Poor standards of moderates

Having recently had an auction stopped for listing , and I quote, 'Forgeries realized after 1945 through any print technology, photocopy or any other modern print method''. I was wondering if a little of that dictatorship mentality from that other site is slowly infiltrating this site.

The item in question was a 'forgery', one avidly collected by enthusiasts and regarded in the circle I trade in as acceptable, even to the extent that it's listed with other similar items in the catalogue!

Before anyone decides that an arbitrary adherence to rules, however misguided, is the only way consider the recent explosion in the market for Gerald King Forgeries, not only of Lundy stamps but British stamps and every kind of cover.

Should they be banned on here too?

If the site requires moderators let's at least use moderators with a basic understanding of the area they moderate.

Or, like the other place, are we to assume moderators are poorly paid, badly trained robots unable to think outside the box?
I thought this site was policed by real people......................
Most disappointed..........

Let's put the record straight.

Moderators on Delcampe are real people, not poorly paid robots, but UNPAID members of the Delcampe community who give up their time for free and usually moderate within their area of expertise and/or enforce the Delcampe terms & conditions.

Read section 4.1.3 of the T&C's and you will find this sentence: "Stamp and coin forgeries that are realized after 1945 are not allowed".

The moderator in question was only doing his/her job - if you feel that the wording in this paragraph is not right and/or you'd like to see exemptions, you'd have to contact Delcampe.

Yes, lets....
I didn't say the wording was incorrect I said the interpretation was incorrect.
Real people perhaps but clearly lacking in judgment. A clue may be assumed from the name, 'moderate'. It doesn't say 'enforcer'.

Any society is judged by the way the rules are interpreted, and a blanket ban based on a wide criteria is hardly useful to anyone.

Point in question is ebay's current ban on stamps from Iran or North Korea, due to the trade embargoes with those countries, clearly stupid in the extreme.
How selling collections from the 1940's breaches a 21st century embargo is farcical, as is banning items listed here with the word 'reprint' in the description just because there's a rule that says you can't even if they are regarded as legitimate by collectors.
Let's hope we don't end up with a blinkered view of the world on here too.
Like I say, lacking in judgment.

However much you may dislike what happened to you - you did sign up to Delcampe's terms and conditions and whoever the Moderator was in your case was following those regulations.

If you disagree you can appeal with your reasons for so doing.

Or perhaps if you are an expert in this area you could possibly volunteer your services as a Moderator - new expertise is I am sure most welcome.

An appeal has already been lodged.

Again, it is not my like or dislike of the regulations in dispute here, rather the poor knowledge and insight displayed by the 'enforcer' as the previous mediator implied as to the mediators job description.

Oxford English dictionary....
moderator
noun
an arbitrator or mediator: Egypt managed to assert its role as a regional moderator.

As to applying to be an 'enforcer', there's hardly any point if in fact all a moderator does is enforce the rules and doesn't actually moderate, again implied by the previous moderator's posts.

Farcically yet another 'moderator' just sent me a direct message to suggest Lundy stamps are not produced for postal purposes!
The scale of ignorance displayed by 'moderators' in this field is astounding! I would suggest if, as a moderator, you do not have knowledge in this field you refrain from making comments as if you do!

Yes, there is always room for improvement and I would like to see moderators ask the seller about doubtful items or items outside their field of expertise rather than just arbitrarily cancel the auction. If the seller fails to reply in, say, 7 days, the auction can be cancelled then

However, in the main, the mods do a pretty good unpaid job.....there is still a helluva lot of forgeries, illegals and the like on most sites and the mods here do try and keep it clean for the benefit of sellers & buyers alike.

I have had "forgeries" from far east countries closed which turned out not to be forgeries at all. Very irritating, but everyone makes an occasional mistake.That is why I would like a seller enquiry or similar procedure to be put in place where there is any doubt at all.

I know & love Lundy Island but my present location makes it difficult to travel to Devon that often. I thought that the puffins were affixed to the envelope on the left hand side to distinguish them from UK postage stamps and primarily to pay the cost of getting the mail to the mainland. They are recognized as such by the UK GPO I think

I see that you are listing in GB/locals already so it seems quite unclear to me why any mod should have a problem with your listings. You have a nice stock......

I find your sarcasm most unappealing.

If you do not like the site don't use it.

Lundy stamps are hardly mainstream - they are 'locals' and have no postal validity except for transit of main from Lundy to the mainland where they enter the Royal Mail system. Hence any frankings have to be on the reverse of the letter as they have no validity anywhere else.

Now I have no problem with anyone collecting these items or indeed selling them as long as they are properly described and listed in their proper place.

Nit picking over the definition of 'moderator' is not going to get you anywhere.

Emmbers, I understand what you are saying. However, as you already said yourself, we are unpaid volunteers and there is a limit as to how much time we can spend on one particular listing/seller. We wouldn't get anything done, if we had to contact the seller/wait a week before taking any action.

Thank you for your kind words, at least someone out there understands Lundy!

Your ideas concerning moderation are a fine idea and I see no reason why it couldn't be done that way, perhaps someone in administration will take note.

I am all in favour of policing the site after all we many of us are here because of the many reasons not to be on 'that other site' but lets not start copying a poor example of thoughtless arbitration or we may end up just like all the rest.

It appears moderators are not the only ones who do not know what they are talking about! No one suggested Lundy Stamps were mainstream and your other point is, just like moderation in this case, totally incorrect.

I actually feel your comments would be most suited to another site where any criticism is regarded as disloyal and jumped on with destine. I may not put my point across as eloquent as you but that's no reason for personal attacks just because you don't like my point of view.

To disagree with some aspects of a site isn't a declaration of overall dislike, it's just that, a criticism of an aspect of that site.

I have as much right to voice an opinion on a dislike as you have to assume any criticism is 'nit picking'.

Poor judgments based on a lack of knowledge without consultation is NOT arbitration or moderation, it is enforcement.
Having a right to criticise poor judgment isn't 'nit picking' nor is it a blanket dislike of the site.

Apart from which we are now degenerate into a debate on how a point should be argued and who is allowed to do so, so like E-bay.

I quite understand your view as a moderator.
However, your implication is that there are times when you, as a moderator, don't have the time to investigate fully and while that is quite understandable it's a tad unfair to sellers if they are obeying rules to have auctions arbitrarily removed due to a moderators time constraints.
Seems a little dictatorial.

Hi. I think that you misunderstood what I said. I was suggesting that mods could contact sellers if the listing concerned was in an area with which the mod was not expert or there was any doubt about the correctness of the mods decision. I guess that would probably be around 1% of all cases inspected.

If the mod concerned is 100% sure that he/she is correct, the present system works fine, but there have been a few (and I mean a few) rather silly decisions made by mods (everyone makes mistakes) that could have been averted with a routine enquiry

I understand the time element of course but surely "getting things done" should never include mod actions that were incorrect due to lack of expertise in the few individual instances where mod errors could be prevented.