Actually they didn't change anything. At that forum, people who have just signed up are "under moderation" for a certain number of posts. This just means a moderator must approve the post before it's seen in the forum.
Basically, what they're doing is two things:
- Posts by new users that post what they consider a "personal attack" will never be seen.
- Posts by existing users that they consider a "personal attack" will cause that user's posting privileges to be suspended.
Yup. My first post at 2:30 am was moderated in this way.
I asked if it was mark schifter, and if it was true that he pleaded guilty on two counts of fraud, on the 13th.
I'm just a little confused why this was considered a personal attack.
In my oppinion, it's really in the best interests of their forum to protect their members. As mentioned here mark has a pattern of nondelivery of paypal purchases, and has in fact pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud. This information is highly relevant. I PMed the mod their for a clarification of why this was moderated in this way.
I haven't taken the time to read their forum rules regarding vendors posting... But typically vendors have to identify themselves, post in particular sections, and are subject to different rules... His account was created in november (while av123 was still around, and the thread was started before av123 declared they weren't in business). My instinct is he was probably obligated to identify himself, and didn't for obvious reasons.
I think it's sad that the Mod over there blocked this discussion. It was in the best interest of the members to know who they were buying from and the inherint risks.
As far as the rolex forum goes, that seems to have a much higher probability for damage here. $10 tweaters aren't nearly as bad as a $10000 rolex.