Thread: Is there a way to stop people from joining just to sell?

I don't know if you feel the same way that I do. But I'm a little tired of seeing people who join and then immediately post in the for sale section. Usually we are wary of the seller (unless of course we know them personally).

I propose that if a person doesn't have over a certain amount of posts (say 100). This way we deter spammers and possible bad sellers.

Just a suggestion.

I dunno anyone else want to chime in on how they feel about it. I think 100 posts is a bit too many myself.

Yeah I think they should have atleast 25 posts maybe even 50 but on my part I avoid buying from noob sellers.

I agree. 100 is a bit much. Other forums I frequent usually require about 4 posts in a new member section before you can start a thread. One of the forums requires that you become a contributor with a $25 yearly contribution if you want to sell stuff (which I personally think is crazy). Just some food for thought.

Well, the rules for the Classifieds (which I wrote and the other mods approved) state that you're supposed to have 50 posts before you're allowed to list things for sale.

I admit that this rule (and a few others) were written in the hopes that the forum software could be set up to take care of making sure people had the right prerequisites. I know other forums are set up this way, but I'm not well-versed in the forum software so maybe this was wishful thinking.

The moderators (myself included) haven't been very good at policing the classifieds, maybe we just need to keep a closer eye on things. When a whole bunch of folks start realizing their threads were deleted they'll come around quickly.

If on the other hand we want to change the number of required posts, or do away with it, that's easily done...

For the most part most of the people on this forum are smart enough and have been here long enough to be weary of a newbie selling stuff right away or even someone who hasn't posted for years and then suddenly tries to sell something.

Personally, I only buy from people with a 100% rep and at least a few sales under their belt. On the other hand, we all have to start somewhere. Right?

I would say 25 posts or a full month which ever is longer.

25 posts and 10% discount on first sale...

Minimum post counts just lead to 100s of meaningless posts. What about a time restriction, like 60 days? Even better, a time restriction then a mod has to enable them. If somebody requests classified privileges after 60 days with no posts, it's pretty obvious they're just here to turn a buck.

I think Swiss is on the right track.