Irish Mini Owners Club

After a Committee Meeting that was held on Saturday the 22nd of October 2011, it has been decided that any one who post's a "For Sale" ad MUST follow the rules but, will also be given an option to lock the advert.
We are going to try this as a trial until the 30th of November 2011.

For any one who has a comment or idea regarding this matter, please reply to this Topic.

Please read the following topic first
http://www.irishminis.ie/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7380

Thanks,
Simon O'Carroll.
IMOC Webmaster

I agree that all rules should be followed although I prefare the earlier system where the poster was given 24hrs to conform after an error was spotted as usually this involved the issue of posting photos which is a pain in thew a**.
I don't like the idea of locking an add as anybody who was selling an item but not interested in answering questions in public about it ( ie. howcome your"65" looks exactly like a MPi) may include a phone number or email in the add and lock it. The thing I like about our ads is that any interested party can ask advice of other forum users. There is a benifit in locking old ads but when locked these should come up marked as SOLD.

I think that anybody posting an ad should adhere to the forum rules, those failing to do so should have their ad deleted until such time as they have the relevant details and can apply them properly to the ad, (although i don't agree that a mobile number is a must, to me PM'ing your number is perfectly acceptable)
Then they can simply come back and edit their existing ad to include all the details, job done
leaving the details there means that somebody who just comes here to glom off the site can still do it because people looking can see their contact number/details.

lets face it folks, in this day and age of computers, not knowing how to post a picture is simply not an excuse anymore, it's just plain laziness!
there are plenty of guides on how to do it, all you have to do is look for them

There's a simple precedent for all the above and it's called Donedeal. You place your ad in the required format and if people are genuinely interested in your item for sale, they will make the effort to contact you directly and arrange a viewing.

For yonks the committee has listened to complaints about people only using the club's forum to sell cars and are never seen again (true but we still occasionally buy the cars) and sellers complaining that their ads are hijacked by self-styled gurus offering best wishes, kidneys, offers to buy the car but they've just bought something else etc.

The committee have thought long and hard about how to finally sort out the For Sale section and as Simon has said above, we're trialling this approach.

Let's try it out and see if it works.

Billy

in all honesty billy i personaly think that mods and the people with previous power to edit or delete for sale threads for not complying with the rules seem to be the ones doing all the moaning and whinging for the above reason.... i have yet to see a member complain publicly but only a mod to come along and CLEAN UP or DELETE a thread for going off topic!!!
all i think should be compulsary is a pic and a description so possible buyers know what it is, most members have their location specified under their avatar and as macker said there are too many bogus net users to justify making it compulsary.... or how about making the for sale section visable to forum members only?
anyways when i became a full club member i couldn't get over the degree of seperation there was between club members and forum users so am not suprised it is how it is!!!

RANT OVER!!

Davey,

I can understand where you are coming from but the simple reality is that a lot goes on behind the scenes that most members are unaware of, often at committee meetings where for example 8 of us travelled from all over Ireland last Saturday to Athlone and where the issue of problems with the For Sale section took up a lot of the discussion.

Any complaints (and there were plenty of them) that I received while a moderator were through PM or to my mobile which is well advertised. I was delighted to step down as moderator some months ago and voiced my desire to do so for several committee meetings earlier this year once a suitable replacement was found. Macker kindly volunteered to take over.

It's a time-consuming job and a thankless one but the alternative is a free for all.

Billy

Adding to Billys post above, quite often offensive or inappropriate posts have been removed prior to most forum users seeing them.
All clubs and organisations need to have guidelines and boundries to help them operate. The IMOC ones are VERY relaxed and informal in comparison with some other groups.

Most of the time, things run very smoothly here on the forum, but occassionaly some people feel the need to upset the apple cart. This has the potential to ruin the service for the majority. The committee, moderators and others give their time for free to ensure that the IMOC is administerd in a professionall manner for all members to enjoy. It's not a productive use of committee members' time to have to spend an inordinate amount of it at meetings discussing the actions of a few which impact on many others on the forum.

The new system on trial is still a very transparent way for users to avail of the FREE advertising service that the IMOC provides for IMOC members and non members alike.

Tony

on the contrary to what billy said, tony has just confirmed my thoughts to me.... i know you say its very relaxed but i beg to differ, this is the only forum i'm on(i'm on quite a few) wher you cannot even comment on something in the background if its not mini related.... if a mod finds it offensive then it'll offend the author, to me thats bull and TBH i've never heard the likes.... what are we, moany 2 year olds??

comes accross very over moderated to me(and i look to be on my own thought there or others are maybe afraid to offend) but as you say it is informative whereas i've also seen members givn the wrong advice which resulted in anger so how do you filter good from bad advice?... some might see it as intentional!!

it could be more fun to browse here but i think mods need to lay off the power trip and moany members need to grow a pair and tell ofensive posters where to go (do their own dirty work).... all my own opnion though, anyone else got one??

imho the photograph, price & location rule is excellent, works well and is correctly moderated, but i do think the individual threads should be left open so that questions can be asked and opinions offered.

I think it should be up to the seller whether to post her/his phone or other contact options - using PM's for contact details seems quite good for those concerned about privacy on an open forum. And yes, i think the forum should remain open to non-members.

Of course the moderators retain the right to ammned, delete, lock, exclude etc., based on general guidelines of decency, relevance and to protect the IMOC from libel, slander, breach of copyright etc.

The website & online forum is as much part of our community as a social meet, track-day or other event, and like those that marshall, those that moderate have a difficult task. I for one, thank them for their efforts, and would agree with them that they dont always get it right.

But winning 95% of the time is still winning.

I think that all FOR SALE items should have all offers made on the thread itself.
At least that way people will know if an item is gone or not without having to ask or PM the seller directly.
It also shows who is in line to receive the item next if the sale falls through.
I know I'm not a club member yet. I want to get my car up and running before I join the club so I suggest leaving the section open to the public. However, I also suggest having a closed for sale section for the same items if club members wish to sell only to fellow club members at a lower price as it could give more people an incentive to become members.

Scoobasteve7 wrote:I think that all FOR SALE items should have all offers made on the thread itself.
At least that way people will know if an item is gone or not without having to ask or PM the seller directly.
It also shows who is in line to receive the item next if the sale falls through.
I know I'm not a club member yet. I want to get my car up and running before I join the club so I suggest leaving the section open to the public. However, I also suggest having a closed for sale section for the same items if club members wish to sell only to fellow club members at a lower price as it could give more people an incentive to become members.

I agree with you that offers should be kept on the thread for the same reasons but i think that having 2 or more for sale sections just creates unnecessary work and confusion, and also creates a divide, the whole us and them mentality!

macker wrote: I agree with you that offers should be kept on the thread for the same reasons but i think that having 2 or more for sale sections just creates unnecessary work and confusion, and also creates a divide, the whole us and them mentality!

That's a fair point. I can see how the moderators would have enough on their plate as it is with one FOR SALE section as well as the rest of the forum.