That sounds like the military mentality there...we have a couple of problems, so we will just punish everyone.
There is nothing "wrong" with the forum. Every now and then there is an issue, like the one some folks are going through with a couple of cuemakers, etc, but that is just a cross-section of the population in general. If you have hundreds/thousands of transactions, somewhere along the way, there are going to be issues.
It is not that people have problems during a transaction that makes things bad, it is how they chose to resolve it that matters.
I think often times folks "flame" a thread hoping that it will be pulled as a part of a strategy...maybe helping a buddy out, etc. It is that way with any argument/discussion.
Joe
Joe you are one of the most honest sellers who participates in the wanted for sale section on a regular basis, and I personally have a great deal of respect for the way you have done business throughout my time here as a member ( Since 2005).
But, I respectfully disagree that there is nothing wrong with how the forum leaders handle problems that occur in the wanted for sale section. In my opinion Joe they allow openly deceitful and dishonest people take advantage of far to many forum members. I personally think they need to get directly involved when patterns emerge where certain individuals over and over again take peoples money, make commitments they are not able to keep and then when things suit them apologize and resolve the situation. There is no need to mention names here most of us know who these people and how they operate, but here in lays the real problem the new members are who these people take advantage of because every thread that identifies their previous actions is gone.
The Moderators feel that once a problem is resolved that the thread should be removed. In most cases this really doesn't hurt anything, but for those individuals who are predator's and who pray on the new members there is nothing out there to warn them to trust and who not to trust.
Before some one brings it up, yes we have I-trader and that is all there really is to assist people who are new in making a decision concerning who is trust worthy and who isn't. The problem with I-Trader is that in far to many cases it is manipulated and it doesn't truly reflect a persons honesty and integrity. The following are problems that in my opinion make I-Trader useless:
1) Anyone can post an I-Trader comment for any other member whether they had a transaction or not.
2) While we are all adults and until other wise noted the systems use requires honesty and integrity and unfortunately not all members completely understand what those words mean and how important they are. It's kinda like ones name, at least for myself it is my most valuable possession, and it's value is based solely upon my integrity and honest, without those two important parts at least in my opinion a name is a useless word that describes nothing except a shadow with no substance.
3) Currently as I-Trader works there are two choices that can be used to describe a transaction Positive
or negative
. In many cases members are afraid of retribution if they post a negative comment in I-Trader and this is because no one polices this section very well and while some changes are made to false comments, many many more stay for the record. Now as we have seen blatant misuse of I-Trader by posting false comments that will get some one banned, but what happens to those who post Positive comments just to cover a friends ass? I think that there also needs to be a Neutral choice in I-trader, in many cases there are problems, but many feel so long as they are resolved a positive rating should now be given. In some cases their are members who intentionally sell items that are not described correctly and when caught they will offer a refund, but that doesn't make it right when their intent was wrong in the first place, and I think a Neutral rating will help identify those people who have a bad habit of doing this.
4) I think I-Trader needs to be updated so that unless a transaction takes place on this forum and has obviously taken place no comments should be posted. This can simply be done by also including the thread where the transaction took place, it would not take that much to change, in fact it could be added in the comments for all to see. This way some of those buddy / buddy transactions will be prevented and a more accurate picture of a members nature will be represented.
Last but not least, I think when a problem happens I think the Moderators need to contact both parties behind the scenes and help resolve the issue. They have everyones address, email address and phone numbers, and I think a list of names should be kept so that repeat offenders are identified. I think this could help solve many of the problems and stop all the speculation, also it would help the new members from falling into some of the traps.
I already know that many people may not agree with my thoughts on this subject, and that is OK we are all entitled to our opinion. The comments I have made are based upon observations I have made over the last 6 years, so if they do not apply to you let them go in one ear and out the other, if they do apply don't forget some of us are watching simply because we care.
JIMO
