IMPORTANT: Members Market access

[EH75]

I wonder if the forum useage overall has been dropping. I wouldn't be suprised if it has. Demographic is probably getting older too. So it may really be more about trying to keep the place buzzing than about the MM in particular. The MM is just good leverage.

Forums generally are dying. I have been on here for 20 odd years. I joined when I was a teenager building PCs, a hobby I have long since grown out of. I was a member on several forums back then. This is the only one which is still active. The rest are all pretty much dead. Everything seems to have moved over to Facebook groups, reddit and another more social media based platforms. I'm not a fan of these. Lack of anonymity, lack of moderation, structure seems to be less straightforward with algorithms controlling what you see etc.

 

[Baldrick1001]

Pretty sure the mods have confirmed it is busier than ever.

A great change to the MM rules in my eyes, over the years i've seen the other forums (especially GD) change into totally different places than what they were 10 years so, and with the MM being such a valuable benefit, it's nice to see that the mods want to reinforce the "security" of it by keeping spammy accounts/traders out of there

Three cheers for the mods!

You keep spammy accounts/traders out by focusing on spammy accounts/traders - the moderators could quite easily spot any suspect accounts without enforcing the more stringent criteria on all those who were provided grandfather rights…. If, however, they want to reward those that post any old nonense - then they have done the right thing…

 

[LuckyBenski]

You keep spammy accounts/traders out by focusing on spammy accounts/traders - the moderators could quite easily spot any suspect accounts without enforcing the more stringent criteria on all those who were provided grandfather rights…. If, however, they want to reward those that post any old nonense - then they have done the right thing…

Question then: is everyone with a post count over 5,000 posting nonsense? Even if they never use the MM?

 

[Tony Edwards]

Question then: is everyone with a post count over 5,000 posting nonsense? Even if they never use the MM?

I mean...

 

[kindai]

I wonder if the forum useage overall has been dropping. I wouldn't be suprised if it has. Demographic is probably getting older too. So it may really be more about trying to keep the place buzzing than about the MM in particular. The MM is just good leverage.

The forums activity is very stable and very active, and has been on a lovely gradual increase since the move to XenForo 2, so it seems for the most part the changes that have been bought in have been well received.

And a gradual increase on a forum of this size, with so many members and posts per day, is extremely counter trend to the forums market in general.

 

[InkZ]

Well this sucks

 

[SilverTongue]

You keep spammy accounts/traders out by focusing on spammy accounts/traders - the moderators could quite easily spot any suspect accounts without enforcing the more stringent criteria on all those who were provided grandfather rights…. If, however, they want to reward those that post any old nonense - then they have done the right thing…

The fact is that there has been issues with someone who was grandfathered in. They had been away from the forum for a number of years, came back purely to use the MM, and disappeared after taking the money and not sending items.

 

[Slam]

the requirement is still quite light, so long as they don't increase the amount/frequency of posts required then I think that its worth giving it a chance

 

[Craigius]

I can see why it’s has been done to be fair, I do get it it’s a shame in another sense as I have been in here a long time just haven’t got the post count, I assume that one the post count is reached that you are automatically allowed access then?

 

[Craigius]

The fact is that there has been issues with someone who was grandfathered in. They had been away from the forum for a number of years, came back purely to use the MM, and disappeared after taking the money and not sending items.

Oh so it’s been one bad apple then?

 

[[FnG]magnolia]

Question then: is everyone with a post count over 5,000 posting nonsense? Even if they never use the MM?

How dare you!

But also yes.

 

[LuckyBenski]

How dare you!

But also yes.

You're not allowed in because you're upside down

 

[TheSwede]

I can see why it’s has been done to be fair, I do get it it’s a shame in another sense as I have been in here a long time just haven’t got the post count, I assume that one the post count is reached that you are automatically allowed access then?

Once you reach 1,000 posts you have access to the MM yes, as long as you keep your 15 post per 90 days.

 

[SilverTongue]

Oh so it’s been one bad apple then?

that is the one that sticks out to me, potentially more, but 1 bad apple is 1 too many

 

[Feek]

Not sure how the general membership would know about bad deals and what we do to help resolve them unless they've been involved in them, it's all speculation on behalf of the members.

I will talk about one that went bad though. Some items with a considerable value of several hundred pounds were posted and never arrived. The seller claimed that he had the shipping receipts but they'd been 'washed by mistake' and were unreadable.

(we're dealing with another one at the moment where the postage receipt 'has been lost').

Nothing ever turned up, the buyer ended up taking the seller to small claims court and won.

