5 public posts needed before able to DM a person?

[keesvw]

Hi admins, i wanted to DM a fellow diver here to discuss a technical issue but i need to have 5 public posts first. so I hope this one counts...

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Just post five times about anything and you’re in.

 

[chillyinCanada]

The times, they are a changin'.

No longer will it be so easy. Currently, fine tuning is taking place and my recommendation is that if anyone wants to meet post minimums, they'd best insure that their posts contain something of value to the board. In other words, actual participation in scuba discussions.

 

[The Chairman]

The times, they are a changin'.

Unfortunately, scammers are a changing too. Now, they do the five post minimum so they can DM someone to tell them about this terrific deal that joesomebody@gmail.com has on that item. It sounds so innocuous and helpful that people are getting burned by it. Ergo, we're trying to refigure how to stop these a-holes from being able to do this. A work around is to use the @ in front of the person's username and ask them to DM you right in the thread.

e.g. Hey @chillyinCanada, please send me a DM!​

It won't hijack the thread, and they can start the DM even if you can't.

 

[astr0b0y]

50 post minimum sounds better.

 

[The Chairman]

50 post minimum sounds better.

We're considering all of our options. However, sometimes people let their credentials get compromised, and their account gets hijacked, allowing these a-holes to get around all of our safeguards. So, please be careful. Only buy from users you know. Use PayPal, but not as "friends and family", so you are protected. Never Zelle. Never wire. Or best yet, meet them in person and use cash. We know you guys love the classifieds and 99+% of all transactions are just fine. We would rather it become %100!!! Don't get burned by these greedy jerks.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Only buy from users you know.

This is good advice.

Reading a user's discussion posts may help give you an idea of whether the user is genuine. And if you're a seller, your own discussion posts may help ease the concerns of potential buyers about who you are. For a big-ticket item, I might want to chat with the person on the phone.

 

[The Chairman]

Reading a user's discussion posts may help give you an idea of whether the user is genuine.

Agreed, but the last few scams were from someone DMing the person looking for a product and telling them to contact someone via email. People, please don't fall for the helpful "here's an email" fraud.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Further to what the Chairman said, if the DM is from the hacked account of a longstanding user, the recipient of the DM may be fooled. So be wary of DMs following the pattern of "Try contacting so-and-so at the following email address, I think he has what you're looking for." This is almost always a scam and may indicate a hacked account. Report it if you see it.

 

[happy-diver]

Only trouble is that if you read my stuff and you buy a reg from me, I may well send you a car

I'd like to see someone immitate that