Required profile fields.

For a while now, I have been manually approving all new registrations, and enforcing the requirement for the new member to provide a FULL NAME and CITY, STATE, COUNTRY within their profile. Any that do not provide that info will have their registration rejected and the registration record deleted.

As of today, I am making those requirements retroactive. When someone logs into the site, these fields will be checked, and if that member is not in compliance, they will not be able to access the forums. They will receive a notice instructing them to go to their profile page (a link is provided within that notice) and to fill in the profile fields needed.

Any member who has obviously bogus information within those fields are subject to having their access to this site blocked until they comply.

Sorry to get so strict about this, but this is necessary in order to try to weed out those people intending to obscure that information in order to engage in scams taking advantage of people on this site. It's not perfect, of course, and everyone is strongly encouraged to make every effort necessary to satisfy THEMSELVES that they are engaging in a transaction they wish to proceed with. Again, if you are asked to send the animals or payment to someone who provides a name or location that differs from what is shown in their profile here, you need to be aware of the risk you may be taking. The efforts I am making here will be completely useless to YOU unless you take your own steps to use the tools that are being provided for you.

Anyway, just wanted to let you all know what is going on. I STILL expect to get emails from people who won't be able to figure out what is going on, but at least I'm trying to limit that somewhat.

Rich, I have City, State - do I need to go in and add USA to my location? Will do if needed. Thanks!

Originally Posted by rabernet

Rich, I have City, State - do I need to go in and add USA to my location? Will do if needed. Thanks!

The only time I have an issue is if one of the three is left out, and there would be some confusion about identifying exactly WHERE that location is. I think it's safe to assume that most people registering here will be from the USA.

Originally Posted by WebSlave

Sorry to get so strict about this, but this is necessary in order to try to weed out those people intending to obscure that information in order to engage in scams taking advantage of people on this site. It's not perfect, of course, and everyone is strongly encouraged to make every effort necessary to satisfy THEMSELVES that they are engaging in a transaction they wish to proceed with. Again, if you are asked to send the animals or payment to someone who provides a name or location that differs from what is shown in their profile here, you need to be aware of the risk you may be taking. The efforts I am making here will be completely useless to YOU unless you take your own steps to use the tools that are being provided for you.

So people who neither buy/sell/trade to/from other users of this site through the classifieds are going to be required to provide this info? From the classifieds point of view I can see why it would be necessary, but I can't see why this is necessary for people who just post and share information with each other on the forums in general - where one lives does not have any bearing on that use of the forums.

Originally Posted by WebSlave

For a while now, I have been manually approving all new registrations, and enforcing the requirement for the new member to provide a FULL NAME and CITY, STATE, COUNTRY within their profile. Any that do not provide that info will have their registration rejected and the registration record deleted.

As of today, I am making those requirements retroactive. When someone logs into the site, these fields will be checked, and if that member is not in compliance, they will not be able to access the forums. They will receive a notice instructing them to go to their profile page (a link is provided within that notice) and to fill in the profile fields needed.

Any member who has obviously bogus information within those fields are subject to having their access to this site blocked until they comply.

Sorry to get so strict about this, but this is necessary in order to try to weed out those people intending to obscure that information in order to engage in scams taking advantage of people on this site. It's not perfect, of course, and everyone is strongly encouraged to make every effort necessary to satisfy THEMSELVES that they are engaging in a transaction they wish to proceed with. Again, if you are asked to send the animals or payment to someone who provides a name or location that differs from what is shown in their profile here, you need to be aware of the risk you may be taking. The efforts I am making here will be completely useless to YOU unless you take your own steps to use the tools that are being provided for you.

Anyway, just wanted to let you all know what is going on. I STILL expect to get emails from people who won't be able to figure out what is going on, but at least I'm trying to limit that somewhat.

Great idea Rich, hopefully it will cut down on people getting scammed on this site.

I agree Rich... It's a wonderful Idea! Keep up the good work making this site better and better Why should people who are honest want to hide where they are from?

Definitely agree that it's a great step to take.
I don't see why anyone should have a problem with providing their real name and location even if they are just using the site for casual social chit chat. Protection through anonymity is one thing but it sadly seems that most that like to hide the simple info such as real name or general location just have something more to hide.

Exactly.. that's the same thing I was thinking

Originally Posted by Wraith

So people who neither buy/sell/trade to/from other users of this site through the classifieds are going to be required to provide this info? From the classifieds point of view I can see why it would be necessary, but I can't see why this is necessary for people who just post and share information with each other on the forums in general - where one lives does not have any bearing on that use of the forums.

I can understand your point of view...but how is Rich supposed to know exactly how each individual intends to use the site? Both the BOI and the Classifieds are huge elements of the site as a whole, and I can completely understand the need to make those fields mandatory.

When it was just the BOI that required certain information (ie: full name) it was simpler to monitor, although still a bit of a pain for the staff to catch and enforce, I imagine. When you add in all of the classifieds...and make those name and location fields MANDATORY (even on the BOI, it was never mandatory in your profile, so long as you included it in the post somewhere)...there is no way to separate that requirement from the rest of the site. It's an "all or nothing" sort of solution.

Originally Posted by Wraith

So people who neither buy/sell/trade to/from other users of this site through the classifieds are going to be required to provide this info? From the classifieds point of view I can see why it would be necessary, but I can't see why this is necessary for people who just post and share information with each other on the forums in general - where one lives does not have any bearing on that use of the forums.

You may want to make note of the name of this site. It may give you a clue about it's focus....