Rudy
Admin
Dear members,
We don't want (or like) to be cops and thought that a feedback system, coupled with common sense and discretion would be all that's needed. It worked quite well –for a while. But then, as scammers where busted in other forums, they saw how easy it was for them to take up shop here and a few of our members got swindled for big bucks.
We looked and debated all kinds of alternatives. None were foolproof (fools are too damn ingenious). The only way to identify a swindler is, unfortunately, ... after the crime is committed.
Law enforcement is not very cooperative, so the swindlers continue to thrive knowing that, if they are careful, they can lay low for a while and then start swindling again using a different identity.
The fundamental question is: Which choice serves our members best?
a.- An environment where anyone can post items for sale without any restrictions? That is, caveat emptor, the buyer is on their own.
b.- An environment where members must have been around for a while, contributing to the forum in the form of active participation (ie. not lurking), so that others can judge their mettle and develop a level of trust.
In keeping with our name, Friendly Forum, option "a" would show a lack of care for our member's well being. Somehow, telling a member that just got scammed out of a few hundred bucks "Gee it's too bad that you got robbed on our forum. You should have been more careful." doesn't sound very friendly.
Option "b" shows that we care and want to provide a friendly environment made up of detectorists that know and care for each other. Albeit, it poses a requirement on the part of newer members, even if only a temporary one. Anywhere we draw the line, there would always be some members that would fall on the wrong side of the line.
Other forums have similar post/time on forum requirements. Others still, require that you be a "charter" member (read that as paying member) to post in the classifieds. To my knowledge, there is no large sized MD forum out there that poses no restrictions whatsoever on who can sell on their classifieds.
Sometime ago, this forum had a rule about who could post items for sale, or trade, or auction. Specifically, a member had to have been a member for six months and had made 200 “significant” posts (what constitutes a “significant” post is somewhat subjective), the intent of the requirement was to let the membership at large know that you were serious about the hobby and allowed them to have a certain comfort level in dealing with you as a seller or trader.
Enforcing the above rule was an extra burden on the staff and given the close knit community we had here at FMDF, we felt this rule was not really necessary. In light or recent events, the decision to remove this rule was faulty. Our membership has exploded since this rule was lifted and many of those members have joined, apparently, only to use the classifieds. Hidden amongst them have been a few scammers, which we have dealt with.
We do not wish to become the eBay of the metal detecting world, preferring instead to have a close knit community of friends that we can trust. In the end, it is the responsibility of the buyer to know who they are dealing with, however, we would be remiss if we simply left it at that.
Therefore, we reinstated the old rule. Sellers/Traders/Auctioneers will need to have been members for six months and have logged 200 significant posts before they can sell in the classifieds. Failure to meet this rule will result in their classified thread being deleted. Repeated failures to meet this rule may result in account termination.
Nobody likes rules, least of all those of us that have to enforce them. But as long as there are unscrupulous people out there targeting our members, we feel it is necessary.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
We don't want (or like) to be cops and thought that a feedback system, coupled with common sense and discretion would be all that's needed. It worked quite well –for a while. But then, as scammers where busted in other forums, they saw how easy it was for them to take up shop here and a few of our members got swindled for big bucks.
We looked and debated all kinds of alternatives. None were foolproof (fools are too damn ingenious). The only way to identify a swindler is, unfortunately, ... after the crime is committed.
Law enforcement is not very cooperative, so the swindlers continue to thrive knowing that, if they are careful, they can lay low for a while and then start swindling again using a different identity.
The fundamental question is: Which choice serves our members best?
a.- An environment where anyone can post items for sale without any restrictions? That is, caveat emptor, the buyer is on their own.
b.- An environment where members must have been around for a while, contributing to the forum in the form of active participation (ie. not lurking), so that others can judge their mettle and develop a level of trust.
In keeping with our name, Friendly Forum, option "a" would show a lack of care for our member's well being. Somehow, telling a member that just got scammed out of a few hundred bucks "Gee it's too bad that you got robbed on our forum. You should have been more careful." doesn't sound very friendly.
Option "b" shows that we care and want to provide a friendly environment made up of detectorists that know and care for each other. Albeit, it poses a requirement on the part of newer members, even if only a temporary one. Anywhere we draw the line, there would always be some members that would fall on the wrong side of the line.
Other forums have similar post/time on forum requirements. Others still, require that you be a "charter" member (read that as paying member) to post in the classifieds. To my knowledge, there is no large sized MD forum out there that poses no restrictions whatsoever on who can sell on their classifieds.
Sometime ago, this forum had a rule about who could post items for sale, or trade, or auction. Specifically, a member had to have been a member for six months and had made 200 “significant” posts (what constitutes a “significant” post is somewhat subjective), the intent of the requirement was to let the membership at large know that you were serious about the hobby and allowed them to have a certain comfort level in dealing with you as a seller or trader.
Enforcing the above rule was an extra burden on the staff and given the close knit community we had here at FMDF, we felt this rule was not really necessary. In light or recent events, the decision to remove this rule was faulty. Our membership has exploded since this rule was lifted and many of those members have joined, apparently, only to use the classifieds. Hidden amongst them have been a few scammers, which we have dealt with.
We do not wish to become the eBay of the metal detecting world, preferring instead to have a close knit community of friends that we can trust. In the end, it is the responsibility of the buyer to know who they are dealing with, however, we would be remiss if we simply left it at that.
Therefore, we reinstated the old rule. Sellers/Traders/Auctioneers will need to have been members for six months and have logged 200 significant posts before they can sell in the classifieds. Failure to meet this rule will result in their classified thread being deleted. Repeated failures to meet this rule may result in account termination.
Nobody likes rules, least of all those of us that have to enforce them. But as long as there are unscrupulous people out there targeting our members, we feel it is necessary.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
