There is a post count you have to meet before sending a pm to certain members. I'm not sure what differentiates the members you can pm from others.

I ran into trouble when trying to PM someone about a bipes for sale. I didn't have the amount of posts needed so I posted in off-topic. I was banished for awhile. I must've posted too much too quickly.

There's several forums I spend time on, where the classifieds is one of my main interests. E.g. I don't spend much time reading the m.net forums, but I do use the classifieds section. I spend a lot of time reading the mt.net forums, but rarely post.

Is the goal to filter dumbshits from the classifieds, or to limit the classifieds to people who are "actively participating"? The latter goal doesn't seem to benefit sellers, while the former... well, post count doesn't mean much.

Not much irritates me more than having someone ask a stupid question in response to a classified, that could've been answered with one search of the forum (or Google), but I'm not sure I see the value in post count. (I hope I'm wrong.) I do like the idea of requiring Location, at least some basics about the car (NA/NB/NC, currently turbo'd?). I'm wary of the time limit; if I've been lurking for a month, and suddenly have a reason to post, I register, then find I can't post for a week?

In my mind, the goal is to increase the quotient of useful members/posts; to not discourage new people, but to discourage useless posts and annoying (redundant) questions. To that end, my vote would be a short and strongly worded advisement to new users during the sign-up process: if you ask questions that are readily answered in an FAQ - or show a pattern of filler posts (me too's), within your first N posts (however many required to post in classifieds/PM), you will be banished from posting for 24 hours. Do it again, 48 hours. Do it three times, you're out.

i still think a nice 2 week waiting period would be good for classifieds.

Two weeks after registering before viewing, posting in the thread, or PM'ing?

The first potentially hurts sellers. (I wouldn't want the reduced exposure.) The second leaves PM's. If only we could install a StupidFilter.

Classifieds is the 2nd hottest area on this forum, according to the stats.

Judging by entry points, it is also another reason this site is growing and doing very well.

Which is great if the main goal is for this to become miataturbo-bay.com

Personally I think this sites most valuable asset is the wealth of accurate turbo miata specific tech this forum has.

if you want your item exclusive to the miataturbo community this is a perfect idea and if u want bigger advertisement theres always m.net, cr.net, m-s.com, local clubs, and craigslist lol.

this is coming from a guy with under 10 posts i believe. if this rule goes into affect i will be posting because ive alrdy planned on staring at the classifieds for awhile lol

idk? I get pissed when I try to find a classified section just to find parts and I can't see it...I'd just keep banning their asses.

then maybe a 2 week waiting period before posting in the classifieds but they can see and post whatever.

The question is..do you want to grow the site?

If you do then making the classifieds more accessible will help to do that.

If you don't want to grow the site..

..then continue to have an adversarial relationship with new members.

Is there really a point to a post count? If someone wants to buy a part are they really more trustworthy if they have 15 post as compared to 14 or 1? IMO I don't think so. I lurked here for mo's before buying my first part. I visited here years ago. I'm an honest guy. My post count has no bearing on my being willing to hold my end of a deal.

These are all questions that the moderators would consider. It's really up to them as this is "their house" so to speak.

So far as this place turning into miataturbo-bay.com....is there something wrong with that? Esp if the deals are honest and relatively painless.

The wealth of knowledge here is a big plus. A real ace in the hole for anyone turbo'ing a miata. The demand is also great as shown by the member count and active members.

How would you feel about paying a fee to use the classifieds?

Number 1 turn off of any forum. Period.

It's one thing for paying for a private forum as a whole, but for the classifieds fuck no.

I find 50 is a good post count to earn yourself into the classifieds on other forums, and they have to be reasonable posts, not spamming issues.

The question is, for Rick, do you want the site to grow with a bunch of useless idiots or grow more slowly into a forum such as NABR, Corner Carvers. Or just leave it as is, which is working for most judging by how the forum has progressed over the past 2 years.

.net's and clubroadster's problems are different from MT.net's so you can't really compare them 1:1.

Says the :noob: with the biased opinion.
Yes, higher post count = more trustworthy. Not that new people aren't always trustworthy, but the far majority of "problem" transactions are conducted with a light poster as one of the involved parties, and typically as the seller.

I don't want to make the classifieds invisible, but would like a higher post count AND a minimum waiting period. I asked Philip to do this, and he said that the software wasn't capable.

One of my favorite forums that I lurk (but never post at) has a rule of 500 minimum post count or 12 months standing, or $50 fee. And guess what, they don't have any problems--and that site has 100x the members and traffic of this one.

higher post count also means more data on which to judge you.

course maybe *I* am the biased one now. but you can go back through all my posts and probably paint a reasonable picture of if I will screw you. that reminds me, I gotta leave some feedback for Handy Mann who is a good n00b.

interestingly, Ben posted his for sale stuff for him.

What are you referencing? The guy who had 9 posts in 2.5 years who PM'd me for permission to post in the classifieds? He could have just spammed a post or two, but instead sent me a PM for permission. Seems very honorable to me. And I guess to you too; didn't you pick up his damper?

yeah that. I almost suggested that noobs could PM you each time they wanted to sell something but I doubt that'd go over well. I did look him up on miata.net anyway.

I did pick up his damper. just got it today.

Honorable is one thing, but my gf just called me to tell me she some woman tried to pull a scam on her while she was out at lunch. You know the one where they start off with some sob story and end with "so I need cab fare to somewhere that's about $50 away"? gf called her on it and the bitch walked away swearing haha.

anyway the point is that trust doesn't come from post count or time registered or the way you word something. so either you can lock people out for a long time and a lot of posts while they earn our trust OR you can let anyone post in the classifieds.

Come to think of it, why not just make a n00b classified section where you can only post if you have < 10 posts.

at least it would stop this

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ban

Post count also shows investment. If I had 6 posts it probably wouldn't mean to much for me to screw over a regular and never return. If I've been around for a while and have 2000 posts, I most likely going to think before throwing that away.

There are a handful of users here I would trust with cash, you guess if they have high or low post counts?

How about this. 10 post count still stands. But until they reach 10 posts they can only post once very 24 hours.

Flyer129 has it.

"If u want bigger advertisement theres always m.net, cr.net, m-s.com, local clubs, and craigslist lol."


My opinion is the "advaserial relationship" is necessary for quality control. It's shitty pointless posts and rice tech in the tech sections that result from having a open lovefest that would keep me and I'd imagine alot of tech minded folks from a site. Guys like Scott, Y8s and Joe make this site worthwhile. To me this site is about the sharing of good tech, not a turbo specific m.net classifieds.

I get on miataturbo just about every day to look at classifieds and cars for sale. I'm always looking for parts. I don't post much because i have little experience with turbo cars and try not to have pointless posts.
I spend most of my time reading and learning on this forum and many other forums, so my post count is low. I'm sure there are others that do the same thing.
I appreciate informative posts, Braineack's posts to gain knowledge and hustler's posts because I to can relate to having down's syndrome.