Is this really necessary? (RANT)

[WhiteComet]

First of all, I just want to say that I love ephatch, and I acknowledge what the mods have to do to keep everything in check.

Maybe it's just me, but recently it seems like the mods have been going overly Nazi on us by deleting people's posts, Group Buys, raising the limit to the Classifieds section up to 100, etc..

We all know about the epic forum crash which caused the site to lose all those members and years of data. Things happen and it's understandable.
But given what happened, is it REALLY necessary to rule ephatch with such an iron fist? There's already been a noticeable decrease in participation for the past few months.. making the rules more strict is only going to discourage participation even more.

Take a look at Group buy for that D3 xbrace for example. We had a list of members that were ready to buy a hard-to-find item that was discontinued and a well known vendors that agreed to reproduce the unit in limited quantities and what happens? POOF gone the next day.

The Classifieds section being increased to from 50 to 100 postings does'nt make any sense to me either. For weeks, I have seen many well known members get their classifieds ad get taken off because the POST requirements being doubled from what they were before. Don't get me wrong, I completely understand if there were problems if people were getting ripped off but that has not been an issue so why raise it? Did the mods just wake up one day and decided to double to POST requirements? Take MoonSi's posting for example, any member that has been here knows how he is, was it really necessary to remove his post? I have seen many people trying to sell hard-to-find JDM bumpers locally only to have them removed the next day.

I understand we need some Law and Order. All forums do, but right now, we should be encouraging people to post more, not less. I know I might get flamed for this post but this is just my rant on how we can improve the website get the "old ephatch" back.

Thanks for reading.

[Btrthnezr3]

tit bag

[liquid cooled]

It used to be 200, it keeps people from getting ripped off, it was lowered after the crash, if you dont like it nobody is making you stay, personally I like it. I feel much more confident buying from people who actually contribute to the site instead of just showing up to sell crap.

[Btrthnezr3]

I feel much more confident buying from people who actually contribute to the site instead of just showing up to sell crap.

[WhiteComet]

I don't meant to offend anyone. But has there recently been a problem with people getting ripped off?

I noticed there are barely anyone showing up to sell anything, and some of the postings that are getting removed are from really well know people before the crash.

[HappiChild]

ah ha.. looks like my post got pulled from the for sales section.

so even, the item was posted way before the new 100 posts rule?

[oogy-boogy]

First off, posts are deleted if we happen to see a user spamming the site in order to reach a 100 post plateau (for selling). Yes we raised it. It was intentionally reduced post crash due to everyone losing their post counts, history and even accounts. We came to the conclusion that it was far to easy to whore it up to 50 (plenty of examples). It's a bit more difficult to get over the 100 threshold. It also allows a better overview from a mod standpoint.

The group buy was removed for your safety and out of concern. I've contacted Dr Design. Would you rather have a group buy promoted by a user or the site?

I don't see it as an iron fist attitude. More of a watchful eye. Honestly, I believe the site is as close knit as it is due to the family atmosphere we promote. I can attest to this by the amount of users on here who haven't even owned an EP in years (myself included).

Hope this answered some of your questions / concerns. As always, we appreciate new ideas and feedback.

[20CiviC02Si]

We have lost a lot of big hitters in the classifieds. I don't see that many quality parts available any more. But i think it's not so much to do with the site and moderators. I'm guessing a lot of the old school guys with the killer part outs have sold everything and then sold their cars, then "upgraded". Frankly i love the EP to much to "Upgrade"!

Can't wait to find some super rare stuff again. I have been fortunate enough to make purcahse of 2 comptech front strut tower bars and a couple of other awesomely rare parts!

[Tnhatch03]

First of all, I just want to say that I love ephatch, and I acknowledge what the mods have to do to keep everything in check.

Firstly, thanks. Ephatch is the best site that I am apart of. Other forums have nothing compared to this site, imo.

Maybe it's just me, but recently it seems like the mods have been going overly Nazi on us by deleting people's posts, Group Buys, raising the limit to the Classifieds section up to 100, etc..

You are correct. The post whoring was never tolerated and it still is not. People who post useless information and/or :smilies: just to increase their post count is unacceptable (like always). The group buy was announced through a member, whereas i think it was a good deal, the vendor can still PM the admin and/or create the thread themselves. Posting in the classified section, if you remember, was 200. We were leniant to make it 50 so there would not be as much complaints. Now it is 100. It will be back to 200 eventually.

We all know about the epic forum crash which caused the site to lose all those members and years of data. Things happen and it's understandable.
But given what happened, is it REALLY necessary to rule ephatch with such an iron fist? There's already been a noticeable decrease in participation for the past few months.. making the rules more strict is only going to discourage participation even more.

Has it not always been like this? Membership on any forum comes and goes. When the site crashed, we had all kinds of members who dropped ephatch and went elsewhere because they obviously cared. It was down for a week and people complained when we had 2004 information, if the information was not lost, there still would be complaints.

Take a look at Group buy for that D3 xbrace for example. We had a list of members that were ready to buy a hard-to-find item that was discontinued and a well known vendors that agreed to reproduce the unit in limited quantities and what happens? POOF gone the next day.

It is not gone, the admins are in talks with D3. Again, I am happy that they are wanting to do this, but having a member post up the information without talking to the admins is what the issue was. And the vendor did not create the thread themselves.

The Classifieds section being increased to from 50 to 100 postings does'nt make any sense to me either. For weeks, I have seen many well known members get their classifieds ad get taken off because the POST requirements being doubled from what they were before. Don't get me wrong, I completely understand if there were problems if people were getting ripped off but that has not been an issue so why raise it? Did the mods just wake up one day and decided to double to POST requirements? Take MoonSi's posting for example, any member that has been here knows how he is, was it really necessary to remove his post? I have seen many people trying to sell hard-to-find JDM bumpers locally only to have them removed the next day.

