Something is needed between "Supplier" and "Member"

[candre23]

The rules are in place as they are specifically because they have been abused in the past, and taking those rules away would only invite things to be abused once again.

That's the exact argument being used to justify the over-regulation and banning of e-cigarettes. Because tobacco companies abused the public trust by selling known-to-be-unsafe products and marketing them to children, people are simply assuming that e-cigarettes are the same, and over-regulating them from the get-go. There's more than a little irony in that.

Just as politicians don't get that e-cigarettes are very much different than tobacco products, you're not getting that mod makers are very much different from distributors. Just as politicians are ignoring the fact that there are no significant evidence of health risk associated with e-cigs (and a decent amount of evidence to suggest they're demonstrably safer than tobacco), you're ignoring the fact that the makers who are hurt by the current rules haven't done anything to deserve it.

It's this lazy-leadership practice of "over-regulate first, ask questions later (if at all)" that this site has several forums dedicated to preventing. And yet here you are doing basically the same thing. There is no indication that the garage-modders would instantly start spamming every thread with advertisements if there weren't blanket bans on their posting without a multi-month approval processes. If someone did do that, then it is a simple matter to discipline the offender. But placing severe restrictions on an entire category of people just because one of them might do something wrong is just plain bad practice.

 

[schaedj]

That's the exact argument being used to justify the over-regulation and banning of e-cigarettes. Because tobacco companies abused the public trust by selling known-to-be-unsafe products and marketing them to children, people are simply assuming that e-cigarettes are the same, and over-regulating them from the get-go. There's more than a little irony in that.

Just as politicians don't get that e-cigarettes are very much different than tobacco products, you're not getting that mod makers are very much different from distributors. Just as politicians are ignoring the fact that there are no significant evidence of health risk associated with e-cigs (and a decent amount of evidence to suggest they're demonstrably safer than tobacco), you're ignoring the fact that the makers who are hurt by the current rules haven't done anything to deserve it.

It's this lazy-leadership practice of "over-regulate first, ask questions later (if at all)" that this site has several forums dedicated to preventing. And yet here you are doing basically the same thing. There is no indication that the garage-modders would instantly start spamming every thread with advertisements if there weren't blanket bans on their posting without a multi-month approval processes. If someone did do that, then it is a simple matter to discipline the offender. But placing severe restrictions on an entire category of people just because one of them might do something wrong is just plain bad practice.

Sorry, I totally disagree. There is a clear line in the sand. When a person reaches the point that they want to sell their mods, they need to become a supplier. As Angus pointed out, there is a tremendous benefit to being able to advertise in the forum. There is also a large number of "unsuspecting" curious potential vapers out there who just drop in and look at today's posts. (I know, I have been one for quite a while). While you may not agree with the time and effort involved in the qualification process, the rules make sense. I kind of like the idea of a "supplier candidate" status, with supplier restrictions imposed to help ease the transition during the application process, but people shouldn't be allowed to stay there forever. It's not lazy leadership to define a set of rules and stick to them. It's not lazy leadership to set up rules in response to previous bad behavior. It's specifically the rules that we have in place here that make this forum the great source of information that it is. I love not having to wade through three thousand ads and spam to get to information and answers. I love that the ratio of information to ads is so high, even with the high number of approved suppliers on the forum. I'm hoping it stays that way as long as possible.
If the problem is that the approval process takes too long, pitch in and help. If the problem is that you want to sell your mods without going through the process, too bad. Drop off the fourm, post a few you tube videos, take out a web ad on google and see how well it works out for you. I have read through bunches of threads logging the transition from modder to supplier, and quite frankly, I'm impressed with how well it has happened. Keep up the good work, guys. Love the forum!

 

[AngusATAT]

Well, I think this thread has pretty much gone as far as it is going to. Therefore I am going to close it. While you may think that the rules here are too restrictive in this case, I can only reiterate that they are rules that were put into place for good reasons, and they are not going to be changing any time soon.