IMPORTANT: Change to Rent/Trade Boards Rules

[OhioDVC]

Well, that's one.

Seriously though, if someone wants to rent your points, they want to see who you are. If you never post to the DIS, how do they find out? Post your thoughts about the resorts you own at, about your favorite places to eat, about the places you like to trade out for, what you plan to do with the money you get for renting out your points (DCL? Other Disney location? ABD?)

The number of posts you have has nothing to do with how trustworthy you are and is meaningless to a potential renter. It only means that you spend way too much time on the computer.

It is a pure business transaction. I would respect a couple of good references and a fair contract over thousands of postings.

I also greatly resent the "lurking" comment.

So much for a sense of community

 

[RobDoc]

I guess that I don't really get it!

Unless I post 50 or 100 or whatever you decide is an appropriate number of posts, then I am not a contributing member worthy of the benefit of the rent/trade board. I could care less about renting my points. But that doesn't mean that I may not want to rent in the future, And spare me the you could go elsewhere to rent your points!

I do care about Disney and all things related to my visits. I do care about geting information from people who have "been there" and wish to take the time to enlighten all of us with their opinions. I do care that you have given me the ability to solicit information that I need to enhance my Disney experience.

I do not care to be labeled a "lurker". The dictionary indicates lurkers as evil or having latent threats associated with them. I am only looking for good information. It is estimated that 90% of people who frequent boards do not post. That's a lot of people to alienate based on your 50 quality post solution.

How about a case by case basis. If all post are on the rent/trade board and there are a significant number of them, then address it with that person.

Painting all of us "lurkers" with the same brush is a cop out.

I realize that all of you moderators are volunteering your time and I really appreciate your effort. Please realize that it takes two to complete a post, a poster and a reader.

Mike

Please consider the policy a "Tiered Loyalty Program". At this time, those who are not even registered on the DIS have access to all public forums - except the DVC Rent/Trade Board. Those registered for our site are able to read all public forums and post if they wish. They can even participate on the Rent/Trade Board by responding to those offering to make a reservation for others and can even offer to transfer their DVC points to another member who has posted a "Trade Wanted" thread.

In order to have your own "Points for Rent" or "Reservation for Rent" thread, all you need to do is become an active participant on the site by making an average of 2 posts per week over a 6 month period. For those not comfortable with that level of participation, all other public forums on the DIS are still available without any cost at all. Those willing to more actively participate are rewarded with the opportunity to rent DVC points using the DIS. The choice is entirely yours.

Welcome to the DIS!

The number of posts you have has nothing to do with how trustworthy you are and is meaningless to a potential renter. It only means that you spend way too much time on the computer.

It is a pure business transaction. I would respect a couple of good references and a fair contract over thousands of postings.

I also greatly resent the "lurking" comment.

So much for a sense of community

I have hundreds of comments from our renters that will contradict your "meaningless to a potential renter" comment. Sorry you feel that those who make 2 posts per month are spending too much time on the computer. Many renters are looking for someone who has enough posts that they can get a sense of who they are dealing with just from the posts they have made. In fact, we encourage renters to do just that.

Our Rent/Trade Board was started to provide an opportunity for DVC members of our online community to share points they were otherwise unable to use. Sorry you feel it is a "pure business transaction" as we consider it a component of the community itself.

Our community is what it is. Participate if you wish, lurk if you want. All are welcome to enjoy what we have to offer at their own comfort level.

 

[OhioDVC]

Please consider the policy a "Tiered Loyalty Program". At this time, those who are not even registered on the DIS have access to all public forums - except the DVC Rent/Trade Board. Those registered for our site are able to read all public forums and post if they wish. They can even participate on the Rent/Trade Board by responding to those offering to make a reservation for others and can even offer to transfer their DVC points to another member who has posted a "Trade Wanted" thread.

In order to have your own "Points for Rent" or "Reservation for Rent" thread, all you need to do is become an active participant on the site by making an average of 2 posts per week over a 6 month period. For those not comfortable with that level of participation, all other public forums on the DIS are still available without any cost at all. Those willing to more actively participate are rewarded with the opportunity to rent DVC points using the DIS. The choice is entirely yours.

Welcome to the DIS!



I have hundreds of comments from our renters that will contradict your "meaningless to a potential renter" comment. Sorry you feel that those who make 2 posts per month are spending too much time on the computer. Many renters are looking for someone who has enough posts that they can get a sense of who they are dealing with just from the posts they have made. In fact, we encourage renters to do just that.

