Inactive Members/Using Forum for Selling Gear

[beefchowmein]

I'm on the camp of leaving it open. At the same time, putting in the restriction of 1 month joining is a good idea.

I found this site after I bought my ML looking for more information. so I would say I'm 80% lurker and 20% poster. At the same time, it was because of this site that I went on a shopping spree to buy and try different types of equipment. Both purchasing them from fellow ML owners and gon. On the same token, after getting close to achieving the sound I was looking for, I end up with surplus of equipment that I contemplate selling. I'm pretty sure there are probably more like me. When selling equipment it's always easier with the target audience, not to mention there is a unspoken trust amongst fellow enthusiast.

I like Tom's idea of purging based on logging in rather than activity since like myself, I'm still on a steep learning curve. A lot of members here have great amount of knowledge that I can learn from (thus lurking instead of posting). I'm sure I can help pick up some of the slacks eventually on answering some easy questions as I stay on this board longer. Until then, I'll probably still be more of a lurker than a poster.

 

[zaphod]

i guess what i keep coming back to is "what is the problem we are trying to solve."

i see two - Rich's issue of fly-by-nights using us as YAMB (yet another message board) on which to hawk their gear. for that concern, either a time threshold (you must have been a member for X days/months/whatever to post a for sale) or a post threshold address the concern. how well they address it seems to vary across opinions

But removing old/inactive users doesn't address that problem. i doubt that there are members who have been inactive for years, but joined up for a quick place to sell. although i so have to admire that kind of planning ahead. "i'll have gear to sell in 2 years, let's register now on all sorts of places, not to participate, but to establish long term memberships for credibility"

hmmm.

i'm wondering what kind of grief old, inactivite memberships cause. i'm not being sarcastic here - i really am curious. seriously.

i can see that old posts cause increased storage requirements, but some of those old posts are pretty valuable - hence the "do a search on old topics" recommendations we make to new members with old questions. however, posts do get deleted from time to time. again, this is a serious question, what determines if a post gets nuked or kept?

old posts steal disk space that costs money - some of my forums have an optional members fee through paypal. and you then get access to no advertising and access to some forum areas that you otherwise cannot see. it's an interesting idea, and the $10 a year for the CRT forum doesn't hurt me.

Tom - how much of an impact on the site running costs do contributions make?

but inactive memberships cost what - untidiness? limit boundaries in the software?


ps - i'll be computerless for the next week - ya'll don't go deleting me now..

 

[timm]

I really think this is an admin issue. If Tom has to do extra work etc... because of the additional users that never show up - then nuke them... But, the thing I like most about the forum is the openness of it. Lets not become the AudioAsylum....where all you have is flame wars left and right... As far as classifieds - whose to say that if somebody that doesn't post that often - or not at all - has to unload something. Why not have someone in this forum get the benefit of that? Like everything - it is buyer beware - but I have rarely found anyone that is into this hobby that abuses their stuff....Lets try to keep this forum as open as possible... That is my vote.

 

[TomDac]

I really think this is an admin issue. If Tom has to do extra work etc... because of the additional users that never show up - then nuke them... But, the thing I like most about the forum is the openness of it. Lets not become the AudioAsylum....where all you have is flame wars left and right... As far as classifieds - whose to say that if somebody that doesn't post that often - or not at all - has to unload something. Why not have someone in this forum get the benefit of that? Like everything - it is buyer beware - but I have rarely found anyone that is into this hobby that abuses their stuff....Lets try to keep this forum as open as possible... That is my vote.

my thoughts exactly.

 

[Joey_V]

people who have less than 1 post and haven't signed on in 10 days get deleted.

I just went and nuked all user IDs who haven't logged on in 365 days... their posts remain on the site, so no worries there.


Tom.

Goodness... I'm glad I log on regularly. What happens if I get so busy that I don't log on for 365+ days? I come back and my username has been nuked...

Must make this forum a regular cycle....

On a more serious note, I have mixed feelings about the Classified Section. I think that on one hand, it's good to have a minor limit on posts before allowing an ad for an audio gear vs only having trusted members post on the classifieds. Doing the former affords us more gear to peruse and perhaps purchase. On the other, I can see the benefit of only allowing trustworthy members to be the sole posters on the classifieds.

I think that as long as it doesn't bother Tom, I think it's up to the buyer to choose whether or not he/she should deal with a non-invested member's ad.

Buyer beware....

 

[Adamo]

I agree with Joey's thoughts on this. It's really just buyer beware just as it is with most any classified section - even on Agon. Of course we'll all be more likely to purchase an item from a veteran member like Rich, JonFo, Timm, Gordon...etc (I know there are many veterans here, those are just examples...haven't had my coffee yet!) but that doesn't mean we should dismiss the possibility of purchasing an item from a new member entirely.
Just my .02

 

[Joey_V]

I agree with Joey's thoughts on this. It's really just buyer beware just as it is with most any classified section - even on Agon. Of course we'll all be more likely to purchase an item from a veteran member like Rich, JonFo, Timm, Gordon...etc (I know there are many veterans here, those are just examples...haven't had my coffee yet!) but that doesn't mean we should dismiss the possibility of purchasing an item from a new member entirely.
Just my .02

O yeah, no doubt I'd rather deal with Rich than some guy who just came on...

Buyer beware though... .