Again, when the new post count was posted, 50, there were members complaining about the requirement. "I had 1,000+ posts and now I have to start all over", "Do you know who I am", "I have been a member for years, can I get special permission", etc. etc. 50 posts are easy to do, without post whoring. Now we raised it to 100 and still get people who are at 75 posts complaining. It use to be 200 and it will get back there.

I closed MoonSi's thread and will do it again. I hope not because that would be the third time within 24 hours and that would be a temporary ban because he does not follow site rules. There are no exceptions. I have closed many old school members threads because of this. Ask around. No exception, unless you are a platinum member.

I understand we need some Law and Order. All forums do, but right now, we should be encouraging people to post more, not less. I know I might get flamed for this post but this is just my rant on how we can improve the website get the "old ephatch" back.

Old ephatch is gone. We can only make a new ephatch. Members will do what they wish and I am a member at heart and could never give up on ephatch. So other than the post count/group buy/for sale comments, how can we make this site better? I think if we had it your way, we would have more traffic in the FS section than anywhere else and we have not been like that. There have been new members who register ONLY to sell items and they are not here anymore.

Thanks for reading.

Your welcome.

[RON]

I can see both sides... But these rules are what make this forum so much better (IMO) than all the other forums out there. The post count thing is rediculous thing to argue about though. If all your on here for is to sell parts... Please find another site!

I just wanted to throw my $.02!

[Distance]

I feel much more confident buying from people who actually contribute to the site instead of just showing up to sell crap.

i agree to this. i usually hesitate to do business with people that doesn't have any post especially if it involves shipping and stuff but if its a local i'm fine with it.

i'm glad ephatch isnt like honda-tech or anything where anybody can just make a account and start selling and people would get scam and stuff. the mods are trying to save us from dealing with that kinda crap.

[Tnhatch03]

i agree to this. i usually hesitate to do business with people that doesn't have any post especially if it involves shipping and stuff but if its a local i'm fine with it.

i'm glad ephatch isnt like honda-tech or anything where anybody can just make a account and start selling and people would get scam and stuff. the mods are trying to save us from dealing with that kinda crap.

THANK YOU!!

I would not purchase anything from a member who has less than 10 posts.

And I am glad we are not like HT and many other sites.

[SpAdZ]

Not to throw anymore fuel on the fire which i thought had died out( ie ranting and raving about the crash which i did plenty of as well) but i am bored at the end of my work day...were we all pissed sure...have a lot of people left the site sure (myself somewhat included) but what you have to take into consideration is the amount of time and effot jpax and various other moderators have put into getting the site back up and functional and turning it into the "new" ephatch...they could have easily gotten fed up when the site was accidently deleted and just walked away but they care as much as we care and have done a good job bringing it back...as far as the whole "there are good items for sale" that could partially be because the economy has been down so people dont have money to go out and buy high dollar parts and there for there arent high dollar parts for sale, or cars that matter...i mean shit (upcoming shameless plug) i have had my car for sale for months and have had to come down nearly 6grand just to start to get offers...and my mind just blanked as the clock hit 6pm...heading home

SpAdZ
aka
2002ep3stage1

[WhiteComet]

Thanks for all the responses, I guess I feel a little bit better now.

Just for clarification, I'm NOT saying we should not have a min post for the classifieds.

If there was a problem with scams then sure, increase the min post to 200, 300, 500 or until we filter out the bad apples. Whatever it takes.

But I don't think I have ever seen someone get scammed from the classifieds when the requirements were 50, and I have been checking it everyday for 2 months.

It just doesnt make any sense to me to double the requirements when there werent many posts (let alone scams) to begin with,

Overall, I am glad the mods are keeping us from turning into HT. but i stand by my opinion we should'nt make our users jump thru so many loops.

[Tnhatch03]

Thanks for all the responses, I guess I feel a little bit better now.

No problem.

Just for clarification, I'm NOT saying we should not have a min post for the classifieds.

I see what you are saying. You would like the minimum to remain at 50 posts and not go back to the 200 requirement. Once members get past the requirement, it will not be an issue.

If there was a problem with scams then sure, increase the min post to 200, 300, 500 or until we filter out the bad apples. Whatever it takes.

300 - 500 post requirement? There would be anarchy, lol. Pre-crash, there were some issues with scams. Even some of the members who had the proper post count would scam, sometimes, which is why we had the "Wall of Shame" thread, but now we have iTrader.

But I don't think I have ever seen someone get scammed from the classifieds when the requirements were 50, and I have been checking it everyday for 2 months.

The reason you did not see any, is because we closed the ones that did not meet the requirement which probably saved a lot of time/hassle/troubles/etc. that may have evolved from a scammer. There was a member with 1 post, no pictures, who created a FS thread and was ONLY here to sell items. That is not what ephatch is about, imo.

It just doesnt make any sense to me to double the requirements when there werent many posts (let alone scams) to begin with.

We doubled the requirement because we felt enough time went by after the crash. We have always been a site that wants to prevent any kind of scams because we are such a close knit community. If one does not have the time to get to know members, post information, etc. and only want to sell items, then this site is not for them.

Overall, I am glad the mods are keeping us from turning into HT. but i stand by my opinion we should'nt make our users jump thru so many loops.

If this site was like honda-tech, I would not be here at all. Once the members get passed the requirement, it will be all good. Until then, post, but not whore.