Our Rent/Trade Board was started to provide an opportunity for DVC members of our online community to share points they were otherwise unable to use. Sorry you feel it is a "pure business transaction" as we consider it a component of the community itself.

Our community is what it is. Participate if you wish, lurk if you want. All are welcome to enjoy what we have to offer at their own comfort level.

"All are welcome to enjoy what we have to offer at their own comfort level"

Doc - all are not welcome. Your new tiered participation program proves that. You are exceeding member's "own comfort level", but you get to make the rules, you can do as you wish.

I also find your "lurking" comments disparaging and insulting - I thought personal attacks were against the rules----Oh, that's right - there is now a tiered benefit system with different rules.

 

[LisaS]

I also find your "lurking" comments disparaging and insulting

Are you referring to a particular remark someone here has made or are you objecting to the term "lurker" in general? That term is used widely on the web to refer to those who read but choose not to post. While it may have a negative connotation on some discussion boards, I do not believe that is the case here. I was a lurker here on the DIS for many months before I registered and made my first post. I believe many others here did the same so I doubt there are any negative feelings towards lurkers nor any belief that the dictionary definition of lurker is applicable.

Getting back to the 50 posts issue, the Rent/Trade board is offered as a free service to active members of the DIS community. If you want to take advantage of that particular perk of DIS membership then you have to participate in the discussion.

 

[RobDoc]

"All are welcome to enjoy what we have to offer at their own comfort level"

Doc - all are not welcome. Your new tiered participation program proves that. You are exceeding member's "own comfort level", but you get to make the rules, you can do as you wish.

I also find your "lurking" comments disparaging and insulting - I thought personal attacks were against the rules----Oh, that's right - there is now a tiered benefit system with different rules.

There is no financial barrier to use the Rent/Trade Board. All are welcome to use the service offered. The only "cost" is to be an active member of the community with a nominal level of participation. The choice is yours if you wish to use the free service.

Sorry you are so insulted by the word lurk, lurker, lurking - but it is certainly not an attack of any sort. To my knowledge, no one has called you a lurker anyway. Regardless, it is not a derogatory term on this site or on most other internet sites. Lurkers are very welcome here and many have even chosen to become active participants in our DIS community.

You are also choosing to apply your personal bias to what was actually posted (even though you quoted it). I asked you consider it a "Tiered Loyalty Program" and suggested nothing about a "tiered particpation program" (your words) or "tiered benefit system" (your words again). I consider it to be a loyalty reward program - those DVC members who are also active members of the DIS community will be rewarded with the opportunity to offer their points on the Rent/Trade Board. Your choice.

 

[Chuck S]

I find it odd that people find it within their comfort level to post on the R/T Board, maintain a thread, reply to inquiries, and enter into somewhat risky financial agreements with total strangers on the internet.

But at the same time, they find it outside their comfort level to make an average of 2 posts per week on the myriad of non-R/T forums.

 

[DVCGeek]

Chuck- Well said to that. My take: Business-like activity feels OK to them, but social isn't comfortable or is too burdensome. Problem is, DVC membership and the forums are NOT supposed to be a business to the end users (aka "posters")!!!

 

[vicki_c]

David's current model doesn't break any rules - this was discussed earlier in the thread I believe (I know I commented on it - think it was in this thread), because he is not the owner of the points. So he is not a commercial renter, he is a broker between owners and renters. And David/Daddio does actually post here beyond any business considerations - check out his current trip report (which is not relevant to the rules anyway because of what I said above).

 

[vicki_c]

No justification from me - just explaining my view of it.

I am not a mod, an advertiser, a user of either David's service or the rent/trade boards (oh a lie -I rented 2 nights of points from a member for a trip once when I was short). I have no horse in the race, just an opinion!

I don't plan on ever using the R/T boards or a service to get rid of points - I mainly work in a deficit mode.

 

[Deb & Bill]

So if you have about 2700 points and want to rent them out, you're not acting commercial?

 

[Chuck S]

Thank you for your opinion. There are many timeshare rental brokers out there in addition to David's Rentals. Of course, all of them are commercial businesses, and it no more breaks DVC rules for a DVC owner to engage a brokerage service for a rental, than it does to engage the services of a sales broker like the Timeshare Store if an owner wishes to sell.

