Old Rules topic - use the new one instead

[Angel_magic]

New rule:

No one may post in the STISO unless they have at least 25 posts in the other forum topics, not including the Lol-A-Query-Um and Feedback/Support.  The only exception is if they're selling on eBay and wish to post their sale, but that doesn't count toward the 100 posts.

This rule is in place to reduce possible fraudulent trades.  We have the most trouble with traders that have few if any posts.  They swoop in, make offers too good to be true, and they usually are.  By doing this, I'm making people who want to sell here become part of the community first, so we know who they are to some extent before getting involved with a trade with them.  100 posts isn't a very high barrier, but it's high enough that a scammer wouldn't be interested in bothering to try ripping people off here and would move on to somewhere else.

Wait, 100 or 25 posts? I dont have 100 yet :/

[sr15]

dammit Angel, I demand a refund!

[Don Boyer]

Wait, 100 or 25 posts? I dont have 100 yet :/

I originally set the limit to 100, but Alex was probably taking good traders like you into account when he lowered the requirement to only 25 - he had edited the post but missed replacing some of the "100"s with "25"s.  I've since corrected that; the requirement is 25 posts in other relevant boards.

[Angel_magic]

dammit Angel, I demand a refund!

Har har har

Alex was probably taking good traders like you into account when he lowered the requirement to only 25 - he had edited the post but missed replacing some of the "100"s with "25"s.  I've since corrected that; the requirement is 25 posts in other relevant boards.

Ahh alright, that's good to know. Thanks for the clarification.

[Edward]

Yea I read the rules,, Still not sure what I want to do ,, I have 300 decks , In my eyes,, need to sell some,, ,, Yes I have the good ones,, Base price on confirmed selling on Ebay,, I will not cheat, Market price,, To busy to make a list and to busy to do it ,, What are you looking for and we will see ,, A to Z  sorry only modern decks,,   What is with the smilly face with the carrot .

[Don Boyer]

Yea I read the rules,, Still not sure what I want to do ,, I have 300 decks , In my eyes,, need to sell some,, ,, Yes I have the good ones,, Base price on confirmed selling on Ebay,, I will not cheat, Market price,, To busy to make a list and to busy to do it ,, What are you looking for and we will see ,, A to Z  sorry only modern decks,,   What is with the smilly face with the carrot .

Ed, you're drifting way off-topic here, and not for the first time.  Unless you have a question about the actual rules of this board, take it to either Talk Park or the Lol-A-Query-Um.

[Preformer19]

If I have less than 25 posts, can I still make a thread redirecting the members to an eBay auction of mine?  Or do I still need 25 posts before making a thread about an auction?

I only ask this, because the way the rules are written, it sounds like the rules apply only to auctions being held by members on this site, strictly for this site, and not for auctions outside of the site.

-Pre

[Don Boyer]

If I have less than 25 posts, can I still make a thread redirecting the members to an eBay auction of mine?  Or do I still need 25 posts before making a thread about an auction?

I only ask this, because the way the rules are written, it sounds like the rules apply only to auctions being held by members on this site, strictly for this site, and not for auctions outside of the site.

-Pre

Actually, Pre, it applies there as well.  Each post made in the STISO counts as a post.  If someone posted thirty eBay auctions all at once, they'd have thirty posts, allowing them to post sales topics without ever having any real interaction with the board members.  Sorry about that - but hey, thirty posts doesn't take that long.  (Just remember, no spam posts - they'll end up deleted.)  Join a few conversations, make an "Introduce Yourself" topic...  The idea is for people to know who you are a little before entering into a deal with you, and for you to know them.  You only have twenty more posts to go and there's no shortage of active threads to participate in, plus you might find some gem in an older topic you'd like to revive - reviving old topics is welcome as long as you have something worthwhile to contribute to them.

[Preformer19]

Actually, Pre, it applies there as well.  Each post made in the STISO counts as a post.  If someone posted thirty eBay auctions all at once, they'd have thirty posts, allowing them to post sales topics without ever having any real interaction with the board members.  Sorry about that - but hey, thirty posts doesn't take that long.  (Just remember, no spam posts - they'll end up deleted.)  Join a few conversations, make an "Introduce Yourself" topic...  The idea is for people to know who you are a little before entering into a deal with you, and for you to know them.  You only have twenty more posts to go and there's no shortage of active threads to participate in, plus you might find some gem in an older topic you'd like to revive - reviving old topics is welcome as long as you have something worthwhile to contribute to them.

Thank you for the clarification. 

