Topic: [SCAM PREVENTION]Remove self-moderation for topics within the marketplace! - page 6. (Read 20837 times)

Banning people from selling accounts would solve this, wouldn't it ? As soon as a thread is started selling accounts, it would be reported and Moderators can then delete it.

Agreed and a very great idea but I have been asking for that for 2 years and the answer I always get is "people should be smart enough to figure out scams." 

That was all I was trying to do, and I'm happy we eventually arrived at that. I did not mean to offend or get into a foolish exchange.


As it stands right now, this is probably the only disagreement I would have and it's not necesarily a hard disagreement. There would be ways to make it work, but I think it would have to come with another change on Mega-Thread policy. I know newer members don't often lock their threads, but for the one's that create mega-threads and wish to lock them it might go a long way towards combating spam. I don't know if they ever do that to begin with, but I know it would be helpful if they did and so I'm wondering if anybody has any information on this?

Yes, and I apologize for our previous interaction, but that back and forth, as you said, did help me a lot in creating this thread properly.

Now we can move forward and hope this catches the admin's eye.

I know we had a tough go of it the last time around, but you might be surprised to find that I have no problems whatsoever with the way this is worded, or with the idea in general. I am hard pressed to find any examples of lower ranking members using the self-moderation feature properly, and it is almost a guarantee when you see them using it that they are abusing it in some malicious manner.

This is a good way of at least remedying a small amount of the malicious behavior in these sections. Of course some will just buy Full Member accounts, but it certainly would deter at least a certain amount of them from doing so. The scam may not be worth ruining a Full Member account, or they simply don't have the funds for example.

I like how careful you were with the wording of it this time, because all of my previous disagreements have faded away and I am in full support at this point; unless someone can provide decent proof that these lower ranking members do for the most part use self-moderation admirable (which I doubt is the case).

Would work, but might be a bit too extreme and hard for people to get behind, haha


I had it in there, but called it the "close option", I added lock so people know what I am talking about.


You are absolutely right. There is no way we will ever be able to completely stop scams.  All we can do is try to make it a little bit harder for the scammers.

One good thing about this merit system is the fact that higher ranked accounts will soon be harder to come by.

How difficult it is to buy a Full Member account on the forum ? The scammers would simply buy higher ranked accounts to start self-moderated threads..By the time user's trust becomes negative,he would have scammed a good amount of money to buy a new account..
I'm not saying this wouldn't work but scammers would find loopholes and keep doing what they intend to.

Another risk of self moderation is that the posts in a scam thread that serve as evidence of the scam (and would be included in any scam accusation thread) could be deleted. We give the accused criminal the ability to delete the evidence of their crimes!

I'm a fan of this idea.

At least this forum has always maintained the 'buyer beware' mantra because they can't prevent or fight all the scammers that appear.

I fully agree with your idea, it would be a good step against all scammers that bump their thread all the time to be read by newbies. It's quite hard to see that a thread is self moderated, so prevent new members to create some is a must in every place where goods or services are sold.

I think it is a fantastic idea, you don't have to ban new users to discourage abuse in the marketplace, but if they scam people then they should not be allowed to self moderate a thread.

I would go one step further and also stop anyone below full member from being allowed to lock their threads.

If this was implemented it would be a large step forward in stopping scammers here, the way it is at the moment this site is a haven for scammers and they flock here by the droves, this would save me a lot of work calling out scammers in the digital goods section.

Please Admins take this onboard and consider this.

Okay  I see lots of marketplace abuse with self modded threads and locked threads.

I am a well known seller on marketplace and I do self mod.

I would like to think I am not abusive of that privilege.

The problem is what is a good way to discourage abuse in the marketplace.

Ban new sellers?

I do not know if op has the best idea but at least he is trying.

**UPDATE: Sent PM to theymos on 2/19.

Overview:
I believe we should remove the option to self-moderate topics for certain user groups within areas of the marketplace. This can be used as an additional way to reduce and prevent scamming while allowing for further community moderation.

Some reasons for the change:
1) More and more scammers are using self-moderation as a shield to prevent users from calling out any illicit activities.
2) Moderators have always taken a stance to not get involved in the marketplace. (I am not saying it is right or wrong, just stating a fact.)
3) Threads posted in the scam accusation section can go unseen by potential victims and new users.
4) Newer users may be unaware of the trust system and unregistered users do not see it at all.

This is in no way a replacement for any of the current systems we have in play.  I am only suggesting we utilize this along with the current systems.  
ESCROW usage is, as always, key, and it is always up to the user to do their due diligence before entering any trade.  This is just another step to make it more fool proof.

NOTE: The option to close/lock a topic can be easily used in a fashion similar to self-moderation.  This suggestion will also require the removal of the option to close topics.

Affected forum areas:
Self-moderation should specifically be removed from these 2 sections of the marketplace:

• Goods(Computer hardware, Digital goods, & Collectibles)
• Currency exchange

Any other section can be included if it is deemed worthwhile.  

Affected user groups:
Full(maybe), Senior, Hero, and Legendary users would NOT be affected.  Those groups would keep the ability to self-moderate in the decided upon marketplace sections(credit to akamit).
It would also be advantageous to have this benefit become disabled if a user's trust becomes negative(credit to ralle14).  Loss of benefits would apply regardless of their user group.

Only users with the rank of Member or below would lose their self-moderation options.

This change could become an added benefit for user groups, similar to the expanded PM space or reduced wait time between posts.

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There should not be many downsides to removing the self-moderation options for the lower user groups within certain marketplace sections.

What do you think?