You were with that ripple guy on the panel, no? 
Yeah, AND I sat down at the ripple booth to talk to them about ripple, and you know what? I STILL don't understand it. I can't imagine how something this obscure to figure out can hit the big time.
Exactly. It's the most confusing system I've ever seen. There is no way a regular person is going to keep up with IOUs, Credit/Trust, and that wacky website. Ripple is just a disaster of confusion. I too couldn't figure out how to sell my Ripples. At one point I transferred them into BTC, but from what I understand that was an IOU from someone for BTC, and I couldn't figure out where or how to cash it in. Regular people who think keyboard shortcuts are magic will never figure this out.
I think the more poignant question might be- is the whole point to get you to trade your BTC for BTC "IOUs"? They do have billions of Ripples. They can be selling them one-direction for a pretty long time time. Especially if they don't let you easily resell your ripples, they control the market supply and give you the impression they are getting scarce and thus value them more, encouraging more people to trade their BTC for them.
Disclaimer: I'm pretty skeptical. But I am also trying to figure out how it works (and how to sell my XRP).