Archie - How true your last part of your post is, my best friend/coin dealer/bullion dealer who passed away way to soon told me 25 years ago that only 5% of people who buy bullion really know when to buy, he told me buy as much as you can afford when you can and if the price starts down buy more if you can afford it as it will always go back up and how true the statement has been. Like you said folks wait till the price starts back up to buy because they were afraid the price would go down more and they would lose money, many a time I bought and watched the price go down even more and still bought more when I could afford it, the bottom line for me is I have never lost money on silver I have sold due to the advice I was given and I always bought with a sell price in mind.
I am still buying silver when I can find what I want at a price I like but at this time most dealers don't have or won't sell silver becuse they don't want to take a lose on what they bought just a few months ago.
Silver as well as gold will go back up the bad thing being it will more then likely happen when the stock market starts back sliding and that will hurt the folks who have their retirement in stocks.
The bottom line, BUY LOW AND SELL WHEN YOU HAVE MADE WHAT YOU WANTED.