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Classifieds Section

Should hide the entire Classifieds section from both non-members and members who have not contributed 50 meaningful posts to this forum.

This would cut down on so many scammers it's not even funny. A popular forum in the UK has this rule, and it works a charm. This should not be what drives traffic to the site, it should be a benefit and privilege to established members.

Thanks,

-Matt
 
I'm torn on this. On one hand you are absolutely right about it being a privilege. On the other hand I got a Theoben from a new member who had no intention of getting into the hobby. She was just selling off her dads collection after he had passed. There needs to be some sort of middle ground or else we will all lose out on some great deals.
 
I'm torn on this. On one hand you are absolutely right about it being a privilege. On the other hand I got a Theoben from a new member who had no intention of getting into the hobby. She was just selling off her dads collection after he had passed. There needs to be some sort of middle ground or else we will all lose out on some great deals.
Anecdotal.

The trade off with an open to public classifieds and a 10 message/10 day limit is that it provides unreasonably easy access to scammers. IMO it isn't worth having a member or two find a deal here, if it weren't here someone would of found that Theoben elsewhere, where there is likely far better buyer protections in place. There are no guarantee's here where as a few other marketplaces for used items explicitly have layers upon layers of protection for both buyer and seller. This site lacks such medium.

This site's traffic should not be driven by an open to public classifieds section, it has historically proven itself unable to protect it's members, who often times are susceptible to scams. The site I mention in my OP praise its barriers to entry and have highly noted how much it has cut down on the scams prevalent there.

Protect your community and the members within it.

Even pm's should be monitored for such trading activities and culled, and members punished by having their pming privileges revoked.
 
If it weren't here someone would of found that Theoben elsewhere, where there is likely far better buyer protections in place.
I dont care about someone else grabbing it. I care about me being able to grab it. I care about others here being able to grab the deals.

Even pm's should be monitored for such trading activities and culled, and members punished by having their pming privileges revoked.

I hope you're joking here. You think PRIVATE messages should be monitored to protect our safety? Lol absolutely not. You think your cell phone should be constantly tapped just in case you may or may not talk to a bad guy too?

At the end of the day there really aren't that many scammers here and the ones that are here are pretty darn obvious. Its up to you to do your due diligence to weed them out. Its one thing to be scammed by a long running member but if you get scammed out of a new member thats kind of on you.
 
Even pm's should be monitored for such trading activities and culled, and members punished by having their pming privileges revoked.

I hope you're joking here. You think PRIVATE messages should be monitored to protect our safety? Lol absolutely not. You think your cell phone should be constantly tapped just in case you may or may not talk to a bad guy too?

To prevent circumvention of the above, yes. You can whine and moan all you want about my stance, but the site I am referring to does just that as well, and the members there are an outstanding group that appreciate this layer of defense.

I dont care about someone else grabbing it. I care about me being able to grab it
"Me" "Me" "Me"...not going to continue with someone only viewing things through their own lens...good day.
 
To prevent circumvention of the above, yes. You can whine and moan all you want about my stance, but the site I am referring to does just that as well, and the members there are an outstanding group that appreciate this layer of defense.


"Me" "Me" "Me"...not going to continue with someone only viewing things through their own lens...good day.
What was the second part of that quote that you conveniently left out....
 
I’m not as active on AGN as I once was, but I agree with @Sqwirl57 that scammers, while a scourge when you see them, are not an overwhelming problem.

The community is, in my view, pretty good at rooting out those with nefarious intent. In the end, the adage of caveat emptor applies. I obviously don’t have access to the traffic data on AGN, but I am a marketer that understands search. Saying classifieds drive search and traffic is a bit of a red herring.
 
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Should hide the entire Classifieds section from both non-members and members who have not contributed 50 meaningful posts to this forum.

This would cut down on so many scammers it's not even funny. A popular forum in the UK has this rule, and it works a charm. This should not be what drives traffic to the site, it should be a benefit and privilege to established members.

Thanks,

-Matt
You don't Have to be here. There's nothing stopping you from starting your own site. You seem intelligent enough to make it a roaring success.
 
I think the first post said everything essential. Just hide it, at least it can't be that bad thing vs scammers and other useless attempts to quickly get the 10 necessary meaningful post. That practice is indeed used in many forums around the world. I'm not saying it's the best option, but is it practical one.
And this attention comes purely for practicality side, because I won't be using that section for anything other than browsing for fun and interest because of my location outside USA.
Of course, Airgunexporter and Vincent could certainly get an airgun from there if I'm interested and seller likes to sell it that way. But on the other hand, it can also be dealt from the shop directly.
 
lol, anyone that thinks their “private” messages on a public, modded INTERNET web forum are some how private, well……..that’s interesting. This isn’t the mail, your privacy doesn’t matter here. What matters, the whole reason for moderation on Internet forums, is to keep things on topic, from getting out of hand, and to keep trolls and scammers at bay. It’s nothing new! Look at twitter for an example; they gutted their mods, and it went down the toilet in less than 4 months!
 
I don’t know how others do it, but if I feel my spider senses tingling and my butt hackles start to raise during a deal, I typically take a pic snap of the pm communications and share them with trusted AGN members to see what their gut tells them. They’ve done the same to me by asking me to read communications they are having with unknown people.

Because of this trusted networking, you’ll probably never see us posting a “ I THINK I GOT SCAMMED!” thread.

To the new folks in this hobby, wanting to buy or sell but have not been around long enough to generate trusted friends, post up pics of your communications if you’re feeling leery. There’s a great number of folks that’ll steer you the right direction