Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I`ve recently received an invitation to participate in an "investment opportunity" for "an inventor" of several technology items.  Of  course, I figured this was a shoddy attempt to scam me since the tell-tale signs were there (i.e., lack of any substantitve information).  How can I/we protect other members by blacklisting these members?

How can we avoid and protect each other from scams that run rampant on the Internet forum boards these days?

I know there`s a "block member" option on individual profiles, but this wouldn`t get the word out to other SERIOUS entrepreneurs who want to keep StartUpNation a scam-free environment.  Is there any way we can "flag" a profile?

Feedback?  Comments?

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Concierge of Charlotte, LLC
"Start Living!"

www.ConciergeofCharlotte.com
Jim@ConciergeofCharlotte.com

we had a "rating system" which is not active at the moment.  I personally think that rating system was helplful, while those who got low scores complained about it.  That would help some.

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James Lindon, Ph.D. Patent Attorney
Lindon & Lindon, LLC
Cleveland, Ohio
Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights, Pharmacy Law, Litigation
[this is not legal advice - provided for discussion only]
Intellectual Property for the Individual and Small Business: Identify, Protect, Enforce, Defend.
"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."
http://www.LindonLaw.com

PLEASE send questionable messages you receive directly to me. Include the sender`s member nickname and the entire text of the message. We will deal with these issues IMMEDIATELY.

We delete and ban members who abuse the stated Community Forum Posting & Private Messaging Guidelines. Zero tolerance is our policy in this regard.

Thanks for your diligence in bringing this to the attention of the community Jim!!

I personally believe references to invention promotion companies should not appear on this website [e.g. InventHelp] as many inventors have very bad experiences with such companies. 

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James Lindon, Ph.D. Patent Attorney
Lindon & Lindon, LLC
Cleveland, Ohio
Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights, Pharmacy Law, Litigation
[this is not legal advice - provided for discussion only]
Intellectual Property for the Individual and Small Business: Identify, Protect, Enforce, Defend.
"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."
http://www.LindonLaw.com

I think that, besides telling Joel and flagging these thing, everyone has to just be smart.

I mean, I get phishing emails 100 times a day. There`s no way to stop it.

Best thing to do in the long run is just educate yourself and those around you on how to avoid scams.

The only real way to stop these kinds of messages is 1.you must approve the member before they start sending messages to you. 2. Move your profile to private 3. Report, report, report. now I know some of this functionality is not in Sun, but some other sites may have it so it`s still useful info. I`ve had entire forums destroyed by phishing/spam posts. This one guy would come in create a member and post 100 messages a day of spam junk. It became quite a task to remove them EVERY DAY! After the site didn`t catch on I just shut it down, it simply wasnt worth it.

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He who gets greedy like a pig, gets slaughtered like a hog!

Thank you everyone -- ALL valid points!  Nikole: I completely agree with you -- I smelled a rat from the get-go, but just wanted to know if there was any way to flag such accounts.  Plus, I feel that if users have the power to flag members who abuse the forums, then scammers will be less prone to try.  Although to Todd`s point, scammers are sometimes determined to beat the system, so creating new profiles is an easy workaround.  So thanks Joel for assuring me that the SuN team is working to ward off the scammers!

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Concierge of Charlotte, LLC
"Start Living!"

www.ConciergeofCharlotte.com
Jim@ConciergeofCharlotte.com