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Policy Change for Private Classifieds forum
Beginning 23 February 2006, the access to and use of our Private Classifieds forum is now limited to long-time, established members of DV Info Net. In order to see and reply to messages posted there, a person must have a post count above a certain number or be a registered member for more than a certain length of time.
Unfortunately our Classifieds board was starting to attract the wrong element. Scam artists seem to be irresistably drawn to online community markets such as ours, and even though some sharp-eyed DV Info Net regulars have identified and called out most of them, we've still had an instance or two of somebody getting burned. And one or two is too many in my book. That's all it takes to get a bad reputation these days on the internet.
In the past, whenever a scam is attempted or a rip-off occurs, it always involves a member who has a very low post count (often their very first post in fact), who has just joined. Does that mean all newcomers to DV Info Net are scam artists? Of course not. However, our Private Classifieds forum was initially established as an alternative to Ebay at the request of our established, dedicated members who make DV Info Net their home.
After reviewing our registration and new posts statistics, it was a little surprising to find that a certain number of new members were joining just to list or reply to something in the Classifieds... and then they're never seen or heard from again. That's not the type of person that I want to attract to this community, and what's worse, that trend was artificially inflating our membership numbers. I'm not interesting in counting those folks who are "just passing through in the Classifieds" as bonafide contributing members of DV Info Net.
I'm happy to continue to make our Classifieds section available to folks who have been with us for awhile. Obviously the downside for our long-time members is that unregistered guests can no longer see the listings, but consider this. The best transactions that go down in our Classifieds usually involve *other* long-time members, so you'll know who you're dealing with. And the service is still free. The only difference being that now it is an earned privilege, like it was intended in the first place. Thanks for understanding,
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February 23rd, 2006, 09:01 AM
