Kaiser sent me a PM that prompted this response. We are in agreement that something needed to be said. We are all sick and tired of members spamming the forum with useless crap so they can post in the Garage Sale section. I am also sick of people sending me PMs asking why they have to make 50 posts and "such and such a forum doesn't do that". Guess what? I DO NOT G A F what other forums do.
Just so everyone knows, the minimum post requirement is in place for 2 reasons.
1. It requires that members contribute something useful to the forum, not just come here to sell their items (for free) and disappear. A forum is a community that thrives on user generated content. This isn't Craigslist. Nothing is "FREE" in this world, you want to sell something on the forum we have all worked so hard to build? Contribute to it somehow.
2. Most importantly, the minimum post requirement lessens the chance of members being scammed or ripped off. If someone was allowed to join today and immediately sell something, that's just too easy.
If a member is required to stick around for 5 days and make 50 posts, that will deter most anyone who wants to run in here and scam someone. It would be much easier to just go to Craigslist and scam someone today. If you want to rip someone off, go right ahead but you won't do it on FRF. Also remember I have access to your IP address and email address. A simple call to the local police, your ISP and/or email provider and we will have someone at your front door in 48 hours.
The Supporting Member option isn't there because we want to force you to pay to sell something. But rather, when you become a Supporting Member we receive your personal information from PayPal which eliminates the risk of members being scammed. Sure, you could still get scammed but the person won't get away with it because we have their name and address!
Also, if you're ripped off by a Supporting Member, we will forfeit whatever the "scammer" paid to the forum and give it to whoever got ripped off.
So before you bitch and complain about having to make 50 posts, realize the reasons behind it. Making 50 useless posts in order to work the system is extremely disrespectful and an abuse of the forum.