It does make sense having the minimum imposed so that people can get to know you.

-Pre

[Rob Wright]

This should have a 100 post min first!

25 nonsense post in first 15hrs, 26Th sell'n bricks, 35hrs later still at 26

Just say'n.

[Don Boyer]

This should have a 100 post min first!

25 nonsense post in first 15hrs, 26Th sell'n bricks, 35hrs later still at 26

Just say'n.

Alex preferred 25 posts, thinking that 100 would discourage people from selling here.  An ordinary poster would take a while to get up to 100 posts.

When I do spot people abusing the system, I do one of two things - either extend their first-topic limit to 100 posts or remove spammy posts and drop them in the LOLAQ or somewhere.  LOLAQ posts aren't counted toward your total.  Post there all you want, it won't raise your post count.  There is a separate counter for such posts, but in this version of the board it's kept hidden - though we still have a badge for making 500 LOLAQ posts.  I was the first to earn it!

Any time you feel a seller may be fishy but you want to make the purchase, tell them to do it through eBay.  They post, you immediately buy, and it's done - then you have their Buyer Protection working for you.

(And if it's CrankUP you're referring to, he's really got 33 posts, if you count his LOLAQ posts, which we don't.)

One final note on this - this being a caveat emptor marketplace, it behooves the buyer to do the research.  This kid has no testimonials backing him up and posted all his posts within about a single day.  That right there should set off red flags to any buyer.

I really have to get around to updating the first post of this topic, to make the rules simpler and concise.

[Don Boyer]

I made some changes to the first post, with all the rules in it.  That post SUPERSEDES anything else posted up to this point.  The only noteworthy changes are these:

* The minimum requirement to POST (not just create a new topic) is 25 posts elsewhere and 7 days as a member.  I changed it to include any posting because those posts count towards the 25-post minimum.  A kid could show up, post inquiries to 25 different STISO topics asking about products, then start posting their own sales.  I also added a time minimum due to a recent poster having blazed through 25+ posts on other topics in a single day, posting a sale topic, then posting pretty much nothing else anywhere except his sale topic.  Somehow, that doesn't seem to be in the nature of what we want here by way of trading partners - or board members.

* Auction sales are officially suspended.  They were never really popular in the first place.

[Don Boyer]

New addition to the rules.

I've been noticing many attempts to spam through the minimum requirements.  So I've added a new one that can't be spammed through.

In order to post here, you must have:
1) 25 posts in other topics besides Support and LOLAQ,
2) 7 days as a member, and
3) a reputation rating of at least 1.

This means that if you see spam and rate the poster as a "bad poster", their reputation will drop and they will be ineligible to post in the STISO.  DO NOT ABUSE THIS by slamming someone you don't like.  Do use it, however, when you see a spam hound dropping steaming posts like a dog with the runs.

EDIT: I boosted dtsang's minimum to 100 for spamming.
NEW EDIT: In light of how I deleted some of his spam posts, I've decided to go easy on him and bring his new post minimum down to 50.

[xela]

By the way, when you sign up here, you automatically get reputation upon making your first post. So the only way you could possibly not meet the reputation requirement is if people hate your guts.

If you do feel that people are abusing you via the rep system, PM me and if it's true that you're being targeted, I will reset your rep to +1.

[Don Boyer]

By the way, when you sign up here, you automatically get reputation upon making your first post. So the only way you could possibly not meet the reputation requirement is if people hate your guts.

If you do feel that people are abusing you via the rep system, PM me and if it's true that you're being targeted, I will reset your rep to +1.

...and these are precisely the reasons I chose this rule.  If you see a n00b making genuine-article spam posts, please feel free to rank him or her as a bad poster (in fact, I encourage it), but if you just don't agree with the person or think they smell strange or look funny, let it be.  We're all sharing the same playground, right?    It's very easy to identify one's posts as spam or at least suspect when they make 25 posts in a single day, all of them pretty empty and vacuous, then post #26 of the day is a new sale topic in the STISO...

[Don Boyer]

It's been brought to my attention that the STISO rules were a little invasive as regards privacy.  I'm listening to the membership and have made the following changes.

You are no longer required to post your email address or full name on an STISO topic.
You are no longer required to post transactions in an STISO topic.
You ARE required to conduct your business via PM and give your seller/buyer/trader your full name, mailing address, email address and an explanation of the terms of the deal.
You ARE required to retain your PMs both sent and received in regard to your transaction; in the event of a dispute, they will be reviewed by forum staff to determine if there's a problem and what will be done as either a resolution or a punishment, if applicable.

