[elrod-tom]

This is an audio discussion site which happens to have a sale forum.  This is not a sale site that happens to have an audio discussion forum. 
 
It's thought that, generally speaking, members should have some history and contribute something to the discussion prior to using the sale forum.  I understand that not everyone is going to like that, but another way to think about it is that when we have issues in the sale forum, it's pretty much always with a newer member.  Therefore this is one way to ensure some small degree of quality control (for lack of a better way of putting it). 
 
The PM limitations are at least to some degree a party to that philosophy (and of course to limit spam, as has already been noted).

 

[Jin Puan]

"....when we have issues in the sale forum, it's pretty much always with a newer member."
 
As a newbie, I am interested to know what some of these "issues" might be....just so I am aware of them.
 

 

[elrod-tom]

Fraud, mostly...as a seller or a buyer.  It's spelled out pretty clearly in the linked warnings at the start of each sale category.
 
I don't want to paint with a broad brush, and it's not my intention to hurt the feelings of newer members by saying this.  Some of the worst instances we've had involved long term members who suddenly went bad.  But these instances were more severe because the member invested the time to get to know people before he started scamming, and people simply assumed that there was a good explanation for any issues.  It's much more common that someone comes here as a newer member and attempts to scam as many folks as possible before the membership becomes wise to what's going on.
 
Take normal and reasonable precautions and you won't generally find trouble.  As I mentioned, it's spelled out pretty well at the beginning of each sale forum.

 

[bowei006]

The PM limit on HEad-Fi is already very generous and goes away through some discussion in the forums. And like said above, this is a site that has a for sale section. Not the other way around. 
 
This creates a safety net for the long term users of head-fi from fraud, spam, and PM's from impolite people. While still maintaing a generous limit that goes away pretty quickly.

 

[D4rKx]

just got the same problem. message limit of 2 Oo
that's really not much.. and i can't find any explanation of this system :/
 
EDIT: it seems to work now, after this third post

 

[whatcd]

Sigh I'm having the same issue too ahahah. Hopefully it gets removed.. :S

 

[Currawong]

IF you are participating in the forums (and not just here to do trades, which is NOT what Head-Fi is about) then you will have no issues with PM limits.

 

[armannd]

The 2PM/day limit is utter nonsense and the justification for it makes no sense.

 

[bowei006]

Quote:

The 2PM/day limit is utter nonsense and the justification for it makes no sense.

Explain how it makes no sense?
 
Head-Fi is more public place. It would rather have your questions big and small out on the forums and then answered, not kept in secret in PM's. HEad-Fi is a forum. For discussion, if you participate, and get even over 10 posts, your PM limit should be greatly increases.
 
As said above, there have been problems with scams before with users that have close to no information. 
 
It also prevents spam. Many users here see this as a very nice community. As people that post and thus help the community, we would rather not get that spam. It is thus fair that we the regulars get that. And honeslty, its not even "us regulars". It seems the PM limit is over at 10 posts! Honestly!

 

[ctipping]

Hi all, I've been a head-fi visitor for a while but only just joined a few days ago - admittedly, because I wanted to pick up some headphones in the sale forum.  Denied!  I hit my 2 PM limit today without warning.  Well, I shouldn't really say without warning because the PM limit is alluded to in the welcome letter, but unlike almost everything else on this site, it isn't really explained in any detail.  I think that's really where the frustration lies with all the newcomers.  I understand and appreciate the lengths to which the admins would like to go to protect the community, but I would suggest adding a bullet point - perhaps to the PM guide in the Tutorials - that states the various limit policies similar to the 10 post/15 day requirement to edit your profile and avatar image, etc.  As others have mentioned here, it sounds like maybe those same requirements apply in the PM case... guess I'll find out on my 10th post?  I just hope those headphones are still available tomorrow!

 

[Makuta11]

I am a new member and just hit my cap without being warned. This limit makes it nearly impossible to buy things. Even a simple warning would be nice.

