Why site-suggestions will never be able to stop scams(and why people should stop making them)

[Tilt]

The suggestions forum often has threads that has to do with "stopping scams" or "scam security", which is all-in-all okay, but ultimately the ideas are always flawed and there will NEVER be 100% security when you're dealing online. This will outline my thoughts on scamming and online forums, so read if you wish.

You SHOULD NOT feel safe when trading online.
The addition of the reputation system tried to alleviate this, but ultimately we saw what happened.. It was abused, rendering it basically useless. People lie, cheat, and do anything in their power to get that extra $5, that extra $10, so on so fourth. Money, in a sense, can kind of be looked at like a drug. When are you going to get that next fix, that next person that funds your wallet or addiction for making money from home..?

Maybe that's an exaggeration, but I've come across many(and I'm sure you've a few) people who will do just about anything to make a few dollars online.

WHY suggestions will NEVER counter scamming.
Everyone goes on about stopping scamming, but the true issue isn't the scammers, it is the SCAM PREVENTION. When I refer to scam prevention, I mean the concept of three different questions I ask myself..

1. Do I feel rushed or suspicious about doing this deal?
2. What is their overall aura within the community? (negative, positive, what are they known for..)
3. Has the user done successful transactions in the past with people I've dealt with?

Now, I'll go over a bit deeper what these mean to me later on, but it's hard to settle it just in 3 factors(a lot of it comes from experience, I promise!).

Anyways, on to the suggestions. So, as long as this forums primary currency among members is PayPal, you ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS run the risk of being scammed.

New member, older member, nara, Corey, me, Rocket, Mick, Bosny, anyone.
You always run the risk of being scammed when dealing with PayPal.

And there's no fix to this, unfortunately. There's ways to prevent it, but online transactions will NEVER be looked at as seriously as physical-item transactions(at least by PayPal). Offering "credits" that members can have among the forum(Stop Scam (IMO)) will have the same effect as scamming, but you're hurting the source, and not the unintelligent one for dealing with the scammer.

The difference between a system and a human, is that a human can learn. A system may be able to pick up on exceptions and report them to you, but only a human has the level of communication-recognition that other humans have. This is why we aren't even close to mastering even a reputably-close level of robot-human interaction. Cause the human brain can catch it the first time, while a system has to work through it all first.

Offering some sort of "automated middleman" where we're paying Mick for some form of service to handle between two members doing a transaction will NEVER help Mc-Market grow. In fact, it'll decline revenue, waste time of administration, and just ultimately hurt everyone.

Update (14/3/2016)

It seems some people still are pushing suggestions that, in a nutshell, won't do this site any greater good.

I will admit the past update of this site which disallows members advertising services and sales in the shoutbox is completely ignorant of the sites promoting goal, to allow peer-to-peer exchanges, but I believe the strategy of going about the update is getting things appealed, rather than adding new, more confusing additions to the site.

"If it ain’t broke, let’s don’t fix it," - Mr. Davant

 

[Tilt]

I agree with most of it but this thread won't stop the suggestions. Might help a few people at least.

Of course not.

Ignorance is bliss, am I right?

 

[montyburly]

I agree. Adding in these ridiculous and complicated systems would just make trades take longer and would turn people away. I think the rep system is fine the way it is and it's up to the members to be responsible with their money. Like you said, people need to learn the signs of a scam and take precaution when doing any deals. The problem is people want to take the easy way out and want other people (staff or the site in general) to do all the work for them. That's simply not possible. When you are buying or selling something it's up to you to determine if it's a safe deal.

 

[Ivain]

Thank you. All these suggestions are great in theory but will never work in practice. The best thing to do is just to educate the masses to make it more difficult for scammers.