FSFT Only Users Not Contributing to the Community - You Will Be Banned

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I've said this in another thread but the entire reason I initially signed up for the forum was to be able to buy some stuff from people like gunslinger. Please don't ban people like him, ban the people doing dumb things like advertising outside of FS/FT or breaking the rules. I really like the community of people we have (both buyers and sellers) and would really hate to see that die off due to a mass ban or threats of one. There has to be a better solution than that.
 
Doesn't people browsing generate revenue? Even lurkers who just periodically sell stuff bring others in right?
 
i cant understand the thought process here, not everyone has things to add. there are thousands of opinions about various different things, and adding a bunch of guys, going "yeah,me too" or "no way thats not right" doesn't add anything to this forum. it detracts from it. I prefer to lurk,read and sell a few things from time to time that are sitting around my office, or that i dont use. im definitely not making money, maybe recouping some , im sure that the people that buy things here are helped more by it than those selling, for not having to pay retail.

and those saying its not about money are completely wrong. re read all of kyles posts.

why not just require $5 per moth to sell or something? thats very common. I post on a bunch of music gear related sites, and they require that you pay a fee to be able to sell things. this all seems very angry and ugly, and has to have stemmed from something particular.
 
I think everyone active on the forum contributes to the community in their own way. If that happens to be almost exclusively in the FS/FT section of the forum what is the harm in that? Buying and selling used hardware (at reasonable prices) is a HUGE part of being an enthusiast and also helps people get their hands on hardware they couldn't normally. On another note, FS/FT is definitely one of the most active sections of the forum and has to generates a ton of traffic, banning a bunch of users isn't going to help that.

I also know for sure, like a lot of others have said in this post, that many of us are very active lurkers. If you have a way to check my viewing activity you'd be able to see that I'm all over the forum all the time, i just rarely post outside of FS/FT. I can make an effort to post more if that's what you're looking for.
 
I'm probabaly one of those on the bubble. I'm here everyday, read the articles, read the reviews and check out what's for sale. I used to post more under hardware. There was a time when I had played with almost every AMD Black Edition cpu ( AM2, AM2+ and AM3 ). But, I got tired of people telling me I didn't know what I was talking about or just generally arguing with me. I don't need to argue with invisible people over the internet.

I hope I don't get banned because these forums have become an integral part of what I do.
 
Meh I'm not to worried. It's easy to contribute to the forum. There's a lot of great post. If you don't have anything to say to start a conversation, just spend time reading it. There's a lot of brilliant minds on [h] willing to share their passion, and it's pretty easy just to say thank you for the post.

Even the people I don't agree with, and there's lot of them, can provide valuable insight.
 
I used to post and contribute on GenMay, that went exclusive. I guess this was inevitable for me. I never really contributed to other parts of the forum because I had nothing useful to contribute. Not that well versed in computers to give great insight.... bummer.

That's the thing, it's a 2 way street. You can ask questions and generate conversation for people with insight.
 
Can you also ban people who don't leave Heat feedback? ^_^
While I assume you are joking, there is no small amount of this attitude going around. Heat is all fine and well for someone who is not part of the community, but honestly when seller's or buyers demand it from an established member (or owner even) of this community, you wonder just which community those making the demands are part of.

Gunslinger, you say you are way into the extreme OCing and constantly benching things, why not share some of it? There is an extreme OC subforum, and it's been quiet for a while. Toss up some of what you are doing, you become part of the community and who knows maybe that section gets a bit more lively
 
I've been periodically active in other forums, but the large majority of my posts are in FS/FT, probably.
I suppose the key thing here is "contributing". I have contributed, I think, but I don't know what outweighs what. If in the last year I've posted 3-5 times in other forums but mostly in FS/FT otherwise, not sure where that puts me.

Because, I do get a lot from the rest of the forum. I am a lurker, I like looking at others' builds or occasionally helping others with an issue or posting an issue I have, but the majority is lurking.

I often read conversations or posts by others because they have a lot more to say, or they say something that I was going to say, and I feel fine letting them contribute in my place. Sometimes you just don't have something to add, even if you are still getting something out of the discussion.

I suppose for reasons of preventing people from gaming the system, you can't be more transparent on exactly where the line is of "has contributed enough" and I understand that, but it does throw me (and maybe others) into a "limbo" where we're now questioning our future here, and rather suddenly.

