Some website's..........

I just don't understand.......

I recently joined , and did so to see if there was anyone who would be interested in a trade for one of my Mustangs.

Anyway, I went to the classified section, and was going to post, then read where there had to be at least 100-200 posts before you could post in the wanted section.

I had to ask what REAL purpose this served. I know this website used to have a minimum number of post for the classifleds, but thankfully it was dropped. If I'm wanted to trade then what purpose does it serve for me to wait two or three months making up posts just to post one WTT ad?

I was thinking that a minimum post count might be a good idea if someone wanted to sell something. It might drive off scammers, but then I thought about it, I don't think it would drive them off.

All you would have to do is just make some posts to get your count up, then scam away. Also, the Supra forums mods said the posts had to be real posts. Ok, well, what is a real post? I mean, how would they decide your posts, or anyone else post were "legit"? I can see whole pages of locked posts.

Anyway, I did myself a favor by deleting supraforums off my bookmarks, as any website with that much control becomes a journey in frustration. There was another forum I used to visit that had too many control freaks, and now that forum is mostly just an archive as NOTHING can ever be discussed that has EVER been discussed before.

Needless to say I left a little message for them as I bid them good-bye.

Glad to have forums like this one around.

Ok, rant off.

Yea I've seen a few forums where someone might post something that was asked two years ago and the regulars jump all over them. I think a lot of them just end up not coming back. Some people have very little tolerance, we all had to learn sometime.

I understand and have experienced your frustration MTrain.

Being a computer/web guy I can see the need for security or qualifying users for certain access but there are a ton of ways to accomplish it without pissing people off. All the more reason to frequent sites that draw good people. Dan

Your right Dan, and that is what keeps me comming to this site as its a relaxed atmosphere.

Also, what those guys at the above mentioned forum don't realize {or maybe they do, but just don't care} is that they also might be hurting the hobby.

See, I'm getting a bit older as I drive closer to the half century mark so I won't let those idiots ruin a certain vehicle that I like. However, if I was younger I would probably never want to see another Supra after that experience.

I know we need to have rules, but when I have been in position of authority I tried apply/bend the rules to fit the situation. Although I have worked with some guys who go directly by the book down to the letter.

They just want to make sure you have some sort of reputation built with them before buying or selling. It helps to protect the members of the site and also keeps people from simply registering and simply using the site as a place to sell their items, that is what a place like craigslist or ebay is for. Now, don't take this as me defending SupraForums specifically. I can tell you from experience that it is not a great place to be, mostly because of the members. A Supra owner myself, I was once a member of that forum, needless to say I requested my account be locked as I would no longer wish to participate in anything related to that forum.

That being said, I like the idea of a minimum post count, of course if you simply go through the forum leaving small comments on peoples threads which is obviously for the reason of raising your post count, they are likely to dismiss those and not allow them to count towards your post count. In the end it is up to the buyer to be responsible and look who they are buying from, I would never buy from a brand new member that had 3 or 4 posts, but the site is just trying to protect their members as many others do. I don't honestly think that their intent is to piss people off.

What Supra site's would you recommend? Also, what year Supra do you have?

I'm glad you guys feel relaxed on this forum. I think back in 08 I might of been to up tight but that was from having to deal with situations that arose from being to relaxed.

I know the reasons for rules probably don't make sense but there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes.

I'm sure you guys notice that a lot of great auto forums come and go and the owners get burnt out. Most owners aren't tech guys first of all but figured out how to install and set up forum software for their hobby because they wanted to help others. It's just a side project they do for fun. It's a lot of work keeping it going because you have to pay every month for hosting then every year for the domain and usually you get no help money wise but businesses will want to sell their products for free. You also have to deal with spam bots on a regular basis as well as complaints from members. So all of this added up over time can really burn you out.

You don't have to worry about me though, I'm an engineer for a living and dedicated to my dream of the ultimate automotive site

I will say thank you to all the supporters, their donations are very much appreciated. Anyway back to the classifieds.

Ah yes classifieds, probably the section that's caused me the most problems running this site. There's been many times I just wanted to eliminate that section all together. I came to the conclusion, it doesn't matter what you do, you can't please everyone. What most people don't understand is building a "community" type website is really tough. Anyone can put a website online but creating an active friendly community, that's another story. I think I got lucky.

The classifieds has a great impact on the community, not only is it challenging to build a community but to build an active market place with in that community is even tougher. I don't know what that site is like but if people trust that they can send money or parts to someone they will most likely never meet and have an active market place, what they are doing is working for them. If the market place is good it would be worth going through the hassle. When someone feels they get ripped off for what ever reason, they don't spread through the internet So and so scammed me" they say "I got ripped off on site.com!".

I've tried different methods to help control the classifieds.

At first it was totally open but once the site got active enough it caused problems. I was seeing people complain about getting ripped off and I was having to spend to much time helping members resolve issues between each other from a bad exchange.

I tried the post count rule which at 50 posts that's really nothing. It was all in the best interest of the members because if you have posts to read you can get a sense of character and how trust worthy a person is. Again it was taking to much time to enforce and I didn't want to spend the time to automate it so I decided to put it back to open. I'm building a classified system into the new site I'm building anyway.

The best method was when it was Supporters only who could Post a Sale ad or respond to want ads. To become a supporter people would have to donate $10 to the site. That quickly drove off the scammers.

All and all I think a forum is a bad way to sell items, I think a classified system would be much better.

I know that was long but I read a comment every now and then about rules, thought it might explain some things about how the site was set up in the past.

Supramania is an awsome website, they do not tolerate the childish antics that you tend to see on supraforums. It is expected that you put together well thought out and organized posts and threads and failure to do so will result in a lack of response or action from a moderator if it is bad enough. Basically, behave like a civilized person and you are good to go. There is an immense amount of useful information on that site with regular experts posting, so if you are willing to put the time and effort into your own issues they are more than willing to help you out.

I own an 87 MK3 Supra myself.

why dont you try pm'ing certain members there, get your idea out there... possibly a moderator so he can see you not just some troll looking to piss people off

Anyone know webpages dedicated to just MAZDA B series 4X4's ? or Clubs in the NORTH CAROLINA Area ? ?