Joining Our Forum CommunityOur community still eagerly welcomes new members interested in discussing ethnographic arms and armour - even brief visitors asking about a piece they have inherited or were given.
Large numbers of spam-bot generated registrations had led to a moderation queue overfilled with various dubious commercial offers and pornography. For this reason, the facility allowing immediate on-line registration has been disabled. The Moderators Team regrets having to increase the hassle factor of the registration process and hopes you understand why this has become necessary.
In order to register, you will need to send an e-mail to ljones@vikingsword.com. This e-mail needs to include:
1) the username you wish to be identified by on the forums. This does not have to be your real name.
2) a password (you may omit this and a starting password you can change will be forwarded)
3) the e-mail address you wish associated with your forums membership, if not the one by which you sent your request.
4) optionally, to shorten the probationary period, a brief paragraph describing your interests in ethnographic arms and armour. This paragraph does not need to include personally identifying information and will not be shared beyond the Moderators Team. In preparing this part of your e-mail, consider that the purpose is to permit you to be distinguished as a person interested in ethnographic arms and armour, as opposed to a spam-bot.In due course (please allow a few days, but do send an inquiry if 96 hours have passed without response) you will receive a reply via e-mail with a your log-in credentials. Please understand that, in the beginning, your posts will not appear until a moderator clears them. Like every community, this one also has its own quirks and pet peeves. Please take a look at the rules and FAQ below before you begin posting; this may protect you from getting off to a bad start. Once a pattern of responsible behavior emerges, you may expect to be promoted to allow immediate appearance of posts, private messaging, e-mail forwarding and the ability to list items in the swap forum.
EAA Forum Rules
UNDER CONSTRUCTION The rules are presently undergoing revision and restatement for clarity and simplicity.
Until then, a 'sticky' at the top of each forum should be read before proceeding to post.
Please refer to this post in particular
Rules Applying to All Ethnographic Arms & Armour Forums
Rules Applying to the Discussion Forums
Rules Applying to the Swap Forum Specifically 1. BUYER BEWARE (caveat emptor): Vikingsword.com (including the forums, staff and owner) make no warranty concerning any contacts or transactions arising from use of the swap forum and users are cautioned that there is no vetting process for sellers, merchandise or buyers. In using this forum, you specifically and knowingly agree to assume the risk of a "bad" transaction, and further agree to release, indemnify and hold harmless Vikingsword, the owner, the moderators, and anyone officially associated with this site. Participants are expected to comply with relevant laws and regulations in good faith and to refrain from willful knowing misrepresentation.
2. The swap forum is to be used only for the posting of advertisements for ethnographic arms and armour related items (to include authentic examples of such items, related accoutrements, books and literature).
3. Sale advertisements lacking an asking price are subject to deletion without notice.
4. The listing is to remain exclusive to the swap forum for 14 days with the item not to be listed or offered for sale in another venue during that period. If the item has not been sold following this interval, the seller may list the item elsewhere and may reply to their swap thread, posting a link to the current sale offer or auction. Sellers are expected to reply to their sale thread to advise the community if the item is sold or otherwise withdrawn from offer.
5. Advertisements containing links or directions to commercial websites and or auction sites may be deleted without notice, except as otherwise specifically permitted in these rules. Images must be uploaded and placed as displayed attachments, rather than as links. Members of the forum community who are also dealers may create a single thread with the name of their business in the swap forum as the title and include links to their on-line stores and or websites. Replies to this thread to announce special sale events and arrivals of new merchandise may be made, not to exceed six (6) per calendar year. Book publications, museum exhibitions and related events may also be announced and updated in this manner.
6. All other rules of these forums must be observed.
Swap Forum Frequently Asked Questions and Answers I have registered, but I cannot start a thread in the Swap Forum: The Ethnographic Arms and Armour forums are provided to facilitate open discussion and sharing of knowledge about these tangible artifacts and their places in the cultures that created them. As such knowledge confers an advantage in the commercial marketplace, many persons are understandably unwilling to publicly share their learning, experiences and insights in an open worldwide community of persons interested in this subject. The swap forum is provided as an ancillary venue to allow collectors in this knowledge-sharing community to dispose of superseded items and items outside of their evolving fields of interest with others in this community. Posting in the swap forum is a reward and privilege that is earned by constructive participation in the discussion forums community. Members in moderated probationary status are not able to initiate swap forum threads; persons having a single or few items to sell and no long term interest in this forum community may contact a member of staff to request surrogate posting. Staff may, at their sole personal discretion, place swap listings on behalf of persons unable to post; the criterion for this assistance shall be that the offering is of likely interest to the forum community.
I get an error when I try to reply to a Swap Forum post: Only the person who originated the thread (and staff members) have the ability to reply to a swap forum thread. Please think of swap posts as classified advertisements. If you see an offer that you know to be fraudulent or have good reason to suspect, you should use the 'report this post' facility on the offending page to advise staff of your concerns. Minor deficiencies in descriptions are best directly addressed to the member offering the item.
I have been ripped off in the Swap Forum and expect the staff to help me recover my money or item: Users must structure deals to protect themselves from fraud, as they should always do with any transaction at a distance involving unseen merchandise and sellers. While some auction sites provide limited protection from defaulting sellers, a buyer has no such protection here unless their payment processor provides it. Often, the only information Vikingsword staff will have about a member will be an email address (which may well be of the disposable sort) and IP origin data (which may be masked or useless owing to redirects). If you are cheated, the staff is unlikely to be able to assist you in even identifying and locating the perpetrator. Of course our staff will not knowingly let bad actors continue to use this website as a platform for their cheats, but for someone, the discovery will have come at a possibly steep price. Do not let that victim be you!
