UPDATED: Changes have been made, effective 1 Nov 2010, and are in
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The general WTB forum has been REINSTATED and REOPENED!
Rules for the Corner Store forums:
- No E-bay links - if you want to sell something here, sell it. This is not an auction house.
- No feeler threads - again, if you want to sell something, sell it.
- No soliciting sales through the PM system. If you are caught doing this, you will be dealt with accordingly.
- If you are selling something, include either a fixed price or the lowest acceptable price.
- Please use a descriptive thread title. If you post in the For Sale forum, please add a FS: tag to whatever it is you're selling.
- Please add state tags in all thread titles in the CS, No one is excluded from this.
- Post in the CORRECT forum. Miscellaneous items belong in that forum. The For Sale forum is strictly for Probe/MX-6/MX-3/626 related items.
- If you have multiple items for sale, list them in ONE thread!
- Only Authorized PT Vendors may post new threads in the Vendor For Sale forum. This is to facilitate easily finding the Vendors sale threads.
- Any parts sellers must now include a picture of the parts they are selling, along with something showing their screen name and ProbeTalk.com alongside the item they're selling
- Anyone who takes an unreasonable amount of time to deliver goods or pay for those goods will be UNCONDITIONALLY BANNED PERMANENTLY.
- The ONLY way to reverse this is to make good on your commitment and then both seller and buyer contact me to lift the ban.
- Anyone banned and reinstated for failing to deliver/pay for goods will not be allowed back into the Corner Store.
- "Reasonable time" means not more than 15 days after a deal has been reached, unless the parties involved have made prior arrangements.
- The minimum number of posts required to view the Corner Store is 15.
- Lastly, no *bump* posts. This is frowned upon and we look at it in the same light as 'free post'. DO NOT DO IT!
These rules were not meant to be all-inclusive, however with the amount of time spent trying to work them out, these are the best set of rules that we felt should be documented and made readily available for the members and to provide a point of reference for the staff in case they are approached with any questions.
The rules for the Corner Store are always up for review and revision as necessary.
To clarify a few things regarding advertising: when the board was first created, we did not seek sponsorships of any kind. As the board grew, it became necessary to seek out and secure sponsors for the site in order to help growth of the site and to maintain/upgrade the server on which it sat. Any additional funds were used to acquire site items that were made available for sale and to help provide funding for meets the site would help sponsor or sponsor entirely.
We have done our best to remain outside of the vendor/customer relationship. We have never tried to push any sort of vendor or product to our membership, as it has often been alluded to in the past, we have taken this stance so that we would not be perceived as 'playing favorites. We think it has worked well and our members have been able to speak their minds freely, however as with most sites, there have been some members who have taken this to the extreme and felt that they were entitled to do so.
As a result, this means that we will continue to implement a policy on non-sponsor advertisements and general spam. We will not hinder discussion of competing websites or their products as long as it is relevant to the discussion at hand, however general spamming or promotion of competing sites or of non-sponsored vendors or products cannot be allowed. To allow this would do a disservice to the vendors/sponsors who have given their time and resources to help make this site available to everyone.
An example of a relevant discussion would be regarding throttle bodies, intake manifolds, or suspension items. Yes, it would be okay to mention who manufactured the item and what the benefits of the product would be vs. another manufacturer's product. It would NOT be okay to mention where to purchase them if they are NOT an Authorized PT Vendor or site sponsor.
Another example would be using the private messaging system to circumvent the advertising rules. A last example are signature links. Only Authorized PT Vendors are allowed to have links to their website or to any other Vendor site. There are NO exceptions. Any violator may or may not be warned if they are in violation.
A final example would be lurking through the For Sale forum for potential customers if you are someone who is operating a salvage business. By salvage business, we mean that you are a person or agent of a company who deals in the salvage parts trade. This could mean someone who frequents the local salvage yards, picks up whatever parts are available, then comes onto the board looking to sell them. This is a means of using a free service to promote your business and that is considered unauthorized advertising.
We ask for your understanding in our need to take these steps for the betterment of our community. These changes should not affect most of the membership, except in a good way. If you've had a good experience with a sponsor, by all means, let others know; if your experience wasn't so good, we ask that you let others know of this as well. This is what the feedback system is for and we encourage everyone to use it.
Our operating procedures will always be independent of any vendor or product and we will always listen to suggestions that any member might have.
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