That is really unfair

[relichunters]

Why is TNET punishing us by not letting us post in the classifieds?
$5 a month may seem like a little to everyone else, but I am fighting to pay bills and stay afloat. I only detect like once a month now when I manage to get a little gas money.

Why can't it be members who have like 500+ posts, or has been a member for 1 year instead?

I don't think it's about the incidents that happened (whatever happened) I feel it's more about wanting money to go on vacations and stuff.

What do the non-charter members think?

 

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[Tom_in_CA]

As an example, to answer your question: I personally know a fellow who started the now-popular forum for CA md'rs. It started innocently enough, with just he & his friends keeping tabs on each other, bragging finds, etc.... But as it grew, it became a chore for him. Yes the hosting costs perhaps aren't much for him, and yes he could have probably allowed advertising to offset that. But simply just the day to day bologna of someone has a gripe about someone else's post or tone or whatever. Then someone lost his password. Then someone else thinks it's the forum owner's problem to help them figure out how to post pix (when they don't even know how to operate their own computer, etc...). At first, my friend was happy to chime in and help all the people with their questions, monitor for spam, etc... But as it grew, it became a real pain in the b*tt. And this is just for a small regional specific forum! Can you imagine the major pain in the b*tt it is for something this big as this national forum?? Sure he can assign moderators, etc... but you know the old saying about where the buck stops.

The bottom line is, there's no mandate for a forum owner to be "fair", since he put his sweat into making it functional, put up with the evolutionary dramas to form it, etc... I mean, if he can make it pay back to him in a monetary form, then why not? Since when is it Marc's obligation to provide it for free (as much as I want it to be too, by the way). Or put in an economic sense: if "demand" get grueling for any company offering a service, then they typically up their price, right? For example: I own a street sweeper company. So if we get our phone "ringing off the hook" and I'm struggling to dispatch units to all the various jobs, I tend to get picky, hike my prices and minimums, etc.... It's only natural. So too would it be for someone who puts a lot of time into building a forum, I would think. As much as I want it for free too, it's his choice. And he runs the risk, of course, that persons might simply go to another forum, where it IS free.

 

[DigginThePast]

Charter Membership is also available for $20/Yr. In most cases it will provide the police with valid information to follow up if an incident occurs.

I guess you weren't part of the folks that got taken during that period, some of them lost the equivalent of decades of Charter Memberships and they seemed happy to see the change.

"Vacations and stuff." No. It wasn't meant as a punishment to anyone, simply an effective solution from an administrative point of view.

 

[relichunters]

Charter members get access to a bunch more stuff than non-charter members already, but now putting a block on the classifieds is going too far. Basically it's getting to where no one can use this forum without paying. I believe TNET will lose many members soon.

Classifieds played a big part of the forum. It could even be like 1 post per day for non-charters and unlimited for charters. But to block the entire forum until you pay??

Also Marc needs to get moderators to handle all the issues such as newbies. It's easy to make it where only moderators can contact the administrators, and regular members can't.

 

[DigginThePast]

Charter members get access to a bunch more stuff than non-charter members already, but now putting a block on the classifieds is going too far. Basically it's getting to where no one can use this forum without paying. I believe TNET will lose many members soon.

Classifieds played a big part of the forum. It could even be like 1 post per day for non-charters and unlimited for charters. But to block the entire forum until you pay??

Also Marc needs to get moderators to handle all the issues such as newbies. It's easy to make it where only moderators can contact the administrators, and regular members can't.

Are you suggesting that the Mods vet each new member to ascertain their identity?

 

[relichunters]

I don't understand what you mean. But moderators should patrol a "newbie" forum. Keep answering questions.

Any newbie post on other forums would be moved to that forum if posted in the wrong spot.

 

[FCCDFEd]

This is also protection for you so when you buy something from someone else it can at least a have a name and other info attached. It might mean you do not get ripped off, it does not happen alot but it only takes once.

 

[DigginThePast]

What I'm referring to is the method to actually identify an individual if they prove to do something illegal, such as receiving funds for goods they never had or intended to ship. With upwards of thirty new members per day it would be a huge task to verify their identity.

Without that identification a time limit or post count would not help, with the possible exception that they may move on to an easier target.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Why is TNET punishing us by not letting us post in the classifieds?
$5 a month may seem like a little to everyone else, but I am fighting to pay bills and stay afloat. I only detect like once a month now when I manage to get a little gas money.

Why can't it be members who have like 500+ posts, or has been a member for 1 year instead?

I don't think it's about the incidents that happened (whatever happened) I feel it's more about wanting money to go on vacations and stuff.

What do the non-charter members think?

