Add a rule against solicitation in private messages

[Wvisoecj]

Recently there have been a surge in solicitation in PM's. I've seen it happen to other members on here as well. User's are messaging other random users offering their business, services, or items for sale while the recipient never presented previous interest or even a conversation with that user.

Often I will send a message in the shoutbox and a minute later I will get a private message from a random user who I have never spoken with offer their services.

Solicitation is extremely annoying, I would to see an end to it. Otherwise it will continue to grow, and show young kids that this type of behavior is okay.

Examples of said solicitations, keep in mind I have never contacted these users or displayed interest in whatever they are offering in anyway.

 

[Wvisoecj]

This behavior has extending onto other platforms now. Imagine this but 100's of kids doing it. Received this on my personal twitter account.

 

[Wvisoecj]

I’ve already made a suggestion about this, however I’ve waiting for Mick to get off his ass since April.

I saw after I posted this :/

 

[Picturesque]

What do you guys think the punishment this should be for such actions?

I would honestly say a ton of warning points (not sure about how many)

 

[Doge]

I agree it's annoying when someone contacts you out of the blue offering a product that you've shown no signs of potential interest in. They should just make a thread for it or offer it to people who are definitely interested. To enforce such a rule, it would have to be shown that the user wasn't interested in what was offered to them. Many people PM about services if the user has shown interest on a thread somewhere so I can't think of a way to enforce it effectively.

 

[Doge]

Warning points

Yes, but what I'm saying is how would we know if the user who sent the PM didn't do it because the other user showed potential interest? Just seems like too much of a hassle. Plus, all you have to do is open the PM and not reply.

 

[lAkjtzAZ0]

Warning points

He means he can't think of a way to prove the user wasn't interested at all. If there's a punishment for doing this, you could go into sb and tell someone you're looking for a service, then report them when they pm you. This would require everyone to start screenshotting messages in sb just in-case they need them, which adds way more work for everyone.

 

[Ivain]

The first step to enforcing this should be to require a selling thread linked for non-service soliciting. That way, they'll have to make a thread instead of trying to bypass things. If someone offers a service, they should link their service thread, or refer to the thread that asks for it.
I would say breaking this new rule ^ should constitute a warning point lasting half a year. if it is broken too often, it would mean a warning for spam.

 

[Mick]

We have added a rule for this in the previous announcement in response to a different suggestion made before this.

Denied, thanks for the suggestion nonetheless.