Change to the privilege structure of the forum

Announcements
#1

Ahoy hoy,

From now on new users are no longer allowed to send private messages. It will require a level 2 minimum and some engagement with the community. The feature is locked by default until level 2 is reached.

This is meant to step up our fight against the scammer (maybe plural).

Only new users are concerned.

It is one of many steps we’ve taken in accordance with our commitment to destroy the possibility of scams.

Now, the human factor is still our most fragile element. So, check who you are dealing with, check their profiles, how long they’ve been here.

We can fairly easily bring scams down to zero permanently if everyone stays alert.

All that with minimum disturbance to user to user trade.

76 Likes
#2

Too bad… I was about to send you a message about how great you all are :upside_down_face:

I think it’s a good measure… but a bit “extreme”. There may be good newbies :disappointed:

This is perhaps the most appropriate measure for that situation:

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#3

To learn more about how to protect yourselves, you can check this thread with rules governing trades.

They are there for your own protection

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#4

They are free to talk in public and earn a level 2 status which isn’t difficult for genuinely interested members.

We consider these things carefully.
But one victim is too many.

This is a small step that works in a bigger framework to deter scams.

16 Likes
#5

I think it is an excellent idea, the forum is supposed to be first and foremost a… well… forum, and not a market place.

Level 2 is not hard to reach, everybody has questions to ask or experiences to share. My honest opinion. :call_me_hand::herb::sparkles::dolphin:

14 Likes
#6

Exactly, the goal is always to encourage public participation

We don’t know who they are, they come and scam people. Most new users are harmless but the little inconvenience this rule causes is nothing compared to the value of protecting people.

If people didn’t get scammed, this rule wouldn’t be

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#7

:nerd_face::handshake::nerd_face:

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#8

Lol with how things have been going lately where they are getting quite creative trying to scam…

I can imagine the very insightful questions theyd make in order to reach level 2 :sweat_smile:

“So, friends… does the water gets us wet?”

“What if i pour some in a colander, would the water get wet then?”

Etc

:eyes:

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#9

No one would :heart: that lol
I hope

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#10

Random thread will become even more appealing lol.

Anyway, I find it a little bit too restrictive, but I can understand why this choice was made.

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#11

I’d meme the heck out of them.

I just hope they dont succeed but id certainly enjoy their attempts at participating lol

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#12

Just look at their profile, are they actually asking something serious? Asking the same thing someone else asked? Do they have nothing on their profile (removed it just to get level 2?)

Dont fall for that (oh this is my second account for privacy reasons.) Sorry but if someone is gonna trade large funds and have no background whatsoever its best you dont trade with them no matter how sweet a deal is.

10 Likes
#13

They often just set hidden profile.

Perhaps may it be possible somehow to just restrict the ‘hidden profile’ feature for level 2 and above?

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#14

Mind set, emotional state…very optional.

Can go about the forum in states you would consciously choose.

Can acknowledge, be aware, but can let go in participating in such activities. Why make exchanges with people you don’t know anything about?

Anyway, I could see this becoming more of an insular community, and there’s lots of good reasons for that. Restricting a private voice will probably remove more attempts at scamming, especially since with the new rule it would require much more effort/time to reach the level 2 to do so.
It really does mean that if you want to participate, be involved, join the community, you’ll have to start off publicaly.

Does feel a little restrictive, but there are many other lengths, degrees one can go to reduce poor behavior. Setting up a slight restriction to a fairly open virtual forum isn’t much at all.

Thanks for your efforts mod team.

3 Likes
#15

Lol yeah, no.

There’s privacy than there’s secrecy…

What they tryna keep a secret?:sweat_smile:

#17

I would argue that creating threads should be restricted at the first level, too, but I don’t know if that’s already the case.

1 Like
#18

Well, they are encouraged to create a welcome thread, to present themselves and ask their questions.

We don’t want to ostracize new users, just make the integration slightly more gradual.

Being a new user is just a temporary phase for everyone, not an identity. (Saying that for everyone).
We’re not creating an underclass, just being careful about who we let in, that is everyone with the right attitude.

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#19

That’s fine, just saying things are better when people look around for a little while before they projectile diarrhea. Everyone has to be on the outside first before they’re allowed in, but the outsider phase doesn’t have to be hazing, mean-spirited or all that lengthy, either, as long as the community is in a good place, which it seems to be. I don’t make the rules though, just a suggestion.

Keep up the good work.

3 Likes
#20

So how do you tell what level you are? I tried looking around my profile, but didn’t see anything that mentions level

OK I have this Trust Level Member
So what level is that?

1 Like
#21

You are a level 2 user @jasonfrovich

You can click on people profile and at the top you will see the trust level. It will use the name not the number.

“Member” is enough for pretty much everything

2 Likes