Topic: Do not allow locking of threads in Auction sub forum (Read 233 times)

Seems like reporting there will be fine. I reported 12 posts, gave varying reasons and they were handled good.

It's not a very active board so even locked topics will stay there for a while, but anything moved will fade into obscurity eventually. This would be account sales threads that aren't auctions, but probably relied on the continued page 1 exposure. Most of the reports were to move threads to digital goods or accounts and invites.

I'll start reporting in that sub forum and see what happens to the threads. Hopefully the moderators have the same point of view as currently the auction sub forum is a complete mess with threads that don't even have any terms relating to bids and are just sale threads in my opinion.

I never really considered this, as it's a  section that has been that way since I registered here. I might swing through there and experiment a little myself now that you've got me thinking about it.
I would say report the thread and see how it get's handled. Definitely give a good explanation of why, but your reasoning is on point. - How can someone bid in a locked auction.
I also think reporting any auction that doesn't have auction terms would be a good idea as well - End time, Starting Bid, Bid increment

It would be nice in the Marketplace if you couldn't toggle the "lock topic" option. This way once it's locked it fades into obscurity. I'm also not a fan of self-moderated topics in the Marketplace, sure some users have shown they can use this responsibly. Unfortunately it's generally a lazy attempt at a scam. I remember once discussing being able to pin your thread to another one, it's not a great idea but I though it would be an interesting way to counteract suspicious locked/self-moderated sales threads.


Just because they will try to find another way doesn't mean we should give up on making it more difficult for scammers. If the Marketplace becomes a more transparent platform for sales they will want to move the scam threads elsewhere. That would take them off-topic for those boards and eligible to be dealt with by moderators.


If applied only to the marketplace that would be an interesting idea. They would gain zero visibility by locking the topic on creation.

The locking feature is meant to show that a thread is not needed anymore (for any reasons).
This is a forum, so locking a topic will prevent others from commenting - hence a locked topic has no value to a forum.

Removing such a featue will affect anyone, not only scammers - so i think this wouldn't be the right way.

Locking a thread should be the counterpart to a bump.
Therefore, locking a thread shall let it plummet to the last page of the board.

That would be my idea to solve this problem.

You have a logical point of view, but will this solution change anything? I do not think so. Some can bypass it by moving topics to that section or devising new ways of scam.
The solution that has been applied is an acceptable solution as there is a warning about *Possible scammer* shown to guests.
As long as there are no fake reviews or self-moderated topics, scam rate will be reduced.

Most of the locked threads are done already, and they have to lock it so there will be no more spam.
Those spamming the auctions are better to be reported, and those who have zero response is ok to lack it since there's no interest on that. My suggestion is that, don't allow any signature on the Auction thread just like the serious discussion if your concern is about the advertisement.

I'd say it should be reported and moved to archival.

I'd support the not allowing of locking any topics in the marketplace altogether. There are a lot of people on the currency exchange threads too who look like theyre trying to scam. I'm sure someone will have claimed to have a billion bitcoin there if you go back far enough lol.

Here's my proposal after looking at the auction sub forum I see that almost half of them have 0 replies and are locked. Most of them being scams but because scams are not moderated the least we could do is prevent threads from being locked when there are no replies. Auctions are meant to be bid on and if they are locked they are simply just advertising in the sub forum rather than using it for a actual auction. If anything is this a reportable offense due to it not being an actual auction?