Minimum Number Of Posts Before Letting Someone Post In For Sale Section

[Wh00h0069]

As a newer member and a newer breeder as well I feel I have some good insight into this! The way I have planned my side business so far is to actually go ahead and meet people and talk to people on the phones and try to actually make some new friends along the way! I will hope to FINALLY produce some balls this year and I have been working on a site as well as getting to know members. I hope that when snakes are popping out of eggs people trust me enough to know I am a good guy and what you see is what you get! However I think in LAWreptiles case he just showed up and had snakes for sale and was active in the community. If we had something like a one month probationary period that would have at least made him use the site for a small period of time without income. Just my 2 cents.

-Cliff

He did use the site for a bit before scamming people.

[Royal Morphz]

well i agree and as that will take me away from using the for sale section for a few hundred post(if the min was set at 500-1000) id be ok with it because frankly ive seen alot of 10 and below posters putting up animals for sale im for it and would back it

[rabernet]

And for those who are newer to the hobby - Chris Johnson of TSE was a prolific poster AND had a great reputation that all the rules we would set up would not prevent him from posting. And he turned out to be one of the historically largest scammers in the industry.

The staff dealt with LAWReptiles swifly as soon as we were aware of what he really was. And he did participate on the forums as well. In all the time I've been here, he's been the anomoly and not the rule.

[MRBrown3122]

I'm new to the whole BP scene but been hanging out at forums and doing a lot of reading and not so much posting but sounds like it makes good sense to me . I wouldn't go over board on the number of posts . I think a lot of people at first are like myself they hangout and read and learn more than post .

[SilverWolf]

I was really surprised when I joined this forum that it had a for sale/trade section that was open to anyone who registered. It seemed most sites I've been to you had to pay to help keep the site going and in doing so got to post for sale threads. I came to this site to learn more about Ball Pythons and to be able to share stories/concerns with people who liked/loved them as much as I do. But there came a time when I realized I over stepped in purchasing too many snakes and when my living situation wasn't certain I found it very useful to use the for sale section. Of course I only did it for local sales only for many reasons. 1. I had never shipped and wasn't able to. 2. I wanted to meet the people I was selling my snakes to. 3. I wanted the person getting my snakes to feel comfortable with getting them from me as I was a new person on the site and no one really knew me.
I can see it from both views, limit or no limit. I am glad at the time I needed it there was no limit, but now being around a little longer I can see why a limit can be useful as long as it's not extreme. As for bigger breeders, I don't think I've really noticed too many posting as they have other ways to sell their snakes. But for mid to small sized breeders I can see it being a great way to get your name and information out there.
But really, when it comes down to it, it is always up to each individual person if they buy/trade from any one person. The old saying Buyer Beware should always be in everyone's mind. Just my two cents.

[sjsexotics]

I think even 500 is way to many I am on here all the time but I just dont post that much I think this will make people post really dumb comments just to get there amount up I would say 50 to 100 is enough but as said even if they post 500 they still could be a bad breeder

[Wh00h0069]

Here's a thought, and I'm really not trying to be silly, but whatever your personal thresh-hold is for minimal post counts is, why not just choose NOT to respond to ads that don't have your personal minimal count?

If someone pops on here and only posts ads, and I don't know who they are - I'm not likely to do business with them.

Just a thought.

Good point, if you don't want to purchase from someone that hasn't posted 500 or more times, then don't.

Another thing, say Ralph Davis, or another reptuable breeder, joins the site and wants to post some snakes for sale. Should we be like, "Sorry Ralph, you have to post 500 times."

Most of the people that post snakes for sale are honest people. I don't think there should be a limit for a few bad apples.

[Mike Cavanaugh]

Another thing, say Ralph Davis, or another reptuable breeder, joins the site and wants to post some snakes for sale. Should we be like, "Sorry Ralph, you have to post 500 times." .

Sorry, I don't see anything wrong with having a rule that they need to at least contribute to the site (in the form of forum of participating in the forums) before being able to enjoy the privledge of the for sale section.

Please let me point out something from the "Rules for Free Advertising on BP.net Classifieds and Forum threads."

Ball-Pythons.net is here to serve the community of both current and new enthusiasts of herps. Our primary mission is to educate and support those wanting to learn. These free advertising areas are for our contributing members to use and not intended as a free way to run a business.

[python.princess]

I think a time limit would be better than a post count. Or maybe a combo like (just an example) two months and 20 posts. Or something like that. But I agree that we'll get a LOT of junk posts from people trying to get their post count higher if the requirement went by post count alone.

In an ideal world, it would be based on each individual. Each person has to ask permission to use the sale section and a staff person would look at that persons past posts, etc and decide if they should be granted access. But I understand that it's not feasible. It would take up more time for the mods/admin.

[4theSNAKElady]

This is a GREAT thread!!! How about this: a minimum of 25 posts, but in at least 3-5 different categories. And 1 of them MUST be the intro section. This, we can at least be aware someone exists, and they can get to know us a little too.