66 replies to this topic

[Shifty]

Look, I don't what else I can say?

I think I've argued my point very well and I've also managed to do it in a normal font.

I'm not going to explain what steps we would take to protect our members as that would vary from case to case. Equally I'm not going to give case examples as they are private.

Should there be any members reading this that would like to state what steps have been taken to help them then please do.

.

[Scallywag630]

Theres only so much you can do before security gets out of hand, if you make it too difficult to place ads or severely limit the amount of people who can place an advert then it becomes a self defeating exercise.

Wow...you must beleive most of the people on here are stupid if you think that becoming a TMF+ member is too difficult for them to acheive.As far as "severely limit", are you planning on restricting TMF+ membership to a specific number?

I believe that the system we have at the moment is more than adequte and so far theres only been one member who wanted to make the classifieds TMF+ only, everyone else seems happy with the system we have.


Maybe I'm the only one you know of at present that is concerned with giving the members the highest level of security possible. In my book "adequte" is not the best that can be done for the members. Making bold statements like "everyone else" is rather silly just because you know that to be untrue. You said "everyone" was happy before and this was proved not to be the case as we now want a "non mini" section.

In reality theres only so much that we as a forum can do, its down to the individuals dealing with each other to take steps to protect themselves..


-Pay Via Pay-Pal, Don't gift the money, if necessary offer to split the fees with the vendor
-Send goods recorded delivery and keep the tracking number
-If you can collect the goods or meet at a show then even better.
-Be Suspicous, if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is.
-Have a look at the vendors posting history, that bargain engine they're selling may have a history with it, ie a topic names "Why does my engine smoke and
rattle?"
Or
"Whoops Smashed my car up, what can I do next"
-If you see anything suspicious report it and we'll take a look.

If you're selling, don't forget that you DON't have to sell the item to a noobie if you don't want to, do whatever makes you feel safe.

With the measures we have and if you follow the above then that should minimise the risk to all parties.

Would you explain what steps you might take to help a member scammed by a person with 150 posts?

Before personal belittling starts, I would point out that I only have the safety and best interest of the forum members in mind.

A plus member can still scam people, a user with 150 posts can still scam people, a user with 5 posts might be the greatest seller ever, having lots of post or being a plus member is just a way of showing your commitment, ie. you are unlikely to post 150 times just to scam people

What you say is very true. It's not a question of commitment it's a question of security. To become a + member means the forum has a note of your paypal details. That is a greater level of safety as, with that information, the member is far less likely to try and scam.

Fact is that you have to be more commited to post 150 times than to pay £5 to the forum for a yellow name.

What do you think of this alternative: Every member being required to give full name, address and landline phone number before posting an ad?

BUYER BEWARE simple as that, same goes for the sellers


You are starting arguements for arguements sake! The system works well, the mods and admin are looking at a non mini section, the only way for this to be practical is for the mods to take a far less involved stance with it. If you want to use it then thats the risk you take, i will use it, i don't scam people.

If this thread had not been started, there would be no non mini section!! Making the system safer means that the mods/admin will have less involvement. I'm not suggesting for one moment that you scam, but don't go to mods/admin if you get scammed....there will be little they can do.

OH and one more thing. I didn't scam anyone before i was a plus member either Leave the mods alone, they are doing their best

If no reasoned discussion is made then nothing improves. Mods/Admin try their best but seem reluctant to ask the members what they want. If they had, "the non mini" section would never have been deleted.

[Beej123]

The mods can't spend all day asking people what they want, the suggestion was made to have a non mini section and they are looking into it? I don't see how this isn't the best possible thing to do?

The forum could only ever do so much to help, the best way to increase security is follow simple steps as stated above to help avoid being scammed in the first place and if you do get scammed (after full investigation by yourself) name the person who scammed you to help the next person.


Maybe a worthwile thing to look into might be a feedback system similar to eBay? I'm not sure how this would work and it may be totally impractical but the best way to see if someone can be trusted is to see what kind of experience other people have had with them?


The general feedback on here is that minispares are great and very helpful and minisport are ropey and a risk, this is nothing to do with memberships or posts, its to do with feedback and advice from other members?

[Scallywag630]

The mods can't spend all day asking people what they want, the suggestion was made to have a non mini section and they are looking into it? I don't see how this isn't the best possible thing to do?

The forum could only ever do so much to help, the best way to increase security is follow simple steps as stated above to help avoid being scammed in the first place and if you do get scammed (after full investigation by yourself) name the person who scammed you to help the next person.


Maybe a worthwile thing to look into might be a feedback system similar to eBay? I'm not sure how this would work and it may be totally impractical but the best way to see if someone can be trusted is to see what kind of experience other people have had with them?


The general feedback on here is that minispares are great and very helpful and minisport are ropey and a risk, this is nothing to do with memberships or posts, its to do with feedback and advice from other members?

For major changes, running a poll for a few days would benefit both staff and members. The first reaction to the non mini section on this thread was that it had been decided against by the staff. With further discussion via the thread, it is now going to happen. Would you feel safer if the forum had the full details of the seller? As for naming a person as a scammer, the facts had better be cut and dried or all sorts of problems could arise.

I think a feedback system would be good, but don't know how difficult it would be to incorporate into the forum software. Maybe something simple like a feedback thread, searchable by member name. Just add the members name and a + or -. Do you think that would work?

[Shifty]

Am on hols at the mo so i'm doing this on my phone!!

We had several instances of fraud when sell ing non mini items, so the decision was taken to only allow mini stuff. Regarding current ads with non mini items, please remember that we don't read every advert placed. If you see an advert that doesn't comply, report it.

