I have to agree with 310 on the no fighting part. Just go to the corral( been a member there about the same time as I have here). Anyone who thinks the flame throwers are runnin high octane over here, have never been srayed with the rocket fuel and lit ablaze by some of the dingleberries over there. NOt dissin the corral as a whole, cause it is a great site in its own right, but some of the things we do here on SN 5.0 talk would catch more flack than the Mephis Bell, and that is due to the sense of repsonsibility, respect, and humor of the mods here.
There, a little leg humping never hurt anyone( unless a cat does it, cause I hear they have prickly pokers )
It's a fair question. I can't speak for every mod but I can speak for me an my policy in this forum.
It's largely a subjective call. Some of the questions that I ask myself are:
What is the standing of this member in the forum?
Is he/she known for attempting to attract attention to himself or sale items.
Does this person have any standing at all? (new members with no reputation... don't even bother posting an ebay link here for a running auction. There's no way to determine if that person is trying to cleverly draw attention to an ebay sale or whatever).
How does the thread help fellow StangNet members aside from making them aware that you're selling parts or cars?
Is there a point of discussion included in the thread? (if not, it's just an advertisement)
Often, staff members are caught between a rock and a hard place. Most do their best to be subjective for the overall good of the forum. I guarantee that you folks would have HUGE issue with rampant spam across the forum. You'd be weeding through thread after thread of folks trying to sell their junk as opposed to participating with hobbyists and enthusiasts about Mustangs.
For me... spammers piss me off. Spammers that think they're slick are even worse. We get a LOT of folks to register and their first post is some crap about "How much is this worth?" I don't think so...
It's not a power trip... it's an attempt to enforce the Terms of Service on this board and also to keep the forums fit their intended purpose:
Exchange of technical information about MUSTANGS.
A focal point for enthusiasts to gather and talk about their hobby.
(wow... that's the second time I've said this today. hehe)
Just think if these guys let spammers go nuts in the forums, nobody here would continue to stop in and chat cause all you would see would be threads about what stuff is worth and what is available. Thats why we have the classifieds.
Bingo.
Aside from this point, anyone who spams the site/forums is essentially stealing. How, you ask? They take away "face" time from the PAYING advertisers and sponsors of the site/forums. They are ticks on the hide of success, nothing more.
Personally, I hate wading through all the "how much is my ______ worth" threads. The posters can, each and every one of them, answer their own question very simply: Go to www.ebay.com and search "completed items" for what they're wanting to sell. That will tell you what you can expect to get or ask for your item. Pawn shops use this exact method to determine what to price something at. I tried to dicker with one on a guitar and they immediately pointed to four recent auctions for similar guitars and refused to come down.
Something is worth exactly what someone else is willing to pay for it. Referring to the post in question, to me that car was worth $7500 or less. As nice as it looks, it's still a 120,000 mile GT. I've seen real Cobras with fewer miles sell for less.
It's okay. Please remember we are just enthusiasts and users of this forum as you are. We have volunteered our time to keep the place pointed in the right direction and free of poop.
Questioning staff member’s actions is fine. We are not above the rules and we try to do our best. Every mod has their own style and sometimes we can be misunderstood or misunderstand the actions of a forum member.
In closing, we're done here. More than enough boldface (type) screen names have explained the rationale behind the aforementioned actions. Case closed.