Anti-Trade markings

It is what it is. Let this thread be a warning to the newer or inexperienced members.

 

While this sounds fine in theory, it would probably decrease the post-quality.
I even see problems with the 50 posts limit.

Take me for example: I have been on this forums since late 2010. I check the forums regulary and read. I have been seeding the Acclaim Project and really like contributing in xbox and arcade related topics. I also watch beta videos on youtube and check related threads. But I hardly want to comment on that because a. I'm not an expert so I can't say anything useful and b. most things have been said.
But with the xbox / chihiro stuff for example I worked countless hours on tools and like to share my findings if anyone asks for it. I also look into things other members ask for if the general topic interests me.

So usually, when I post, I try to put a lot of information in my post and keep the quality high.

However, this also means that my post-count is rather low. Even after beeing here for more than 2 years I only reach the 50 post barrier with this post.
I did not want to sell anything before, but if I wanted too, this barrier would have stopped me from doing it. - That's in my opinion ridicilous.
The rule certainly blocks some members who should not trade / buy / sell. But it also stops other members which contribute a lot to the forums (by quality, not quantity) from doing the same.

So, I'm fine with 50 posts because it's still reachable. But anything above would certainly cause tons of people to spam, only to be able to use the marketplace. Especially if this would be enforced with a plugin.

 

Hey,
It's a very huge surprise reading this thread (I don't know G MAN and what he has done exactly) !... What I see with my noob eyes is 'experimented' people talking about getting scammed ?... But members here are talking about 'forced donations', 'personal informations' disclosed ???
To be honnest, I registered to this forum as I thought is was more a place where people could share/trade items (& informations) or sell for a cheap price, I'm not talking about selling for $1 but basically reasonable price. Who could spend $$$ for an item with no warranty ?
Maybe the problem does not come from the seller but more from the buyer ?... IMHO.

 

Kev, I have lots and lots of time on my hands, I can help police the boards for you. Even if it's just the one section, as far as I'm understood that many moderators are busy with their lives and they do their best as is it.
I've traded with members on the boards here, I've been here for a while and what not. If you ever need a helping hand with policing the forums I'm way more than happy to help you out, and to make this forums safer for current members and members in the future.

That's all I can really say on the matter, more moderators and more larger posts requirements for trading.

 

I agree more moderation would help the matter tremendously, i don't really agree with the higher post count, i completely agree with JayFoxRox on that matter.

The issue at hand is that people who have been banned are using a proxy to avoid the ban. The most simple and elegant way to resolve this is to run our own proxy server. All that needs to be done is add in a little php code that detects if a proxy is being used, other than the assembler proxy, and upon detection it will include a small javascript portion into the users html feed which will rewrite the browser url to the assembler proxy address on the client side.

Once they are on the assembler proxy we will have their real ip address and can enforce bans.

 

Having a real ip means nothing. Many isp's hand out dynamic ip addresses, if you IP ban me I can have a new one in seconds.

Its completely pointless to ban via IP unless you are willing to ban entire countries.

 

Or entire octets. Back in the day AOL's mask was randomjibberishhere.ipt.aol.com, which was commonly banned. All AOL IP's I ever saw back then also were 172.x.x.x. Ban that and you ban all AOL users.

Of course back then you could just register for a free NetZero or free Juno account. If you were on DSL or Cable (lucky bastard you were) your IP was still likely dynamic enough to make it pointless to ban. Cleaning up their occasional shit posts is about all you can do and it is likely better to know who the asshole is rather than have them hide.

 

Even if we don't "allow" someone to sell they can still fish out a buyer and make the transaction off-site.

 

True, but we can still make it difficult for them.

 

this applies only for DSL or any other type of phone line based internet. Almost all coaxial (TWC, Comcast, etc...) and fiber (AT&T Uverse, Verizon FiOS, etc...) assign ip addresses by mac. Although it is still in the dynamic range of ip addresses, they typically do not change. because it's easier for them to trace users downloading torrents or other illegal things.

Even many DSL providers assign ip's by mac nowadays. The days of logging in with a user / pass to get internet are coming to an end.

 

DSL doesn't have a mac address, but they can probably trace it back to the phone line. It's easier for them to get you to use a user name and password.

I would imagine that IP addresses on cable are allocated by DHCP & unless the lease expires you'll keep the same one. It's likely to only expire if you're disconnected for a long time or they perform maintenance of some sort.

I actually think we should force him to use his old account, so that people know who he is.

 

DSL modems may not, but the router / computer connected to the modem does (and is what the ip address is assigned to). For example, if you change routers on a Verizon DSL modem you will have to call verizon to get a new IP address as they assign IP's to your mac address.

They do use DHCP, but the leases tend to not expire. Only when server maintenance is done on your gateway can the leases expire, usually they seem to preserve the leases anyways. I've had the same TWC ip for about 2 years now on a standard home connection. Even after moving to another city my IP did not change. As long as you remain on the same gateway cluster you generaly keep the same ip. for TWC my gateway cluster covers the entire midwestern ohio region.

DSL is a bit more sporadic as DSLAM central offices are more common than cable gateways, but for the two major DSL providers in the us (AT&T / Verizon) DHCP leasing works mostly the same way.

The isp can change your IP at their discretion but if they have their users on the same IP and they get a cease and desist order for downloading torrents, they can track that ip much more easily.

 

So? That's off-site, eBay is similar if you get taken away from the site and a transaction is made that's the buyer's lack of common sense. That's how most scams work...

 

Hmm, I guess the counter to my point is that if someone wants to leave the "security" of our buy/sell/trade "service", then it's their own damn fault if they get scammed.

Still, I don't really see what we can do about it all. It's going to happen.

 

Was he fuck innocent. I have hard evidence that proves he was full of shit. G-Man is a no good scamming lying piece of bad news. He lied to me until the very end and even when I told him I knew the truth he still wouldn't stop. I'm not happy that he's been allowed back but it's ASSEmblers site so he has the final word. All we can do is watch him closely and warn anyone who he tries to do a deal with. He shouldn't be allowed to sell on here either. Not even if he has a million posts.

 

Will do but a poll for what? that he should be allowed to sell on the forum or that he should be allowed back?

 

This is not correct. The world consists of more than just the US for starters. I also had a lot to do with custom firmwares for cable modems.

Even being partially correct - it still doesnt make banning by IP any good.

 

It may not be a perfect solution, but it will eliminate a big chunk of banned proxy users. I'm not claiming to know anything about how isp's work in the uk, but in the US you can use any off the shelf cable or dsl modem with any of the major ISPs. I haven't seen a TWC or Comcast modem with custom firmware in a while. Again, it may be different in other countries, I'm just speaking from my own experience.

 

Hmmm, I'm at a loss then. The only real way to securely trade on here or similar places would be o use a third party to ensure safe transactions I would have thought. For high value trades the items and cash are sent to a third party (a mod or admin here for instance using a PO BOX) then once both the cash and item(s) have arrived with them and have been verified, they are then forwarded to the parties involved in the deal.

Not saying that's something that should be enforced, but I'd be willing to pay a small fee if I was trading for something valuable as it would give me peace of mind at least that I couldn't be fucked over by compulsive liars/scumbags.

Also there's a hall of shame here isn't there? If he's staying on here then he should be noted in there then I reckon. No idea why he's wearing that Guy Fawkes mask since everyone knows who he is. I presume it's some childish statement to say I can't be touched or something.

Those masks are supposed to symbolize unified defiance against authority (burning of English parliament originally) by assuming one identity, which doesn't make sense here because it's the authority (Assembler) who's given him access here again under that name.