Classifieds and the Rules

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1

I would have posted this earlier, but I’ve just now been allowed to join after having my registration pending for two weeks.

As a guest, I placed a classified ad for a service that has so far been well received by the expat community. My classified was nearly instantly deleted. Why? I have no idea, and as a guest I suppose I’m not entitled to knowing why. However, my post did not appear to violate any of the millions of new rules.

This thread, however, does seem to violate many of the rules:

forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.php?t=28494

I have nothing against this poster. I just wonder why her post is allowed to remain and be heckled by users apparently violating the “this is not a discussion forum” rule, and possibly other rules. This must fall under the “may…” clause of the Enforcement section of the rules.

So fine, my free classified got killed. No problem, I’ll just buy a banner ad. There must be some info about those in the FAQ. Nope. In the forums? Nope, at least not obvious. Must have to join a cult to get one of those.

Ok, email admin. Oops. Bounce.

I mean, what the heck!?!

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Sorry if I deleted/moved it. I only delete double posts and move thing that don’t “sit well”. If it was me, then there was no way to notify you since you were a guest (normally I would).

Feel free to PM me any questions or what not.

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Thanks, but there’s no need for an apology. I don’t expect to be able to advertise for free.

I guess my main complaint is that the original poster’s ad is apparently ok with the mods, yet the same mods let members break the rules in commenting about her.

She’s been subtly accused of being some kind of crook for the last two days.

As a potential (paying) advertiser, why would I ever want to post an ad? Why would I open myself up to getting accused of “double-dipping”, spamming, and poor business sense?

Is posting replies disabled (like it says) or not???

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Re: that thread being referenced. I know that girl personally, and I seriously doubt she’s hounding that guy. If she is, I doubt he’s as innocent as he claims to be.

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Hi

I am not commenting on the policy aspect of your post - it’s not my place to do this.

For the technical problems you cite, the responsibility is all mine :doh:

[quote=“rowboat”]So fine, my free classified got killed. No problem, I’ll just buy a banner ad. There must be some info about those in the FAQ. Nope. In the forums? Nope, at least not obvious. Must have to join a cult to get one of those.

Ok, email admin. Oops. Bounce.

I mean, what the heck!?![/quote]
Looks like the steps you took were perfectly correct. Let me address each one, in case you were still wondering about’em. I agree, this is exceptionally poor service on our/my part

  1. 2 weeks to get your registration approved is inexcusable - this is related my not yet properly setting up the mail system here at ServerBeach.com, our webhost. At this point, when the forum sends an e-mail message (reply notification, password, activation link) it uses oriented.forumosa.com (or something like that) as the FROM server. Because this domain name does not actually exist, some mail systems (like the one you seem to be using) either bounce the message, or delay delivery (apparently for 2 weeks).

This problem should be resolved by next week.

  1. Buying banner ads - we have actually worked out a new banner policy, but for no good reason (really, there’s no reason for this) I haven’t gotten around to posting it up. I know, it’s crazy :loco: I have been keeping busy with other things, but I realize this gives the impression that we do not want or need the financial support. Actually, we do (want and need help), and I’ll post this up shortly

  2. Nothing in the FAQ - yeah, that’s where I would have looked first, too. I’ll try to make it even easier than that and insert a link in the header (or footer) and the front page some where. And put something in the Wiki, too. As the Wiki takes off, I’m thinking we remove the FAQ anyway and just direct people to FAQs on the Wiki. I haven’t talked to anyone about that yet (but it sure makes sense to me since we wouldn’t have to wait for me to update it, know what I mean?)

  3. Join the cult - well, I don’t blame you for feeling that way. Do you see the big banners at the top of the forums? Those donors are paying for the webhosting of forumosa for 2005. We hit our target last month. :bouncy: It took us only a few days because we only had to speak to a few donors. :slight_smile: Now, after we hit goal, the sense of urgency kind of lowered a bit. :frowning: That’s not cool, but I admit to that.

Yet, we still need donations! :help: Why? Because although we have our web server costs covered, there are other costs that we want to pay for. The primary one: promotions. Promotions mean paying for ads in the English newspapers, printing up nifty new bookmarks and drink coasters to stack up at nifty locations around the city, and other promotional gigs.

We’ll have our donor page back soon because it is a disservice to the Forumosans who have given us cash to keep us growing.

  1. Email the admin - right, this is related to the incomplete mail server thingie that I mentioned above. :taz: We’ll correct this soon. :wall: In the meantime, try to contact us at forumosa (at) gmail.com

I hope you won’t be discouraged by these missteps. And I also hope you’ll keep me honest by continuing to point out the mistakes that, quite frankly, shouldn’t be happening in the first place.

I am contrite.

gus.

6

Goose Egg,

Thanks for your reply. I understand that this is a for-donations kind of thing, so I don’t really feel put off by the technical issues (at least now that I’ve vented…haha). I also know that Chinese New Year is a time to unwind and forget about stuff like this.

As for the policy issues, well I’ll keep this short because it still really bothers me and I’m likely to go off again. Sheesh, there’s even a mod in there yakking about this poor girl’s business.

Either let people run classifieds without this kind of BS or make it clear that they’re likely to get slammed if their grammar is off, if they make a typo, or if they draw the ire of some passerby with nothing better to do.

“This is NOT a discussion forum - Posting replies has been disabled” should read “Your livelihood is up for public scrutiny in print and you may even be libeled - but hey, it’s free!”

