Trouble with the For Sale section

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

New rule - need 25 postings before new members can post in the buy & sell. Too many lurkers were just signing on to sell their stuff & not contribute anything to the site.

[Xtasia]

I don't particularly find anything wrong with that. People contribute in their own different ways. We wouldn't have people come post 25 things to the buy and sell forums before they developed a right to give advice.

a Pity this rule is in place.

[Willow]

Originally Posted by Xtasia

I don't particularly find anything wrong with that. People contribute in their own different ways. We wouldn't have people come post 25 things to the buy and sell forums before they developed a right to give advice.

a Pity this rule is in place.

the problem was that existing users were registering under new names to sell items for some reason and not listing locations or following thru with sales.

[Xtasia]

Well I think it's a matter of how much this inconvenience matters compared to the amount of new people we'll lose because they don't understand canreef's rules, or find it too "difficult" to join in.

I joined initially for the Buy and Sell forum many years ago, i didn't post to other forums for about 6 months because I didn't feel I had anything educated enough to say, but I did have things I wanted to buy or sell. I didn't want to be flamed for the lack of knowledgable insight. I lurked.

I wouldn't be here today if it was for these rules. I'm sure I'm not alone.

[Bartman]

Originally Posted by Willow

the problem was that existing users were registering under new names to sell items for some reason and not listing locations or following thru with sales.

How do we know this was happening?

[Willow]

Originally Posted by Bartman

How do we know this was happening?

umm cause it was all over the buy and sell forum a few weeks ago when some guy from alberta wigged out on canreef and it turned out he had more than one account when the mods looked at his ip.

[Bartman]

Originally Posted by Willow

umm cause it was all over the buy and sell forum a few weeks ago when some guy from alberta wigged out on canreef and it turned out he had more than one account when the mods looked at his ip.

So, one guy did this and we changed the rules?

[Willow]

im not a mod and not privy to the ip's but i don't think this is the first time at all.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Xtasia

a Pity this rule is in place.

actually I feel it is a good thing and maybe a little low. the problem that I see is that there are a ton of people who joined Canreef just to sell, so they log in, register, make two posts and then there is a dead name floating around for ever. Lurkers usually don't register as you can read all you want as a guest. Personally I feel the reason for having a resource like Canreef is foremost to learn and further the hobby, not to find cheep stuff to buy or a place to unload your equipment you bought on a whim because it turned out to be more work than the fish store lead you to believe, or what ever the reason.

there are plenty of Internet sites that are free buy/sell sites so it isn't like this is a function that is needed, but rather a convenience to the members of Canreef.

Steve

[Xtasia]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

actually I feel it is a good thing and maybe a little low. the problem that I see is that there are a ton of people who joined Canreef just to sell, so they log in, register, make two posts and then there is a dead name floating around for ever.

I don't think it's our place to judge what forum a person is most interested in.

Does anyone know how many people actually abuse Canreef in this way, and isn't there a way to ban their IP instead of inflicting this rule on new community members due to the actions of a few established exploiters?

What about phasing out names after 6 months of inactivity if dead names bother canreef members?