Reminder On Contests And New Members

Please read the rules that you agreed to when you signed up. 'Working around' the rules is a quick way to get your account locked or perhaps even permanently nuked.

The rules exist for a reason, they have evolved over a decade and are there for everyone's benefit. The rules are not complex nor are they difficult to comprehend.

New members cannot participate in most contests (or any buy/sell/trade) because you need 50 quality posts before you can use the forum messaging system. Participation is important for the health of the community but more importantly this allows everyone to get to know everyone else.
Don

I recall being a new member and being at a loss on how to achieve "quality posts". I'll go first with my suggestions. Being new to the hobby I felt like I had little to contribute to forum discussions because I had no expertise. I think posting questions is a good way to go for sure. I do think it is key to learn how to post images. There are many threads dedicated to what you have done in philately lately that require no expertise status. What ideas do others have that can serve to role model and encourage appropriate behavior as opposed to punish deviant behavior?

'Quality' posts means any post other then a 'clever' person who starts making inane posts like 'nice stamp' with the intent of pumping up their post count.

Participation is the fuel of this community engine, virtual any legitimate post counts as a quality post. Questions, posts which 'show off' some thing of intertest in your collection, or a post with your opinion all count as quality posts. Mods monitor the posts and silly posts being used to raise post count are noticed.
Don