Rules for classifieds

@adenough I'm not a mod I just dislike cross posters and people who are only here to use the classifieds.

About what I said, if you picked (a) other buyers on here, instead of (b) shitty cross posting, then nothing bad about picking a. If you picked (a) members who are here for the forums, and not (b) just the classifieds to make a quick buck and dodge ebay/paypal fees, again nothing bad about picking a. You picked what you felt applied to you.

@Velocio as well as cross posting there is a lot of free bumping going on, have you relaxed your view on this?

I see a lot of stuff being re-listed at the same price in new threads by |T|.
Preetty annoying.

He does sometimes put them in the two for sale threads but most of the time its just him putting it into a new thread and reducing the last one to full stops.

Yeah I know.. its a bit odd.
..why not reduce price and bump?

I suppose he just wants to only have one thread. Easier to handle possibly.

It is anyoing when you don't realise he's edited it and then Have to search for the new thread. It would be good if it told you the thread had been closed.

Its that ugly jacket.. I ignore it but it keeps popping up. Charity shop ffs.

All the prices in the latest thread have been reduced.

I don't bump threads against the rules. I only trade exclusively on LFGSS.

I have donated consistently since 2007.

@andrevporn - taste is subjective, hey we all like different things.

Regards

Great, that's good to know.. keep up the good work!

Sorry I didn't see your response since I didn't get @'d.

Is cross posting allowed now? It's getting so common people are now just linking to gumtree ads when they post...

http://www.lfgss.com/conversations/272296/#comment12435709

Since the report button disappeared moving onto microcosm and the boss had to get a new job thus not being on here day and night, cross posting, free bumping and general abuse of classifieds has been rampant. Could @Velocio give someone responsible the power to nuke threads in classifieds?

So many wanted adds in the for sale section....

@Velocio - Can we introduce a minimum post count for new Classified threads or other measure to deter all the new @userxxxxx that post a bike for sale with no price / on ebay / rediculous prices / contact me at this email address / non forumers. Lately there is so much being posted that should stay on Gumtree.

A strong reminder, no transactions should be done using PayPal "gift".

To gift money using PayPal means:

• The seller doesn't pay 20p + 2% as a fee
  
• You lose any rights to a refund
  
• You lose any rights to fraud protection
  
• You lose any rights to a charge back (if you've been smart enough to use a credit card as the payment source on PayPal)
  
• You lose any rights to a verified business transaction
  
  

Basically... if you PayPal "gift" some money... the seller doesn't even have to sell you the item. They'd be within their rights to simply walk away without shipping you anything. You haven't paid for anything... you just "gifted" some money to someone.

Unless you're actually intending to gift money, using PayPal "gift" makes you a fool.

Anyone found demanding payment this way will be banned, and if any seller does do this and I am notified (i.e. a PM is shared with me) I will ban them.

Nearly all of the fraud that is attempted on this site is recognisable by the simple fact that they demand PayPal "gift".

Just say no... and point them to this post.

Sorry sellers, but you're going to have to pay the 20p + 2%, this is just the cost of doing business and have someone else be your payments processor.

For the first time in about 6 years I've updated the rules to explicitly cover two things that were already being enforced.

#1 You really can't use non-standard formatting in your advert title.

Which means no:

• SHOUTING
  
• Strange Use Of Caps To Give More Importance (if it's not a name or the first letter of the title, don't capitalise)
  
• Strange use of special characters to create weird symbols to draw more attention to your advert (like it's 1999 usenet all over again)
  
  

Why? To keep the forum readable, and to not make the classifieds a race to who can use loudest titles out there.

#2 No destroying the historical record

Which means no:

• Editing out adverts
  
• Removing information about items
  
• Deleting threads
  
• Locking threads and preventing buyers leaving follow-up information if necessary
  
  

Why? Aside from the more useful thing about provenance of items and establishing fair prices, LFGSS helps the police a fair bit with stolen goods. We're really good at getting items back to original owners as well as giving statements to police, providing evidence based on our logs, etc. It's a general pattern in those cases that people are either idiots, or they try and cover their tracks. So this rules is really dealing with that.

It's worth pointing out, nothing is ever deleted. Nothing at all. All revisions of all comments as well as the IP addresses are always stored. The rule is about making it harder for anyone touching stolen goods to hide, and to make it all more transparent and just a hostile environment for those selling items of dubious origin.

#2 No destroying the historical record

I've got into the habit of editing the title to "." to stop sold/withdrawn items appearing in searches and make it clear from the summary pages, which threads aren't worth viewing. I close threads to stop them getting dredged three years down the line, which has been the recommended practice.

If...

nothing is ever deleted.

... and we have the good & bad traders threads for feedback then I don't think these revisions add anything and seem contrary to your usual "light touch" approach.

The value (no pun intended) of past adverts in determining current prices is questionable (did it sell at the advertised price; how skint was the seller; how desperate was the buyer) and most trades don't involve uniquely identifiable items and/or publicly disclose uniquely identifiable information (ie serial numbers), so the forum doesn't generally provide much in the way of (public) provenance.

However the forum could provide more in the way of user provenance, by requiring the creation of a unique user name before a (classified) thread is created: it's much easier for "User xxxx" to behave poorly and not be recognised the next time around, than it is for "Scilly.Suffolk".

The reintroduction of the nursery would provide some user provenance too.

Whatever the rules are, it is apparent that many advertisers simply don't read them: have you considered having them appear when an ad is created, with a "read & understood" tick-box?

I don't understand why there isn't a policy like on weight weenies where you have to contribute before you can sell.

The argument that it would create a lot of spam posts, well if someone wants to make 100 spam posts over a minimum of 30 days to get to sell here, they've either got way too much time on their hands or they would be easily identified and moderated...

Also, @Velocio please could you build in a report feature, so many people bending/breaking classifieds rules these days bumping, cross posting etc... Could really do with a report button.

Selling Specialized Crux - Shimano 105 full groupset - Cross/Road Bike
https://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/specialized-crux-shimano-105-full-groupset-crossroad-bike-must-sell/1148852264

Actual lol.

No destroying the historical record

Guilty.
I was having a tidying up binge, and it was mostly for some 'one-weekend only' sales to coincide with trips to London, so threads were deleted and locked to stop questions after the trips. Plus, like a hormonal lemming, I saw it done elsewhere and thought that's what the cool kids did.
Agree that it can be useful to see stuff sold previously, not just for prices but also for 'real life' pictures and opinions of bikes and parts (as compared to retailer's photoshopped images and bikeradar's 'never knowingly under 4 stars' reviews).
I think it can be used appropriately for tidying up and merging sales threads sometimes, but it can also be easily abused and is starting to get more and more common, so I'm good with stopping it.

I do agree with @Scilly.Suffolk about locking threads to stop dredging though, but agree that time should be allowed for buyers leaving follow-up information if necessary. I leave a month or two at least.

Would it be possible to auto lock classifieds threads over 1yr old of no activity to avoid dredging old threads?

Doh, just read above^

:-)

Idiot

Or maybe genius if intentional

Probs idiot.