quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:

quote:

Originally posted by steve495:
UPDATE - I see that you don't want to lock the classifieds section down.

It may appear to be twisted logic, but making Classifieds viewable only when logged in means that some people who simply wish to peruse the Classifieds (out of curiosity, or for pricing information, but not for any nefarious purposes) may feel compelled to register. These new registrants will likely not contribute to the forum, except perhaps to post their own ads from time to time, and we all know how I feel about that.

Still, this action is worth considering, but even this would not stop the thieves entirely.

Good point!

I understand your frustration, but FWIW, this has been the best place for me to have sold a few things.

Saw a member who openly posted his email address that was visible to lurkers. I thought about calling him on it, but I dont like chastising other members.
If I have something I want to sell, I would like to have other SF members have a shot at the item before I try to peddle it locally. And I want to give other members a better deal than I would to a non-member. I pay for shipping too. The general membership has always seemed to me to be great group of trustworthy people and my interactions with them have been first rate.

I have bought a few items from the classifieds with some being a fair amount of money and although careful, I was always a bit concerned but each transaction was perfect. I TRUST the people on here who have been members for a long time with hundreds or thousands of posts. I read the forum every day but don't post much and I would hate to see classifieds go away. I still feel I can trust the members who have been here a long time and will be wary of those who have not.

Para,

For your consideration:

There are more than a few of us on board who are experienced mods on other forums. Would you consider adding a couple of additional staff members whose only staff role on the forum would be to monitor the classifieds section?

You’ve made mention more than once that there are a number of members here who have gotten pretty good at finding and reporting potentially bogus ads or ads that are posted on other boards. I’m sure those reported ads take up quite a bit of your time, and take away time you could be spending in other areas of the forum. Why not let a select few monitor that for you.

In the case of this particular instance, the scammed member was someone who has not posted in some time, and the only available posts to review are from classifieds. The member who’s ID was hacked does not even have their email public and there was no communication within the thread about this sale.

I genuinely believe that someone actively involved with the pulse of this forum would not have been scammed in such a way.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

Our email addresses are already hidden from non-members inside our profiles. Therefore, the only way they're able to access those email addresses to send the scam responses to the WTB ads in the first place is if the scammers are logged in as members. (Unless someone is dumb enough to post their email address in the middle of the text of their WTB ad, which does occasionally happen here, but isn't usually the case.)

Which *is* exactly what took place here... the e-mail *was* listed in the ad.

I also don't understand people posting their phone numbers in ads.... I get enough spam without posting it!

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin1069:
Para,

For your consideration:

There are more than a few of us on board who are experienced mods on other forums. Would you consider adding a couple of additional staff members whose only staff role on the forum would be to monitor the classifieds section?

.

IMHO, that's a great idea given the departure of at least one of the mods in the past few years.

Sad people screw things up. It is very rare I ever even look in the classifieds; I always forget about it. I only sold in it once for JALLEN’s wife after his passing.

Another one sorry to see it go but I certainly understand why.

quote:

Originally posted by Jester814:
Is it possible to hide the sub-forum to non-members? I know on the forum I run we only have about 7 sub-forums visible to non-members and around 50+ for members only.

The gun forum I admin blocks profiles, private messaging, and the classifieds from members with less than 25 posts. We instituted this last year after the onslaught of 0 post members joining and then PMing people who wanted to buy an item:

'My buddy in XXX has what you're looking for, email him at xxxx@gmail.com.'

Of course, this is a scam but it caught a few people out.


I would agree, in my experience, a classifieds forum seems to make more trouble than every other forum on a board.


It has seemed to work so far.

Very sad
I have bought probably 70% of my Sig collection here in the early years. Times have changed and you have to be even more suspicious these days. Hope you find a way to keep it up and running.

Assholes



I have bought and sold a few things here, all great experiences. A little bit of digging could have prevented this

Damn. It's always a few who ruin it for the majority

That would suck. Not that I am a frequent flyer in the Classifieds, but I've gotten some excellent deals in there over the years and I'd rather transact business with an established member of the community than many gun businesses.

Best thing is, people sell shit I didn't even know I needed.

I too hope you keep the Classifieds open, Para. It’s a very valuable resource for the members, including buying and selling with the most trustworthy people on the Internet and browsing for fun or research. I have used it for all those things over the years.

I’ve bought a few things from the classifieds, never sold. I always rated the classifieds here above other sites. Yes, I look for a little history, never had a problem.

I usually have asked if I can send a check, then only ship when the seller is comfortable. It’s just easier than the money order drill.

Yeah, there are probably ways to add a few hurdles to selling. Just thought I’d throw in my classified experience.

quote:

Originally posted by iron chef:
It's the only one where I will send a trade item to someone else before I receive anything first.

...

I will miss the Classifieds, but I understand Para's decision.

This. I've sent WTS items solely on a member's word that they had shipped (or were shipping) the MO/etc. Never been burned.

So this happened to me. I let Para know so it wouldn't happen to other members here. I paid a price but it's life and I am an adult. Can't get angry every time life isn't fair. But these are trash people and Not part of our community.

But what I can get angry about are members of this community calling me stupid from behind a keyboard. A normal response I would think is gee. Sorry this happened to ya Roman. Thanks for letting us know. But again several members of this community are saying I'm an idiot and didn't do my due diligence. That's the disappointing part. When your own turn on you. Might be a reflection on our society today. Interesting.

I have not joined this forum for the purpose of selling stuff. Over the 15~ years here I've sold a scant few items and always felt secure in transactions. I'm sorry a few have screwed a good thing up. I get it though.

Hate to see if go as I have sold a few things with good results.