Not sure how this would play out in the real world, but perhaps something like a 50 post count before anyone can post in the Marketplace- Sell forum? I’ve been seeing some fishy posts from new users who have just registered to sell big ticket / unlikely items with nothing of a personal nature to the post and it makes my spidy senses start to tingle, but maybe not everyone has the same sense and I would hate to see any fellow Elektronauts get scammed.
A system like this would maybe slightly reduce the amount of items for sale but would help give the sense that the seller is a legit member of the community rather than a total shot in the dark.
Perhaps to level the playing field a bit for the less “inter-netty” types, someone with less than 50 posts could make an arrangement via communication with a mod to be granted an exception?
makes a lot of sense, even though it’s no guarantee, however, it’s easy enough to rack up a post count (i’ve heard of folk doing this for legitimate sales on muffs) but at least it’s a hindrance that may put off some - i too have seen dodgy looking sale posts … my OT seller had next to no prior posts, i did my research elsewhere, worked out well after a nervous wait
I also think this is a good idea. Gearslutz has a similar requirement for their classifieds (as I’m sure most of you know, since there is crossover between both forums), and while you can still privately buy and sell from GS without accessing the classifieds, it seems to cut down on the spammy, fake sales.
Another reason I like the post count idea is that I can get some insight into the character of the seller/buyer by reviewing their previous posts. Selling a Machinedrum but never posted in the Machinedrum forum? Hmmm…Dubious. Tends to have a lot to contribute? Bonus! Spilled beer on their A4 a month ago… Not good! Made a bunch of reduntant posts to get the post count up?..
etc.
About serial numbers, might be a chance for abuse posting serial numbers in public? Would hate to have someone report something I legitimately own as stolen from them or…? Just a thought.
That is why I suggested the option to contact a mod if you want to sell something but are not a frequent poster. I think that step would deter most scammers.
I can see the reasoning behind this, and I absolutely understand the need for it, but I’m not sure that post count is the best yardstick. It would allow for trolls and spammers and drama queens to post scam ads while preventing legitimate lurkers from posting about a sale.
I’m not sure I can suggest a better idea though, unless perhaps some kind of rating system could be introduced in the forum - a vote up / vote down on posts, maybe. This would doubtless be more work to implement though.
I think 50 posts is a bit high. I’ve been on here since day one and I’m only up to about 70 posts in all that time. Some genuine community members just aren’t that talkative!
I think 20 posts would be enough to gauge if someone is legitimate. You can always check their profile to see if they’re posting anything valid or just bumping their post count.
There’s an arcade video game forum that I’ve never managed to post a FS message on due to a similar restriction. Largely down to me having nothing to say to those guys!
it might be possible to have a tie-in with the official Elektron support forum, so if you’ve legitimately signed up for support and entered unique Serial nums etc, then you could tie your Elektronauts ID to that account and a badge appears in your 'nauts profile to say you’re on the system, again, no guarantees, just another layer to filter out some scamming
i don’t see it happening as there’d be a chance Elektron might get dragged in to provide addresses and what not, even if they weren’t allowed to, but perhaps it gives a degree of comfort to the buyer that the seller looks even more credible as there’s a more official verification. Perhaps the profile could reflect the instruments that are actively registered, maybe also allow the discrete owners to disable that being flagged up
as it stands i’d say that selling too soon after registering was more revealing than post count
Brilliant. I doubt we will see this, but it is a brilliant idea. The homesite accounts should absolutely be linked to forum accounts IF a user wants it to be. Thus showing registered units without much detail. It should be a choice, but at least if you see somebody selling a unit that they legitimately own, you are more likely to buy from a registered user than a person who opted out of sharing that information.
hmmm, luckily for me I’ve not fallen victim to a scam as of yet, which might have something to do with the kind of communication i try to establish with sellers/buyers.
I know there was a bit of a hassle in another thread where someone asked a seller „why do you sell your…?“ and it might not be the best way to ask this question in a thread that is open to everyone, but it’s one of the questions I surely ask in a PM or email, also to get a personal conversation about music and life going .
It might be a bit tedious for everyone involved and the trader can still lie me a river, but a private trade on a forum is not an online shop and you got to make sure somehow (or at least feel like doing so…) to not get scammed.
A tie-in with the elektron support would work with elektron machines only and would also connect some „real“ world ID with one’s forum ID (well, depending on the way of transparency used…) and i don’t think that the folks here would be into this when i remember the „real world name“ thread correctly.
But post count (and therefore…how to say this without sounding like a stalker…getting some “credebility clues“ ?) as well as the sellers feedback thread seem to me the way to go – when someone posts 50 kitchen redesign offers and tops that with a tempting offer of a mint TR-808 for 1500$…one must renounce The GAS!
hmmm, maybe I should have split this thoughts onto several posts to get my count up…
there’s a seller/now-buyer on here who is stretching the credibility veneer somewhat thin, he may well be legit and some folks may well have bagged a bargain, i have my hunches (although you never know), the total google history of this seller spans 1 week and it’s all sales, not prolific nor just audio, but all over europe, premium kit, some very cheap, blocked from selling on mutable for zero post count, it’s not implausible, it’s just the kind of risky thing (no digital footprint) i’d sidestep - some ‘too good to be true’ opportunities turn out to be true i’ve found to my cost
the guy i bought an OT from had a very unusual (almost swiss-cheese) backstory wrt the OT (and the sale mechanics and id verification) but the research i did, which took a while, paid off (it wasn’t a bargain mind you) ! the digital footprint was the clincher, nice enough guy, easy to say with hindsight, but i was bricking it 'til i saw the box
i suspect, despite any safeguards, that there’ll be scammers determined enough to exploit those afflicted with GAS, it alters your judgement
Also I like to see written exams on manual knowledge and a 100+ post count requirement for posting in anything but the general discussion. First we need get to know each other a little bit before we get down to business, right? Am I right?
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