About Ruining Someone's Reputation

Live forum: http://forum.freeipodguide.com/viewtopic.php?t=68124

skepticalcynic

13-08-2007 15:03:07

[quote1c665fcc0b="FiPG Rules"]DON’T make a scammer thread about someone unless you have exhausted every possible means of communication between you and the other member, have waited the required amount of time to get credit or for the other member to get credit, have contacted a Mod and STILL have not received a response from the other member and/or a green or paypal, depending on the details of your trade.
[/quote1c665fcc0b]
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[quote1c665fcc0b="KeithA"]Don't open a thread here unless you've PMed a moderator.

If a moderator doesn't reply for 48 hours, PM another one. You can post after 48 hours if the matter is urgent.
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Heyjude

13-08-2007 18:30:30

Glad you are back and feeling better; the trip to the ER the other night couldn't have made you feel too great, but it's nice to see you back again! Keep your chin up!

Big War Bird

14-08-2007 18:56:07

I am of the opinion that when a trader goes red it should be made public.

In he case of an innocent mistake it can be taken care of in a way that is educational to the rest of the community. If dealt with responsibly there would be no harm to ones reputation.

In the case of a scammer an early post here can save everyone a great deal of money.

Taurus-Matt

14-08-2007 19:00:36

I'm with BWB on this one. I received a PM from Krayf...yesterday morning about Veritas1970...by the time I was able to confirm they went RED on Cash.COT...there were a dozen posts about this user and their apparent alias's...

Earlier the better...in my opinion!! ... wink

ricopet

14-08-2007 19:48:04

[quoted506977654="Taurus-Matt"]I'm with BWB on this one. I received a PM from Krayf...yesterday morning about Veritas1970...by the time I was able to confirm they went RED on Cash.COT...there were a dozen posts about this user and their apparent alias's...

Earlier the better...in my opinion!! ... wink[/quoted506977654]
I agree. By the time we all figured it out, he ran with the cash and there's a whole bunch of people out money. cry

dmorris68

15-08-2007 06:20:25

It's a fine line. We've had cases in the past where a trader started out legitimate, then got sloppy/greedy/careless/etc. For whatever reason, they frauded offers, duped accounts, went red. In some cases, approaching them from behind the scenes worked out well, they realized their error, and made good. In most if not all of those cases, if they had been publicly outed as scammers from the get-go, they may have just signed-off and disappeared rather than face the music pubicly -- reputation is a valuable commodity to some people, even when they don't deseve a good one. Other times we need to hang on a bit to gather some more info on the scammer before we ban them.

And then there are times when lowlife's just flat out intend to scam folks, with no apparent remorse. In those cases, chances of a refund or other resolution outside of third parties (PayPal, site owners, legal action, etc.) are virtually nil.

The problem is, as individual members and traders, you don't have easy access to the big picture that would show whether this was a one-off mistake or a trend. We the staff have at least some additional visibility that gives us a better perspective, which provides us with more options for dealing with the situation. It still doesn't guarantee an optimal resolution, however. As I've said before, if you trade in the hobby you have to accept certain risks and move on. You (and we) can do only so much to protect you, and it is inevitable that a few scammers will get over on folks until they get caught.

manOFice

15-08-2007 06:28:04

I agree with BWB

bgrubb7

22-08-2007 06:16:25

I also agree with BWB. In the past when someone goes Red for me, I feel its my responsibility to make a "public service announcement" here on this board. I wont call them a scammer, just state that they have gone red, and that until it has been cleared up, people should probably refrain from entering into new trades with this person.

I have only been straight up scammed 3 times. In all cases there was a post here on this board within a day after I traded. Twice I had already paid before the scammer post was made. One time I had traded, but hadn't paid when the scammer post was made. In all 3 cases, the other traders had been trying to work it out with the scammers before calling them out on this board, all the while the scammer was going around making as many trades as possible before everyone else caught on. If the other traders would have just posted an FYI on this board as soon as the RED occurred then alot of other people wouldn't have been scammed.

If you go red, I won't call you out as a scammer, but I will post an FYI here immediately. If that pisses some people off, then so be it. I feel it's appropriate.

I do agree with Skeptic that alot of people jump the gun when a trader hasn't responded or gone green right away. Some traders may be slow and inconsiderate, but it doesn't make them scammers. Just bad traders.