MacRumors Classifieds

[Ronix]

I have know idea where to ask this question but this seemed like the best choice. (Mods please move to the proper location if need be) I was just wondering what happened to the Classified section? I used to always look at it as there were great deals from the macrumors community members, and dreaming is always fun. Does this section no longer exist? Thanks for your reply, this community always amazes me with the incredible useful information.

Ronix

[MacDawg]

This thread will answer your questions about the Marketplace Marketplace Discussion Thread

Market Place Rules

Can't Find or Access the Marketplace Forum?
Before you can access the Marketplace forum, you need a minimum post count of 250, as displayed in your User Profile, and you must have been a MacRumors member for at least 180 days (about 6 months).

General Rules:
1. Eligibility. To use the Marketplace forum (read threads, start threads, or post replies), you must be a forum member with user title 6502 or above, which means that you have 250 or more posts as displayed in your User Profile. This gives other members a chance to become familiar with you. To see your User Profile, click Quick Links -> My Profile at the top of a forum page. You must also have been a member for at least 180 days.

Woof, Woof - Dawg

[Ronix]

Thanks for the quick reply MacDawg, looks like my post count has a long way to go! Darn I liked just browsing... well I guess its good for the safety for all MacRumor members. Thanks Again, guess I am really bad at the search function or something...that was quick!

[GGJstudios]

Originally Posted by Ronix

Thanks for the quick reply MacDawg, looks like my post count has a long way to go! Darn I liked just browsing... well I guess its good for the safety for all MacRumor members. Thanks Again, guess I am really bad at the search function or something...that was quick!

If you search using MRoogle, you're more likely to find what you're looking for than using the standard forum search.

[eshroom]

I hit the 250 post mark! This is the first in a non-technical section. I have also been a member for 4 years, how come I can't see the marketplace? Is there a lag after reaching 250?

Edit: Scratch that, I just read I have to wait for "system processing"

[alphaod]

Originally Posted by eshroom

I hit the 250 post mark! This is the first in a non-technical section. I have also been a member for 4 years, how come I can't see the marketplace? Is there a lag after reaching 250?

Edit: Scratch that, I just read I have to wait for "system processing"

You also don't have 250 posts yet as of this post.

[bdeitemeyer]

Ahh...this makes sense, I was wondering why I couldn't access the classifieds & now I know. Still a ways to go, but it's nice to have something to look forward to.

[puttputt]

IMO they should change the number of posts to 98.

[rmitchell248]

250 posts certainly is a lot.

[stridemat]

Originally Posted by rmitchell248

250 posts certainly is a lot.

It's a step to keep the 'riff-raff' out

[GGJstudios]

Originally Posted by stridemat

It's a step to keep the 'riff-raff' out

... or in! We just wanna make sure they're riff-raff!

[scottgroovez]

I find it tough going trying to get involved in discussions about a product I don't own yet! Yet I want to see what comes up used on the marketplace so I do become an owner. I understand the reasons, just the limit is so high!

[OllyW]

Originally Posted by scottgroovez

I find it tough going trying to get involved in discussions about a product I don't own yet! Yet I want to see what comes up used on the marketplace so I do become an owner. I understand the reasons, just the limit is so high!

If you sign up for eBay you can search for completed items to get a rough idea on second hand Mac prices. Knock about 10-15% off the eBay prices and you'll be fairly close to what they go for in the MacRumors Classifieds.

[iArch]

Originally Posted by scottgroovez

...I understand the reasons, just the limit is so high!

Yep, it is. I'm fairly new to the Mac world (other than iPhones & iPods, of course) and surfed anonymously on MR for a while, learning about this, that and the other, and soon found the site worthy of my support. So I contributed a few $. I post every so often now, but I'm not going to just toss up fluff to rack up 250, so there's no telling when I'll be able to access the Marketplace. At my current rate, it'll be a long time.

Meanwhile, there are plenty 250 + post members who never seem to post anything of much value.

In short, rest assured that the 250 post minimum is keeping a good number of non-riff-raff out, too. There ought to be some leeway for those of us who think enough of the site to contribute to its bottom line, and who avoid posting just for the sake of it.

[stridemat]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)

The line has to be drawn somewhere. I understand the 250 is high, but if the admins start letting certain members in who have a lower post count where do they stop.

[Blue Velvet]

Originally Posted by iArch

Yep, it is. I'm fairly new to the Mac world (other than iPhones & iPods, of course) and surfed anonymously on MR for a while, learning about this, that and the other, and soon found the site worthy of my support.