Charter Membership is $20 for a year, if you want to just sell a single item, then $5.00 will buy you membership for a month while you sell it, take it on to your selling price...

Basically it's getting to where no one can use this forum without paying. I believe TNET will lose many members soon.

Classifieds played a big part of the forum. Also Marc needs to get moderators to handle all the issues such as newbies. It's easy to make it where only moderators can contact the administrators, and regular members can't.

Are your serious, there are over 100 main forum titles here, most of which contain multiple subforums, there are only two your required to be a Charter Member to post on, The Charter Member forum, and the classifieds. How can you say it is getting to where no one can use the forum without paying.....

Membership is on the rise, not slipping, Since December TN has average more than 200 new members per month above the previous per month membership rate for the 9 months prior to that....

Current Mods are already overworked as is..........

 

[hombre_de_plata_flaco]

I've never even been to the classifieds section here. I think I will check it out.

 

[Dano Sverige]

Tom in CA - Can i just say this isn't a "National" site...it's an "International" site! Means even more work.

Relichunter - You've posted over 1300 posts in your time here, so you've obviously had a lot to say, and that's without all the things you may have read and enjoyed, found tips and hints about and seen the pic's of wonderous things found. In my opinion that's worth helping the site that has allowed you all this by paying a measly $20 a year!
If Marc decided that he now owns (possibly) the biggest treasure site on the net and changed it to compulsory "charter members only", he'd probably make a LOT more money from all the non-paying members who wanted to continue seeing stuff and posting here.
He doesn't do that. The site is "free" to all and sundry..unless THEY decide to pay to be a charter member and help out.
Some members got ripped off badly by non paying members in the "classified" forum, those members rightly complained bitterly, Marc had to do something...and he did what he did.

Saying that the site will lose members soon, isn't really much of a threat, especially if none of them pay to be here in the first place right? They're here getting 95% of the site for nothing so what does the site lose if they leave?...nothing!
If your family are in such a state that the loss of $20 a year will send them into starvation mode, then you shouldn't have a computer or internet connection.

People should put a little back into a site that gives them so much help,interest,social interaction etc etc..BEFORE they start complaining about it! JMHO

 

[diggummup]

Tom in CA - Can i just say this isn't a "National" site...it's an "International" site! Means even more work.

Relichunter - You've posted over 1300 posts in your time here, so you've obviously had a lot to say, and that's without all the things you may have read and enjoyed, found tips and hints about and seen the pic's of wonderous things found. In my opinion that's worth helping the site that has allowed you all this by paying a measly $20 a year!
If Marc decided that he now owns (possibly) the biggest treasure site on the net and changed it to compulsory "charter members only", he'd probably make a LOT more money from all the non-paying members who wanted to continue seeing stuff and posting here.
He doesn't do that. The site is "free" to all and sundry..unless THEY decide to pay to be a charter member and help out.
Some members got ripped off badly by non paying members in the "classified" forum, those members rightly complained bitterly, Marc had to do something...and he did what he did.

Saying that the site will lose members soon, isn't really much of a threat, especially if none of them pay to be here in the first place right? They're here getting 95% of the site for nothing so what does the site lose if they leave?...nothing!
If your family are in such a state that the loss of $20 a year will send them into starvation mode, then you shouldn't have a computer or internet connection.

People should put a little back into a site that gives them so much help,interest,social interaction etc etc..BEFORE they start complaining about it! JMHO

Hey Dano, for once we agree. Well said!

 

[savant365]

Why is TNET punishing us by not letting us post in the classifieds?
$5 a month may seem like a little to everyone else, but I am fighting to pay bills and stay afloat. I only detect like once a month now when I manage to get a little gas money.

Why can't it be members who have like 500+ posts, or has been a member for 1 year instead?

I don't think it's about the incidents that happened (whatever happened) I feel it's more about wanting money to go on vacations and stuff.

What do the non-charter members think?

I think this is a privately owned site and the owner can charge whatever he wants to keep it up and running. I believe craigslist is still free to use.

 

[Marc]

The main reason I started charging was to cut down on the number of classifieds being posted. TreasureNet is not "a classified ad website". People were running their own - free-of-charge - virtual garage sales here, cluttering up our database with everything from boom boxes to rabbit cages.

In addition... while we still make no guarantees as to the legitimacy of our classified ads - or the honesty of the people posting them, we hope by them having become Charter Members, it gives some assurance - that they are not Nigerian Scam artists!

... and finally.... Punishing? If you feel punished, why do you come here - are you a masochist? If so, I think you need another kind of forum! I never knew someone could be punished by me not giving them something. Amazing.