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[quote=“rowboat”]Goose Egg,

Thanks for your reply. I understand that this is a for-donations kind of thing, so I don’t really feel put off by the technical issues (at least now that I’ve vented…haha). I also know that Chinese New Year is a time to unwind and forget about stuff like this.

As for the policy issues, well I’ll keep this short because it still really bothers me and I’m likely to go off again. Sheesh, there’s even a mod in there yakking about this poor girl’s business.

Either let people run classifieds without this kind of BS or make it clear that they’re likely to get slammed if their grammar is off, if they make a typo, or if they draw the ire of some passerby with nothing better to do.

“This is NOT a discussion forum - Posting replies has been disabled” should read “Your livelihood is up for public scrutiny in print and you may even be libeled - but hey, it’s free!”[/quote]

I have very right, as does every other member of this site to question what I (we) perceive as a potentially dodgy job or job offers.

I don’t know why posting was allowed on the Job forums. I had assumed that because it was enabled it was okay.

I reserve the right to comment on any and all “Jobs Offered” postings as I see fit. Though it won’t be in the “Jobs Offered” section itself.

8

I need to say something here - in the last week we were getting bombarded with “lesbian porn spam” postings in the classified section, because we normally don’t require registration in order to post there. I changed the permissions to allow only registered members to post in the job classifieds. When I did that, I forgot to adjust the permissions to disable replies. So there hasn’t been a policy shift, just an error caused by my knee-jerk reaction to pron-spam. I fixed the problem yesterday and there should be no more problems.

We allow replies to housing classifieds and also to buy and sell because we think it helps prevent people from getting ripped off. An informed community is a protected community. Some people may disagree with this policy, but there it is…

9

Well, thanks everyone for your replies. I might consider using your classifieds in the future.

However, I’m still confused about the rules and how some posters seem to get away with breaking them. It’s not my business I guess, I’m not a VIP.

As for the ad itself, I don’t see how it’s anyone’s business whether she charges the student, the teacher, or both. If people use her service and are satisfied with the result, what’s so dodgy about it? The only real complaint she has against her is from some anonymous person who’s surprised to receive email solicitations after having made an email address publicly available on the Internet.

Oh, according to my dictionary, “double-dipping” is the simultaneous collection of a salary and a pension, which is probably a spurious accusation that seems to warrant an apology, but that’s likely too much to expect, since the rules are obviously not being uniformly enforced.

I’m not trying to take a jab at anyone here. I

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[quote=“rowboat”]I’m not trying to take a jab at anyone here. I

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I still fail to see what rules were being broken. I see people asking legitimate questions (albeit in a fairly direct manner) to clarify the nature of the posting. There are a lot of people who are scamming potential teachers around, I don’t see the harm in checking up. Could you please point out what rules are being broken and where? I agree that people who replied should’ve been more tactful, but I don’t see any rule saying tactlessness is forbidden.

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[quote=“rowboat”]
Oh, according to my dictionary, “double-dipping” is the simultaneous collection of a salary and a pension, which is probably a spurious accusation that seems to warrant an apology[/quote]

I prefer the definition in the first paragraph (I’m assuming this is where you got your definition from)

investopedia.com/terms/d/doubledipping.asp

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Neither of those definitions is what I associate with double dipping. I look at far too much porn.

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A connoisseur of sloppy seconds I see :wink:

15

Holy schnit…that really is a sexual term! I thought I made up some clever joke as a sophomore watching a “sexual aid” video with my older dormmates, except it involved pieces of fruit and regular eating etiquette about sharing food.

Learn something new everyday, they say…

How true.

16

Holy schnit…that really is a sexual term! I thought I made up some clever joke as a sophomore watching a “sexual aid” video with my older dormmates, except it involved pieces of fruit and regular eating etiquette about sharing food.

Learn something new everyday, they say…

How true.
[/quote]

To make this a truly interactive educational experience, why don’t you ask Sandman for a demonstration? :wink:

17

it is nice to know what people are up to before you agree to make any kind of deal. and it’s a cold day in hell before i will pay to get a private class - i still get approached once a month from people on the street looking for a teacher, never mind referrals. ymmv.

if you are interested in this, then jump at it. but newbies should be made aware that there is loads of work available that does not require advance “payment”.

18

[quote=“Chewycorns”][quote=“rowboat”]
Oh, according to my dictionary, “double-dipping” is the simultaneous collection of a salary and a pension, which is probably a spurious accusation that seems to warrant an apology[/quote]

I prefer the definition in the first paragraph (I’m assuming this is where you got your definition from)

investopedia.com/terms/d/doubledipping.asp[/quote]

Nope, Merriam-Webster (www.m-w.com). Prefer whichever one you like, they’re both most likely false accusations, unless you have evidence you’d like to share.

[quote=“xtrain_01”]it is nice to know what people are up to before you agree to make any kind of deal. and it’s a cold day in hell before I will pay to get a private class - I still get approached once a month from people on the street looking for a teacher, never mind referrals. ymmv.

if you are interested in this, then jump at it. but newbies should be made aware that there is loads of work available that does not require advance “payment”.[/quote]

So, this is less a classifieds section than a legitimizing section? Either way, it should be accurately identified as such, which it now is, so this is a non-issue.

I can’t, because there don’t seem to be any rules specifically for non-discussion areas. However, there’s a whole section called “Personal Attacks, Civility, and Respect” (tact=>civility).

Anyway, thanks everyone for being patient with my questions and snide remarks. I realize, as a new poster, I’ve kind of barged my way into things. You were all fully entitled to ignore or ridicule me, but you didn’t, so hat’s off to you (especially the admins, whose rules I have both been snarky about and supported.)