The laws of the land

[Captainmorbid]

For me n' Karma to debate the finer points...

[GapBoyPCS]

Originally Posted by Captainmorbid

For me n' Karma to debate the finer points...

Hmm...CANCON? Gun Registry?

[Captainmorbid]

Originally Posted by GapBoyPCS

Hmm...CANCON? Gun Registry?

Funny boy Eh!

[Peloton25]

Porting this over from the other thread:

Originally Posted by Karma

While I'm on the subject of the site, I also don't understand what I would characterize as your totally excessive 100 post policy to post in the classified section and here's why: What if I have a set of wheels for a Fiesta, or even a Fiesta that I want to sell or I'm looking to buy a Fiesta or a set of wheels and I've never been here? I think to myself, 'Oh, maybe there is a Fiesta site where I could find them or they might like my car or wheels.' Then I find this place. Well, I can't post my wheels, or Fiesta, or my WTB ad for a Fiesta, or anything else that the membership might be interested in and if my vehicle or item happened to be a good deal, or a member was trying to sell their unposted Fiesta, well your policy has just deprived the users of the forum the chance to score a great deal or sell something. The vast majority of your membership isn't going to have 100 posts EVER or until months later, so even those guys can't post - and often times they come here first because they have something they want to sell or buy. If you're worried about spam, then don't allow those kind of posts by deleting them or requiring maybe FIVE posts to post. It's like you've thrown the baby out with the bathwater, or you let your fear of spam or whatever your rationale is for the 100 post requirement, outweigh the potential benefits to your users. Five posts I can understand. 100 becomes a detriment to your members and insures that your Classifieds will never be as vibrant and useful as they could have been - again in my opinion. The Classified section is not just an afterthought either. It's often one of the most visited and posted to sub-forums on boards like these.

This might have been best to send to you or FiestaFaction-1 or whomever started this site as a PM and I thought about it, but maybe if other users read it they will give their opinions too (or tell me I'm full of it - ), or you guys can explain what the big fear is in the classified section. I'm currently on and have been on MANY other vehicle boards like this and have NEVER seen anything even close to this excessive requirement.

Please know this post is not about making anyone wrong, it's just trying to help FF be even better.

Perhaps you aren't aware that the owner of this website created Focaljet.com one month shy of 11 years ago? In that time we've learned quite a bit about how best to run a message forum. After years of struggling with problems in the Classifieds section over there we instituted the '100 post minimum' policy in 2004 and it has been tremendously effective.

We came up with the 100 post minimum primarily to curb issues with scammers - it has nothing to do with spam. It makes the Classified forum a privilege for established members and allows us a little bit of time to get to know someone, as well as gather valuable trace info should they decide to try to separate someone else from their hard earned money without delivering the item they have offered. It's not a fool-proof method, but it's one that we feel helps deter scammers who won't want to invest the time in participating in the forum enough to reach 100 posts. As said, it has been a very effective tool on Focaljet and so it was a total no-brainer to port it over here.

I'd also mention that we've not noticed any lack of "vibrance" or "usefulness" with the Classifieds over at [FJ]. In fact, just a few years ago things were so active that we had to split the Classified forum into 5 different sub-sections in order to better manage the number of threads we were getting. It will take Fiesta Faction a bit to get to that point, but I have no doubt that someday it will be necessary to do that here as well.

I'd also like to point out one error in what you wrote as a part of this comment - highlighting the sections in bold:

Well, I can't post my wheels, or Fiesta, or my WTB ad for a Fiesta, or anything else that the membership might be interested in and if my vehicle or item happened to be a good deal, or a member was trying to sell their unposted Fiesta, well your policy has just deprived the users of the forum the chance to score a great deal or sell something.

There is no limitation on the number of posts required to create a WTB ad. The first four threads in that forum right now were all created by users with less than 30 posts - one of them has 2, another has 4. Go and take a look for yourself.

>8^)
ER

[petraman]

I admit that I've only been here for about 4 months now, but I have noticed this site has some "odd" characteristics. I belong to countless forums, some which I'm quite active on (pontiacbonnevilleclub.com, for example). One of the oddest thing is the sig limits. No pics, only 150 characters? Now, I realize that it's important to keep a clean site, but this is overly drastic. You're not allowing people to express themselves. I'd imagine the main argument for these restrictions would be that it allows the site to be more accessible to people with slow connections, but it's 2011 and even though I live out in a very remote part of Ohio, I still have a 3 meg connection. Hey, if that's the way you like your site to be, more power to ya, again I realize that I'm relatively new here and haven't been too active, but I imagine you guys are open to constructive criticism right?

BTW, I agree with the 100 posts thing. It's hard to trust someone when they're not active.

[Karma]

You folks can fantasize about all your conjured demons with less than 100 posts ruining the Classified section but here's a perfect example of why it's just not the case.

http://fiestafaction.com/forums/fies...-hardware.html

I'm also not buying that other forums have needed it to have success. Yea maybe some mistakenly thought they did, but the ones I have joined or visited and there have been dozens upon dozens, have NEVER had such an excessive number.

You also have not had anything to say about my point which you know is true, that the vast majority of your users will NEVER have over 100 posts. Look at your membership list. Translated: the vast majority of your users will never participate fully if at all in the Classified section because of your rules.

Sorry guys, it's excessive and pointless and diminishes the value of the site for ALL users, in my opinion.

[Captainmorbid]

The sig limits were explained by a mod/admin awhile ago, while I can't remember what was said, I'm pretty sure it was the bandwidth cannibalism that it would cause?

Fancy sigs would be alright but the current set up, I think encourages the photo threads. Plus it helps with creative use of the space we have.

[petraman]

How would it be "bandwidth cannibalism" if we remotely hosted the pics?

[Captainmorbid]

Ahh, there you are...

I'm not sure why you're so pissed about this. No one is conjuring demons, as far as I know. The 100 post requirement is a tried and tested method to prevent scammers from stealing. I'm pretty sure that most of those members that havn't met the hundred post prerequisite for posting 'for sale' adds would rather be protected than have an admin that doesn't care about their members. I'm sure that those people in the silent majority don't have a cornucopia of items for sale, if they do, then they must become involved in the greater community. Or go to eBay. Pretty sure that Dan, who's question was about the value of his rims and not a for sale add, understands this requirement and the logic behind it. FF 1 has had plenty of experience running forums, and knows the ups and downs of having a fully open forum and the consequences of this (damn tapatalk). The fact is that this forum is by far the safest forum I've yet to come across, and that enables people who may not have contributed otherwise. Nobody on here wants what happens on hard core tuner forums.

As far as your thoughts that the vast majority of members will never meet the 100 post requirement to place for sale adds, you're likely correct. But that is true for 100% of all forums, this one and others. What does that have to do with the classifieds? The same vast majority likely isn't going to mod their cars, if they have one yet or ever. So what would they be selling? Pies?

[Captainmorbid]

Originally Posted by petraman

How would it be "bandwidth cannibalism" if we remotely hosted the pics?

Hmm... I really wish I could find/remember that post...

I made that term up... Sounds scary!