PM a mod...

Live forum: http://forum.freeipodguide.com/viewtopic.php?t=48978

snickers

26-11-2006 06:32:48

I see lots of scammer threads that have a post asking, "did you PM a mod?" I understand that, in theory, you should try to work it out privately before making a public complaint. But this advice can be pretty hard to follow. How does one find a mod to PM? Which mod should you PM? How long should you wait before posting a scammer thread? What is the point of even having a scammer thread, if you can only post there after a mod has intervened and been unable to resolve it for you...shouldn't the mod just add the scammers name to a list at that point?

Quite honestly, if someone has a problem with another user and has to involve a mod to get it resolved, I think the rest of the users deserve to be informed about that. We're all capable of making up our own minds as to whether someone was overreacting, or whether there's a shady user, but I think part of the point of this site is to help us all have the information to allow us to decide who we want to trade with in the first place.

Not only that, people respond more quickly to public accusations than public ones. Some users don't respond to PMs from mods or trading partners once they begin having problems ... but they are very quick to defend their rep on the scammer thread.

At the very least, if users are required to PM a mod before posting here, there should be an easy way to do so. Rather than requiring users to look through the user list and pick a random mod, or read other threads hoping to find a mod, and again, picking one at random, why not have a "PM A MOD" link on the trading module somewhere, that creates a PM and delivers it to the next mod that logs in so it gets responded to as quickly as possible.

Just my thoughts. I've had to PM a mod before, and it seems to be a lot less effective than posting a scammer thread. Not because the mods don't do a good job ... there's just no process defined.

jy3

26-11-2006 07:02:33

this seems reasonable to me
1. pm your trader, if he fails to PM you back give him like 14 days and then PM a mod
2. or if his answers do not satisfy you PM a mod
3. PM a mod by looking in the upper left in any main forum or the index and see moderators typed. click on that and pick one.
4. the problem with creating a thread b4 PMing a mod or even Pming the trader, in the case that they go red, is that often things can be resolved without posting here. sometimes people are not scammers and go red and often are willing to fix it.

dmorris68

26-11-2006 09:08:47

Premature "scammer" threads get created all the time. There are lots of reasons why people have problems with a specific trade, that doesn't automatically mean they're scammers. How many threads have we seen posted where somebody says "OMG I greened for him yesterday and he's not green yet! Scammer!" Some people just get nervous and jump the gun, or expect every trading transaction to be as fast & smooth as every other one they've had. It just doesn't work like that.

Posting a scammer thread about someone creates an automatic stigma for that person, sometimes unfairly so. That's why we always ask that you attempt to work it out privately first, THEN contact a mod, THEN post a public thread.

It's very easy to find all the mods listed in one place. In the menu in the page header, click "Groups" and then "View Information" with the Moderator group selected. There's a PM button beside each name. If you spend any time here at all then you know which mods are active here and which aren't, so just PM one of those. But not before spending a few days and being patient while attempting to contact the other person.