Transactions taking place on eBay are exempt.
EBay transactions that turn into private arrangements outside of eBay are NOT exempt.

[Don Boyer]

Rule tweak: as the LOLAQ no longer exists, spam posts made to reach mandatory minimums get removed at management's discretion, not sent to the LOLAQ.

[Don Boyer]

I've eased up the rules slightly on posts made to this board.  The minimum requirement now apply to creating topics only.

All posts made to this board do not apply to your post total any longer.

[Don Boyer]

New rule added - created a new tag for informing everyone about eBay sales being held by a third party, not yourself: [FOUND ON EBAY].  Read the rules applying to this tag, please.

[John B.]

So I have a question, say there is a new member, and he is friends (in the real world, not just over the internet) with a member of the forum, who has been here a while. Would they still have to wait a week, and make 25 post? Just wondering because I friend of mine might be swinging by with some magic stuff he will be selling.

[Don Boyer]

So I have a question, say there is a new member, and he is friends (in the real world, not just over the internet) with a member of the forum, who has been here a while. Would they still have to wait a week, and make 25 post? Just wondering because I friend of mine might be swinging by with some magic stuff he will be selling.

The only way to short-cut the minimum requirements in an acceptable fashion would be to post his items for sale as if they were your own.  You would be responsible for any negative end results that may occur, if any.  Basically, you'd have to be willing to vouch for him in a way that can impact future testimonials made about you, whether they're positive or negative.  You friend wouldn't be "getting the credit" for good sales, and wouldn't be the accountable party if things went sideways and pear-shaped.

Alternately, he's welcome to post in eBay, where sales are pretty much guaranteed for the buyer, and you could post a [FOUND ON EBAY] topic here for him.  That way the responsibility doesn't land on you.

Finally, he could simply create an account here, become a member of the community by posting 25 or more legit, non-spam posts over a week or more and then offer his wares for sale - and you could even promote it by saying what a great person/seller/magician/etc. he is.  If he does nothing to be rated either a good or a bad poster, his rep, by dint of the number of posts made, will automatically rise to 1.

That's important, that last one - it's the main reason why such minimums were put into place.  When dealing with strangers in a forum where people only know you from the words you post, it's important for people to want to understand you more and know more about you before entering into a deal where valuables cross paths in the mail (or in the negative cases, don't cross paths at all).  It's all part of building a reputation (and I'm not talking about the rep number score, but real reputation) and letting people know you're a decent guy and less likely to defraud them.

[John B.]

yea I was thinking those same things but I figured I would just ask.

[Don Boyer]

Guys and girls, there's a rule in the first post regarding eBay sales/auctions about giving a brief description of what's up for bid/for sale.  Dropping a link and a few nice words isn't really enough - it tells no one anything about what's being offered and that can hurt your chances of getting the best possible price.  Some people won't bother to click through the link unless they know there's something of interest on the other side.  It's not just a rule, it's a good sales tactic - please add descriptions!

The link below goes to a topic that is an example of what I'm talking about - the first post said absolutely nothing about what's being sold other than the title (semi-rare decks) and a generic description (they "might interest some of you.").  This could describe hundreds of different decks, perhaps even thousands!  In the second post, I threw in all the missing details that would tell anyone reading about it here about whether or not it's worth clicking through to eBay - names of decks, opening or current bid and the approximate closing time of the auctions.

http://www.playingcardforum.com/sales-trades-isos/(ebay)-some-semi-rare-decks-in-auction/

Try to imagine how much interest you would have based on the first post alone, then imagine how much more interest you might have if all the information in those two posts came in the first post (assuming of course that these are desirable decks to you).  I think you'll find the extra info provides extra incentive to push that mouse and click that link.  The more people that take a look, the more likely you'll find buyers/bidders - and for auctions, that also means a higher price!

Rui, please don't take this negatively.  Your topic happened to be the most recent good example I found, and I'm certain I could have found more from others - but hey, it's also free publicity!

Some rules are annoying - this rule will actually HELP YOU SELL YOUR STUFF!

[Don Boyer]

New rules added:

* Never post in someone else's ISO topic that you're seeking the same item.  It's rude.
* Unless the poster specifically states otherwise, the default currency here is the US dollar and the default payment method is PayPal (or cash, in cases where the exchange is performed in person).

[Don Boyer]

Rule edit - when posting eBay sales other than your own, use the "Great Deals on the Web and Retail" sticky topic.