With the influx of new spammers....

[Dave J]

Hello to all,

I really like this forum - doesn't seem to have all the script errors that ukmkivs.net was constantly throwing up (which has meant I haven't been on there for about 10 months) despite still wanting to post about my mkiv experiences, and learn about anything in the mkv section.

Just a suggestion with a load of the recent influx of spammers with one word / line posts over a short period of time on here - could you please restrict the members rides area in a way to stop people from spamming this section, as this ruins the best part of the forum.

Could we lock this section down to access with those of a minimum of 100 posts or more?

I will guess the answer will be "No, it isn't possible", but I have to suggest it!!

Cheers,

Dave

[Top Cat]

The easiest way to stop it would be to have something like  150 posts before you can access the for sale section. That way the section would be used as we planned it, ie for regular members of this community, but the flip side of that would be less sales and our members wouldn't go for it i don't think.
We are not getting anymore spammers than usual, i have just decided to stop removing the posts now. One because i cant be arsed doing it when some of our members actively help the guys desperate to access the for sale section by helping them and telling them they need more posts get typing. And secondly if you are selling or buying something on here and it is from someone with 25 posts and you dont check their previous posts then you cant complain when it goes wrong. 
There is practically nothing the forum/admin can do to help someone who has been ripped off and sadly this happens quite often.
I will have a word with SteveP and Greeners and see if we can improve things. 

[cuprajake]

Depends if there genuine.

I saw a car for sale in the classifieds. I didn't want to spam the forum so started my own thread and spammed that. This got deleted

The fir sale ad had no contact details. So either you need new rules there to inc contact details.

Or

Do what other forums do and have a spam thread for new users.

[dodds-gttdi]

The whole point of the minimum posts is so that members here get to know the new people and so that the new people get to introduce themselves, their cars and their modifying addiction!! 

If the minimum post count was designed to be overcome by simply spamming up a thread (whether designed for spamming or not!) then it's pointless!!! 

Do what regular members on here do, contribute helpfully. Ask questions, give opinions on mods/photos/problems/etc and make yourself known within the forum.

For example:-

You want to buy a car, a mk5 Golf GTI to be precise. So you sign up on here, introduce yourself as a hopeful soon-to-be owner, ask around for things to look for when viewing a Golf for sale (also using the search function!!). View member rides and see what other people have done to their cars, get your own ideas for what you'd like to do to your car, or what extra's or must-haves you'd like to buy a golf with.  It isn't difficult to contribute meaningfully with TEN posts! 

[Rumple]

I agree, although being a relative noob here I do think its a good thing to have a limit on posts before you can use the for sale section? Only suggestion would be to make it more clear to new members? I don't know if I completely missed the ball or something but I had no idea what I had to do to be able to post on the fs section when I joined, until someone pointed me in the right direction!  

And as for a spamming section, I don't think that's a good idea at all.. If new members need to get there post count up the least they can do is put up a New member post and then say hello to some other new members?

[xjay1337]

I have nearly 12,000 posts on UK-MKIVS in 2 and a half years - So I'm basically one of the most active members on there) and I can tell you this forum has more downtime and timeouts than uk-mkivs.
The joke there is that uk-mkivs.net don't accept donations (even though I want to give) and yet here they are almost always asking for a money.
I've not had the typical error for about a month now. I would get it once a week normally - which is a good few hundred posts knowing me!

UK-mkivs are also moving to IPB forum very soon. I was part of the testing with a few other active members and the new site is much, much better and will be more reliable.

Don't get me wrong I like this forum but I will defend uk-mkivs as it always seems the butt of all jokes

On the subject of spammers and what not 10 posts is not enough in my opinion. Edition employ a 200 post limit and they have much stricter rules in the classifieds forum.
I think it could be good to have some of their rules put here as well.

If as moderators you cannot be bothered to remove spam posts or keep on top of it then consider getting more moderators? There are plenty of active people on this forum, myself, RizzlePizzle80-thrizzle and Hurdy for example (there are many others no doubt) who would happily offer a helping hand.
Ultimately it's a double edged sword when you have such a low post count. People spam it in a matter of minutes.

[rich83]

Easy way to fix this in one very simple move.

Remove the FS section completely. 

[Rumple]

That's a terrible idea, The FS section is better than ebay imo!

[dodds-gttdi]

That's a terrible idea, The FS section is better than ebay imo!

x2 Terrible idea. I don't know of anybody who has had a bad experience using classifieds, nor have I had any myself.

I'm pretty sure the SEAT Cupra net forum lost many many members after the for sale section disappeared. :-/

[stealthwolf]

Personally, I would make the classifieds hidden until you reached both a post count AND a time limit. I've been on forums where this has been the case. Waiting say two months and 50 posts isn't difficult. But as above, they need to be meaningful posts.

As I and others have said countless times before, this isn't a website for buying/selling stuff like Amazon or ebay. It's designed to allow like minded people to chat about cars and maybe other things. If you can't be bothered to do that, are you really somebody who: 1. Can be trusted? And 2. Should be around here?

[rich83]

Personally, I would make the classifieds hidden until you reached both a post count AND a time limit. I've been on forums where this has been the case. Waiting say two months and 50 posts isn't difficult. But as above, they need to be meaningful posts.

As I and others have said countless times before, this isn't a website for buying/selling stuff like Amazon or ebay. It's designed to allow like minded people to chat about cars and maybe other things. If you can't be bothered to do that, are you really somebody who: 1. Can be trusted? And 2. Should be around here?

Better idea.

Also make all listing a requirement of "Picture with signed piece of paper and date" 

[cuprajake]

From my point of view though.

I wanted to get intouch with someone selling there car.

Had there been strict selling rules displace stating either s contact number or email address I'd not of needed to join. Or make ten meaningless posts before I could pm him

I agree a bigger limit of post should be needed to actually sell in the classified section but not to pm a person.

Scn did lose slot of people too.

[stealthwolf]

I wanted to get intouch with someone selling there car.

Had there been strict selling rules displace stating either s contact number or email address I'd not of needed to join. Or make ten meaningless posts before I could pm him

I refer you to my above comments. It doesn't much effort to make 10 meaningful posts. You just cannot be arsed with it. If you could not see the classified, you would not have joined and then spam posted.

I speak the following for myself only: I'm hacked off at the number of people who register to sell/buy and then piss off never to come back again. To those people, why don't you just piss off in the first place?

[Rumple]

I mean it is a hard one, as much as you don't want the forum full of people talking nonsense to get post counts up just to sell or buy stuff.. But equally the more people selling stuff the more bargains to be had for members?

[stealthwolf]

But equally the more people selling stuff the more bargains to be had for members?

Are you more likely to buy off someone with a 25 post count or with a 2500 post count (all else being equal)?