have a min. amout of posts before your allowed to sell. i buy and sell all the time on here. less chance of being burnt by a unkown stranger.

For the "Active" Lurkers who claim they feel like they don't know enough to post.....asking questions is contributing too, it leads to discussion

Some rule about minimum posts would help with the spammers, but I have'nt seen that as an issue. Of course I don't go to classified much I have "enuf fishing stuff". Just remember no matter what rule(s) you make the person who is going to be a problem will be a problem.

I love the virtual tax free yard sale here. I vote to leave it as is

This will -
1) let John go fishing vs. work on the site
2) prevent restrictions which will lead to less variety.

I would be all for a % of sale or base fee to add an item to the classifieds.

I agree with most of the others. Some sort of participation should be reuired or there should be a fee.

This is far more about selling than buying. I want this to be as reasonably open as possible but also want to reward those that participate. I can't see cutting out people that want to buy but I can see having some rational rule that one must participate for the betterment of the site (post/ask questions) versus just finding a free market to target.

Thanks! You've all giving me some good info to mull over.

I think if we have complicated rules on number of posts, it gets into an SOL morass of rules. Do we want to be that? Does John want to be the Tim grand policeman?

I would go for the 2%- and no commercial sales.

KISSICF

(Keep It Simple So I Can Fish)

I'm thinking like 20 non-classified posts & 1 month minimum member on site.

john how does the "itrader" work??

ive done a good amount of deals here and would like to rate people i dealt with and have them rate my sales too, kind of like ebay feedback right,

that way people know your legit and honest.

Then you will need to have rules to dispute erroneous feedback and on and on and on.
KISS
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Leave it as it is, after surf fishing for 30 years I have little to say given the nature of some of the threads and I chime in where I think it is worthy of a response, and, if I think I have something worthwhile to offer but I don't spend my day here...

If you start rating responses and their values I fear I will not be able to participate.I try and post here and there but there are some real hardcore fisherman on this board that get paid to speak about fish.Like Clammer and stuff.

I have found that people that don't post in the main forum are not trust worthy and I won't buy from them I got screwed once and thank god I paid with paypal because they got my money back.

I guess I too am one of the member/lurkers. I come on S-B many times a week, but I hardly ever post either. I am mainly looking at whats going on in the fishing community. I hope to this year meet some members as I changed careers and work no longer runs my life. I look at the classified once and awhile, dont buy or sell, but would like the option if I wanted to, but the lack of posts might make it hard to do. I do think that it also doesn't take much to post, so I hope to do more of that too.

I'm getting into this discussion a bit late, but I think it boils down to how much everyone (especially JohnR) believes that classified sellers add to the useful and interesting content of the website. Personally, I think a rich classified section contributes to the quality of the content, and if a guy makes a few bucks, who's harmed? Clearly the line has to be drawn that it cannot include "commercial" selling and must be personal only.

I don't think anybody is proposing writing ratings on posts or posters except in relation to them as buyers or sellers in the classifieds forum. I'm not sure I want to see ratings there either but I know we will not be rating people based on their posts in the general forums.

Definitely a qualifier to sell,,,,

Maybe we could also do something once a year where guys donate stuff to sell like a plug or something and all the proceeds go to JohnR for maintaining the site....

I'm in line with what Ross has to say about it but also agree that John should get more time to fish, a moderator should take the burden from him. And the tip jar is a good idea too.

I want to make LESS work for everyone :tooth: - not just me so we can go :fishin: