From a Mod's point of view, may I add this ?
Buying or selling with a total newbie, regardless of how good a deal they are offering, is something I would really think hard about. I genuinely believe that there are more sound folks out there than chancers, but still things can and do, go badly.
We now routinely 'approve' all newbie's first few posts. This week alone I have banned at least a dozen at that first stage, and the other Mods have been busy too.
That's the reality of what we're actually doing when we make a judgement call, when we check if they are on spam lists, and are concerned that they're not genuine.
But, we're anything but infallible, and even the old spydie senses don't always ring the bell of, "Why does this look dodgy?", and sometimes folks who are on the make get through.
Recently Chris in particular has noticed a repeat spammer trying to join the forum.....they used to join up with multiple ID's and leave most unused like sleepers to pop up or do a multi multi thread blanket spam posting, but that's not working for them since we just check all posts from such 'newbies'. Maybe this fellow hasn't got the message. He's certainly been persistent. Leon and I once spent hours removing one fellow who was determined to sell American football jerseys on the forum. His isp home thing led to Papua New Guinea, heaven knows why he had over a hundred user ID's on a UK bushcraft forum, trying to sell these jerseys
The other Mods have similar experiences rooting through and clearing out swards of such spammers.
Sometimes nowt so queer as folks, but at least he was relatively benign.
Others really,
really want to take your money or possessions for their greedy selves and are happy to lie very convincingly to obtain them.
We need the membership to use that little ! beside Report at the bottom of posts, to give us a heads up if they see that something is amiss. To let Admin or Mods know if there is a problem we ought to look at.
The forum clearly says that it bears no responsibility if a deal goes wrong, that the onus is on buyer and seller, even though Tony makes every effort to provide information for police, etc., if things go that far.
The help and information you provide is appreciated. It often helps fill in the wider picture, and it gives us a timely heads up that there's something we need to deal with.
Give it a good think before you buy or sell, and I hope all your dealings are good ones
M