However, if you wish to continue to comment about whether any DISBoard sponsorship is appropiate, please do so via email to admin@wdwinfo.com

 

[DVCGeek]

D&B- Legalities aside, IMHO it depends; are you trying to rent out almost all of your total points every single year? The sounds/feels commercial to me. I don't like it when owners try to use DVC for commercial purposes like that; it was marketed to be pre-paying for your family vacations! {Edit: Commercial brokers connecting owners aren't who I'm directing that it since they aren't the ones with the points...}

If you rent 10 or 15% of them most years, not so much commercial, you just want to have a cushion for yourself. If you own a lot, that might mean renting 200+ points every year, but if it isn't most of your total I don't see a problem.

Even if you rent 100% of your points occasionally, that might not be by definition of commercial. The tipping point for me is: Do you usually use your points for yourself -or- do you usually rent the majority of your points/reservations to someone else?

FYI, Family and [close] friends aren't exactly "renting" in my eyes, even if they give you $$$; that is just splitting the cost of your group trip.

But again, all my personal view on the matter!

 

[Deb & Bill]

D&B- Legalities aside, IMHO it depends; are you trying to rent out almost all of your total points every single year? The sounds/feels commercial to me. I don't like it when owners try to use DVC for commercial purposes like that; it was marketed to be pre-paying for your family vacations!...!

I don't have any points for rent. I have never rented any of them out. We use them all. And I don't have about 2700 points.

 

[DVCGeek]

D&B- To clarify: I didn't mean any of that personally about what you personally were doing if it sounded that way, just in general as a response to your "what about 2700 points" comment and meant "you" to be that owner...

 

[Lumiere1313]

I'm still a little confused about the purpose for the rent/trade board changes.

My understanding is that the rent/trade board was established to allow members the occasional rental and/or trade for points that they would not be able to use that year. Now it appears that there are some people using that board to rent more than occasionally and the solution is to require a minimum # of posts on the non-rent/trade boards spread out over 6 months???

Why wouldn't you just limit access to the rent/trade board via total posts, total points rented, or some other indicator of more than occasional use?

Mike

 

[DVCGeek]

Why wouldn't you just limit access to the rent/trade board via total posts, total points rented, or some other indicator of more than occasional use?

Interesting idea; perhaps even do that in addition to the minimum posts to offer rentals... (Minimum posts to post there is to get the perc of using that board; max. # of rentals per year is to prevent abuse)

 

[LisaS]

I'm still a little confused about the purpose for the rent/trade board changes.

My understanding is that the rent/trade board was established to allow members the occasional rental and/or trade for points that they would not be able to use that year. Now it appears that there are some people using that board to rent more than occasionally and the solution is to require a minimum # of posts on the non-rent/trade boards spread out over 6 months???

Why wouldn't you just limit access to the rent/trade board via total posts, total points rented, or some other indicator of more than occasional use?

Mike

The Rent/Trade board was established to allow active members of the DISboards to rent their points. Over time, many people joined the DIS just to use the R/T board to sell DVC reservations and never (or seldom) posted on the other boards here. They were not active members of the community. The 6 months/50 posts rule establishes a minimum threshold to be considered an active member of the DIS.

 

[LisaS]

Interesting idea; perhaps even do that in addition to the minimum posts to offer rentals... (Minimum posts to post there is to get the perc of using that board; max. # of rentals per year is to prevent abuse)

We already do this for Reservation for Rent threads. Users are allowed only two of those per year and they can only be posted within 30 days of check in to discourage spec rentals. There is currently no limit on Points for Rent or Points for Transfer threads. If you had 2500 points and wanted to rent all of them on the R/T board every year, that is allowed provided you continue to be an active member of the DIS.

 

[Lumiere1313]

So if you already restrict Reservations for Rent to only two threads per year and only within 30 days of the reservation, what's the problem you are trying to solve?

 

[Chuck S]

So if you already restrict Reservations for Rent to only two threads per year and only within 30 days of the reservation, what's the problem you are trying to solve?

The Rent/Trade board is intended to be used by those active in the DIS community, not by people that just come here to rent their points and not participate in the forums. We tried the minimum number of 50 posts, but once they begrudgingly reached that threshold, they never participated in the non-Rent/Trade boards again, and continued to use the Rent/Trade board. We will now, beginning February 1, require ongoing, active non-Rent/Trade board participation in order to post on the Rent/Trade board.