ArizonaShoting.ORG doesn't exist for the sole purpose of promoting the free-market exchange of legal goods and services, but rather the intent of this web site is to unite a community of like-minded enthusiasts within the State of Arizona and provide a means whereby each of us can communicate and interact with each other.
Yes, this site has classified ads on it. If you're reading this, you probably are unable to see them yet. Stick around. Participate actively in the discussion forums. Create new topics in the technical forums. Get to know others in the community and eventually, you will be able to see more forums on this site, including the classified ad portions. No, access is not granted based on post count. It's not granted based on how old you are or how long you've been registered. There are several metrics applied before users will get access. Also note that access isn't a "threshold" to achieve. Once you get access, if you cease participation in the site outside the classifieds, you will eventually lose access to the Classified Ad portions of the site.
Users who try to 'game' the system to get access will be severely disappointed. Access is NOT based on number of posts. It is NOT based on registered time on the forums. It's not me or any person going in and giving people access. It's an algorithm that runs a process each night that automatically grants access by taking into account several factors, among them, but not limited to:
- Number of posts
- Time registered on the forum
- Frequency of site visits
- Topics created
- Replies to existing topics
- Posting frequency
- ...and a few others
- Low quality replies (think, replies like "Ok", or "Cool", "bump", "I agree", etc...)
- "Necroposting" replying to a very old topic with a short reply
- Multiple 'shorter' replies to one or more topics in a very short amount of time
- Percentage of posts in a certain forums
- ...and a few others
That means that you can go from having access one day and then losing it the next, or vice versa. Note that this isn't a hair-trigger - it has to be obvious that a user is trying to 'game' the system in some way (yeah, it is obvious when a user tries - I can see several who have already tried) and if so, it will significantly increase the time it takes for that user to gain access to the Classified Ads. It also has to be fairly extreme to lose access.
Here's an example illustrating that point using only ONE of the metrics it takes into account: if a user finally gets access to the classifieds and has been posting about a dozen times a week and then drops down to averaging one post a week despite visiting the site at a similar frequency when the user was posting much more often, they will eventually lose access to the classifieds if the trend continues for a certain period of time and have to start over to gain access.
Once you have access to the Classified Ad portions of the site, if you participate in them, you agree to abide by the following - and failure to do so may result in your access to the classified ads or the entire forum being revoked indefinitely:
This site does not exist for the sole purpose of promoting the free-market exchange of legal goods and services, but rather the intent is to unite a community of like-minded enthusiasts within the State of Arizona and provide a means whereby each of us can communicate and interact with each other. To that end, we strongly encourage everyone to participate in the forums outside of the classified ad sections. Short of policing every transaction, which is something the moderators and administrators are unable to do, this subjective policy has been created, hopefully for the benefit of all involved and will help to maintain a trust and satisfaction while participating in the classifieds here. This does not replace common sense in dealing with someone that you do not know. Do your own research.
Additionally, as a reminder for those who use the classifieds:
- The classifieds are not discussion forums. Except in rare circumstances, the only one to post in the ad should be the seller.
- If you have a question for the seller, you can either PM them or post it up in the forum, especially if it's a question that might be of general interest to others. This doesn't mean, though, you can post questions like: "Did you know you can get it for less at ABC store?" or similar.
- Purchase offers should be done via PM or via email. An "I'll take it" or "PM [or email] sent" is fine to post.
- All ads must have a clear value posted, either a cash purchase price or a trade value. Ambiguous values or "best offers" are not appropriate and will result in your ad being deleted. This is not an auction site.
- Do not "crap" on ads!
What is "ad crapping"? It's quite simply, anything negative within the ad posted by someone other than the seller. Examples of "ad crapping" include:
- prefacing your comment with "Not to be a jerk..."
- writing "yeah, but you can buy it for $X at <insert store name here>"
- writing comments about a poor experience with the seller, like "This guy is a liar and ripped me off" ...that's what the Feedback section is for.
If you have any doubt as to if something is crapping, it probably is.
Legitimate questions about an item, such as color, condition, model, "are you sure it's a Whizbang #3, it looks like their #2", or any question that deals with the ITEM and the SALE, are OK. Questioning the seller's parentage, whether you think the price is fair, or whether the seller used an American flag for a backdrop is NOT OK. That's what PMs are for.
You risk losing not only access to the classifieds, but having forum membership revoked by not following the guidelines here.
If you have any questions about this, please feel free to ask a moderator or administrator.
