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.
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.
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.
