Hi James,
In recent weeks/months I've noticed that there are more and more new members (accounts made in 2011 less than 6 months old) on SOFT in the Buy/Sell section. Some are sincere buyers and sellers but I happen to see a lot of these people buying and reselling items a couple of days later at a much higher price. Seen this a couple of times in the Drums Buy/Sell section with new users selling similar kits to those that just got sold recently. Even did a bit of check on the equipment they were selling and they were very similar. Same colour, brand, cymbals, stands etcetc. Just at a higher price and without pictures. Even seen a couple of lowballers and reposting of the same thread in different sections, bumping their ad a few times a day. Not to mention, the rise of Beats earphones replicas.
I personally feel that these users are making use and taking advantage of this free website and this is not doing SOFT any good. Thought of suggesting a way to probably control these users from posting ads until they know how things work on SOFT.
Is it possible if we could block out the classified sections from them until their accounts complete a "probation period" of maybe a couple of months? Perhaps during the "probation period" they will have to complete a number of sign ins into the forum to show that they are active here instead of just waiting to get their hands in the classifieds. Also, maybe reach a number of posts in the forum to show that they are also active in the forum and not just the classifieds? Not sure how this would work and whether there is an automated feature to do this though.
These are just a couple of suggestions that I think might help to improve SOFT. Do let me know if any of whatever I said is against SOFT principles and belief in any way. Apologies to anyone I may/will have offended.
Good day!
In recent weeks/months I've noticed that there are more and more new members (accounts made in 2011 less than 6 months old) on SOFT in the Buy/Sell section. Some are sincere buyers and sellers but I happen to see a lot of these people buying and reselling items a couple of days later at a much higher price. Seen this a couple of times in the Drums Buy/Sell section with new users selling similar kits to those that just got sold recently. Even did a bit of check on the equipment they were selling and they were very similar. Same colour, brand, cymbals, stands etcetc. Just at a higher price and without pictures. Even seen a couple of lowballers and reposting of the same thread in different sections, bumping their ad a few times a day. Not to mention, the rise of Beats earphones replicas.
I personally feel that these users are making use and taking advantage of this free website and this is not doing SOFT any good. Thought of suggesting a way to probably control these users from posting ads until they know how things work on SOFT.
Is it possible if we could block out the classified sections from them until their accounts complete a "probation period" of maybe a couple of months? Perhaps during the "probation period" they will have to complete a number of sign ins into the forum to show that they are active here instead of just waiting to get their hands in the classifieds. Also, maybe reach a number of posts in the forum to show that they are also active in the forum and not just the classifieds? Not sure how this would work and whether there is an automated feature to do this though.
These are just a couple of suggestions that I think might help to improve SOFT. Do let me know if any of whatever I said is against SOFT principles and belief in any way. Apologies to anyone I may/will have offended.
Good day!