Allow new users to post WTB in Buy/Sell forums

[Arinoth]

Also, if people are aware or not every single member of the mod team gets an email alerting them of a reported posts. I know I for one don't look in on every new post or thread created because I don't have the time, subject doesn't interest me, or I have nothing to add to the conversation. If you see someone breaking a forum or B/S/T rule the best thing to do is to hit the report button and give us the reason. This allows us to deal with spammers or B/S/T rule breakers more easily and helps keep the forums clear of "Oh look no pictures" or "Hey look spam!"

[redline]

Originally Posted by zsamz_

having only 25 posts is bs

make new members send 1$ by paypal just to get real info just in case

I've been lurking this site on and off for years without ever posting, and just decided to mirror a BST FS thread on RFD to here without having considered BST restrictions for the protection of the community. I read the 'post requirements' section but managed to skip 'guidelines' and miss the requirement for 25 posts.

Now I find myself having to contribute 25 meaningful posts (besides this one ) to participate in the BST section, in which I have already participated as a buyer.

I would be in favour of paying a fee instead, for the purpose of disclosing personal info and as an alternate way to contribute to the site.

[LarkStarr]

Yeah, because setting up and moderating a money management system for the sole purpose to regulate a BST Forum is really on the minds of the admin team...

Besides, what really can be done once the personal info is obtained? There's still a whole host of potential problems.

[Soullessone21]

I love how things are now don't change it.

The point of HWC forum is to share knowledge and help people out. Not just a dedicated sales forum.

I agree with something a Great Admin once said to me.

"We are a plethora of knowledge at HWC, contribute posts to our great society and then you will earn a right to use our awesome BST section"

And you know what I did? just that, no bitching, no pissing and moaning, I just jumped in the forum helped people out and enjoyed every second of it.

Money doesn't drive the site, People do :)

Go get those posts :P

Edit: I like the idea of making it so 100 posts are needed to use it, but having the zeros and 1 posts view it is not terrible, my Best Customer Tray who has bought literally thousands of dollars of gear from me has I think 4 posts haha but he is a awesome customer.

[Caldezar]

I bet OP never thought he'd spark a conversation to RAISE the post count... That's a backfire if I've ever seen one.

Personally, I see both sides of the coin. I understand the point that OP is making in regards to being a purchaser as there's no real concern there. But I also understand that this is not an alternative to eBay or RFD. For the most part, the HWC forums have a solid reputation for being a safe place to buy/sell hardware. If we lose the community portion of the site and let anyone use the B/S/T, then we'd likely quickly lose that rep. Once you lose the rep, you lose the dedicated traffic to B/S/T, and you end up losing traffic to the site in the long run.

I'm with SoulT though. More often than not, I'll stick to dealing with higher post count members. Nothing against new members, but if I see someone selling that only has 26-100 posts, I'm pretty leery about even doing business with them. It leaves me less concerned about the consequences of the sale.

[BobLoblaw]

As a user who registered and started posting solely to use the BST forum I think the way it works right now is really good and a higher post count would only make it better. I feel I can trust the sellers on Hardware Canucks because I know they are invested in the community and not just using it as craigslist. I mean, that's what eBay and craigslist are for! Here I can be pretty confident that the seller is not here to just offload some stuff and disappear. As you can see from my post count I wouldn't actually be eligible to use the forum for awhile longer if it went to 100 but I like the idea of other metrics being used such and lurking and page hits. I usually don't have much to say except for right now it seems!

Anyways, just sort of a ramble but there it is!

[Soullessone21]

Hey hey fellow CR resident :P

Originally Posted by BobLoblaw

As a user who registered and started posting solely to use the BST forum I think the way it works right now is really good and a higher post count would only make it better. I feel I can trust the sellers on Hardware Canucks because I know they are invested in the community and not just using it as craigslist. I mean, that's what eBay and craigslist are for! Here I can be pretty confident that the seller is not here to just offload some stuff and disappear. As you can see from my post count I wouldn't actually be eligible to use the forum for awhile longer if it went to 100 but I like the idea of other metrics being used such and lurking and page hits. I usually don't have much to say except for right now it seems!

Anyways, just sort of a ramble but there it is!

[igot6strings]

Originally Posted by redline

I've been lurking this site on and off for years without ever posting, and just decided to mirror a BST FS thread on RFD to here without having considered BST restrictions for the protection of the community. I read the 'post requirements' section but managed to skip 'guidelines' and miss the requirement for 25 posts.

Now I find myself having to contribute 25 meaningful posts (besides this one ) to participate in the BST section, in which I have already participated as a buyer.

I would be in favour of paying a fee instead, for the purpose of disclosing personal info and as an alternate way to contribute to the site.

+1.
I would happily pay a fee just to post WTB as a new member. I'd still be happy having to wait until 25 posts to sell too. 50-100 even. I have nothing worth selling anyway :)

I started this thread about being specific to WTB not selling or trading.
I think it would be crazy to allow people to sell with just 25 posts. WTB as Ive stated earlier would be harmless imo.

Realistically someone who wanted to scam people for hundreds of dollars would happily sit there and make up 25 posts. Scam artists do alot more work for alot less money.

At NCIX recently for example a forum member was found to be posting hundreds if not thousands of reviews for products they never owned, bought or had any experience with. That user accumulated enough points to get several AMD processors. Imagine how many hours they must of put in to get that many points. I bet they could of bought the damn processors by working min wage at walmart for a fraction of the time.

Scammers will scam. Thats what they do and stubbornly so.

[xelosia]

Being a new member myself I understand the policy and I respect that .I really enjoy reading the posts and basically check in on a daily basis to see whats new in news and forums . I rarely post unless I can help with with a problem or if I have something i feel is relevant . Oh and by the way hello to all and thanks for Putting up a great site and posting such great reviews thanks

[Dzzope]

Personally, I don't see how posting a WTB is any different to pming or post in someone else's WTS thread.. the is no limits to buy an item unless your looking for something specific?

WTS is a totally different story.. IMO there should be 3 options when posting in BST.. (for thread icons) wts wtb wtt.. have WTB as open or nearly open and wtt and wts should be unavailable for anyone with less than 100 posts. user has to select 1 of the options before they can post.
admins then would only need to look at the title to see if the user was trying to circumvent the system (eg selecting wtb but then saying sell in the title) Obviously they would still want to check contents of threads were conforming to the rules.


Making the section unavailable to anyone would cut down the site's revenue and as such would be a bad thing..
P.S anyone with ad blockers are hurting HWC!!... :O