The moderators are beginning to notice an increasing number of posters who blatantly ask for things from other members in the form of free admission and other items (for example, "I am going to the park next Saturday but I am a SoCal APer and it is a blockout day for me. Can someone get me in for free?").

We consider this sort of explicit panhandling to be a form of solicitation, which we prohibit outright in our community policies. We will be keeping an eye on the situation as we would like to prevent it from getting out of hand.

Thank you.

I'll play devil's advocate:
Can someone panhandle in a PM? Or is that still not allowed?

For privacy reasons, moderators do not monitor PMs. If anyone gets harassing (or solicitation) PMs that they do not want, they should report those to one of the moderators.

I guess the question becomes, "Is this a favor I would feel comfortable asking of this MousePadder if I see him/her in person?" That is, if you don't already have a friendship with an individual, it's basically the same thing as going to someone's front door and asking for a donation. This is generally considered rude behavior, and we will frown on it if it is reported to us.

Gotcha! No more handling pans while on MP, I shall hold pots instead. :D