So if I have a need to comment or inquire a sales post I PM. Always well received. Generally the posts change if need be. I hope that will be the case when I start selling. We all loose out if the shade thrown at sales posts results in watches being sold via HODINKEE or C&C or via PM (already happens a lot) etc. So I also vote for benevolent dictatorship by our mods.
Have you been to Peru yet to meet the ourlaws?/new wife' family? Did you eat hamster and go down dodgy mountain roads, or is that still to happen?
I used to point out flaws in listings, but have stopped doing it after being notified by the moderators. No sweat, though I found it odd that the stickies in the Private Sales forum seem to say that price-bashing is disallowed, not (negative) comments on the watch for sale/pointing out errors. In my experience, sellers will either reply with thanks and edit the listing when PM'ed about an error or in rare cases not bother replying and/or not really change the errors. I see no reason why a seller on a forum of collectors should have trouble constructing a truthful sales post describing an item to a group of his fellows. It follows that any corrections made to the listing by fellow members should be in good manners and only serve to help him construct a better post, because oversights are impossible to avoid and oversights the errors will naturally be, not deliberate misguidance. If a correction at the same time helps giving other, and often completely new, members some vital information needed to make an informed decision on a possible purchase then surely that's a good thing.
I have no issue with people commenting on my sales posts if I've made a mistake, and in the past I've commented on others sales posts highlighting obvious errors (or more likely, deliberate ommisions). In a collectors discussion forum, I don't see how any honest sellers would have a problem with this. The only time it's not welcome is when comments are left speculating on errors, which are in fact incorrect. Nevertheless, if the (new?) procedure is to pm a mod, then so be it. Seems like unnecessary tattletale-ing to me though.
The problem is that a comment is sometimes a fact and sometimes an “opinion” and once an opinion is on a thread, right or wrong, it affects the buyers perception. Even if corrected after the fact a buyer may not come back to see the correction. So you have a perfectly legitimate post about a vintage watch and then I post. Bezel should be larger font and hands are suspect and clearly a redial and a couple of days later you proven me wrong...... how many people saw my comment?... of those how many passed on your watch? Of those how many will bother to go back? The difference between opinion and fact are sometimes a perception game. I have been many times in this forum called an “expert” on vintage Rolex, despite the fact that I am not. I have researched thoroughly the watches I have owned but I am not an expert or even close to it.... I am a good researcher. Despite this fact I have been PM’d or mentioned many times as a source of reliable data and criticism..... but I’m not. So to some of I say something is wrong it will resonate as truth..... even if pulling FMA data ( a term we consultants pull often ( from my ass)) So.... do you really want me to freely criticize your post?
Like I say, I don’t think people should post conjecture or speculation. However, where it is obvious that something is a redial, has incorrect parts or is listed as excellent condition when in reality it’s far from it, I don’t see the issue in commenting. Occasionally sales posts wax lyrical about how great the condition is, when the pictures clearly say otherwise, yet a noob may think that genuinely is excellent condition for a vintage watch. Again, if we’re meant to pm instead, so be it, but I think it’s a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist (or perhaps is easy for me to take that view as I’m not a mod and don’t have to arbitrate between feuding members?).
I think leaving the judgement call to each individual is just asking for trouble and misinterpretation. Best to handle issues privately or via the officially sanctioned method. I can see why the mods are drawing a line here, regardless of if knowledgeable members in the past have commented corrections directly on sales posts tactfully (which usually has been the case from what I've seen).
Ahhh thankyou for asking @lillatroll. The Peru visit (via New York City) is still to happen mate, and I'm looking forward to it. Maybe sometime in June or July??? I won't be taking the Omega Speedmaster 105.012-65 to Peru. That will remain, in the UK, in the care of my daughter. Meanwhile, Peruvian culture is manifest at home. A lot of 'runny porrige' drinking seems to be going on in the mornings??? Yes... the drinking of 'runny porridge' from a pint glass is now a daily event in my kitchen. At the moment my strategy is to have a cup of tea, eat boiled eggs with toast and pretend my wife's 'runny porridge' drinking is not happening.
Like @Davidt If i made a mistake in my post, I'll edit it and change it, even though i might not have known (i guess the previous seller wasn't honest). But I rather preserve my ability and "reputation" to sell on OF and not sell a franken/faulty watch or at least disclose it to be a bad watch. Sometimes, people do think/believe what they have on hand is a legit piece.