I guess I'm concern, but again, is it so hard to admit a mistake was done?
05 admits he makes mistakes and everybody find that great.
Alina, I never said you or any other mod or admin did bad, I just said it could have been done better.
I suppose it's a fact of the human condition that no one enjoys admitting that he's made a mistake. I'm no better than most when it comes to that, and I admit this freely. However, in this particular case, while I appreciate your views, even in retrospect, I would not have handled this one any differently.
It may not help to review the thought process that went into my actions, but I assure you that I considered it carefully, and I'll try again, even if it's in vain, to illustrate what I had intended.
Let's say that you, Boudart, are the seller in question. You are a longstanding, well-respected member. Another member sends me a PM stating that he has purchased an item from you (within same country) and has not received it in two weeks, nor has he had any communications from you. I send you a PM but receive no response for a day, although you are on line and posting on the board, so at this point, I have to escalate this to urging a prompt response or else I'll be forced to no-sale you. You come back with a response that you haven't been able to answer PM's the past two weeks because of computer problems (although you are posting on the board regularly), and you've had multiple shipped items returned due to presumed errors from the postal service.
I'm sorry, but the excuses do sound flimsy, so at this point, I have to do something with your other multiple sales. Your suggestion is that I should take every one of your sales, close them, and slap warning messages on them saying "this sale is closed due to x".
Now let's say that you, Boudart, are completely honest and forthright and have done everything by the book, yet delivery was delayed due to unforeseen and unpreventable reasons. Scenario now is that hundreds of potential buyers will see your sales threads with warning signs on them and later, when all this is over, they will think, "hm, I seem to remember seeing his name with a warning next to his sale once--better let this pass".
At the other extreme, let's say you are a scammer, pure and simple. Your sales are closed, but a noob comes across a sale, doesn't notice that it's closed, and never reads to the end of the thread to see the warning. He sends you a PM (which he can, because you're not no-saled at this point), buys the item, and gets scammed out of his money.
So in my opinion, there is the potential for significant harm with your suggestion, regardless of whether you, the seller, are a scammer or not.
By quietly removing the sale and notifying only members who are already interested in purchasing your items, the only people who are aware that there is a potential problem are those who have an immediate need to know. If the previous item in question is successfully delivered, your sales are moved back to the public area, intact, no warnings, and life continues as usual. Your reputation is unscathed, as it should be. There's no drama and everyone is happy.
If it turns out that you are a scammer, your sales are gone, no one can buy from you, even if they're a complete noob and have no idea what's going on in the sales area.
Now unfortunately, I did not consider the scenario that I'd remove the sales and members would call the staff out for conspiracy and censorship and require that full disclosure be made regarding this seller's dirty laundry. But then, no matter how good my intentions are, I guess I can't anticipate every glitch.
I don't mind if you have a different suggestion regarding how to handle this, and I'm absolutely comfortable defending my actions. But at best, I'd consider this a difference in opinion and judgment, not a "mistake".
