For The Love Of Port

Roy & Stewart,

As the site becomes more popular, I think we should have some form of annoucement on the front page of the Forum, along the lines of....

New Members wishing to sell Port!

It should then explain that the existing Membership does NOT buy Port of new members. Its becoming more and more common, that people think they can come onboard, flog off some family bottle and never been seen again. As we all know, purchases off complete strangers with no provenance, or storage notes is fraught with danger. This practice needs to be discouraged. It wont be long before the scam appears and everyone is left with a sour taste.
The exception could be when a longstanding member sells it on their behalf, because they know them.
Everthing would be out in the open, and those who are going to become active members will know just to hang on for a few months until people get to know them.

Just a thought.

Alan

Alan,

I pondered that same idea after seeing and responding to Mick's posting a few minutes ago. A few thoughts on this:

a. we already have a "Caveat Emptor" warning on the very first post of the Marketplace Forum. I have now ammend that to mention to pay extra care when dealing with unknown FTLOP participants.

b. as Derek deftly tried to do in his response to the bottles that "might be for sale" ... a gentle suggestion for that individual to post and become known before selling. I think there have been a number of posters who were first attracted to the site by trying to sell wine here. I can name at least a half dozen in the past few months (who are now more active) who sent me emails about their bottles. I now always point them to the website. Some go to the PORT Forum while others have gone to the MARKETPLACE directly.

c. I do not want to discourage a person that might be an honest newbie ... from becoming more actively involved in FTLOP by getting to aggressive from the get go.

d. I think the vast majority of our regulars are savvy enough to ask a bazillion questions before buying from somebody they don't know. I also see all of us as the gatekeepers to protect the innocent participants who might otherwise be bamboozled by a prankster or someone who is intentionally looking to take advantage of unsuspecting novice Port enthusiasts.

Those are my feelings and thanks for bringing up the topic!

Roy,

Fair enough, you've given it some thought and come to that conclusion. I'm happy enough with that, because like you said, personally, I'm ok, because I wouldn' personally do business until I'm sure.
I worry about people who think that everyone is like the majority. I can see newish members not seeing the '1 Post' and giving that person the kudos they dont deserve. But I'm willing to accept your considered opinion and we'll keep our fingers crossed.

Alan