Minimum requirements for "Services for Sale/Hire"

[jokkebk]

A long-time web developer myself, I recently got the need to get some web design work done. I came across WebProWorld forums and based on the active community and rather high quality topics, I thought that the "Services for Sale/Hire" forum would be a good place to post and ask if there were interested web designers.

However, starting from four days ago (?), it seems the sub-forum now only accepts work offers from "members in good standing who qualify for Signature links". As a new forum member, I have no idea what that means, and based on a quick scan of this Guidelines forum it seems to involve writing some thousands of posts or maybe being a member for a few years. Overall, to a newcomer, the reputation system seems somewhat elitist and inward-turned, but maybe that's the way the active members of this community want it to be.

Personally, I don't tend to post that much even of the forums I often frequent, and will definitely not be putting the effort to gain sufficient rating to "qualify for Signature links" to get my web design offer posted. I suspect this will be the case for any person wanting to do the same, who isn't already an active WebProWorld forum member "in good standing".

Effectively this means the "Services for Sale/Hire" sub-forum will only be for insiders who want to do some work or get something done. Maybe this is the way the admins have wanted that to be. Just thought to post this in case the matter does ignite some discussion.

In case you really want it to be this way, I would at least like the recently posted Sticky (I would add a link to help the readers but it seems as a newbie I'm not allowed to do that either!) to be updated with links to the reputation system and "level cap" for the "Signature links" so people would know what is required.

Maybe the post could even say "One-time job offers are not welcome in this forum".

-Joonas (a newcomer to the forums and not feeling very welcome)

[Tubby]

Hi joonas. There is a minimum number of post that need to be made before several boxes can be ticked. Unfortunately if you attempt to get them over and done (posts) within fifteen minutes you end up attracting moderators attention.

Alternately if you do not attempt to make the posts you remain sitting at the starting post.

WebProWorld does seem to have an awful lot of members with very few or just the single post. But I can assure you that a good number of members jump from their first post to becoming "Of good standing" quite quickly.

Your first posts suggest to me that you will have no great trouble clambering over the heads of other newbies that are merely attempting to obtain a signature link in every forum on the net.


Nice first post.

[rah]

You don't have to be a member for years or have a thousand posts. The requirements are simple. You have to have enough posts to have signature links activated (15) and not have a negative reputation on the forum. Nothing more, nothing less.

The WebPro Exchange section of our forum is the only section with these restrictions. Every other section is open. The reason for this was because we had a flood of new members only posting once and leaving never to respond to any replies. While we enjoy having new members, having abandoned threads looks bad on us.

If the only reason a member joins is just to advertise, then they are here for the wrong reasons. We are here to help each other learn first an foremost. Once a new member has been active on our forum they are rewarded with the ability to do some promotions like signature links and the use of the WebPro Exchange section.

[jokkebk]

You don't have to be a member for years or have a thousand posts. The requirements are simple. You have to have enough posts to have signature links activated (15) and not have a negative reputation on the forum. Nothing more, nothing less.

Thanks for the clarification, that does seem more reasonable and achievable, if I would frequent the forums for a while, getting 15 posts would be rather easy. The sticky in the Sale/Hire forum just didn't contain the above info and I got somewhat frustrated when I started to read the reputation system posts and couldn't easily find the 15 post requirement from there either (the first reputation post only seemed to deal with some kind of influence points, and at that point my interest in the whole points system was rapidly dropping...).

The WebPro Exchange section of our forum is the only section with these restrictions. Every other section is open. The reason for this was because we had a flood of new members only posting once and leaving never to respond to any replies. While we enjoy having new members, having abandoned threads looks bad on us.

That is understandable. The reason why I posted my original message above was mainly to highlight the fact that this way there would be no "external posters" of job ads in the exchange forum, due to the entry requirements. This is fine by itself, as long as that fact is recognized.

Another alternative might be moderation where old messages without replies are deleted, but that would obviously require some additional effort on the moderator front.

If the only reason a member joins is just to advertise, then they are here for the wrong reasons. We are here to help each other learn first an foremost.

Yes, seeking for web designer help was the reason I joined, and as I currently have my hands full with other things, it may be that I won't have the time to be as active on the forums to gain that signature. But I have been pleasantly surprised by the polite responses you gave, so it might be that I'll check your other forums that are also open for us newbies, maybe I'll have something to contribute.

(I'm extremely short on patience with web development matters so I very rarely ask for advice in forums, instead opting for banging my head against the wall with only google as my guide...)

