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I posted a WTB for a specific and fairly hard to find item last night, not really expecting much, but a guy can hope. Got a notice of a PM this AM, guy literally joined the forum last Friday, has ZERO posts or feedback, but has what I'm looking for "at a cheap price" :rolleyes:. Rather than just blow him off, I threw a test at him, if he complies with my conditions, great, if not, I'll be letting ya'll know there's another scammer lurking. Which brings me to the point of this post.

Seems we have a lot of "new" members that have signed up solely to post stuff in the Classifieds, at silly prices a lot of the time, and gain access to members via PM's. These folks contribute nothing to the forum, and have no intention of doing so, this is just a place they can advertise their stuff for free, and/or find new victims. I belong to some other forums that have a minimum number of posts required before you can post in the Classifieds. One even requires you be a paid member to do so. So @Joe Link, would it be possible to set such a restriction? Seems like it might help reduce the scammers and profiteers at least a bit. Thanks.

Dave
 
I joined just a week or two ago, and my primary reason was to sell, buy and trade.

I've had two transactions that went great and will have another one today.

Having to meet a post limit before I could do the above would not have been helpful to anyone.
 
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Is the general membership not smart enough to smell scams? Are members saying they want big brother to have more control so they they don't have to be diligent in vetting the people they do biz with? What about the people who are somewhat intimidated by the "Discussion Forum" in general? In other words, not everyone wants to jump in and participate a bunch with the discussion part. And some of the people on this thread? Only been here a couple of years? That's pretty new, if you ask me. The whole attitude kind of sounds like a certain political party that wants the leadership to change the world for them so they don't need to take care of themselves so much?

Maybe I'm missing something? Has the membership been getting ripped of by the evil Newcomers? I read a bunch here most every day. But I suppose I could have missed those instances?

Joe can do what he feels he needs to do. It won't affect me any, I'm vetted.
 
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If you are here to buy and sell only, then consider becoming a supporting member!

Pretty much everyone "HERE" is! :D I wouldn't expect noobs to jump right in a pay just to sell a few things. Used to be selling and buying wasn't much of a money maker for most people. Now, well, "Primers"! I just think requiring paid membership would tend to turn people off and not be a benefit to the site overall.
 
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Unfortunately I think a few of these "new" members are actually members that are ashamed of what they are asking for ammo and primers ect. and make a new account just to sell.
 
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Unfortunately I think a few of these "new" members are actually members that are ashamed of what they are asking for ammo and primers ect. and make a new account just to sell.
Maybe, maybe not.

You have to consider the large shift of people looking for free classifieds after armslist went to a pay-to-play model.
 
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If you are here to buy and sell only, then consider becoming a supporting member!

Absolutely! I greatly appreciated that this forum was free, and I've spent a lot of time looking through the various discussions (which helps drive advertising revenues for the forum owners) and learning a lot along the way. I'll also contribute when/where I'm able to do so.

While my main entry point was the classifieds, that was just the starting point for my journey here :)

I'm sure that will be the case for many others.

It's truly a great experience here, and
 
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I almost always look at somebody's feedback scores before I think about dealing with them. I also look at when they joined and I consider how many posts they have made, sometimes even looking at what those posts are.

But since 99% of my transactions are face to face, I still give a newbie the benefit of the doubt. I have not been burned yet, although I am much more careful about non-FTF transactions.

I would say only a few of my transactions have been with relatively new members with little feedback. I always try to remember anymore to go ahead and give them feedback in the next day or so, so as to allow them to build their reputation up. It can be a gotcha for a new member to not be able to engage in transactions if they have no transaction history.
 
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I am not entirely supportive of a post threshold, because I prefer to let the market sort the wheat from the chaff.

However, if that IS a path NWFA chooses, may I suggest an Either/Or option?

I. E., Minimum requirements to post in the Classifieds is 25-50 posts (I have no idea what y'all are thinking here) -OR - a Supporting Membership.

Just my 0.02.
 
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"Scammers": I find it hard to believe there is a large pool of naive milquetoast pantywaists on this site that would easily fall prey. I'm not seeing a wave of reporting victims.

"Profiteers" : Go forth and define. You will undoubtedly join Pogo in his epiphany: "We have met the enemy and they is us!"

@rickysays makes a good case for the classifieds being a recruitment vehicle toward prospective paying customers. His case would carry even stronger weight should he choose to put his money toward a modest membership.

@Joe Link will have to weigh that (admittedly hard to measure) vehicle's benefits against unpredicted revenue from a paid membership requirement to post ads.

I believe in the current market environment, any and all participants ("profiteers"?) benefit those who are desperate for material.
 
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@rickysays makes a good case for the classifieds being a recruitment vehicle toward prospective paying customers. His case would carry even stronger weight should he choose to put his money toward a modest membership.

How does one become a paying member? I looked around on my account and profile page, and the home page. Nothing obvious that I could see, but I'm admittedly not always good at seeing what's right in front of my face, lol.
 
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How does one become a paying member? I looked around on my account and profile page, and the home page. Nothing obvious that I could see, but I'm admittedly not always good at seeing what's right in front of my face, lol.

First off, don't feel obligated to a payed membership to be an accepted, upstanding member of this community. AND should you decide to be a supporting member, Got to the bottom of the page to the "Donation" button, and from there you can find supporting memberships in your choice of color and amount.

 
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It appears to me that most members on the forum live in the vicinty of Portland/ Vancouver and most items sold in the classifieds are located in that area. If you live in Idaho, closer to Canada, etc, very few items are listed nearby...
Personally I enjoy the ads, I ignore over-priced items, and I would be opposed to seeing even fewer items listed for sale.
 
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I have met Four people recently that are new members of North West Firearms thanks to the classifieds section. Every one of them were stand up people.
I don't think just because You have a new membership that you have to go through a initiation to post in the classifieds. Just my 2 cents.
 
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