New Rules for 3reef Market Place Boards

Spamming IS posting large numbers of threads to a forum. Vendors have their owb forums as-is, but For Sale is meant for members. If vendors were allowed, no member would be able to sell their stuff as the forum would be packed with vendor threads. The sheer number of vendor threads as-is is quite high; theres always a couple if not more on the home/recent page.

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Issues with 50 posts.

Being on other boards and seeing what goes on, I can certainly understand your rules. Having said that, I think that 50 posts is a bit excessive, and here is why.

As someone new to salt water (fw enthusiast for decades) I had some basic questions; more are still popping up from time to time. I am trying put together a system and it would be really nice to be able to browse the trading post, and the for sale or trade boards so that I could get started at a lower cost than going retail. Isn't there some way you could allow folks to use those boards without posting items for sale until they reach 50 posts?

Posting 50 times with messages that have substance to them is difficult when you have yet to build your tank! Allowing newer members to purchase from the boards but not sell would be of benefit to us new salties, plus it would broaden the market for those who are trying to sell equipment that is no longer needed.

Just my opinion. Thanks for listening,
Steve

 

Hi Steve
your opinion is valid and I fully understand this situation from your perspective and the perspective of others in very similar situations to your good self
any set of rules and regulations designed to weed out undesirable elements, often have consequences for the decent people who do join a forum and would like to take advantage of second hand goods, made available by fellow hobbyists

the problem any site has, and this site is no exception, is that the undesirable element often find ways around rules
its not always the sellers that are a problem for reef sites
occasionally people obtain goods with no intention of honoring the agreed payment for said items
also occasionally undesirable sellers find their way via the back door of wanting to buy, and make counter offers Via PM in order to steer the purchasers to the alternatives they are offering, yet do not have the post count required to facilitate that
and yes, this situation does mean that occasionally people with honorable intentions are in fact negatively affected due to the above type scenarios and the resulting rules that try to prevent them occurring

posting questions, responding to questions, sharing opinions, once you get involved 50 posts will seem like nothing at all

reef keeping is a marathon and not a sprint thus the time taken to read, inquire and converse with others in the hobby could be viewed as an investment in the future of your own reef set up

all we ask is your continued patience and acceptance
the rules apply to everyone that joins
some of us have got beyond them, but still cannot take advantage of the opportunities presented

Steve

 

Steve,

Thanks for your input. I seriously doubt that number will be reduced. How to handle the problems in The Marketplace was discussed by the Admin and Moderator Team for a long time for the best way to handle this. I personally hope it never is reduced due to time-constraints the moderators have. However, that is entirely up to Matt and he'll see this thread.

At one time, we did have the number of posts reduced. We only required 15 posts. Basically, that didn't work. At all!!! As happens often in life, the innocent pay for the sins of the few and 3Reef is no exception. Both buyers and sellers would put up fluff posts, get in and put up a thread (which we would later have to remove). Buyers would put up fluff posts and then browse The Marketplace Forum and we would sit there and watch as both buyers and sellers "gamed the system" by taking their transactions to PM.

We also tried your method for a while. The sellers couldn't put up a new thread unless they had 15 posts. It was our thinking that this would work and buyers could see what was available. We were wrong. This didn't work at all. Once the first post was up, other sellers could post on other people's threads. I.e. if you think that protein skimmer is a nice deal, you ought to see the skimmer I have. PM me for details. One thing we learned by only requiring 15 posts is that a lot of people also buy things and then disappear. Our view is that The Marketplace is kind of a fringe benefit for people who want to be part of our community as opposed to being available to everyone.

We have a lot of buying/selling/trading/group buys going on. The amount of time the moderators had to spend on The Marketplace Forums alone was staggering and one of our mods deserves special recognition for keeping it as clean as possible....a big shout out to Amcarrig. Since implementing the new rules, we aren't having to deal with people mad because they got ripped off by a fly-by-night scammer. We aren't having to deal with newbie customers who feel ripped off because they bought an in-sump skimmer and their tank doesn't have an overflow. LOL It's not the sellers fault you didn't do your research and didn't buy a hang-on-back skimmer.

That is a basic overview (from my point of view). Let's discuss your situation. You've been a member since June and admit that you have a lot of questions. I want to make this clear. An honest question qualifies as a quality post. You are not expected as a (saltwater) newbie to answer 50 people's questions. You are expected, however, to become part of the community to access The Marketplace.

 

Thanks for your replies, Steve and Curt. I must say that the attitude of frequently posting members here is far superior to a poplular cichlid forum that I belong to. I rarely post there because replies that I get are often arrogant and have an air of superiority about them. What I have seen here is a sincere desire to help others in the hobby.

It hadn't occurred to me that sellers would be able to hijack into a thread by posing as a buyer. All my decades in the aquarium hobby and I still have a high degree of naievite (sp?).

Thank you both for your courteous reply and for supplying your reasoning behind excluding buyers as well as sellers. Hopefully, I'll soon be able to make up my mind on the size tank that I want, so that I can get started. I'm looking forward to getting my feet (or should I say hands) wet, while trying to avoid introducing that nasty arm and hand coral that I have seen mentioned in the forums.

Steve

 

The 50 post 30 day rule is killing me. I am setting up my first reef tank and could really use some used equipment. Although I do agree that spammers/scammers can ruin a forum very quickly.

Being in the same situation as Steve I agree with what he said. I think that the requirements to buy should be cut in half, but the requirements to sell should stay the same. This would greatly help out guys like us.


On another note I love the forum so far. Lots of great info and people on here. Finding this forum has been very helpful and has been the answer to may of my questions.

 

Just a thought, but maybe you could give site supporters instant access to that area as a buyer?

 

Unfortunately, changing the requirements in the Wanted section would give spammers/scammers access to that forum. They could use the information found there to PM people with offers to sell.

If we gave supporters access to the marketplace without needing to meet the requirements, I'm sure that it wouldn't be long before we were accused of being extortionists That would also give spammers/scammers an even better opportunity to use the marketplace for their benefit as it would be a small price to pay to advertise on the forums.

 

quick question. do we have to have 50 post and 30 days to access the B/S/T forums or do we just have to meet one requirement?

 

Both