At the same time, the seller had two or three other deals going through with various issues of something turning up broken. This was finally refunded. In a way, it was lucky that he had these deals going on because one of the buyers hadn't obtained all his details (name, address, phone number etc) before going ahead with the deal. This is quite stupid, anyone dealing with anyone in MM should always, always get full name, address and phone number(s) before sending any money. We specify this in the guidelines and there's a notice reminding people to do it but still some don't. But I'm digressing.

This was a member who joined at least fifteen years ago and had many thousands of posts but had barely posted outside of MM for about five years. This person clearly didn't care about the community at all as they seemed to have no qualms about ripping someone off for a decent amount of money.

Needless to say, they won't be back. Please don't speculate in here as to who it was.

 

[Baldrick1001]

that is the one that sticks out to me, potentially more, but 1 bad apple is 1 too many

Really!!! Revoke access for 100's of accounts, that originally met the criteria and were then given grandfather rights when the criteria changed, all for for "1 bad apple"..... If that was the reason - that would be some slap dash profiling.....Now, I don't think that was the reason - but I'm equally bemused by the explanation proffered by some of the mods...

 

[Feek]

Of course it’s not just on the behaviour of one person. As I’ve said already, this is the final stage of a process that’s been ongoing for a couple of years.

 

[Baldrick1001]

Not sure how the general membership would know about bad deals and what we do to help resolve them unless they've been involved in them, it's all speculation on behalf of the members.

I will talk about one that went bad though. Some items with a considerable value of several hundred pounds were posted and never arrived. The seller claimed that he had the shipping receipts but they'd been 'washed by mistake' and were unreadable.

(we're dealing with another one at the moment where the postage receipt 'has been lost').

Nothing ever turned up, the buyer ended up taking the seller to small claims court and won.

At the same time, the seller had two or three other deals going through with various issues of something turning up broken. This was finally refunded. In a way, it was lucky that he had these deals going on because one of the buyers hadn't obtained all his details (name, address, phone number etc) before going ahead with the deal. This is quite stupid, anyone dealing with anyone in MM should always, always get full name, address and phone number(s) before sending any money. We specify this in the guidelines and there's a notice reminding people to do it but still some don't. But I'm digressing.

This was a member who joined at least fifteen years ago and had many thousands of posts but had barely posted outside of MM for about five years. This person clearly didn't care about the community at all as they seemed to have no qualms about ripping someone off for a decent amount of money.

Needless to say, they won't be back. Please don't speculate in here as to who it was.

“This is quite stupid”….taken from an effective writing course or a fine example of how to win friends and influence people? As an aside - what qualification do you need to become a mod? I can do a cracking impersonation of Roy Kent if that is of any use?

 

[Feek]

“This is quite stupid”….taken from an effective writing course or a fine example of how to win friends and influence people?

There's a notice in MM which says this:

A reminder of the MM Guidelines​

Posting this to remind everyone of the MM Guidelines to ensure deals go as smoothly as possible.

We have had the Guidelines included in the rules for as long as I can remember and it appears that many people aren't following them, which is resulting in problematic deals and more and more threads appearing in the Disputes section.

Please, please, please, PLEASE(!!!) follow the Guidelines here -
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/members-market-rules-updated-30-11-21.18509464/

Most importantly, ensure that you obtain all contact details including phone numbers in case there's an issue.
We can only help so much, without following the Guidelines you're pretty much in the dark...

Then in the guidelines, it says this:

As soon as you initially strike a deal as either a buyer or seller, please make sure you obtain the following information.

• Full name.
• Full address, which includes the house name and/or number, city or town and the postcode. Refuse the addresses of relatives or places of work.
• A contact telephone number, ideally for the address which you have also obtained.

Not getting this information before sending any money is stupid. I'm not going to beat around the bush. It's stupid. If I'm giving someone money for something, I sure as hell want to know who they are and where they live. If I don't and that person does a runner, how can I contact them?

I can do a cracking impersonation of Roy Kent if that is of any use?

No you can't.

"He's here, he's there, he's every-*******-where".

Nearly 40% of your posts are within the MM. That's nothing like Roy Kent who is, as above, every-*******-where.

 

[Baldrick1001]

Nearly 40% = less than 40% - just like a ******* politician. Over 60% of my posts are in other forums - outside of MM… and I haven’t posted in the MM for quite a time (even before being excluded under the new rules) … but you spin it whichever way you wish….

Oh - and I wasn’t questioning the buying/selling guidelines - they are eminently sensible…. I just think using the word “stupid” is unnecessarily provocative (hopefully the forum member won’t see it) - and it doesn’t reflect particularly well on the forums…