[Tubby]

opting for banging my head against the wall with only google as my guide...

Aha.
I suspect that using google as a guide could well be a major cause of 'head-banging the wall', it is evidently quite a popular pastime. (merely an observation from newer members posts). Personally I value my walls far to greatly

I usually pop into WebProWorld and ask. . Sometimes I can almost hear a few senior members shaking their heads in dismay and muttering "how dumb can he get? ". . . I can be pretty dumb! . .

My web-site are all flourishing . . . Asking has been a good policy for me. On This forum I get 'one on one' advise . . . Google merely offers 'one on millions' (and Google is a little bit biased and self serving)

[LD]

To add to what Tubby mentioned above re signatures, if the exact number of posts required for obtaining a signature was to be openly published, there would be an added mad rush by many new members posting drivel and tripe just to get to that magic number. As it is, it's extremely time-consuming for moderators to spend their time moderating "thank you", "I agree", "thanks for sharing" and other types of junk posts made specifically to increase ones post count.

[weegillis]

I would further add that by contributing on a forum one gets to know a few of the senior members, and will be more comfortable knowing in advance whether this is right place to post an advertisement for Help Wanted. Just walking in to post an ad is as good as a guess or stab in the dark. How many other forums is this ad placed on already? How many of those posts will be updated when the position is filled? My bet is, none. The posts will sit there and collect dust for years, until some overworked moderator finally deletes them.

[jokkebk]

if the exact number of posts required for obtaining a signature was to be openly published, there would be an added mad rush by many new members posting drivel and tripe just to get to that magic number.

It's hard to keep in mind the idiotic things people on the internet are capable of doing. Makes me feel sorry for the poor moderators of any forums that discuss "popular" topics. Thankfully most the boards I frequent are a bit niche (go board game, electronics), so one only needs to tolerate annoying fellow enthusiasts.

Just walking in to post an ad is as good as a guess or stab in the dark. How many other forums is this ad placed on already? How many of those posts will be updated when the position is filled? My bet is, none. The posts will sit there and collect dust for years, until some overworked moderator finally deletes them.

That is partly true, but some indication can be glanced from previous posts in that forum. In my case, I picked two forums, this and designerstalk.com, because both seemed quite active and topical, and the previous job postings seemed quite legit so one could expect useful responses (on some forums you can see already from the poor quality of posts and replies that no serious professional would frequent them). I kept the number of forums intentionally low so I would have the time to scan replies for a week or two in case there would be any (so far there has been none at DesignersTalk, here I did not post the ad due to the restrictions).

However, I'm not certain about the fact that "not closing" a job offer is always a bad thing. Take for example a photography forum I frequent that has "Equipment to sell" section - after I get to page 3 or 4 of that section, I stop assuming that a piece of gear is on sale anymore, even if the original author has not updated the post to say it's been sold. Along the same lines, I'd consider it rude for the original author (e.g. me) not to update an ad in case the position is quickly filled. But on the other hand, if I wait for replies for a month or two and get none, and the post falls to page N on an active forum, I'd feel less inclination to go and update the post if the position was then later filled.

Nevertheless, my point is mainly that "one-shot" posts are not always bad, but I do agree that the negative points mentioned by previous posters probably greatly outnumber the few good ones there might be.

[deepsand]

However, I'm not certain about the fact that "not closing" a job offer is always a bad thing. Take for example a photography forum I frequent that has "Equipment to sell" section - after I get to page 3 or 4 of that section, I stop assuming that a piece of gear is on sale anymore, even if the original author has not updated the post to say it's been sold. Along the same lines, I'd consider it rude for the original author (e.g. me) not to update an ad in case the position is quickly filled. But on the other hand, if I wait for replies for a month or two and get none, and the post falls to page N on an active forum, I'd feel less inclination to go and update the post if the position was then later filled.

Nevertheless, my point is mainly that "one-shot" posts are not always bad, but I do agree that the negative points mentioned by previous posters probably greatly outnumber the few good ones there might be.

Our experience here at WPW is that dead and abandoned trade threads are magnets for all sorts of miscreants, quite likely owing to their thinking that their activities on such threads will go unnoticed. It is also the case that many of such one-shots appear to have been posted solely for purposes of link building and/or textual citations, although this is not confined to the Exchange sub-forums, but is observed in the Review my Site/Logo sub-forums as well.

In any case, anyone who can both manage to and make the effort to write as well as you do should have little trouble qualifying for posting to the desired sub-forum in short order, and would make for a welcomed addition to our roster.