This is more just curiousity on my part than anything else. Two recent threads have been closed for the following reason:

I am closing this thread soliciting to purchase items, per our community policy regarding advertising, which states:

quote:
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Advertisements, chain letters, pyramid schemes, and solicitations are not permitted on this message board and will be deleted. We will notify the Internet service provider of any party posting objectionable messages.
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The advertisements, chain letters, and pyramid schemes are pretty obvious. When I read solicitation in that context, I think of it more as a desire to stop people from saying:

"Hey, I'm selling my Disney DVD's on Ebay, come and look at them!" or "I need to get rid of my TV, anybody wanna buy."

The two threads were more in the vein of "I'm looking for something and can't get to the park (or elsewhere) to get it, can anyone help me out?" I remember several months back, a poster indicated he wanted a certain pin but couldn't make it to the park. We bought the pin and mailed it to him. I guess, I'm just wondering, two things:

1. Why now: I've seen stuff like this before and it seems like the closing of these threads is pretty recent.
2. Is this such a problem: Do these solicitations represent a major problem, they seem pretty infrequent and represent a way for members to help each other.

Just to clarify. I'm pretty indifferent one way or the other. I'll follow the rules as stated and I think that you have to police certain things to keep them from getting out of control, but what's the dilly-o.

There is a difference between "Can anyone suggest where I can buy X" and "Is there anyone out there who has X to sell me?"

Basically, any post that looks like a personal want ad falls under this category.

It's a bit of a gray area, and I tend not to close a thread unless the original poster actually comes out and SOLICITS (such as was the case in these two threads).

1. Why now: I've seen stuff like this before and it seems like the closing of these threads is pretty recent.

It's kind of coincidental that the two happened so close together, but reading the posts, the moderators felt the requests were direct solicitations.

2. Is this such a problem: Do these solicitations represent a major problem, they seem pretty infrequent and represent a way for members to help each other.

We want to keep on our toes because they can become a really bad problem. MousePad does not provide a means for readers to buy/sell/trade things in the vein of a classified section of the newspaper. Even if we put disclaimers all over the place, we do not wish to expend the types of resources eBay puts into dealing with abuses and cases of fraud.

Does that clarify things for you, Ed?

Originally posted by Lani
Does that clarify things for you, Ed?

It does, thanks.

Would the most recent thread still have been closed if the OP had mentioned that she wanted to buy a ticket? I know she doesn't specifically say that, but I think that was her intention.

I do understand the policy (I think) and I think it's a fair policy, especially because in the summer we seemed to have a lot of "Hey can a CM sign me in on this day" threads. I was just curious if that little bit of info would have affected whether or not the thread was closed.

Originally posted by MickeyD
Would the most recent thread still have been closed if the OP had mentioned that she wanted to buy a ticket? I know she doesn't specifically say that, but I think that was her intention.Yes. The issue here is not that she was asking for a ticket, but that her request was what we consider a personal want ad. We do not permit those on MousePad.
I do understand the policy (I think) and I think it's a fair policy, especially because in the summer we seemed to have a lot of "Hey can a CM sign me in on this day" threads. I was just curious if that little bit of info would have affected whether or not the thread was closed.I believe you are talking about two similar, but different issues. You are probably thinking that the poster was "panhandling," as in the case you mention of someone asking CMs to let his friends in. In the case of the recent posts, however, the issue was that the poster was soliciting to purchase things.

Here is a good rule of thumb: Anything that you might find in the classified section of the newspaper would be a good candidate for thread closure.

Example of a "want to buy" post:
Not OK: "My refrigerator just broke down. Does anyone have a spare refrigerator they can sell me?"
OK: "My refrigerator just broke down. Can anyone recommend a good refrigerator repair shop?"

Example of a "for sale" post:
Not OK: "I just moved into a new apartment, and it comes with its own refrigerator. I am willing to sell my old one for $50. Any takers?"
OK: "I just moved into a new apartment, and it comes with its own refrigerator. Does anyone have a favorite nonprofit charity they can recommend for me to donate my old refrigerator to?"

I think one of the issues is that we do not really spell it out in exact measurements in our community policy, what we consider OK and not OK. We purposefully kept the wording generic because we realize that as soon as we say folks can't do X, they will say, "Well, can you do X+1? How about green Xs? Is it ok to post X if it's posted on a Tuesday?" and so on.

Does this help?

Originally posted by Lani
Does this help?

Yes, thank you. I didn't mean to nitpick on this, I was just wondering and your post definitely cleared things up for me.

Geez, sorry. My desperation for that ticket must have temporarily clouded my better judgement.

I've been a member here at the Mousepad from almost the very beginning so it has been a while since I read the rules. I guess I need a refresher.

Thanks so much for the slap on the wrist :rolleyes: .