How to post create an account to HP advertisement?

[eccehomo]

Hello,

I'd like to post an ad on the HP Calculator Ads for selling an HP-92, but when I try to create an account, I've got : "Not Accepting New Accounts At This Time."

I tried several times in recent weeks, but I still get this message. Any suggestion ?

Thanks for helping

[Katie Wasserman]

Why not post your right here.

[eccehomo]

Hi,

The reason is that the forum description states : "Do not post links to ebay or other auction sites in this forum." And I'd like to post an ad related to an auction site where the HP-92 is now to buy. The old HP Calculator Ads forum had the keyword "AUCTION" for this kind of situation.

Regards

[Han]

Just create a thread, and describe all the features of the unit. At the bottom of the description, write:

"Please send me a personal message for more information, such as how to purchase the calculator."

Don't post eBay item numbers, don't include any links, don't mention auctions, etc. or else your post will be removed.

[eccehomo]

OK. Thank you.

[Dave Hicks]

Actually, no, that forum is not meant to be used for ebay auctions.

[Thomas Radtke]

(12-15-2013 01:43 PM)Han Wrote:  Don't post eBay item numbers, don't include any links, don't mention auctions, etc. or else your post will be removed.

Seriously, I'd immediately report such a post after contacting the 'seller' just to get an ebay number. This is spam, IMO.

[Dave Hicks]

There were a number of issues with ebay ads in the old classifieds. Among them:

About half of the total accounts at any time were people who just made an account to sell something on ebay and then never posted anything again. (And that's with account pruning - if I count accounts created, the ebay percentage is even higher.) This is a resource drain and doesn't enhance any sense of community, since so many posts in the classifieds don't relate to anything/anyone in any other part of the forum. This thread is a good example of that. I turned off new registrations in the old forum on Friday morning or maybe Thursday night, and we've already got someone wanting to create an account to post an ebay auction.

Other issues were that I just get complaints about ebay auctions in the classifieds one way or another. Sometimes just their existence and/or perceived spammyness and sometimes complaints about something to do with ebay that has nothing to do with me. And sometimes DEMANDS from ebay sellers that I'm not advertising "enough" for them. Some ebayers would delete and re-post their ads daily to keep them on top and then get mad at me when I told them to stop - which I did in response to other people bugging me about that. The whole required marking thing "(AUCTION)" in the old forum was intended to satisfy part of that issue but it didn't entirely.

When I looked at the new software, I didn't see a way to do that (required AUCTION marking) without hacking the code directly and I want to minimize hacking the code directly because it makes it harder to install core code updates - which may be necessary for security. So I decided that if I wanted to keep ebay at all, the easy way was two separate Classifieds forums. But I decided to start off with just the one and consider the other (ebay) if it was requested, because, my personal preference was not to have it.

After about 10 days of adjusting, and getting moderators on-board, I opened up the forum, naively thinking: now I could take a break and get back to other things that had been pushed aside... instead the first day turned out to be extremely busy with user requests and various issues to track down and adjust. About 12 hours into this, the first ebay "request" came in the Test forum, which referred to the classifieds policy as "a bit draconian." And I thought: really? after all this work to try to fix complaints about the old forum and then adjusting the new forum, I'm "a bit draconian." ? But I realized I was tired and went to bed.

The next day, I was feeling better, so I decided to embrace it, own it. etc. and I put my buddy, mentor, and confidant: Δράκων AKA Draco in my avatar.

Now I just have to figure out how to implement a death penalty for referring to ebay in the classifieds so I can be fully Draconian.

I may still create that 2nd classifieds forum. One thought is to make it only available after you are an established member of the museum. (Time/post count kinds of metrics.)

[Howard Owen]

(12-15-2013 05:17 PM)Dave Hicks Wrote:  About half of the total accounts at any time were people who just made an account to sell something on ebay and then never posted anything again.

This totally sucks. Is there anyway to restrict access to a particular forum to people who have posted a certain number of times? That would help ensure that throwaway accounts wouldn't get access. On the other hand, that would encourage SPAM. Given support in the standard software, you could institute a "cooling off" period for new accounts. All of this sounds like more work, but the most effective approach would be to simply make the classifieds forum moderated. But that would invite lots of sturm und drang with posters and with some forum members.

Upon reflection, I think your separate forum solution is better.

Edit: missed the last line.

(12-15-2013 05:17 PM)Dave Hicks Wrote:  One thought is to make it only available after you are an established member of the museum. (Time/post count kinds of metrics.)

[Han]

(12-15-2013 05:17 PM)Dave Hicks Wrote:  One thought is to make it only available after you are an established member of the museum. (Time/post count kinds of metrics.)

Actually, I think this would be a fantastic idea.

[Han]

(12-15-2013 04:04 PM)Thomas Radtke Wrote:  Seriously, I'd immediately report such a post after contacting the 'seller' just to get an ebay number. This is spam, IMO.

And you would be completely within your right as a member on this forum. While I personally think we should avoid auction listings (despite having placed a few myself back on the old forums), there really is no way you would be able to tell an auction listing from one that is not an auction listing when the seller does not list prices. If an honest seller has a desirable item to sell, he may want to send things to PM and not make the negotations public. Someone else having a few items (let's say they were an active member of the forum, and simply want to let go of some of their collection to the highest bidder) to sell via an auction may also request a PM, only to send you an auction number in response. If both types of sellers simply provide a description of their items and request a PM to negotiate price, then end result is any interested party would necessarily use PMs to contact the seller. What they do after making contact is completely up to them, including reporting for spam.