Whatever you need to do is understood, but I'm glad you're listening to feedback.
 
Is there a thing on this forum that you could set a rule that no one can post in the FS/FT section until they have at least say 5 posts of more than 6 words in another subforum BETWEEN FS/FT postings
Something like that
I'm only in GenMay and FS/FT....fucking love the FS/FT section and see all the shit I can't afford
:D
 
My two cents: I have mixed posts on both FS/FT and the Hardware forums, but I came back after a month's absence only to post on FS/FT. I confess, I do feel guilty about that. But my overall post count is pretty low, and I don't bump my own threads constantly, so I felt like I wasn't being a burden or a parasite on others. I don't know though, maybe I am wrong.

I've been a member for 5 years, on [H]ard Forum and Anandtech. I've seen both forums go through a number of changes, and with the rise of Reddit, smartphone apps, and social media, it feels like these forum message websites are less popular now than they were 5 years ago.

Is this a money issue? Would making a donation in order to use the FS/FT forums help smooth out server/upkeep costs, or would that simply drive people away, and make the forum more niche? I don't know the answer for sure.

Personally, I would be happy to make a small contribution in order to use FS/FT and demonstrate my appreciation. I did it over at SmallFormFactor.net, and I would definitely do it over here. I've never actually heard this sentiment from you before, Kyle, so this comes as news to me.
 
Some of you guys can post 30-40 threads/posts in the FSFT a month, but can't even post a game or two you have been playing over the weekend? Or maybe throw a few sentences together regarding, I don't know, any current events? :rolleyes:

Kyle isn't asking for much, at all. This isn't Craigslist

I don't do that in real life, why would I do it here? Similarly to uss enterprise above while I'm not diagnosed I have zero RL friends that aren't originally my wife's friends. I don't go out if I have a choice because that's not what I'm interested in. And in fact for large spans (weeks to months) I don't do anything computer related that isn't considered by everyone else to be work. Just so happens I love the work I do (programming).

I do have the occasional post in a couple fora about my TV/monitor or some queries on case modding parts. Most of my FSFT is purchases. My post count would probably be 40% or more higher if I didn't have the habit of typing out a response and then going... fuggit and closing the page without posting.

It would still be nice to be able to sell some stuff off should I want to without too much extra hoop jumping. I do think that some sellers are more a nuisance than useful to have around, but don't know of a better way to police it that isn't human-time intensive, aka moderators.
 
I don't do that in real life, why would I do it here?

Because Kyle is literally telling you this is the point of these forums.

Many people on these forums suffer for some type of anxiety disorder (myself included), and we still find ways to contribute to the community. Hell, my anxiety is the reason I never buy or sell anything on the FSFT section.

If you believe your anxiety prevents you from typing a couple of sentences in a few threads a month, then don't post in the FSFT section. It's really as simple as that.
 
I don't do that in real life, why would I do it here? Similarly to uss enterprise above while I'm not diagnosed I have zero RL friends that aren't originally my wife's friends. I don't go out if I have a choice because that's not what I'm interested in. And in fact for large spans (weeks to months) I don't do anything computer related that isn't considered by everyone else to be work. Just so happens I love the work I do (programming).

I do have the occasional post in a couple fora about my TV/monitor or some queries on case modding parts. Most of my FSFT is purchases. My post count would probably be 40% or more higher if I didn't have the habit of typing out a response and then going... fuggit and closing the page without posting.

It would still be nice to be able to sell some stuff off should I want to without too much extra hoop jumping. I do think that some sellers are more a nuisance than useful to have around, but don't know of a better way to police it that isn't human-time intensive, aka moderators.



I dont Disagree, however what does that add? your now going to have a plethora of semi worthless comments in forums just so some people can list things. For me personally, its a matter of it simply not being necessary, and mostly my thoughts or anything i can add has been said or pointed out, thus making my obligatory "+1" redundant and ultimately, worthless and un needed. and i also often type out posts or responses only to say fuck it, because its either rendered pointless by another post or is already said.

some people love to converse with others with anonymity but im sure there are just as many who prefer not to. forcing either departure or compliance is akin to "its my ball and im going home"

personally i have zero issue with paying a fee either monthly or year or whatever to be able to list things in the FST forum because it is the largest one on available. im no re-seller, i dont buy things just to sell them, but having the widest audience of people interested in the things i may have for sale is very nice, and helps me to progress my current setup, which im sure it does for those purchasing.

