Proven Legitimate Free Sites needs improvement

Ok been here a while now, done a few trades, and love the place.

So heres my gripe, questions and suggestions.

The "Proven Legitimate Free Sites" section of this forum is in dire need of revamping. Just a quick look and I see 2 sites that have either closed or are on the verge of closing (ignoring PMs, no customer service, not shipping, etc) and another that has almost no "NICE" posts in it (all complaints).

Now I definitly think there should be standards for who is listed and who isn't I just think the current model isn't working.

I find it hard to accept that a "Proven Legit" site can be hiding behind anonymous hosting.

Now I know admin charges @$500 to be placed on this list if certain criteria isn't met. he then uses that monies to repay people if the said site closes and scams. I just find this severly lacking (no offence intended).

So I have 3 suggestions for how I think it should be run/revamped, etc.

1. The forum should stay the same with "Proven Legit" and "Not Proven Legit".

2. When a site wants to post they have to do so in the "not legit" thread until they are proven legit, duh.

3. Ok now for the main improvement. Instead of allowing a site to become proven legite by shipping a few items or even a few thousand. Make them meet certain criteria. Which would be something like this

A. Must fill out request form, which will include all real contact information. Name, address, phone number, etc. Then a MOD could send a certified letter to that person at that address, and call them on the givin phone #. This will prove who they say they are and that they live where they say they do.

B. Pay a nominal application fee, to cover costs of admin filing paperwork, calling them, sending letter, and forum modification. So say $25-$50

C. Open a poll, and have at least 100 votes with a 75% in favor of final.


I think these improvments will keep site owners from being so willing to just up and close if they know the "admin" will release all of there contact info if they do not make restitution in some manner to all customers. As it is now all they have to do is ship some stuff then say oh well not making money let me close. I see no repricushins if they close except maybe a loss of $500. While this way they know they can be sued, reported to AG, etc.

I think any site that wants to be legit shouldnt be hiding who they are.


I also think this will force site owners to want to be on "The Proven Legit" forum for fear people will doubt there true intentions if they refuse to do something so easy.

Well thought out. I really like the ideas.

This would really help. Let's do it

I like it.

I like it although the 100 votes might be a little high. That would mean 100 people would not only have to complete it, but everyone of those 100 would have to come to the forum and vote on it.

40-50 perhaps? shrug

Pretty good ideas...

I like these thoughts, they should be in place, would make things a lot more organized....

As to the 100 votes, even though that might be a little high, it might be necessary to have, maybe a little less though, around 75 should work....I would say make it a stickied poll too, so that even though it hasn't reached the min. yet, people can decide for themselves while the votes add up....If I see 0 no's and 55 for yes then I'd assume they are pretty damn legit even thought they didn't reach the intended goal yet....

Good point. Also, the "other freebie" section needs to be removed. Plus, there's no "proven illegitamate" or "not proven legitamate" section of the site any longer. I also think we should get rid of the 4 different FreePay sections, and make just one for FreePay in general. They don't even have point-based sites any longer, and they don't need a seperate forum for freeipods.com and freepsps.com. I mean, Trainn and OC have those sites, yet they have only one section. I don't know how FreePay got their own section, but it isnt necessary.

I agree a lot with FGR_admin.

uhm, doesn't fgr own these forums?

[quote22576e2937="killerman"]uhm, doesn't fgr own these forums?[/quote22576e2937]
Nope. He isn't even a mod. Admin owns this forum...

[quote232ee9af5c="killerman"]uhm, doesn't fgr own these forums?[/quote232ee9af5c]

Figuratively speaking, he does own The Trading Post though. lol

Good ideas. Fewer voters needed, however. (How about a time limit instead of a certain amount of voters? i.e. a poll that runs for two weeks.)

[quote3100e1d061="killerman"]uhm, doesn't fgr own these forums?[/quote3100e1d061]

FGR doesn't possess it, but he definitely pwns it.

[quote432613578c="Wolfeman"][quote432613578c="killerman"]uhm, doesn't fgr own these forums?[/quote432613578c]
Nope. He isn't even a mod. Admin owns this forum...[/quote432613578c]

does too.

Also I think that the voting system might be flawed in a way. People could mass sign up bogus accounts to boost votes. There should be a system where like only the top 50 traders in the community could vote for it. Just a thought, but I love the idea so far.

IDEA APPROVED[/sizebcde58aa68][/colorbcde58aa68]

I have a variable I can set to restrict polls to users with x posts or more. Thats what I usually do when its an important poll.

Great ideas, FGR, +Karma to you.

I agree, it seems that it is time for a change and fgr has some great ideas. I think that you should strongly consider it Admin.

[quote752285ca8f="bballp6699"]I like it although the 100 votes might be a little high. That would mean 100 people would not only have to complete it, but everyone of those 100 would have to come to the forum and vote on it.

40-50 perhaps? shrug[/quote752285ca8f]

Well could always lower the amount of votes required. Also since only need 75% approval ratio, that means they only need to have sent out 75 gifts.



[quote752285ca8f="AbSoLuT_xXxEr0"]I like these thoughts, they should be in place, would make things a lot more organized....