We have discussed an 'other automotive' section, this is still under consideration.

If you have an ad that you feel is mini related(ie show ticketd) and would like to adveritise it, drop me a pm and i'll make it happen.

Feedback from users about the new(old) sysytem is good and I am always happy to hear ways to improve it.

Back off hols now so will do a bit of a better reply..

The feedback I'm getting from both sellers and buyers is that the new system is working well indeed, theres lots of items for sale and all seem to be selling well indeed.

I'm gonna jinx it here, but we've had no reported problems since its introduction, we've caught 1 scammer before he had a chance and to the very best of my knowledge everyone who uses it is happy with it??(unless you tell me different?)

I've allowed ads that don't quite fit into the exact scheme of things when people have asked(depending on the item), I certainly wouldn't stop anyone selling tickets or the like, all they have to is ask.

What are people asking for here?

- To be able to sell everything on here?

- To be able to sell anything car related?

I'm not keen on the idea of "Everything goes" to be honest, we have discussed the "other auto motive" section before. To freshen up the debate I've started up a new thread in the staff room.

Any other thoughts and comments are welcome, if you want to PM then thats fine.

Show me the bit in my posts above where I said that there would be no non-mini style section?

[Scallywag630]

Not you Shifty...it was Bungle that said: "as this is a mini forum the staff members wanted to keep the classified section mini based"

As a feedback system, what about the comment section in the member's profile? Can the member delete comments there?

[Shifty]

Not you Shifty...it was Bungle that said: "as this is a mini forum the staff members wanted to keep the classified section mini based"

As a feedback system, what about the comment section in the member's profile? Can the member delete comments there?

Which is very true indeed.

I'm not keen at all on the idea of allowing non mini stuff and have said so both here and in the TMF staff room. Since its been asked for by our users we've agreed to make it happen.

[Bungle]

and that was the view of the staff members when the new for sale section was started

[Scallywag630]

Not you Shifty...it was Bungle that said: "as this is a mini forum the staff members wanted to keep the classified section mini based"

As a feedback system, what about the comment section in the member's profile? Can the member delete comments there?

Which is very true indeed.

I'm not keen at all on the idea of allowing non mini stuff and have said so both here and in the TMF staff room. Since its been asked for by our users we've agreed to make it happen.

I understand your position, which is why I suggested more stringent security measures. Could the comments section, in each member's profile, be used for feedback? It's of no use if a member can delete posts in this section.

and that was the view of the staff members when the new for sale section was started

As a section was being deleted, that was the time the members should have been asked.

[Bungle]

i think at the time they were that's why we went back to the old system and kept to mini and mini related bits to start things simple

[1995 MK2 IOM]

FOA of Bungle and Shifty. (and all the other members of adim.)

Thanks for all your work in keeping the forum running as well as it does!

I know there will be a lot of people reading this topic without commenting, and I can assure you that you're work is appreciated greatly!

Cheers

Jason

[Scallywag630]

FOA of Bungle and Shifty. (and all the other members of adim.)

Thanks for all your work in keeping the forum running as well as it does!

I know there will be a lot of people reading this topic without commenting, and I can assure you that you're work is appreciated greatly!

Cheers

Jason

You may be surprised but +1....I appreciate their work as well. Beleive it or not, everything I have suggested would make life easier for them.

[Bungle]

(i don't do much) Shifty has put most of the hard work into this section with the help of the computer geek deathrow

[Shifty]

Not you Shifty...it was Bungle that said: "as this is a mini forum the staff members wanted to keep the classified section mini based"

As a feedback system, what about the comment section in the member's profile? Can the member delete comments there?

Which is very true indeed.

I'm not keen at all on the idea of allowing non mini stuff and have said so both here and in the TMF staff room. Since its been asked for by our users we've agreed to make it happen.

I understand your position, which is why I suggested more stringent security measures. Could the comments section, in each member's profile, be used for feedback? It's of no use if a member can delete posts in this section.

and that was the view of the staff members when the new for sale section was started

As a section was being deleted, that was the time the members should have been asked.

I've just read though this topic..

http://www.theminifo...x...75605&st=90

There were no comments that the non-mini section would be missed, I actually highlighted the fact that it was being deleted and gave the reasons for this.

Bear in mind that this was before the new section was introduced so this thread would have been an ideal chance to ask for it to not be removed.

[Scallywag630]

Not you Shifty...it was Bungle that said: "as this is a mini forum the staff members wanted to keep the classified section mini based"

As a feedback system, what about the comment section in the member's profile? Can the member delete comments there?

Which is very true indeed.

I'm not keen at all on the idea of allowing non mini stuff and have said so both here and in the TMF staff room. Since its been asked for by our users we've agreed to make it happen.

I understand your position, which is why I suggested more stringent security measures. Could the comments section, in each member's profile, be used for feedback? It's of no use if a member can delete posts in this section.

and that was the view of the staff members when the new for sale section was started

As a section was being deleted, that was the time the members should have been asked.

I've just read though this topic..

http://www.theminifo...x...75605&st=90

There were no comments that the non-mini section would be missed, I actually highlighted the fact that it was being deleted and gave the reasons for this.

Bear in mind that this was before the new section was introduced so this thread would have been an ideal chance to ask for it to not be removed.

One half of a line after mentioning the required post count which is what most people picked up on. This whole thread would not exist if you had said "WE ARE DELETING THE NON MINI SECTION"

We can't change the past and I'm really glad that, you for one, have been asking the members what they want and implementing it even when you disagree.

You still have not answered my question about using the comments sections for feedback. Is this feasable?