Form my perspective this is all kind of un needed a simple " hey from now on there is a fee to list things on this forum for whatever reason" would have sufficed. im sure some would scoff or complain but the majority would just pay it unless it was ridiculous, in which case we would all move to another site an rise/ repeat etc.
 
To me, a differentiation would be people who are selling more or less commercially, or at high volumes, vs people who are selling primarily to upgrade, or sell off their older gear. I haven't really seen too much of the former here, though I have on other forums. Seems like most of the sellers (and buyers) here are of the latter variety. And I think the trading forum here works well, and is somewhat self-selecting, in terms of focusing on trading between hobbyists / amateurs, rather than people trying to make bank by flipping gear for profit.

One solution might be to make the FS/FT forum only available to subscribers (which I am currently not). But that might motivate me to become one :)

(Like others have said, I do turn off my adblocker for this site in particular.)
 
Some of you guys can post 30-40 threads/posts in the FSFT a month, but can't even post a game or two you have been playing over the weekend? Or maybe throw a few sentences together regarding, I don't know, any current events? :rolleyes:

Kyle isn't asking for much, at all. This isn't Craigslist

Because some of us don't even game anymore.
I grew up loving video games. They were my life. My escape from reality.

Now, it's all online interaction.
FPS games. League, Dota, MMorpg's, even jrpg's have been hit, console games like uncharted have been hit, etc.... they all need something that is both scary, and in many cases, almost impossible, to do. Interact.
I find it extremely hard to even find something to play anymore, console, PC, or otherwise. So much requires interaction it's ridiculous.
And it's just over the top with games like Destiny or Destiny 2. I tried Destiny 1, got stuck. Why? There are puzzles that REQUIRE you to be partied to complete.

Therefore, I can NOT even finish the game! Nowhere on the box was I told that I would HAVE to be partied with, and interact, with other individuals.
If I had been told, i would have never bought it.
Of course, no one at Bungie could consider their "masterpiece" game franchise as anti-disability, and discriminatory by design.
A flawed product. Have issues that make it difficult to interact with others? Then BAM, you are hereby precluded from ever finishing our title. Sorry, you can not attain OUR level, you lowly, broken person!

So disappointed.

But no, I do not believe in a second that that is the POINT of these forums.
Partly? maybe. But the whole, to me, is so much greater.

There is a great wealth of knowledge here. So much to learn, and enjoy. Gratefully given to us by others that CAN, and DO, in fact have the ability to impart such wisdom on everyone.
And as such, a huge part of hardforum, and any online message board in general, is reading. And learning. And appreciating knowledge that you would NEVER have gotten yourself, because of your interaction problems.
FINALLY - a way to learn, gain, grow, improve, and mostly ENJOY, WITHOUT the problems that would come from having to try to learn from someone else in person.

To claim that one has to interact or reply, screams of a 5 year old crying for acknowledgement.
"Hey, hey! Look at me! Did you hear me? But you didn't SAY so! You have to acknowledge every sentence I make! You have to NOTICE me! You have to make me important!"

Again, not every one is the same. Some of us are very, very different. Some of us so different, that many of you think down on us. Think lesser. Hate us. Some of you are the ones who made fun of us. Beat us up, called us retarded, and ostracized us throughout our lives. Making school a living hell. Making our lives turmoil. Making us afraid to walk home alone.
Believing you are better than us.

And on the flip side, many of you are not.

But we are all old enough now, I would think, to realize that it takes many, many kinds to make up this world. And just because someone isn't like YOU, doesn't make them LESSER, and absolutely doesn't make them deserve less than you.

To not only take away our community, but to also REMOVE the opportunity for us to learn and grow, and improve upon ourselves with the great amassing of knowledge here, and, even further, to remove our access itself to such a fantastic base, simply because we don't provide you with acknowledgment, is wrong. And, quite frankly, immature.

Again, I mean no offense at all in my statements. Just trying to give a different viewpoint.
And if ANYONE has an issue, please, pm me and let me know. I am sorry.

I know not many of you can not understand, and do not, and will not, ever know what it's like. But I'm asking you to hear me Hear me, and believe. And try to put yourselves in our shoes. For me, and the others like me.