As to the 100 votes, even though that might be a little high, it might be necessary to have, maybe a little less though, around 75 should work....I would say make it a stickied poll too, so that even though it hasn't reached the min. yet, people can decide for themselves while the votes add up....If I see 0 no's and 55 for yes then I'd assume they are pretty damn legit even thought they didn't reach the intended goal yet....[/quote752285ca8f]


I like the stickied part. So to elaborate would look something like this

Proven legitimate Sites[/size752285ca8f]
[b752285ca8f]Freepay[/b752285ca8f]
"Rate us" poll
"About us" news etc
"misc" etc as people open them.
[b752285ca8f]Offer Centric[/b752285ca8f]
"Rate us" poll
"About us" news etc
"misc" etc as people open them.
[b752285ca8f]Traiin[/b752285ca8f]
"Rate us" poll
"About us" news etc
"misc" etc as people open them.

Not Proven legitimate Sites[/size752285ca8f]
[b752285ca8f]Get Friends[/b752285ca8f]
"Rate us" poll
"About us" news etc
"misc" etc as people open them.
[b752285ca8f]free4me[/b752285ca8f]
"Rate us" poll
"About us" news etc
"misc" etc as people open them.
[b752285ca8f]EarnFree[/b752285ca8f]
"Rate us" poll
"About us" news etc
"misc" etc as people open them.

This would also give a permament poll showing the sites approval rating, forcing more owners to give better customer service (Pookie)

For example a network would have been proven LEGIT when it first opened, but then went way downhill and approval would have dropped significantly. Which would have been stickied at the top of there thread. So new potential customers would be scared off till the owner rectifies it.



Also as a last note my main concern was how site owners hide there true identity behind proxy domains. First I want to say I understand that 90% of all site owners who do this isn't so they can scam, but to avoid harassment. I understand that if you are open about your ownership it could open you to tons of harassment if you put someone legitimately on hold.

The idea behind giving name and address to site admin here would only be for if you skipped out or closed shop. I think this alone would deter a site owner more then losing $500. Also more site owners would be willing to try and be approved and want a thread if cost was lowered to $50.



PS I own nothing, I'm just a visitor in the admins house, which by the way smells like an old ladys house, lol.

I like the ideas also.

It also brings about the ideas we were discussing in the Admin forum ( wink ) about developing a rating system on here, that rivals A4F, but greatly expanding on it and making it more accurate. Having a select few people (top 15 traders for example) as a sort of "Council" who vote/rate/discuss/ sites and where they should be on our forum, based on numerous different aspects found throughout the freebie world.

If we had both of these in place, we would kick ass. Yeah.

We'd kick it. Ass.

Perhaps a site owner shouldn't be required to put his real information on the domain registrar (I know I won't), but still have the info sent to the Admin (and posted in the Admin forum or something for posterity). It can still be verified and released if the owner skips town.

[quote8d416d8c67="ilanbg"]Perhaps a site owner shouldn't be required to put his real information on the domain registrar (I know I won't), but still have the info sent to the Admin (and posted in the Admin forum or something for posterity). It can still be verified and released if the owner skips town.[/quote8d416d8c67]

I never suggested having a site owner disclose who and where they live on registar, only to admin. Then admin sends them a letter to that adress and name certified. So if its not fake then they can move to the next step.

If they give fake info, I think that would be a good indication as to why they built a free site.

[quote0625a603e2="fgr_admin"][quote0625a603e2="ilanbg"]Perhaps a site owner shouldn't be required to put his real information on the domain registrar (I know I won't), but still have the info sent to the Admin (and posted in the Admin forum or something for posterity). It can still be verified and released if the owner skips town.[/quote0625a603e2]

I never suggested having a site owner disclose who and where they live on registar, only to admin. Then admin sends them a letter to that adress and name certified. So if its not fake then they can move to the next step.

If they give fake info, I think that would be a good indication as to why they built a free site.[/quote0625a603e2]
I like that idea a whole lot, seems like it should be a MUST...

top 15 traders.....not a good idea jump, i think mods should search through brag bag on people who completed sites b/c some traders may only stick to certain sites, and we really need this info for those non popular sites.

[quotef08038934d="kdollar"]top 15 traders.....not a good idea jump, i think mods should search through brag bag on people who completed sites b/c some traders may only stick to certain sites, and we really need this info for those non popular sites.[/quotef08038934d]
well....in order to be able to get that high of a TR they can't stick to certain sites...I would see that being the case for the most part.

Yeah to get into the top 15 traders you have to have completed at least a few sites, but kdollar is right to an extent.

I'm 7th in the top 15 traders, but I've really hardly completed any sites compared to how many there are. Maybe amix between the top 15 traders and most active sites completions.

im just saying u cant go by top 15 traders completely, maybe nominate them to do research on others who have completed the sites....or just get the mods to research, the point is, u cant get a good idea of a site w/o pros and cons of people who have done it, and that will take time, i wish it was as simple as askin the top traders, but if u want a better system than a4f, u gotta put in some effort.

Well once my great idea that Jump tried to steal saying its in his imaginary forum, then I will share my other idea.

Its actually better but harder to do.

Admin would actually have to do some work rescripting, adding scripts etc.

Plus side is it would cut fraud by 25% to 50%, plus admin would actually make a little money.

Oh wait do you have this idea in your secret forum too Jump, lol

lol, Twat.

I'm telling you it's there! Maybe it's just for people with 1337 post counts like myself. D

You know you like my idea.

Just figured my 1000th post should be on a thread I think needs a post.