Quote Originally Posted by griffin View Post
So instead of trying to create a system that encourages members to post all of their sightings (with a temporary two-tier system), it is being suggested by at least a couple senior members (who don't post sightings of rarer items), that we just don't post them at all. That's more of a problem, because no one sees your info. At least this proposal lets people know about what you've seen, and it's the majority of the traffic here too.

That's more discriminating than the temporary hiding of a particular figure's postings, which you're against... and goes against the point of having a community or sightings section.

So instead of most of the people seeing your sightings in a temporary hidden sub-section, no one sees it (since you and others don't risk posting in the public section). That's a lot more elitist than this proposal, that eventually aims to have the info available to everyone.
I'm not proposing that everybody does not post sightings of rarer items. Only that if they are uncomfortable doing so, they simply not do it. I have posted sightings of MP-10 and Thundercracker. I may have delayed one post owing to lack of reception and the fact that I wanted to give other toy hunters the opportunity to find toys on their own before feeding them to the pack.

Whether you post a sighting or not on a public forum is a personal choice. Nobody is obligated to do it. It is not elitist at all.

Creating a sub-section where only a selected class of people can see and post sightings is.

So lets run through a little example scenario to see if I understand the process correctly:

1. Low-rank (or any) member excitedly posts up sighting of an MP-10 on the public sightings thread.
2. Moderator moves (or deletes) this post to the secret thread regarding MP-10
3. Low-rank member wonders where their sighting went. Is either told or informed that they are not permitted to post their sighting
4. Low-rank member goes wtf because their contribution to the community has been absconded for the elite.
5. Am I, as a Deluxe member, then obligated to only post sightings of MP-10 in the private sightings thread until otherwise instructed? Sounds very controlling.

Why are we so against a parent or otherwise buying a superb toy like MP-10 at random for a kid or even themselves? It's unlikely to happen anyway because of the cost, but even if it did wouldn't this awesome toy have a better chance of endearing a child/person to the Transformers franchise than one of the arguably less-good regular release figures?

I think the public sightings thread already gives us a distinct and adequate advantage over the regular shopper. How many parents do you think have wasted their time in the toy aisle looking for a toy that has been bought out by ourselves during a catalogue sale? You're now proposing to give us another leg-up over our own kind in order to satisfy the desires of a few and deny a handful of scalpers a profit?