BY THE WAY - when I say "you" I am speaking in generality, not any one person in particular. I felt that i had to point that out. I don't want to be misinterpreted. A thing that happens oh so often.
Thanks!
 
Yikes! Can we at least have a warning? I admit most of my posts are in the FS/FT area but I do enjoy reading the HardOCP news and reviews. I could post more in other forums I suppose but I just had not thought about it recently.
 
To me, a differentiation would be people who are selling more or less commercially, or at high volumes, vs people who are selling primarily to upgrade, or sell off their older gear. I haven't really seen too much of the former here, though I have on other forums. Seems like most of the sellers (and buyers) here are of the latter variety. And I think the trading forum here works well, and is somewhat self-selecting, in terms of focusing on trading between hobbyists / amateurs, rather than people trying to make bank by flipping gear for profit.

One solution might be to make the FS/FT forum only available to subscribers (which I am currently not). But that might motivate me to become one :)

(Like others have said, I do turn off my adblocker for this site in particular.)

I agree, FSFT is great, it's a reliable source for parts at fair prices from fellow gamers/enthusiasts. I think it's a fantastic community effort. So what if it's the only reason you come here, using the FSFT section usually means you are helping out another member here. Maybe that other member is in fact active in other areas and they are deserving of access to the parts that some of the strictly-FSFT members may have to offer.
 
Im sure a lot of people will find your work interesting, thanks for sharing.

This may be a minority opinion, but I personally like having a large community in the FS/FT forum even if people dont share in other ways. It benefits everyone else who reads/posts on the forums by having a place where you can typically feel safe making second-hand purchases. 80% of my system parts probably come from this forum, and I have zero interest in going anywhere else. It would be a shame if the availabilty of these parts was reduced, its a great part of this forum.
 
If it is the spammers or even scammers you are worried about in the FS/FT then I think you have little to be concerned with really. My brother really liked the site and wanted to be able to trade here but was discouraged rather quickly when he realized it was going to take significantly more than just registering here.

If it's the contribution you seek from members in all other areas, then I think a stipulation would be a better attempt than banning outright. At least a warning to begin with too.
 
It sounds like I am a prime example of someone to be banned, I really only use the FS/FT forum and I wouldn't plan on changing that - I'm just not really into discussion forums. I didn't realize I was being a burden to the community or the site and I still don't fully understand the problem.

What was said, is I need to contribute to the community more, but in what way? Others have proven easy work-arounds for getting a post count, and I wouldn't support a fee for the FS/FT forum because I think it would limit the amount of people trading - reducing and ruining the FS/FT "non-contributing" community (though I personally wouldn't have a problem paying a small fee). So, is the problem monetary, like many in this thread seem to think given the suggestion of fees? Or is it lack of participation in other parts of the forum, like Kyle seems to suggest? Or something else I don't see? It's hard to find a solution, without a clear understanding of the problem.

I guess I always thought participating in the FS/FT part of the forum added to the forum as a whole to some degree. I have always preferred using this forum to buy and sell due to the knowledgeable people buying and selling. I have even had good discussions with people during private messages that started because of the FS/FT forum. I would hate to lose access to [H], being that this has been my go-to place for used hardware for 12 years now (and a few sales).
 
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Because Kyle is literally telling you this is the point of these forums.

Many people on these forums suffer for some type of anxiety disorder (myself included), and we still find ways to contribute to the community. Hell, my anxiety is the reason I never buy or sell anything on the FSFT section.

If you believe your anxiety prevents you from typing a couple of sentences in a few threads a month, then don't post in the FSFT section. It's really as simple as that.

Actually Kyle is saying participate, I'm saying the recommended "participation" (non-tech posts) by Pringle is not my cuppa and won't happen. As for the tech side, I do participate where I'm interested but that frequency is LOW and I don't need to explain why. Nothing will change that.
 
Yikes! Can we at least have a warning? I admit most of my posts are in the FS/FT area but I do enjoy reading the HardOCP news and reviews. I could post more in other forums I suppose but I just had not thought about it recently.
Isn't that exactly what you just got?

FSFT Only Users Not Contributing to the Community - You Will Be Banned
 
I think the important thing to keep in mind is, FS/FT is a subforum to be utilized by forum contributors who frequent the site. It's not a sales forum that happens to have a bunch of other hardware forums attached.

