Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeCurtin
I, too, have some feedback.
It seems a bit contradictory for the home of the BOI to be so rabidly opposed to its members asking questions and/or pointing out inconsistencies or misrepresentations within its own classified ads. Yes, some members, including myself, have been disruptive. However, the fact remains that in some cases, Fauna is becoming a safe haven for the very types of unscrupulous dealers that the BOI was created to protect against.
I have a feeling there will be surge of new activity on the Board of Inquiry.
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We are not "rabidly opposed" to members asking questions or pointing out inconsistencies/misrepresentations...however, when those members become argumentative or harassing, it becomes a problem. The BOI has been separated from the classifieds for a long time, with BOI type posts only being allowed on the BOI - links may be posted in an ad, but going into details, or rehashing the issue, has not been permitted. The point that is apparently being missed is that the entire reason that the classifieds weren't closed to posts a long time ago was because we didn't want to hinder people from asking relevant questions, from pointing out misrepresentations, or posting a BOI link....unfortunately, this is a matter of the problematic people & their behavior affecting the many members that function within the guidelines.
Bigger pieces of the problem are the people that jump into someone's ad directing viewers to another seller (or trying to sell their own stuff), the sarcastic comments about pricing, the chatter between other members which is unrelated to the sale (we have discussion forums, chat, and PMs for that), and the piling on that occurs in any number of circumstances. (there are other issues, but I'm trying not to belabor the points and drag this out)
We've put a lot of time and effort into trying to curtail these things, and there have been a ton of posted warnings. It just seems like for every person that gets the message and modifies his behavior, there is at least one more person getting ready to jump into that spot.
This decision is in response to a clear, and growing, problem. In a recent moderator discussion, every one of us acknowledged the beneficial reasons for allowing posted responses, regardless of our personal preferences. The choice not to pull the plug on responses entirely is because we consider those reasons not only valid, but compelling. I'm sure there are some that will say this is just another way of making people pay for what should be free; but that isn't the case. I doubt that many people would become paid subscribers just to post responses in the classifieds, lol....but, the hope is that the paid subscribers have a little more respect for the rules and guidelines (and that they aren't going to piss their contribution away by repeatedly disrupting ads, receiving infractions until they are banned).