Error in PM restrictons - can't send PM to mods

[Edwood]

Hey hey,

i tried to send a PM to a user, the site told me I wasn't grown up enough to send PMs, but I was allowed to PM the mods.

So... I tried a handful of times to PM 'donna', but it still gives me the same message saying "YOu have x posts, you need to have 10 posts, you can only send PMs to "donna", "someoneElse", "Someoneelse", etc etc etc...


Let me in by jingos!

[Edwood]

Further to this, I would like to politely say that the 10 post restriction is... (think polite)... poor.
I have even recieved PM's that I can't reply to! Very frustrating.
All this 10-post thing does is encourage someone to make stupid little posts - I'm trying to make mine meaningful and constructive, but its a lot of work, and means it takes hours and hours and hours before I can actually send a PM or reply to one of the PMs I'e recieved.

Presumably its some way for the mods to stop bad people from PM / Spamming... but surely the 'bad people' are just going to litter the place with little bidy posts, and do their spammy stuff anyway. It seems to me that the only people this really prevents from PMing is genuine people (like me).

[Edwood]

...Suggestion: Change the limit to 2 posts. (Not 10)

[muppet]

but surely the 'bad people' are just going to litter the place with little bidy posts, and do their spammy stuff anyway.

They do and get banned.
Therefore the 10 posts as to build up a pattern in posting.

[essence]

Hi Edwood

All the Mods on this site are volunteers, we live all around the world and consequently aren't always on-line when we get "difficult" posts. We could reduce the posts to two but then the website owners would probably have to employ someone to monitor the site all the time. And consequently PropertyTalk would no longer be free. How much would you like to pay for your subscription???

Being a Mod is time consuming, frustrating, enjoyable, laughable and challenging (and any other word you can think of).

We have had instances where spammers & idiots do come to PT and post 10 posts, then start creating links to their businesses and their non-property websites (ie selling phones, stock options etc).

This is not what PROPERTYtalk is about....... it's about P.R.O.P.E.R.T.Y. obviously.

Yes, it is frustrating for you to have to get to 10 posts. Look at it from another POV, if a spammer needs to put 10 posts up, they generally can't be bothered., which consequently makes the Mods lives just that little bit easier.

And as Muppet says, 10 posts sets up a pattern of posting.

If we really wanted to make our (Mods) lives easier, we really should lift the level of initial posts to 20 but we felt that would deter some creative and interesting people. We stuck to what we felt was a happy medium.

You've got 10 posts now, problem solved.!!

[Edwood]

OK I hear you... two things:
[1] - We have different opinions on the actual impact of changing this parameter would do. Remember, it is a PM restriction. ie. it would have no impact on a mods need to 'monitor the site', nor would it make any difference to anyone who wanted to create links to their business and/or discuss non property topics. In my experience, I have not before seen such a hefty restriction.
I wont argue the point any more. As you note, the issue for me personally is now resolved due to perseverance. However, my suggestion to change this restriction was not for me, but to make the forum better as a whole, and particularly for new users. (I wonder how many current users have less than 10 posts).


[2] - As per the subject of this thread, there is an error in this system. It is supposed to let you send a PM to any of the mods, but this does not work.

[donna]

Hi Edwood,

"Patience is a virtue" - you have achieved your 10 posts in less than a week! - really what is the hurry? In the near on 10 years PropertyTalk has been operating the only users that ever complain about the lack of PM and linking in posts when they are new to PropertyTalk are those in one big hurry to sell their wares - of course I understand this is not you - and I appreciate your enthusiasm and commitment to providing quality posts.

Thanks

Donna

[Xav]

I believe Donna is not a mod so there is no error in the system.

I agree that the ten post limit is sensible (and pretty universal these days).

Welcome to PT Edwood .

[donna]

Correct I am not a Mod.

Cheers,

Donna

[Edwood]

So... I tried a handful of times to PM 'donna', but it still gives me the same message saying "You have x posts, you need to have 10 posts, you can only send PMs to "donna", "someoneElse", "Someoneelse", etc etc etc...

OK, so the error is in the error text. ie. the message says "You can only send PM's to: "someone", "someone", "donna", etc etc etc".

edit: here's a screenshot

[donna]

Yes but you can't really sorry! Strange but true.

[Xav]

Yeah that's the point, that message looks very out of date assuming they were the mods at the time?

Presumably it's not too hard to fix.

[donna]

Not hard and yes it will be fixed Had Edwood chosen Perry or Cube who are Mods he would have been fine. Great to be able to get some of the legacy stuff fixed up though so it's all good all round thanks Edwood.