As one of the moderators at the time who worked on and supported the changes to improve the quality of the marketplace for forum members, and as someone who used to pay close daily attention to ensuring that it remained trouble-free and even-handed for all participants, I'll take a little time to explain the thinking behind the current policies.

First of all, accessing the marketplace is a privilege for established and participating members of MacRumors, not a reason in itself for being here. Before implementing these changes, with no barrier to entry, the marketplace was a nightmare for all, except for those happy to bump, scam and otherwise make it a far more unpleasant place to be involved with, including the moderators and admins.

Without wanting to involve ourselves too much in the bolting-on or implementing of reputation systems, the current post count (250) and length of time of membership (180 days) were formulated to provide a rudimentary reputation system of our own, that needed little or no administering. If you've been around on MacRumors for about six months and have participated and contributed to the community enough to have made 250 or more posts, then the community has had a chance to get to know you.

Shortcutting that process by a one-off contribution of $25, as welcome as it is, doesn't provide the community with any sense of who you are... and it also is a comparatively small sum in comparison with some of the large-ticket items that are traded in the Marketplace, a fee that any serious scammer would be happy to pay to offload a fictional Mac Pro, for instance. Not that I'm implying that you wish to defraud others, but I hope you can undertand the issues involved.

Originally Posted by iArch

So I contributed a few $. I post every so often now, but I'm not going to just toss up fluff to rack up 250, so there's no telling when I'll be able to access the Marketplace. At my current rate, it'll be a long time.

Meanwhile, there are plenty 250 + post members who never seem to post anything of much value.

The post requirements for the marketplace are not based on post quality, that is true. However, the moderating team have a keen eye for those attempting to make post-padding runs for various totals and will delete or otherwise curtail posting privileges if they feel that forum members are spamming their way to gain access to the marketplace.

However, one person's 'fluff' is another's contribution. And through the sum total and commitment to the community of regularly posting, we all therefore gain a measure of each other.

If reaching a post count of 250 seems arduous, posting 10-15 times per week shouldn't be beyond most people. There are a wide range of topics — from sports, photography, music... to current events to Apple news and gear — across a diverse range of forums on this site. Posts within forum rules and longer than one word, a +1, or a smilie will stand... so it's hardly an exacting requirement, except the one you place upon yourself.

Believe me, I understand it when wading through the endless one-liners and quips that can make up many threads. However, none of us also want to read a thread full of posts as long as this one.

Originally Posted by iArch

In short, rest assured that the 250 post minimum is keeping a good number of non-riff-raff out, too. There ought to be some leeway for those of us who think enough of the site to contribute to its bottom line, and who avoid posting just for the sake of it.

Don't take the words of those who use the term 'riff raff' seriously. Team members at MacRumors don't employ such a blanket dismissive and classist term towards those who don't qualify for various forum privileges.

There is a happy medium between 'avoiding posting just for the sake of it' and spamming the boards with useless material. I personally hope that you can find where that place is for you, thus being a participating member of MacRumors and hopefully, within a couple of months, gaining access to a marketplace that only can improve with the addition of quality buyers and sellers, for once you gain access to the marketplace, you can also take some confidence in knowing that other potential traders didn't jump the barriers to gain access, either.

Hope to see you around a bit more.

[iArch]

I spent many years as admin on an unrelated vBulletin forum and can fully relate to the dynamics of trying to run things in ways that benefit a site's "community". During my tenure ours grew to about 150k members and it took a good bit of my time, as well our other staffers', so 500k has to be quite the herd to shepherd. We were constantly being told how to run the place by all sorts of members. From the people who added value, to the people who only trolled and took. So the last thing this n00b is gonna do is debate changes here. Rules are rules. Offered up my opinion and it's all good.

[knux11]

my question is (if anyone still checks this thread), is couldn't there be some type of "time as member=less posts required" equation? I remember back BEFORE these requirements went into effect, and also remember when the announcement was made for them. After getting my first mac back in 200-whenever, I found these forums to learn about macs and how to use it and find programs that were basically equivalents of windows stuff i had gotten used to. Once I got the hang of OSX and learned via searching this very forum, I joined. The classifieds were a major reason why I kept coming back. I don't wanna do the "spam posting" thing to get to 250, but I feel like i'm being penalized for not being quite as chatty as some. I've been locked out of a forum that would most likely be the one i'd be most active in and I'm sure I've been here longer than others who use it.