A poll about posts in buying and selling

[plexus]

There are some posts in the buying and selling forums. there is some question about whether to allow this so please vote on the poll. please do put some consideration to this as it could result in policy forming on the forum so please be thoughtful and sincere.

[frankv]

Really, all of the last 3 options apply:

* They are annoying, I'd prefer not to see them, but I'd live with them in buy/sell only
* The reason they're annoying is that they are spam. Eternal vigilance is needed to keep spammers in their place..
* Any of these posts outside buy/sell should be deleted and repeat abusers banned.

[Mach-Chris]

Yeah, there's a bit of a grey area for me.

The refreshing part of it is that the person responsible is actually active and responsive, not just a "spam-and-run" type of thing.
The only moderately annoying aspect is the frequency of the posts and their lack of relation to PB specifically. But it can be cool to see what else is out there.

I will say that this may present a bit of an opportunity in disguise to a certain degree. Given their apparent desire to produce something useful, something wanted, or sought after, perhaps they would be open to suggestions. They seem to have resources, so maybe we can get them to produce something universally useful to the community as a whole. What that specific item may be, I don't know. I'm just thinking out loud lol.

[Mooselake]

I'm somewhere between 2 and 3 with a hint of 4. This particular individual was asked to show some moderation, but 4 in one day isn't very moderate. If somebody here had actually bought one of their machines and posted a review I'd feel better. Otherwise it's hard to tell where they fall on the good deal to moose manure spectrum. In the plus category at least it's not bed sheets.

Ordinarily I'd just ban and delete (insert Queen youtube reference here) but this time around HE3D's been somewhat interactive rather than a drive by spammer. I'm grateful for the poll and the community's opinion.

Kirk

[Desdemona1]

I believe Chris may be onto some thing, and agree with Kirk as well. These three post lay out the pros and cons perfectly.

[Mooselake]

I should add that the poster that started this discussion has been banned in many forums, including a couple times in this one, which complicates the argument. We're an exceptionally attractive target because we're part of Google's search engine optimization (aka SEO), which is like raising a big flag and saying "Spam Me Spam Me".

That said, where is the line between interesting and useful and just plain annoying repetition?

Kirk

[thawkins]

[Mooselake]

Love doctors can be very important to some people, and after a day of 3D printing frustration we can all use a little love.

Not sure that's what Baba Mundi has in mind, though. Perhaps it's time to go into the word changer (like plexus had to do with k i t c h e n s because of those con artists in Manchester), and make Baba and Mundi censored words, something like changing mundi to mundi the fake, to discourage them.

Kirk

[thawkins]

[Mooselake]

[the.ronin]

I would consider making subforum or a separate forum for "retail ads" or something to that effect. I do know there may be a tendency for people to see these typically, poor grammar, hyped up ads, often posted by an oddly common western female name (L-O-L) and may become desensitized and decide not to bother to look at other ad postings which may have been made by regular members that actually contribute to this forum other than placing retail ads.

Just a thought.


[edit] looking at the postings list, every other post is by this "wendy". "she" may as well get her own subforum.

[Mooselake]

Wendy is indeed a frequent poster, on the margins of being too frequent. The company she represents has been banned before (search for "cute chinese girl"), and it's being watched carefully. Additional comments above.

Our overlord is opposed to creating too many subforums, and I agree with him. Use the unread posts options to check for new posts (after doing a mark forum read if you're new here), and the category and subcategories aren't as important for keeping up.

Kirk

[vexpertise]

thanks for this information.

[Mooselake]

Another no-content post from the Indian subcontinent, where Printrbots are few, and spammers many.

Wonder if the poster owns a 3D printer, or knows what a Printrbot is?

Before we judge too harshly, engineer daughter went to school with it quite a few fellow students from this locale and made several close friends. At the department's graduation dinner we sat with one and her father. I casually asked what kinds of hobbies were popular. Most people are too poor and too busy working to have hobbies. Kinda casts a different light on spamming as a career, although I'll still ban and delete them.

Wonder what happened to the self described cute Chinese girl, and her coworker Wendy?

Kirk