It's unfortunate that the "bad" has mandated this action and out weighed the "good" that posting comments other than "I would like to buy this doll" can have. I'm am still unsure why the TDF rules of conduct did not cover this issue.haremlover wrote:POSTSCRIPT: I am reminded that thanks to this rule not having been in place a group of members were able to communicate on the relevant FOR SALE thread to club together to help a fellow member to avoid having to sell his doll and a loan of over $1500 rescued the doll and the member. It is such fraternity which attracts people to a forum and a worthwhile hobby. It might be argued that the rescue plan could have been put together on another thread - in an obscure part of the forum - 'nuff said? The FOR SALE part of the forum was the only place of high enough profile that everyone goes to for the successful outcome to have been achieved.
Best wishes
Harem
Burdens will increase for both the moderator (now has to view and approve every post) and the seller (who now will be getting alot more pm's with questions like "is this doll silicone?") that could be answered much more quickly and easily by the forum in general.
When I first joined this forum, finding information was daunting, and I am quite sure it still is, by the number of repeat questions I see posted by newcomers.
scenario: potential buyer try's to post for an opinion on specific doll type (body, head, maker, seller,etc) they see for sale on the Sales thread. Now ONLY the moderator can direct the poster to the manufacturers thread. Again, a job that could have been done by a member of TDF. (BTW, I do this often.) And on top of that, a newcomer will have to be told by the moderator they have to make five approved posts before they can pm the seller. (this happened to me when I first joined, if there was information on TDF about this rule, it was not obvious to me)
It just occured to me that potential buyers should not even bother to have their posts on the thread. The moderator has to deal with the potential buyers post anyhow, so why not just put the potential buyer directly in touch with the seller. Then the seller would not have to have his posted responses to the potential buyer viewed by anyone.
I sympathize with the moderators and staff at TDF. TDF is a huge and complex place. Lets hope we can all keep our eyes on the big picture and work together to make TDF "The" place for doll owners and admirers and not make it a burden on anyone.
Jiayi