Jeff, every day the people who come here are extremely grateful for the tremendous site you have created and the mammoth task you have of keeping it running and evolving. That said, I think it's gotten away from you over the last few years, but there are people out here who will help you who have relevant experience. I was a magazine and web site publisher for 20 years, as you know. Others will step up, I'm sure. I encourage you to solicit help (as you've indicated) and guide the interested parties on a path towards improvement. We're happy to preserve and work to enhance what you have built. Even just adding in more clear moderation would help, as I can't even tell who is a moderator and who is just jumping in with a random comment against a scammer, even though I come here several times a day.
I think what Bernard is stressing is important to acknowledge and address as well. His comments illustrate the urgency of the situation. The problem is much more severe than you stated. Your estimate of 5 people scammed isn't even close to being accurate. I know that because of emails I've gotten just from regular customers in Europe reaching out to me for help from being scammed by someone in the USA (or nearly entering into a scam deal) originating from postings here. It's frustrating to see a site's quality get eroded by the scammers. Moderators, who we know on other sites can be too aggressive about nit-picky rules and enforcement, can be remarkably slow to step in with scammers. It took me more than a year to convince the Seiko & Citizen Trading Forum that one of their regular posters was a scammer. He was, just as Bernard described, somebody who traded just enough to earn a reputation and "then went to the dark side" trying to steal $5200 from me after I'd done three smaller transactions with him. Only because of PayPal did I get my $5200 back and, even then, the SCWF moderator didn't even want to take the time to read the notice from PayPal or any of my correspondence with the scammer. A year of scams and busted deals later, SCWF finally banned him. It was really pathetic.
Like it or not, it's part of the inherent responsibility that comes with what you have created here. Starting this discussion and elaborating on it is a super healthy start. I hope it will lead to some volunteers, ideas and actions to help you right the ship. Thanks again for all you do. In 30 years in the watch business, this is by far one of the best sites ever created.
Kind regards - Bill (Squinky)