Now, I have to really wonder if the majority of people who are genuinely interested in an item are really going to care whether or not the item was an auction item. After all, they have interest in the item -- why else would they bother making contact? It's not like you would get swindled out of money by merely PM'ing the seller. All that is lost are a few bytes and some time -- which one would normally have to deal with when searching for collectibles anyway.

The only folks who I really see reporting such a post as spam are those who are simply against auctions in principle, even if they have strong interest in an item (and there's nothing wrong with this, either). But I would wager these folks make up a much smaller group of interested buyers.

[bhtooefr]

I would actually argue for making all classified postings restricted to established members, not just auctions.

I don't see any reason to hide the classifieds forum altogether, because allowing newbies to buy can help them get into the community, but hit and run sales can be done on the forum outside of auctions, too.

[Mark Hardman]

(12-15-2013 05:17 PM)Dave Hicks Wrote:  About 12 hours into this, the first ebay "request" came in the Test forum, which referred to the classifieds policy as "a bit draconian." And I thought: really? after all this work to try to fix complaints about the old forum and then adjusting the new forum, I'm "a bit draconian."

Sorry about the "Draconian" comment. I started the thread in order to point out the change in policy and not simply to complain about the new policy. The phrase was intended as hyperbole as it related to the 180 degree change in policy. I would never, Dear Friend, use such a term to belittle you or your wonderful work for The Community.

Please forgive my faux pas. At the very least, you did end up the the most awesome avatar ever!

Mark Hardman

[Dave Hicks]

No problem. I was worn out when I read that and it was kind of downer at that moment, but I'm happy with the avatar that I came up with the next day.

[eccehomo]

Hello everybody,

--- message en français en dessous de l'anglais

I'm a french spoken belgian and express myself in english is pretty hard. So I'll be brief! And I ask you to be indulgent with my english. I do my best.

What a story! I did not want to start a polemic!

I did not see the member (Han) who agreed that I post was not a moderator!

You know HP calculators are very easy to sell and there is no need for using the forum for that. And I'm not a business man. I don't want to get rich by selling HP calculators! It is rather the opposite! I sell some calculators to buy other calculators. I think I'm not alone in this situation on this forum?

I am a collector and I often read the forums and articles here.
I am not a member because writing in english is difficult for me.
I just wanted to say that I had a HP-92 for sale because it is a rare model, in Belgian at least, and it could help those who seek one to find it.

This is indeed the case.

(12-15-2013 04:04 PM)Thomas Radtke Wrote:  Seriously, I'd immediately report such a post after contacting the 'seller' just to get an ebay number. This is spam, IMO.

Mister, you never contacted me! Why did you say that?

Best regards

---

Bonjour à tous,

Quelle histoire ! Je ne voulais ni ennuyer les membres, ni déclencher des polémiques ! Je souhaitais juste signaler que j'avais une HP-92 à vendre, qui en Belgique en tout cas, est plutôt rare et que cela pouvait aider des personnes qui en cherche une à la trouver.

Mon intention était de rendre service et comme il y avait une section "petites annonces" qui permettait de poster ce genre de message, je n'ai pas pensé que ça pouvait poser un problème. J'ai pris la précaution de demander si je pouvais le faire, mais c'est vrai que j'ai commis l'erreur de ne pas voir que la personne qui me répondais n'était pas modérateur !

Quiconque complète sa collection d'HP sait que ça se vend et s'achète très bien, et qu'il n'y a pas besoin de ce forum pour le faire.

Et puis je vais faire une confidence : je ne suis pas un homme d'affaire, je ne cherche pas à m'enrichir en vendant des calculatrices ! Je vends juste certaines calculatrices qui me plaisent moins pour en acheter d'autres qui me plaisent plus. Je suppose que beaucoup d'entre vous connaissent ça ?

(12-15-2013 04:04 PM)Thomas Radtke Wrote:  Seriously, I'd immediately report such a post after contacting the 'seller' just to get an ebay number. This is spam, IMO.

Je ne sais pas pourquoi ce membre dit cela, en tout cas il ne m'a jamais contacté.

Meilleures salutations à tout le monde.

[Thomas Radtke]

(12-16-2013 09:35 AM)eccehomo Wrote:  Mister, you never contacted me! Why did you say that?

This has nothing to do with you. Advertizing auctions isn't currently allowed and I feel bothered by those ads, especially if not flagged as such. Thank you for not doing this.

@Dave: It seems we can't have nested quotes in a reply. You you change this?

[Katie Wasserman]

Quote: It seems we can't have nested quotes in a reply. [Can] you change this?

There's no need to. You can just insert the quotes manually with the Quote button, like this:

Quote:[Can] you change this?

Quote:There's no need to.

[Thomas Radtke]

(12-16-2013 04:45 PM)Katie Wasserman Wrote:  There's no need to. You can just insert the quotes manually with the Quote button, like this:

This is what I get on quoting your contribution. I'm supposed to copy & paste the missing quotes myself if needed? Not really convenient.

[Katie Wasserman]

I see. I don't think that this is user changeable but Dave can change it if he sees fit.

From the MyBB documentation:

Under settings > Posting....
there is a setting Maximum Nested Quote Tags

It's must be set to 0 now, but 1 or 2 might be a better choice.

[Dave Hicks]

I just I changed it from 1 to 2 levels. It was originally 1, like it was in the old forum, because I thought people would find multiple levels confusing.

By default it's now going to quote 2 levels deep, so check your posts to see if you really need that much.