You’re not wrong but following that line of logic does nobody any favours. By that merit what is the point in anything? I’m sure lots of legitimate Classic raiders held onto their T3 in anticipation of Cataclysm, but at this point how can anybody distinguish those who raided for their legacy gear from those who swiped and hit up GDKPs? Let us not forget the Gressil and Thori’dal memes.
I personally still value the story that any given character’s gear tells, even if more often than we’d like, that story is one of GDKP swiping and carries.
As asinine as it may sound, I like being able to pull up alongside another Feral at the AH and think to myself “I see Ulduar 25 gear, but no Dreambinder, unlucky.”