How many posts must I make before I can send a PM to a seller on the Buy-Sell forum? I do not want to pay to buy something, although I have paid to sell things in the past. I can post a lot of questions if that's what it takes...
richjac wrote:
Why not just state up front that you cannot buy from the buy/sell forum without paying the fee?
"Due to the low number of posts on your account, private messaging (PM) is not available without an Upload & Sell membership"
If you are an established member you do not have to pay a fee to purchase from the b&s board. It’s just for members who are not established that need to pay.
Join FM and contribute to this community and you won’t have any problems buying equipment. It’s the members that treat FM like e-bay that are required to pay.
I've seen a few posts on here deriding new members for being a little lost or flabbergasted about the inability to communicate for purchasing. As a new member myself, it's a bit frustrating because the membership is literally called :Upload and Sell. I.E. if you want to Upload, or Sell, pay the fee. It says nothing about purchasing. I only recently found out this website was a things. I probably would have spent more time here if I knew it existed. That is also likely due to the fact that I focus primarily on underwater photography, and there is a distinct lack of underwater topics here. I'd love to upload more and contribute, but until I either pay cash, or spend time chatting like this, I can't actually participate by uploading more underwater photographs, or even show some in comparison to the few underwater shots that are here. Feel free to leave the self righteous "if you aren't a veteran you're opinion is not wanted" attitude out of the conversation.
In fact, I've been trying to track down an underwater housing that is discontinued for quite some time now. There is one for sale on the boards, and it's quite unique. I would LOVE to have it so that I can upgrade my equipment and continue to photograph and contribute to the community. As of yet I can't even PM to talk about it. I'd have to pay money just to even discuss the condition of the camera.
When did I blame anyone for anything? You can't have a rational conversation about attitude and clear communication. Where in the FAQ's does it say to be discourteous to new members because you're a
"veteran?"
Nftypjs wrote:
Feel free to leave the self righteous "if you aren't a veteran you're opinion is not wanted" attitude out of the conversation.
Look who has the attitude.
"Due to the low number of posts on your account, private messaging (PM) is not available without an Upload & Sell membership"
That is in place to counteract spammers from PM'ing members after they make only a few posts. They can then be given the boot before causing any more trouble.
Don't like the way this site works, then go away.
4) What are the Buy & Sell Rules and Guidelines:
Posting on the Buy & Sell board is limited to Upload & Sell members only. With this
membership, you will be able to start New Topics as: FS (For sale), FT (For trade), WTB (Want
to buy) or OA (Outside auction)
Regarding 4) you just clearly explained why it has nothing to do with the buyer. Buyers are not necessarily starting new topics (as in for sale or for trade) and only possibly posting wtb. The issue that the original poster brought to the front, which has been brought up multiple times in these forums, is the inability to talk about an item they may want to purchase before that purchase even takes place.
If you e noticed there have been multiple posts in the forums about this very topic. In fact, multiple veteran users have commented that they could no longer post, comment on their own posts, or pm, because the may be quieter forum users and didn't meet the threshold of number of posts allowed to pm. That threshold, as has been noted by other users, has changed over time as Fred and his team are actively trying to combat would be spammers, and that is totally understandable, but as it has caused issues with new users and some veterans alike, it is understandably frustrating for people who are, say, not spammers but simply new to something they weren't aware of.
The request to leave the high and mighty attitude out of the conversation is not me "having and attitude" but simply asking for the conversation to take place in the way it was started by the original user. You stepping in slinging accusations just proved the point of the "if you're not a veteran or someone who pays immediately, you're cheap and have no standing here, begone" persona that is pervasive and appears any time someone asks a question about the situation.
Please actually read the statements before responding. Feel free to respond but I've removed notifications from the post because it's frankly toxic response.
Is it really that hard to join FM and contribute to the community? Become active is areas that interest you. Don't just come to FM to buy or sell equipment. Become an actual member. All these problems will quickly go away once you become an active and trusted member.
Blocking PMs doesn't help encourage people to contribute to the community. I remember when I first joined, I wasn't even allowed to reply to anyone who posted comments on my photos in my own photo threads.
Well that's the question the user was posting originally. How hard is it? They were asking specifics about how to get to that point. As a veteran you have hindsight to say, it's easy, but the new user simply doesn't know. It's a shame to miss out on something that you may have been looking for for a long time (discontinued or hard to find), only because you can't send a message to talk about it. As a new user it can be a bit confusing. I assume consideration and clear answers were all they were looking for.
Nftypjs wrote:
Well that's the question the user was posting originally. How hard is it? They were asking specifics about how to get to that point. As a veteran you have hindsight to say, it's easy, but the new user simply doesn't know. It's a shame to miss out on something that you may have been looking for for a long time (discontinued or hard to find), only because you can't send a message to talk about it. As a new user it can be a bit confusing. I assume consideration and clear answers were all they were looking for.
If the user had a bit of drive to truly understand what was required, they could easily have searched for the dozens of threads with all the answers already posted here...just takes some patience and desire.
doady wrote:
Blocking PMs doesn't help encourage people to contribute to the community. I remember when I first joined, I wasn't even allowed to reply to anyone who posted comments on my photos in my own photo threads.
And blocking PMs from scammers that have posted only once or twice prevents them from bothering all members from getting their unwanted PMs. It seems quite reasonable to me that Newbies should have to be validated before being allowed to PM established members.
Imagemaster wrote:
And blocking PMs from scammers that have posted only once or twice prevents them from bothering all members from getting their unwanted PMs. It seems quite reasonable to me that Newbies should have to be validated before being allowed to PM established members.
I am not opposed to blocking private messages, I'm just saying that it, combined with similar restrictions on making public posts, doesn't make new members feel welcome to the community. I have no interest in Buy/Sell here (I only buy new gear, I never sell) but even I found the early restrictions very annoying.
I came across this forum policy a long time ago on some tech forums while they were using older versions of bulletin boards and such and I do not oppose that rule, it declutters the server space for 100% certain scammer spam messages, somewhat allows other members to "get to know you", allows familiarizing with the actual forum as well etc. You don't like it? Well, $19 is nothing for a working photographer, you guys are loaded
This is an old thread but as a new member, I’m having the same reaction and issue. I initially joined (last night) because I found an item I wanted to purchase and had previously heard good things about Fred Miranda on other forums.
However, the current configuration is a bit confusing to we newbies and could use some improved messaging as part of the onboarding process for new members. I’ve since browsed and researched this topic and feel more up to speed.
Perhaps FM can offer a separate membership option for those interested in just buying (and participating) and not selling items, or for those who only wish to sell one or two things during the prescribed period? Something like $5-10 to open up PMs and purchasing? This benefits both FM and the registered sellers without excluding those who don’t want to pay a hefty fee just to buy an item or two more conveniently.
+1 to this old thread. It's super confusing and I've sold on the Buy and Sell group before. I'm not even a new member. Apparently, I still can't buy anything without paying or posting more, but that was very not apparent until I figured it out myself finally. It's a bit of a disservice to sellers as I've not bought some things I otherwise would have while I figured this out.
