Access to Buy/Sell Section

[Ant]

There have been a few posts about access to the Buy/Sell Section.

We do actually have the best interests of the genuine astronomer at heart.

We found that there were traders (who didn't want to be known as traders) buy and selling kit on SGL.

It got to the point there all the good deals were being bought up by these traders and then sold elsewhere on the net for a profit. This stops out members getting the deals.

So we had the 10 post rule - this was very easy to get past - so we increased it to 50. But this was only to stop people posting... It doesn't stop the trader from buying by PM.

We also got people moaning that the 50 post level was unfair.

So the next step was to remove access completely to members with less than 50 posts. That way they do not know that there is a missing section and everyone is happy.

We wanted to maintain search engine access - which is why is was visible to non members or when you logged out - this was a mistake that we'll put right.

So we believe that traders are unlikely to devote enough time to get 50 posts - especially as they won't know that there is a buy/sell section.

This way the bargains are available for genuine members, sellers will also have more posts to read when looking into potential purchasers...

A has already been said 50 posts isn't that hard to get, introduce yourself, ask a few questions, say hello to a few people and compliment a few people on the images that people have taken and you'll be close...

So the buy/sell section is now not visible to non members, members now have to have 50 posts and be a member for 30 days.

All threads concerning this issue will now be removed from the open forum as they have served their purpose.

Please do not re-post similar threads as we now consider the matter closed.

Cheers

Ant