Is There Something Sacred About 50 Posts?

Sorry for using thie classic stamps site for listing this but I can't seem to send a posting in general. My question is: what is sacred about having 50 postings beofre one can participate with the full breath of what this website has to offer. I think you can probably tell within one or two posts whether someone is reasonable and might have something to add. And even if they don't have something to add, but are not offensive, so what? The idea of responding to threads just to get to the magical 50 doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I usually like to say something when I respond. But if that was required, it probably would take to April to reach 50.---Just my two cents.

Actually, the rules say 50 QUALITY posts and at least 14 days of membership. You've made the latter; the former won't take you much longer.

I'm not an admin and I haven't been here as long as most of the others, but obviously the intent is to prevent newbies from rushing in and flooding the board with ebay links, requests for trades (they may or may not honor), etc.

In general, I think the sentiment is the founders of SCF want people to be part of our COMMUNITY for the long-term, not just a quick trade or plug for their auctions.

I'm sure some Bobby and some of the moderators can explain it better than I.

KirkS

This rule is quite common on most groups, albeit in different forms.

I have been a member of many groups from the day I got my first computer, and this is one of the most common scenarios;

Someone joins up to a group and immediately lobs in a link to their auction site/sales or their website offering goods for sale; OR, they post a message, often ignoring the invitation to introduce themselves, about the items they have for sale or exchange.

This forum and others like it are for discussing,talking,learning and giving of Philatelic knowledge first and foremost. Selling and Trading are added bonuses that come with effort. It is the best and only way to go.
There are many,many sites for exchanging and buying/selling of material without any minimum posts/time. But they are only this.

If a forum allowed anyone to come along and buy and sell,exchange etc it would not survive. And there would be so much cheating going on it would be a never ending spiral of internet violence. I have seen it.

I would be happy to buy from,sell to and exchange with, all of the members here who reach the 50 post goal. And the main reason for this , is because at that point they will be a friend and I can trust them. You will find this too.
We all will.

Londonbus1...Coming down off the soapbox !

Thanks for the above posts. Funny. I hadn't thought about buying, selling or exchanging. My main interest is conversation and learning. Sometimes a thread leads to a discussion that would better be carried on privately with a particular responder and not thrown out to public consumption. Such communication was had yesterday with Swedish Tiger and has also occurred on the coin forum. The 50 post rule blocks you even from sending an email to another member of the forum, making it cumbersome to communicate.

Hi funcity.....

Requiring a certain limit before being able to take advantage of full benefits weeds out the folks looking for easy targets.

You're already up to 39 so it won't be long.

If there is someone you'd like to contact before then just ask them to send you an email.

now, Tom----you know I already did that.

funcity.....


I thought you were asking about something new.

funcity - there have been three or four instances that I can recall that the moderators have taken someone down for one or another of the reasons mentioned already.

Like my wife told me many times: "A man and women should not marry until they've known each other for all the seasons."

In the same way, the 50 posts just give us a chance to get to know each other a bit before we do business together. You can do everything else almost immediately.

AS you can see I'm not at 50, yet. And, yes, I've been frustrated because I can't send an email or post in the trading sections. But, I think that the rule is an extraordinary good rule.

I am certain that it is really helped to make this place a very very well behaved placed. The quality of the posts and the good humor of the participants is very unusual for an internet group. (Every day this place violates Godwin's Law)

Also, although I haven't been here that long, I have seen that a poster who broke some serious rules on links and when discovered, he disappeared, which was the right thing to do. It helps to preserve a first rate community.

Beyond that, without the 50 post rule, I seriously doubt you all would have "heard" so much from me. I'd probably just lurk about. While that might have its advantages, I think it does help to draw upon the community and strengthen it.

So, I think it is a great idea and I'm certain it is key to the success of this forum.

_Larry

after 50 posts we become the borg and you will be assimilated. resistance is futile :)