the intimidator said:
This sounds like a great Idea I agree though a member rating system is in order if this is going to be a site wide thing. I know 90% of the folks on here are honest but there is also the 10% who are not and will take advantage of us. I am always wary of dealing with newbies not to be mean or anything but I think we should have a 50 or 75 post minimum before you can take part in trades or use the for-sale section. I see alot of stuff in there posted by people with two or three post's I am sure not going to deal with them and it would keep the for-sale section less clutterd with useless post's and make it better because it would just have legit items in it from hopefully trusted members
Obviously, as a newb, I'm biased, but I really don't see what prolific posting has to do with being a gauge of a person's honesty.
If you're not comfortable doing a trade, then don't do the trade.
If you're concerned you may not get your stuff, then require that the trade partner send their package, and you receive it, as advertised, before you send yours.
I'm not saying there aren't dishonest people out there, but it's been my experience on a number of boards with buy/sell/trade forums that there's a lot of people who have gear they want to get rid of, but have little to no desire to interact with the board membership outside of getting rid of their stuff.
It's also been my experience that those who are truly out there to fleece a group of people are going to spend the time ingratiating themselves to a community - for example, spending a couple of weeks, posting a lot, making a name for themselves.
Obviously, you don't have to buy anything from anyone, and if not buying from a seller who doesn't post is a prevalent attitude, then it's obviously going to be detrimental to the uninvolved seller.
I mean, don't take this the wrong way, but I don't know you. Tell me why *I* should trust you? You've been a member since August 2005, which is great, but based on your suggestion of post count as a measure of trustworthiness, a new member posting 10 times a day for a month would have nearly the same post count you have. An argument could be made that you rarely post, so you shouldn't be trusted.
In the end, of course, people are going to do as they see fit - my vote, however, is that the powers that be don't impose any kind of arbitrary measure of trust on the system, and instead, let the two parties involved in the trade decide whether or not they want to trade.
Certainly, I don't want you (or anyone else for that matter) telling me who I can and can't trade with.
... Got to love a guy that tries and fails, but gets up, dusts himself off, and tries again..