convince the public that the public controls the market.
//They influence it, and if you realize that admins rarely make pricing suggestions, you'd realize it's not monopolistic.
This group is incredibly clever and have outsmarted 8 million people, and as long as we continue to believe we influence the price, we lend ourselves to being completely enslaved.
//Pfft-
They know this. They also know something that we must never know: If people ever realize that when we stop listening to them, their monopoly will collapse upon itself like a house of cards.
//We've told you to make a fucking spreadsheet to compete. The fact is, people are selling and buying higher. There are many, many, driving factors that you can't even pretend to begin to comprehend.

//In closing, pretty much everything you said was fallacial and false, and you didn't prove a single thing other than that you're ignorant and don't understand backpack.tf or Team Fortress 2 trading for that matter.