Lets make the classifieds sections invisible to people with less than 15 posts.
 

So the mods don't have to constantly chase people making 15 in a row down.

Can you do that? Thats a good idea.

Vash-

+1

Make it so they can read, but not post!

that's how it is now. so noobs come and post 15 posts full of garbage so they can post in the classifieds. and get banned.

if they can't see it, they wont know to whore to post there.

ding ding ding

:werd:

There is a local sports car forum I frequent where you need 50 posts to advertise in the classifieds. That forum is setup so you cannot see the classisfieds when you have under 50 posts.

Vbull is great stuff, you can do damn near anything with a little bit of coding.

No matter what rule or policy we put in place, someone will be ghey and try to circumvent it.

So make it harder to circumvent. "Why make rules, people will just break them" is a phenomenally shitty excuse to not make rules.

+1, though I will admit I'm no expert nor do I have a better suggestion on how to solve the problem. I think hiding the section from them would help, though perhaps it wouldn't solve the issue.

OK, here's my suggestion after all (though probably ridiculous and not too practical). When a person is trying to join the forum, they are REQUIRED to fill in their location, what year car they have, type of engine management, and basic setup to become a member. After this, they are allowed to view any forum, but can not PM people or post for a given period of time, say a week. After their week is up they have to pass a test to become a regular member. The test is comprised of multiple choice questions and True False that are based on the FAQS throughout the forum that are all hosted in the NEWB forum. Make the test legitimate. 95% and above is a passing score.

I like this, but someone would have to write the test. Also, they shouldn't be able to post in any section except the n00b section until they pass.

need 5 to even see it. still 10 to make a for sale. can post responses once you can see the section.

Those new changes, or is that how it's always been?

Edit: Didn't know I was gonna write a book on this post when I started...

What about this guy who registers, and makes 10posts in 1/2 hour and his 11th is to advertise his POS OTM?
https://www.miataturbo.net/forum/member.php?u=9400
He appears knowledgeable and his posts are "contributing" in general, and he does make the "case" that he's interested in getting into Miata's... but... is that guy any different than the douche last week with the uber-POS automatic beat-to-shit 240sx.

We have a "small" problem with NOOBS and scam-posters and the mods are good at spotting them and ridding us of their stench (although occasionally I find myself in need of a cheap source of V!@GraH).

IMHO:
I think the classifieds should be open for anybody to VIEW at any time once you're registered (but not to visitors) regardless of post count. A large part of the NOOB experience when doing your homework is setting a budget and learning exactly what's out there to be bought. Anybody who puts a home email or phone number in their ad should understand they might get contacted by somebody with few or no posts. I THINK MOST PEOPLE WHO ADVERTISE IN FORUM CLASSIFIEDS ARE VERY CAREFUL ALREADY ABOUT WHO THEY'LL SELL TO, so I don't think we need to worry that much about "locals" selling stuff to scam-buyers and getting ripped off.

As a seller, I always check the profile of anybody I might sell to. Anybody new'ish I'll ask to see their eBay page or links to the same screenname on other forums. It's not fool-proof, just a nice warm&fuzzy. That and I follow my Paypal rules and I'm as safe as I can e-be.

Ideally, I think the minimum post count for POSTING OR STARTING A THREAD IN THE CLASSIFIEDS should be 50 with no more than 5posts per day for your first 10days of being registered. I don't know if vBulletin has that kind of fidelity, but it would all but rid us of classified forum problems.

I also think a lot of people spam-post so they can meet the min-number for PM'ing so they can reply to something they saw in the classified. That can be fixed by removing the "post-rule to PM". Again, it's still up to the seller to see they're communicating with someone who has very little posts and whether or not to do business with them.

Bottom line:
A 50post count rule (and a possible time-limit) would all but solve the problem of spam-sale threads in the classifieds.

Eliminating the post-count for PM's would eliminate random spam-posting in other forums just to get the count(but would also put more emphasis on sellers to check their buyers, which I assume people do already).

Again, this is IMHO, and I'll ad that I have no experience mod'ing or admin'ing a forum.

I dont believe there is a post-limit PM quota.

Heeding your advice Sam, I simply made it so anyone can see it and post responses. I think that was the biggest issue. But they need at least 25 posts to post in the classifieds.

All right, we'll see how that works... it looks like it's pretty easy to make a change in the rules... there's a happy medium somewhere.

I'm almost sure I remember some posts where people say they can't PM and put out their home email to have sellers contact them... could be wrong.

you can get pretty crazy with the rules, but im not that advanced. k.i.s.s.

These people that abuse the 10 posts rule are fodder for the mods to take out their frustrations on. I say leave it as is, or they'll start to turn on the good people :)