I, for one, appreciate this move because I have seen (and tried to report) a fair surge of newbie members lately spamming posts, and in some cases necroing threads for no reason, just to apparently get access to FS/FT.

The forum has a lot of other stuff to offer, guys. If you are just here to sell there are plenty of other forums and actual sites that are geared toward that.
 
This whole topic has me just seeing flashbacks to the Genmay closure but at least that was somewhat justified because it was fairly toxic and required a ton of moderation and oversight AS WELL as being just freeloaders who didn't contribute.

I don't get the point here. Are these posts really taking so much effort and bandwidth? I mean, if people are getting advice on hardware here and buying it from Amazon you aren't demanding a cut of that, right?
 
I can see the counter-argument but really, it seems like only posting here shows you're not really interested in the community at large. And if that's the case, why the need to sell here?

The funniest thing about it is that this thread is the most active some of these folks have ever been in a discussion thread.
 
This whole topic has me just seeing flashbacks to the Genmay closure but at least that was somewhat justified because it was fairly toxic and required a ton of moderation and oversight AS WELL as being just freeloaders who didn't contribute.

I don't get the point here. Are these posts really taking so much effort and bandwidth? I mean, if people are getting advice on hardware here and buying it from Amazon you aren't demanding a cut of that, right?
FSFT has ALWAYS been for contributing members of our community. That is nothing new. The fact is that there are many folks that are using our community for nothing other than their own personal storefront.

You don't deal with all the spammers, scammers, and folks reaching out for help in FSFT. I do. There is a lot of it that you do not see. We do have actions in place to limit this sort of behavior already, but you are not aware of those.
 
Worth mentioning is the introduction to the FSFT rules that have been on this page for a long long time.

Welcome to the For Sale/For Trade Forum.


The FSFT forum has its own set of specific rules and has a required 100 post minimum to participate. FSFT is for contributing members of HardForum.

PMs have also been TURNED OFF for new members to prevent scamming of our community members.


WARNING: Do not spam the forums to reach the required minimum, your posts will be deleted or your account banned outright.


Please read the rules before posting in this forum. [H]ard|Forum is NOT RESPONSIBLE for any loss due to any sale or exchange of any item in the For Sale / Trade forum. Caveat Emptor!!


You can now edit your own thread titles and close your own threads after your sale has ended.
 
You made it sound like you were going to just start banning people. If this is a warning then I will definitely contribute more moving forward knowing this now!
I am. Getting the full list together now.
 
I think if you give people a chance to change it would be better than just ban hammering. I know I will be contributing more moving forward, that is if I don’t get banned :(
 
I think if you give people a chance to change it would be better than just ban hammering. I know I will be contributing more moving forward, that is if I don’t get banned :(
What exactly do you think this thread is about? Get your shit in line now.
 
You say your getting a list together implying immanent bans and then say this thread is more about getting our stuff together so we don’t get banned. /confused
If people are posting in this thread then they care enough not to be banned, I’m assuming your making a list of the people that are the worst offenders and aren’t commenting here.
 
You say your getting a list together implying immanent bans and then say this thread is more about getting our stuff together so we don’t get banned. /confused
If people are posting in this thread then they care enough not to be banned, I’m assuming your making a list of the people that are the worst offenders and aren’t commenting here.
Oh no. If you have been using HardForum FSFT for nothing more than your personal storefront, you will get banned.

So IF the shoe fits, wear it.
 
Seems to me the real problem here are the entitled assholes who use [H] only as a free service to sell their stuff, show no respect/recognition to the moderation team, then expect help when something goes wrong with their sale.

The proper solution is to ban these users, can't argue with Kyle on this one.
 
a. Only use FS/FT = ban
b. Mostly use FS/FT, lurk a lot, occasionally contribute, but rarely = ???
c. Contribute often = not ban

I strongly fall within the gray area of group b, and the fate of users in that group is unclear.

If I do end up on the list, my time here was fun while it lasted.
It's not that I necessarily think I'm on the list, it's just that I don't know and won't know until it's too late.
I do think even if I remain, that it's possible we'll lose some good sellers in the process.

I definitely understand Kyle's predicament though. He shouldn't have to get involved in users' transactions at all, nor be asked or expected to do so.
 
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