It does not make sense that I should have to list an asking price for what I expect to be a purely item for item trade transaction: Legitimate item for item swap proposals may be listed without a price, but instead with clear suggestions as to what will be considered in trade. This exception must not be used as a subterfuge to achieve a buyer initiated monetary offer by private message or e-mail. Wanted advertisements do not require a price range. It is understood that stated prices are subject to negotiation with prospective purchasers.
I have not registered or have just registered and desperately want to buy an item in the Swap Forum but have no way to contact the seller: Sellers should consider that new members and lurkers cannot use the forum software to send sellers a private message or e-mail and only the originator of the thread may reply to swap forum threads. Inclusion of a contact e-mail in a posting may increase the chances of finding a buyer; this e-mail may be 'disposable' and need not be your registration e-mail address. Realize that staff do get emails from frustrated lurkers and new members who lust after something in swap but cannot contact the seller; staff are then blamed when they miss the item owing to the delay in relaying their interest. Lurkers who want to be able to pounce on swap offers should consider active participation in the forums community.
I do not think it is reasonable that I may not offer an item in the swap forum that is currently also on offer elsewhere: This rule is intended to give our forums community the first opportunity at desirable items fresh to market. Remember, this is a free service - you were not asked to pay to use this site, nor are donations accepted. Offer a good buy to your fellow forum members first - if it does not sell after two weeks, then you may link to your auction or webstore listing from the swap forum thread.
I am a collector first, but I also deal to provide discovery opportunities and funds to improve my collection - as a "little guy"it is hard to get noticed and the forum rules place me at a disadvantage: Reread the first brown paragraph in this section to understand the philosophy behind these rules; this website is not provided as a commercial platform. Nevertheless, you have been left two free promotional options; first, you may have a single Swap Forum thread with the name of your business in the title and links to your commercial website, auction seller's page and a description of your interests and specialities in the text. You may bump this thread to the top up to six times per year with announcements of special sales, etc. Additionally, members who have a website or business are encouraged to send a private message to "Lee" with their store web address, business name, user name, and two or three sentences of description of their business for a free listing on the static links page.
How do I announce an event or book publication: Follow the business promotion thread model with event name, location and dates in the title or book name in the title, as appropriate. The text may include registration details for an event or links to a publisher, bookstore, etc. Up to six updates to the thread are permitted annually. Book reviews by an independent reviewer may be listed in the discussion forums, where further discussion by other members is possible, but links to commercial sources are forbidden there.
My item for sale was discussed in one of the discussion forums about six months ago and I believe that prospective purchasers would be interested in and benefit from reading that discussion - why can't I link to it: Because one of the moderators is going to see it, edit your link away and then demote you back to probationary status with loss of swap forum posting, private messaging and e-mail forwarding. Do not link to the old discussion, do not refer to it and do not link to or mention a swap forum listing from a discussion thread.
I do not want to load the pictures of my item onto the vikingsword.com server as I wish to retain control and be able to remove the picture after an offering or sale is concluded: Image upload versus linking is an anti-fraud policy and maintains archive integrity. The [IMG] tag facility has been disabled in swap as has been HTML image placement. An attempt to evade this rule with text links to outside picture repositories will only get your post deleted and yourself demoted. Please realize that, just as with major auction sites, old sale announcements remain in the database and are publicly available indefinitely.
Rules Applying to the Keris Swap Forum Specifically This forum is for Collectors to Swap and/or sell keris and keris related items only; items such as pendok, hulu, mendaks, holders and the like.
Aside from the regular Swap Forum rules we have some special ones for the Keris Swap Forum; please read on before you post.1. Only individuals who have actively participated in the Warung Forum as a full member for a minimum of 45 days may list items in Keris Swap.
2. All adverts will be subject to moderation before being cleared to post.
3. All items listed in Keris Swap are to be an EXCLUSIVE offer, not to be offered for sale ANYWHERE else for a time of 14 days from listing. This is a bright line rule.* *(suspension until resolution)
4. Other forms of wesi aji (tombak, parang, etc.) must be listed in the regular Swap Forum. All keris listings found in regular Swap will be moved to the Keris Swap forum and will fall under its policies and rules. (If you are listing multiple items and one of them is a keris or keris related you must list it in Keris Swap.)
5. If the item you are selling has been discussed in the Warung you must wait 30 days before listing in Keris Swap; please notify us and we will close the thread on the item . Notifying us also applies if you choose to sell your item in ANY OTHER VENUE since there is a long-standing forum policy against the discussion of any item that is currently up for sale. Referencing the thread, linking to or directly quoting a member's comments on your item is forbidden and actionable * *(suspension until resolution of the question)
6. After the two week time limit a member may state that the item has gone to eBay or other selling venue.
7. You may NOT provide any link to the item or website to redirect attention. A simple "Gone to eBay" or Auction will suffice.
8. All items must be priced. For swap only adverts a rough dollar value must be assigned to the item.
9. Pictures of items for sale must be uploaded directly to the site. No links or hyper-links; they will be edited out.
10. Adverts like "Hey check out my site; I've got a great keris newly in stock!" followed by a link are not allowed. Links to eBay auctions are not allowed.
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