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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 like the free market. I've made a few buys from the classifieds here, never paying more than the items were worth to me at the moment. Did I sometimes pay more than I would've a few years back? Absolutely, but it was eyes-wide-open. There are also those ads so overpriced they are worth reading just for the chuckle.

My only gripe is about the FS ads posted by "noobie-just-here-to-sell" who goes dark the instant he sells, without even the courtesy of closing the ad. Too bad there isn't a mechanism to vaporize those "untended driftnet" ads after the inevitable "still available?" post goes unanswered.
 
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I'm not certain there is any way to vett scammers or especially poor buyers/sellers. The more layers you require to join the website/forum the more it discourages honest people who might only be interested in just buying or selling one thing and moving on. Some scammers might get weeded out but other scammers will go thru the vetting process too.

I do wish there was a way to know if a new member was cool to buy sell from but thats so subjective its impractical. What I rely on is the PM part of the deal if they are legit they will not have any communication issues and that seems to work for me. I also look at their message and reaction counts and give preference to new members who have commented in the discussion sections but thats rare... perhaps an automatic badge for say 5 min forum comments or posts would help encourage new members to participate if even just enough so we can have some idea who they are.
 
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Requiring a person post a minimum of 25 or 50 times is smart and works well on the best forums I'm on (firearms or otherwise). It requires folks demonstrate some small time commitment to the forum, and helps limit flakes and bad communicators. It also helps build a sense of community and trust — new people have to learn the ropes of a community before they can begin to profit off of them. It doesn't prevent scammers but it does help weed them out or look elsewhere for a quick scam.
 
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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.
Bottom of the page, go to Donations under Information. There you can donate money or subscribe to a monthly or annual membership. There will be a list of added benefits for each tier of membership.
 
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First I would like to thank Joe for the forum.
Have been a member since 2014.
Sorry, never posted anything. Read new post everyday. Contribute when asked to help keep the site growing. Guess u would say am part of the silent non-majority.
Have bought from members on the site over the years.Now due to recent health reasons. Have sold fire arm related materials to friends . I am now contemplating selling a few things on the site. But because I have never posted. Several members say I should not post anything.
Maybe just ignore the people that just join to post for sale items. I ignore them. Try not to get in an uproar over what they are doing. We all know they are just taking advantage of the situation that has been thrust upon us. And other people actually need what is being posted for sale.
Personally take it for what it is worth. Do not think this site should not become more big brotherly. Just buyer beware.
Thanx Joe and fellow members.
 
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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.

Fortunately, we have software which does a decent job detecting multiple accounts. Ask all the people who figured they'd break the rules and just sign up for another account after their first one was banned :D

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.

TBH I'm not a fan of it either, which is why it's still under consideration. If we do implement it we will set it up so that Supporting Members do not have the limitation. I've been doing this over a decade now and I can't remember a scammer ever becoming a Supporting Member (knock on wood).

Hopefully there will be an auto lock feature too, for those guys that sign up, sell their wares and then disappear without locking their crap.

My only gripe is about the FS ads posted by "noobie-just-here-to-sell" who goes dark the instant he sells, without even the courtesy of closing the ad. Too bad there isn't a mechanism to vaporize those "untended driftnet" ads after the inevitable "still available?" post goes unanswered.

There will be :s0155:
 
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First I would like to thank Joe for the forum.
Have been a member since 2014.
Sorry, never posted anything. Read new post everyday. Contribute when asked to help keep the site growing. Guess u would say am part of the silent non-majority.
Have bought from members on the site over the years.Now due to recent health reasons. Have sold fire arm related materials to friends . I am now contemplating selling a few things on the site. But because I have never posted. Several members say I should not post anything.
Maybe just ignore the people that just join to post for sale items. I ignore them. Try not to get in an uproar over what they are doing. We all know they are just taking advantage of the situation that has been thrust upon us. And other people actually need what is being posted for sale.
Personally take it for what it is worth. Do not think this site should not become more big brotherly. Just buyer beware.
Thanx Joe and fellow members.

Congrats on your first post!
 
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Imagine a world where we had to find and meet people and evaluate them for ourselves?

Nobody believes me when I tell 'em what it was like.:oops:
that used to be old cork message boards in grocery store entrances etc. and things like the nickel ad publications.
Honestly, its a lot easier nowadays on a forum like this to vett a stranger before wasting your time meeting them in person and get a no sale. Each and every member here has a profile that tells us a lot about the person before even answering a PM from them.
 
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Imagine a world where we had to find and meet people and evaluate them for ourselves?

Nobody believes me when I tell 'em what it was like.:oops:

I suck at it. I have been burnt much more often by people that I have worked with for months, or people that I have known for years, than people I buy from online. Maybe it has been because I trusted people I knew more and they took advantage because of that?
 
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My only gripe is about the FS ads posted by "noobie-just-here-to-sell" who goes dark the instant he sells, without even the courtesy of closing the ad. Too bad there isn't a mechanism to vaporize those "untended driftnet" ads after the inevitable "still available?" post goes unanswered.
THAT is my #1 gripe about the classified section here, too many old stagnant ads where the seller does not close the ad when sold or doesn't even reply to your inquiries.
 
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As I've stated before, the biggest problem with a required number of posts is that you end up with a whole lot of "You poopin'?' "I'm poopin'." post to up their post count. Not everyone would do that but there will likely be enough of them to make it annoying. I don't have a solution; I don't think there is a good way to keep out scammers, you just have to inform people of how to avoid them. Maybe a big banner on the classified pages.


elsie
 
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Much of this discussion harkens back (and stinks just like) at least one previous discussion where a number of persons took the position that "Messages" and "Reaction" scoreboards translated directly into a measure of personal "reliability" or "credibility" or "value" on this site.

My position then remains as it is now:

It is very often that on the occasion where a quiet person speaks, it carries far more value than such from a source who talks all the time.
 
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I've gotten needed items at good prices from noobs here. I would not have been so lucky if there was a minimum post requirement. I don't want to see reduced selection here.

Who care if a person joins just to sell something then disappears if they are offering good items at good prices? We all benefit when more items are available.

As far as ghost ads, I've seen very rapid response from the mods here when I've hit the report button and stated "ghost thread"

When you find one report it ... a little self-policing can go long way!

FWIW
 
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I've been a member for few years and don't post much for a couple reasons. First I don't like to post up everything on the internet so pictures and general discussion is kind of out. As for helping with advice/ technical qestions I know just enough to be dangerous and prefer to leave them to more qualified people. I have occasionally answer a quick simple question.
As for limiting the classifieds I think anything that cuts down on the selection is a negative. Sure all the newbies with high prices suck, (it's also not all new members) but it's worth scrolling past them to find that new member who has what your looking for at a fair price. Plus, most likely they will be a nice person to bs with for a few minutes.
 
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