An explanation about the "free bear hunt for kid" thread

[huntinstuff]

I deleted it. Here is why.

The poster would not identify himself or his company. That sets off bells and flags to me.

I gave him 10 minutes to identify himself and his company. Why 10 minutes? Because,

1. He was actively monitoring the thread and 10 minutes is plenty of time to type your name, contact number and company name

2. The more kids that see the advertisement, the more excited they get, the more involvement and the greater potential for disappointment should it prove to be a scam.

A legitimate company would have contacted us and told us of their proposal. Not being a sponsor, we have a duty to protect our members and demand that posters abide by our rules. We also have a responsibility to our fine sponsors who provide excellent product and service to members of AO.

It wasn't until I deleted the thread that the poster told us who they were and berated us, insulting AO and its membership. Kinda what I thought would happen. Convenient that they would do so only after I deleted the thread.

After a quick check with APOS, the name given to us by the poster is not a name registered with APOS, as claimed. Another red flag...

I believe this was the motive behind the "offer" of a "free" hunt. I did note that the poster offered a bear hunt to the accompanying parent/guardian for an undisclosed rate.

All in all, I don't believe there was a "free" hunt at all. We have been inundated with scammers and spammers lately, and we are striving to keep this board clean and safe for its members.

I am not interested in any feedback on this matter, thus this thread will be closed to comment. You can make up your own mind on the matter.

I feel bad for any of the young people who got their hopes up. We here don't want to see our members get scammed, whether it be on the "Buy Sell" forum or elsewhere. We try to be diligent in keeping the site safe for all.

Randy