talkmagic.co.uk

I can not seem to be able to find a rational reason why a new member cannot post in the approved magic wanted section. i dont understand why there should or would be restrictions on asking "hey im looking for a used ______
anyone have one their willing to sell?" why would someone need some sort of prolonged membership status just to ask to buy somethin. I mean if the person wasn't serious about their interest no paypal would be used and no deal made but whats the harm in askin?and if someone was misusing the priveledge and over posting requests or not keeping up with responding to replies tp their requests then delete or block the offending person but why restrict someone before they done anything wrong just on the reason that they are new? I feel like if you registered to the site as a member and you introduce yourself in the introduction forum then that should be eneough to have acess to post in the approved magic wanted section. just my opinion but can any moderator or senior member be so kind as to reply
perhaps there is reason that I have not thought of? Am I correct in thinking that after 50 posts then one can post in that forum? and if it is indeed having something to do with having posted a certain number of times first before gaining that priveledge then wouldn;t that encourage meaningless posts? isnt the idea quality not quantity? hope to hear some others views on this matter.

The reasons are good but it will take some mod who is more eloquent than I to explain.

Fair point! Wouldn't mind knowing out of curiosity myself....not that it effects me at all.

this isn't a 50 post rule. I can't ask for effects either. I imagine that people in the Restricted Section get to, but they just didn't want it to be only available to people in the restricted section.

At least thats what I think

I'm pretty sure it's a measure taken to prevent spammers from advertising in that section. I wouldn't take it personally, all of the members have to go through it, just wait it out.

With a bit of Searching, you'll probably see that all these questions have been asked and answered many, many times before. However, as it's been a while, here are some of the basic reasons:

Over the past 4 years we have been spammed, abused and generally taken for granted by a minority of 'members' and some who register only to trade and not to contribute or discuss magic which is the prime function of TM. At one time it wasn't necessary to register before posting and some of you may remember the day TM closed down due to advertisements in connection with on-line Poker sites arriving at the rate of 3 or 4 a minute which meant we were unable to work fast enough to stop them without closing down for a few hours. We also found that many offers of DVDs were for illegal copies, many of the 'books and pamphlets' were photocopies or scanned copies and that's why we don't permit trade of instruction only items. In recent months you'll probably remember many posts advertising trainers, mobile phones and lots of other annoying stuff - check The SinBin for some of them. Also bear in mind that many other discussion boards simply withdrew their Trading Areas for the same reasons - we decided to keep it going as long as possible but under control.

The end result was that all the spam etc was taking up far too much Moderator time to deal with - bear in mind the Mods are unpaid volunteers with jobs, families and a non-magic life to enjoy as well as being on duty here. In conjunction with the Forum Owner, we changed the situation so that everyone had to go through registration and agree to the forum rules and regs before getting the activation code. Even then, many of the posts for sale and wanted were inappropriate so last year we changed things so that only those members who showed enough respect for TM by being here and making quality posts, at least 50 of them, and having their first advert checked over beforehand, were allowed to post. It's a privilege, not a right. The figure of 50 is a guide only so if someone runs up 50 one liners they simply won't be granted access - we're not that daft. The 'Wanted' section might not necessarily need the same control as the 'For Sale' section but as Moderator time is involved for both, they get treated equally.

To be fair, the problems we encountered were extreme and from only a relative few members so it's a case of the selfish and ignorant few spoiling it for the majority. Having said all that, as mentioned above, TM is here to discuss magic and the Trading Area is just an add-on for the regulars to try to pass on their surplus items, it's not the main reason for the Forum.

Mandrake wrote:It's a privilege, not a right.

I think that it can all be summed up, just in that one sentence.

It is a privelege. Not a right.

Mike.

Well I now realize that I have made a mistake not for asking my question but for the way that I asked it and for that I am truly sorry. I was being judgmental in saying the rules were unfair without having done the proper research on the matter. Thank you for your answer and I completely understand now why it must be
done this way. I did sorta give myself an "out" if you will, by having said "there may be reasons I haven't thought of" and asked if someone could explain, never the less I
Could have researched myself first and I regret coming across as lazy, presumptuous, judgmental and ignorant all of that I was. Again I give my sincere apology.
Thank You to all the Mods. for all you do for TM... now I'm sucking up he he ..Seriously though I have a lot of respect for Mandrake I think he's extremely intelligent
and I admire him ..not in a gay way so are we cool now am I forgiven? Please Please pretty please with sugar on top come on be a pal give me a break I'm only human. I'm getting a sense about me that this will be forgiven hope I’m right hmmm if I am right maybe I should consider branching off into becoming a mentalist ok I’m off to read the forums I'm still new and there’s a lot to read, see ya around.

Michael Jay wrote:

Mandrake wrote:It's a privilege, not a right.

I think that it can all be summed up, just in that one sentence.

It is a privelege. Not a right.

Mike.

That's what my wife says

No worries, glad we could help explain things !

I've been running my own forum (for skaters) for several years now. We had a similar problem with spammers in the beginning but with a fairly simple modification to the login process spam was almost totally removed. Certainly no automated spam bots have been able to register and the odd one or two people who take the trouble to sign up manually and post junk are easily dealt with. If the admin on this site would like some help with this then let me know. My forum also has a 'commercial' section and anyone is permitted to post their adverts there. We've never had a problem with members abusing that section. Oh and it's not a quiet forum. Membership is currently at over 2,000 with well over 300,000 posts.

Thanks for that offer, as a result of the problems we encountered, we're older and wiser these days and also use the feature whereby potential members have to manually enter the jumbled characters which stops the 'bots. In recent times, the number of human eejits posting adverts etc has been very up and down, we seem to get bursts of about 8 or so at a time then it all goes quiet for a while. The last rash were all from China so I guess that reflects some desperation to advertise and sell products wherever they can, regardless of how they do it. It's the electronic equivalent of some oik sneakily scrawling graffiti on your lounge wall at home while you're doing something else and is bl**dy annoying !