 

[Kumouri]

I just wish I could find more information on it somewhere xD Been searching around and haven't found anything yet.

 

[Doc-holliday]

I just wish I could find more information on it somewhere xD Been searching around and haven't found anything yet.

I am a new member and just hit my cap without being warned. This limit makes it nearly impossible to buy things. Even a simple warning would be nice.

Lets put it this way gentelmen. I joined here and I never had any idea there was any kind of PM limit. I wanted to expand my knowledge of headphones and share my experiences with others. Only after trying different things did I want to start trading and so forth so I never even noticed the PM limit because by then I had posted.

I still to this day don't know what my limits would have been and where. It was never a problem for me and prolly isn't a problem for the majority of people here to contribute to the community.

I am sorry it has not worked out for you but I have to agree with the mods on that one.

 

[cgrahams]

I personally feel that the limit of 2pms/day(particularly when they count to the same person) is nonsense as well.  It could very easily be improved and still 'protect' members.  I'm(as I'm sure many of us are) a member of many forums, some of which I actively participate in regularly and others more casually and I have NEVER been bombarded with spam or 'too many' pms from one member in forums that don't have these limits.  That being said a rule is a rule and I respect that and respect the fact that the moderators and/or senior members don't have to agree with me.  I 'discovered' the limit yesterday when I lost out on a deal because of it.  My suggestion would be that if the system isn't going to be improved/changed then at VERY LEAST make it easy for members to know about these limits beforehand and easily find information about how many posts you need to make etc.[size=11.11111068725586px]  I[/size][size=11.11111068725586px]'m more of a lurker/researcher and have been using the site to learn about headphones etc so I've never really felt I had a lot of relevant experience in terms of having much to add to discussions, hence my lack of posting. I've been a member for over a year and a half.  It feels a little unfair that after learning/researching etc I felt like I was ready to make a somewhat informed purchase decision(my first attempt at a purchase btw, I'm NOT here just for the classifieds) and the door gets 'slammed shut' on me for lack of 'posts' I guess by the very people who I've been sort of 'mentoring' under .  I would love to see length of membership be considered...[/size]

 

[bowei006]

Quote:

I personally feel that the limit of 2pms/day(particularly when they count to the same person) is nonsense as well.  It could very easily be improved and still 'protect' members.  I'm(as I'm sure many of us are) a member of many forums, some of which I actively participate in regularly and others more casually and I have NEVER been bombarded with spam or 'too many' pms from one member in forums that don't have these limits.  That being said a rule is a rule and I respect that and respect the fact that the moderators and/or senior members don't have to agree with me.  I 'discovered' the limit yesterday when I lost out on a deal because of it.  My suggestion would be that if the system isn't going to be improved/changed then at VERY LEAST make it easy for members to know about these limits beforehand and easily find information about how many posts you need to make etc.[size=11.11111068725586px]  I[/size][size=11.11111068725586px]'m more of a lurker/researcher and have been using the site to learn about headphones etc so I've never really felt I had a lot of relevant experience in terms of having much to add to discussions, hence my lack of posting. I've been a member for over a year and a half.  It feels a little unfair that after learning/researching etc I felt like I was ready to make a somewhat informed purchase decision(my first attempt at a purchase btw, I'm NOT here just for the classifieds) and the door gets 'slammed shut' on me for lack of 'posts' I guess by the very people who I've been sort of 'mentoring' under .  I would love to see length of membership be considered...[/size]

The number of people that are in your boat are so very very few, and the way of getting out of that boat is oh so easy. Right now the system works well in that spammers don't or aren't able to come here and spam, this means that 99% of us are happy, this includes the new or old members that have like 30 posts and have a good pm limit.
 
Then we have your case, so should Head-Fi make it so that the very very few people that are in your boat who are members that have used this site extensively a better system where there is no pm limit? No, because there is no way around it. If head-fi or any site could do it, there would be no Captcha's or email verification or all those things that make our lives harder but make sure there aren't spammers and those inside are having a good experience.