missing inventory; a reprise

OK, so I was lucky enough to avoid the inventory issues until now. And yes, I tried clearing my cache...don't even ask. I was looking through the forums for possible solutions, when I found this disturbing little note by Blue Lindon:

"The bad news is that in many cases lost inventory is not something that can be retrieved from the database."

Then why was there a whole big deal about posting your inventory problems, if they can't be fixed? Why would anyone buy anything in SL if they can't at least be assured that it will still be there the next time they log in? And what recourse do we have if something does end up missing? It's not the content maker's problem. It shouldn't be my problem. Do I send a support request? I tried, but I hear that they apparently never get answered anymore. It's getting to be where SL isn't worth the frustration.

In reality, inventory loss happens to a very small percentage of people...but when it does it's a big deal. Perhaps more than anything inventory loss is something we ALL would like to do away with. When it does happen, we recommend that you report the time and place so that if it is possible to recover the items, we can.