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

[kc261]

I agree with making a separate adoption forum from the for sale forum. Mostly for the reason that it will help those trying to re-home a snake to not get lost in the other ads.

I don't agree with any of the ideas that have been posted so far about limiting the ability to post in the for sale section. While I agree it is sort of an abuse of the forum to post a for sale ad when you've never posted anything else, unfortunately none of the ideas suggested would stop a scammer. The best one is probably the idea of requiring someone to have been a member for a certain amount of time before posting a for sale ad. However, that only slows down the scammer; it doesn't stop them. And it unfortunately also slows down many legitimate people who might want to post a for sale ad. I think we lose more than we gain.

Robin and a few others made very good points about the buyer needing to be sure they know and trust who they are buying from. It is not the job of bp.net to protect foolish people from getting scammed. And the better and/or more determined scam artists who will catch a few of those who aren't so foolish will manage to slip through any rules that could be written, so we can't stop them before they scam anyone. Once they scam a few people and become known, they will be dealt with as we have already seen.

One idea that might make it slightly easier for buyers to do their homework is to add a new sort of rep points to bp.net. Let's say we call them vendor points. The idea would be you only give a person a positive vendor point if you have made a purchase from them and are happy with the results, similar to the way it is done on ebay. By using a similar system to the one we have for regular rep points, abuse of this system would be difficult because a scammer couldn't just register multiple times and give themselves rep. It doesn't count until the person has been around a while and earned some rep themselves.

I have no idea how hard this would be for the administration to set up, and it might be more hassle than it is worth. The bottom line would still be that the buyer needs to do their research, just like it is for each and every purchase a person makes, online or otherwise, reptile related or not.

I almost forgot one other thing I wanted to say. To enforce the rules that currently exist, I do not believe we need to prevent newcomers to the site from posting for sale ads. Who cares if someone's first post is a for sale ad if they then go on to become a "contributing member"? I probably wouldn't trust them to make a purchase, but I don't mind them posting the ad. However, if it becomes habitual that someone posts only for sale ads, or more of those than other posts, that might be a reason for some sort of probation or eventually being banned.

[littleindiangirl]

I think an adoption section would be abused. I would even say every post would need to be approved before it showed. I can just see it now.... >.<

[kc261]

I think an adoption section would be abused. I would even say every post would need to be approved before it showed. I can just see it now.... >.<

There would be little reason to abuse it if posts in the for sale section are unrestricted. However, if one of the requirements before posting for sale ads gets implemented, I agree this could become a big problem.

[littleindiangirl]

There would be little reason to abuse it if posts in the for sale section are unrestricted. However, if one of the requirements before posting for sale ads gets implemented, I agree this could become a big problem.

I dunno... I personally think it's fine the way it is.

I'm of the mind that if you got burned, it was a learning experience. (yes, I have been burned)

[Spaniard]

I haven't read all the posts but its a topic thats been discussed a lot and my two cents are pretty simple.

Have something stickied to the For Sale Forum that discusses the "safe" way of purchasing an animal online.

Asking for pictures, keeping records and emails, and above all doing an inquire on the BOI. If there was something to this effect available I think more people may be prone to doing a BOI search which in 99% of the time will save you a headache.

Or they may not even see the sticky but at least I'll sleep better at night

[Bruce Whitehead]

I have not read this whole thread either, but am of the mind that it is fine the way it is.

As a member of this site, I feel I should have access to all the animals for sale within the community and anyone that participates on this site, regardless of their level of activity.

Seems like this was proposed as a means of weeding out THEM from US. Not cool IMHO.

If people only want to buy from other BP.Net friends and those they know, then great. But to implement this restriction seems oligarchal.

There are lots of tools for the savvy reptile consumer online, and the BP community is a small and incestuous one as it is.

I like this site because there is a high level of activity from beginner, hobby, and professional breeders, so why are we trying to drive people away?

I do not recall anything stating what level of participation is expected upon applying for membership.

Just my 0.02 bucks.

Bruce

[MarkS]

I also think that the for sale section is fine just the way it is. I really hate to see people talking about making it harder for scammers, bad guys, and other nefarious evil doers when it hasn't even been shown to be a big problem around here. Whatever happened to the concept of innocent until proven guilty?

I'm a member of many other forums. Some of them where I've been a regular reader for years but still don't have more then a dozen posts to my name. I just don't feel the need to add to a thread where there are already plenty of competent responses that I agree with. I'd really hate to see some kind of post number restriction added and then see a flurry of 'yup me too' and 'LOL' type posts clogging up the forums just so people can get their post counts up.

Mark

[Jerhart]

I also think that the for sale section is fine just the way it is. I really hate to see people talking about making it harder for scammers, bad guys, and other nefarious evil doers when it hasn't even been shown to be a big problem around here. Whatever happened to the concept of innocent until proven guilty?

I'm a member of many other forums. Some of them where I've been a regular reader for years but still don't have more then a dozen posts to my name. I just don't feel the need to add to a thread where there are already plenty of competent responses that I agree with. I'd really hate to see some kind of post number restriction added and then see a flurry of 'yup me too' and 'LOL' type posts clogging up the forums just so people can get their post counts up.

Mark

Bravo! Well said Mark! The ever dreaded post-whore!


...uh oh! Does this count as one of those "me too" replies?

[LadyOhh]

LOL






Hehehehehee

[Jyson]

I agree that 500 is fair. I havent been on here long and it says I am already around 100 posts. With that many posts you can really get a good idea of the person and their knowledge. Although I do like the separating the for sale and adoptions though.