IMPORTANT: Members Market access

[Feek]

Many years ago, the criteria for MM changed so that in order to access it, you had to be a member for 180 days and have made 1000 posts. This change was made because we were getting people signing up to the forums simply to access the Members Market. We have a strong community here and the MM has always been for active forum members who are part of our community.

At the time, we grandfathered in anyone who had gained access under the previous requirements.

This change was made over eleven years ago and there are still members who have MM access but have not reached the current requirements. In the time since the change, they would only have needed to make fewer than two posts per week to reach the current access requirements for Members Market. After discussion, we, the forum Administrators feel that anyone who has not reached the current requirements in that time isn't really contributing to the overall OcUK community.

We will be removing MM access for anyone who does not reach the current requirements on the 1st August 2023. This is not a permanent removal, all these members need to do is to ensure they contribute to the forums by making meaningful posts outside of the MM to bring their post count up to the current requirements at which point access will be granted automatically.

If you have fewer than 1000 posts and have access to MM, please ensure that any ongoing deals are completed by 18:00 on the 1st August 2023 which is when access will be removed.

It should be remembered that MM access is a privilege, not a right and there are three criteria needed for access: 180 days membership, 1000 posts and be an active member of the community. There's much more to the OcUK forums than the MM.

Signed (in alphabetical order)

@Feek
@Maccy
@ThundyCat
@Werewolf

OcUK Forum Administrators

 

[Feek]

(although will have no MM access .. )

At your current rate of posting, it'll be at least thirty more years before you get in

 

[Feek]

Is there any chance the admin take a look at updating the allowed list to include bikes? There is a large number of active members on here that are cyclists, and to be honest I'm struggling to see why they're not allowed.

Please ask in the Members Market Q&A thread if you are unsure.

 

[Feek]

Could we get this as a sticky?

I don't think it needs to be stuck.

1) Nobody reads stickies

2) Everyone who is affected by it will see that sodding great notice at the top of every page pointing them to this thread

I don't, because if it's just post count boosting crap it'll be deleted as it always has

This really. As per the rules:
"Please note that this does not mean you spam the forums simply to increase your posts, as this action will result in posts being deducted"

(Or posts will simply be deleted, case in point is the post directly above this one).

Fair warning, but it's not just a case of meeting the post count, you need to contribute and continue to interact with others throughout the forum.

Yup. From the MM rules:
"Once you have access, we expect you to continue participating in the other forums outside of MM. If it is noticed that you only post in the MM then this may be raised with you. If you no longer participate in the wider community outside of MM then we reserve the right to remove your access."

People have lost access for this fairly recently. We do check.

 

[Feek]

i waited eagerly for 10 years for MM access as it took me that long to do 1000 posts. i thought it'd be full of bargains but it isn't really imo, things mostly sell for market value afaik.

You're not haggling properly.

 

[Feek]

^ yeh all said i'm glad i have access to it, also forgot there's no selling/buying fees either so +1 for that.

That's also a big plus. I've sold a few high value items on eBay recently that aren't suitable for MM and the final fee is an absolute joke.

 

[Feek]

i find the prices are a few quid less than other places... but for me the important thing is peace of mind......... people generally (well i know i do) cherish MM access as well as free ocuk P&P and dont want to sully their reputation or risk losing those things.... i think you are far less likely to get a dud item than from other forums, or from gumtree or ebay.

the post count and contributing member of the community makes MM a safer place, and whilst i sympathise with those struggling to get on it, for that reason i am glad it is there, otherwise you could have sock puppet accounts and chancers taking the mick.

I don't want everyone to think that MM is perfect. We do have the occasional deal go bad but on the whole, they're generally very good and I believe the access criteria do help. It takes a fair bit of commitment to get into the MM.

 

[Feek]

but have picked up some utterly great deals for my lower spec machines..........

I don't use MM much but the best deals I've got have come from when I've posted 'wanted' threads.

 

[Feek]

I know its a privilege not a right but I was wondering what has triggered this change now? Have you had an increase of problem deals from members with 'grandfathered' access?

It’s part of an ongoing process, for the last year or so, we’ve been gradually removing access from grandfathered in users who haven’t been active on the forum in a while and so this is just mopping up.

There are still quite a lot of people with fewer than 1000 posts who are very clearly only here for the MM. I spotted a grandfathered in member a couple of weeks ago who had made hundreds of posts in the last ten years but less than ten were outside the MM forums. Being blunt, they’re not members of the community, they don’t deserve access.

/edit - Sorry, I didn't specifically answer the second part of your question. There does seem to be a tendency for grandfathered in members to get more strikes and have more problem deals than other members. That doesn't mean that there's a lot of these generally but it's not uncommon to see a problem and realise it's with someone who was let in under the old system. By their very nature of non-involvement, it means they seem to care less for the community.

 

[Feek]

It seems a little bit crazy changing the requirements now.

The requirements changed in January 2012.

 

[Feek]

I think the post count was 100 when I got access if my aging mind remembers correctly.

It was 250 posts and a minimum of 90 days membership.

 

[Feek]

Oh wow. I've always maintained a quality > quantity stance. Gutted that I'm going to lose access to MM after all these years, but not willing to spam just to maintain it.

Bumping a one year old thread with an irrelevant single word answer isn't a good start btw.... Just sayin'

 

[Feek]

EDIT: do you mean when I replied "...extinguish" to the post about the SystemD guy moving to Microsoft? If so, I didn't even notice the age of that thread, and that comment is perfect in the form of a singular word. Don't start with me. I'm not the one.

It was a totally irrelevant response to a thread that was over a year old.

I'm not a hard man, but I'm not about to take disrespect quietly. Talking about resurrecting threads. I'm ready to start typing battle raps like it's 2008 in here.

You bumped a year old thread with a single word and I pointed that out.

If you want to talk about disrespect, let's look back at the first post in this thread which specifically mentions 'making meaningful posts'.

/edit - I noticed earlier that you've increased your contributions in the forums over the last couple of days and that's fantastic. That's exactly what we want. But irrelevant single word bumps to old threads simply don't come under meaningful posts which is why I pointed it out.

 

[Feek]

It might have been relevant a year ago when the thread was made.

 

[Feek]

Now that's actually a meaningful reply.

 

[Feek]

Indeed, I wonder if any metrics have been done to determine exactly how many people this will affect.

Yes of course, we know exactly how many members will be affected by this.

This is the seventh and final stage of a process we've been going through in the background for well over a year which has involved removing access from members who were grandfathered in but haven't been online for a certain period of time. It's not just something we've done on the spur of the moment to annoy people.

 

[Feek]

Did it used to be 500 posts, i always had that in mind and thought I finally made it

It' used to be 250 and was increased to 1000 in 2012.

 

[Feek]

It might even give some of us lurkers a bit of a kick to engage more...

That's what we're hoping.

 

[Feek]

Get spamming!

Do not do this! It will be noticed, that's what we have Underbosses for

 

[Feek]

Feek, you have 340k posts.

No, I have access to the admin panel and can set post counts manually. I've only ever made 34 meaningful posts since I joined