Role of SRP BST discussion thread cont.

[Don]

A couple quick points.
1.We are thankful for all your thoughts
2.The BST is NOT a storefront
3.No offense to anyone but just long time membership does not mean you can run a business in the BST
4. We are a forum not a selling site the BST is for members to sell and trade and buy in a Gentleman's fashion. There is no room for comments on price or quality. If the buyer and seller are happy that is all that matters.
5. There will be adjustments maybe minor maybe major and all your feedback will be used.
Thanks guys for taking the time to give feedback to better the site
Don

[CactusBob]

Reading these posts I figured to keep quiet since I am very new to this site and straights in general. As my wife tells me I very seldom keep quiet and sometimes somebody new can come up with something so these are my thoughts. First to address a couple things Don said above
Soliciting inputs from the members and using those in the decision process are a great thing. It helps keep the board running according to the majority of members wishes.
Saying B/S/T is not a storefront I disagree with. It may be more like your local swap meet than the supermarket, but Buy/Sell/Trade says you are conducting business. The difference to me is that the folks in B/S/T are not doing this as their profession, Razor restoration, custom razor creators do this as a a hobby, as well as the ones that may have too many and just want to get rid of some. If its a persons or businesses lively hood then that should be in the vendor site. I would not expect vintage blades to sell razors in B/S/T.
From a newbie perspective the comments are a help. Just as in the auction area you talk about the sales on ebay, the comments in B/S/T help me make an informed decision. Some razors are better for a newbie than others, and the comments from the "old hands" can help us make an informed decision that will help us stick around straight shaving longer.
A lot of what I see written on this site talks about "Gentlemanly behavior" when a decision on what to do with B/S/T is made hopefully the mods will ask if the proposed rules enhance or detract from Gentlemanly behavior.

To help protect newbies in B/S/T, which I think i read once or twice above, how about putting a description template at the top of each sale thread. Something like

Mfg: George Wostenholm
Model: IXL
Size: 5/8
Defects: pitting on spine, tarnish on blade, scales broke in half
Shave ready: No
I Have shaved with this razor: No
Price:$
After this the seller can put in whatever he wants for a description
ie. this razor was carried by Marshall Tucker when he crossed the RIO Grande ahead of Montezumas troops. The handle broke when it stopped the bullet aimed for the southward facing portion of his northward moving anatomy. This blade has been credited with stopping the unheard of Polish-American war

As a newbie this gives me the most important info right up front instead of rereading the post to make sure if I picked out every thing. If I'm looking for shave ready razor I would move on to the next.
Sometimes with more than one razor I have to go back and forth to make sure I can match the parts of the description to each photo.
Sorry for the long ramble

Bob

[adickerson0]

I completely agree with the boards mission on keeping things civil and classy. Reputation is important but all the talk about post count and account age misses focusing on the PRODUCT.

Ebay is full of bad pictures and junk being sold by people who know nothing about what they are selling. If the SRP community wants to raise the standard for products sold, to me, the easiest solution would be to set standards on the product/description. The SRP community can easily police itself if there were strict guidelines for posting in the BST section.

I offer this suggestion, listing a razor in the BST should require clear pictures of both sides of the blade. These 2 pictures should be fairly simple for anyone with a digital camera. However the 2 simple pictures tell the buyer just about everything they need to know about the razors condition. Pitting, rust, spine thickness, uneven honing, finish, edge condition are all easy to spot with good pictures.

Let the razor speak for itself. If the seller is making unfair claims, pictures will let everyone see the seller is questionable. At that point the Mods deal with liars and cheats as they see fit..... Shave his belly with a rusty razor

[Mike_ratliff]

All good points, Time restrictions are probably the best option to prevent someone from joining just to make a buck, but that won't stop the established members from crossing the line either intentionally or accidentally.

selling in the B/S/T is not a right, just as accessing the forums is not a right. It's something that we have policed ourselves in the past, but does have room for improvement.

My suggestion would be a confidential warning or penalty system where moderators can warn and restrict an individuals rights to access B/S/T.
A member would be "warned" by a moderator for violating the spirit of the forum. This Warning would automatically prevent the member from viewing, or listing anything in B/S/T for 24 hours. each additional warning would automatically quadruple the time that B/S/T is unavailable to that member. Simply put if you violate the terms, you lose access to that specific area.
By restricting access to B/S/T they can't buy sell or trade anything here... The threat of this alone would keep most people in line. Those who still don't learn would completely lose access, so would go elsewhere.

This could even be streamlined for the moderators so it's a matter of clicking a Warning button, and the member would recieve a message that

"Your post violated the spirit of the B/S/T forum, and you have been warned by __moderator___. you will not be allowed access to BST for __ hours. If you wish to Appeal this you may contact __moderator___ and your case will be reviewed."

The fact that the person was warned may be implied by the lack of their presence in the BST forum, but would not be made public in any other way. By increasing the time they can't access BST, they would quickly learn to behave, or they would end up banning themselves permanently. also if the member is posting in the rest of the forums, and really contributing to the community, maybe there can be a way for moderators to adjust, remove, or reduce the restriction.

first warning 1 day
2nd warning 4 days
3rd warning 16 days
4th warning 2 months
5th warning 8 months
6th warning would be 2.7 years, but if you need 6 warnings, you aren't going to learn.

If they don't learn by the 2nd warning, there's something wrong with them...

Heck you could even use a multiple of ten instead of four...
first warning 1 day
2nd warning 10 days
3rd warning 100 days (3+ months)
4th warning 1,000 days (2.7 years)
5th warning 10,000 days (27.4 years or pretty much forever)

The advantage of restricting just BST instead of the entire forum is peer pressure. Nobody is going to want to have to tell their peers that they can't access BST.

[gugi]

The advantage of restricting just BST instead of the entire forum is peer pressure. Nobody is going to want to have to tell their peers that they can't access BST.

"yeah, man, can you go get me a razor on b/s/t? i'll give you 5 bucks! come on, man, i really need it badly..."