Rules and Guidelines for using this forum

[Seiko7A38]

Looking back, I was embarrassed to discover that the old forum's 'Rules' thread: Not so much Rules as Guidelines .... had only ever received a mere 2500 views. My own fault entirely. It was something I started quickly cobbling together, on the day the forum opened, and never finished writing up. Nor did I think to make it a 'sticky' topic at the time, so it ended up languishing, mostly ignored, at the bottom of page 3 of the General Discussion section.

If you've joined any of the larger mainstream watch forums, such as SCWF (a.k.a. 'TheWatchSite') or WatchUseek, then you may remember having ticked a checkbox stating that you agree to abide by their rules. I'll wager that most people don't ever bother to read them. In the case of WatchUseek, you'd be well advised to, because it's easy to find yourself banned for slightest minor infraction. SCWF Admin seem preoccupied with enforcing the rules for advertising on their Trading Post and have reiterated them several times. Both those forums rules sections run to literally reams of pages. So I'm going to try and keep ours short and simple.

One thread on the old forum I did finish writing up properly (and later added updates to) was Scope of Forum Topics.

ScopeForumTopics-OldForum-Post.png (84.19 KiB) Viewed 8449 times

In re-starting afresh with a new forum, the last thing I want to do is discourage members from making contributions.
That said, as before, I intend to keep the subject matters discussed here on topic. So what I wrote above, 9 years ago generally holds good. The primary purpose of this forum was and still is discussion of Seiko-based quartz chronographs. Some readers and past members will recall, we'd since added a further section catering for early Seiko quartz watches. That has been carried over to the new forum (at least for the time being).

So that's scope covered. As I said before, I'll try to keep the rules as such to a basic minimum. Please read on ....

[Seiko7A38]

I'm still getting used to seeing (my own) user details on the right hand side of posts. Unfortunately that's the phpBB default. Although I may recognise previous members of the old forum, once new users start joining and posting, I can envisage there possibly being some confusion as to who the poster is, particularly if they choose a random username.

To help identify yourself, please edit your profile to add an avatar, which should help others more quickly recognise a user. Choose whatever you like - be it a reduced photo of one of your watches, like I use; a reduced photo of yourself (if you're brave enough), a cartoon caricature of yourself seems a popular choice on many forums. Nothing offensive. Please no animated avatars - they're an annoying distraction.

Please ensure to state your location in your member profile (even if you've done so in your intro'). This was something that I'd stipulated as a mandatory requirement on the old forum and intend to enforce on this one. I shouldn't need to chase members to do this, but have done so in the past, which occasionally led to unsuccessful attempts at registering. This is one such episode from years ago, that I remember with amusement.

I've checked the Location field size and found it's a whopping 50 characters. In the right hand column, next to a post, the first 30 characters display on one line. The next 20 characters start another line underneath. So please limit your location to 30 characters. That's easily long enough to write something like: Schenectady, NY, USA, or even dear old Rob Benham's 'Texas - UK when it's nice.' without spilling over to the second line. On that note, please don't just give the bare minimum, you feel obliged to, like 'UK' or 'USA', because I will probably ask you to expand on that. My own reads: S.W. England - and admittedly is a little cryptic, but it's what I've always used. It can be construed two ways: either as South-West England or as the initials of the Town and County where I live.

I may not have set the best example, but if you check the posts or profile of my co-administrator Johnny_E, you'll see he's stated his location as 'Northern Ireland', which is better than just 'UK'. Please do not try to be a smartass and write something like 'At home' or 'Online', as others have done on the old forum (including myself, with my back-up Admin ID: Aragatz, where I used 'Lost in the Ether' ). It will not be appreciated nor tolerated. Hopefully you'll agree this small request isn't too much to ask.

If you need any help with the either of the foregoing, see this thread: How to edit your member profile

Incidentally anybody caught, or suspected of, deliberately giving false details, attempting to impersonate another member, or anyone else for that matter, scamming or spamming will be automatically banned immediately.

Ban-button.gif (110.74 KiB) Viewed 8363 times

[Seiko7A38]

This is where I may begin to start sounding like an old record, but this is a particular bugbear of mine. It may be common practice on other watch forums, but please kindly refrain from quoting other users' posts, unless absolutely necessary* - especially if their posts contain a number of photos. It causes pointless duplication and wastes bandwidth.

This is a carry-over (and a legacy of) the old forum and the shortcomings of the very basic nature of Webs forum software, which I went to some pains to drum into people (particularly newbies) in this thread on the old forum.

PleaseDontQuoteMe-Post.png (94.26 KiB) Viewed 8355 times

Forgive me for stressing this, but especially please do not quote the immediately preceding post* - as stated above.

*The only possible acceptable exception to this rule would be when carrying forward a relevant post (as a quote) to the next (or other following) page. We've set the default thread / page break @ 20 posts per page (same as the old forum). Unfortunately, like Webs, phpBB doesn't display post numbers in threads. The only way you can see how many posts have been made in a thread, is by viewing the number of replies shown in the sub-forum summary. When it already shows 19 replies, the next post will start a new page. Pretty basic arithmetic.

Thankfully, in some respects, phpBB has a few advantages over the old Webs forum software, in that I am able to edit other users' post to remove what I deem 'unnecessary' use of quotes. Believe me, I've got better things to be doing.

[Seiko7A38]

Please, when referring to a Seiko 7xxx variant in your post, ensure to quote the complete 7xxx-xxxx model number. I'd noticed on the old forum that a small number of posters, had written just the case-back suffix, for example 7040, either out of laziness, over-familiarity or lack thoughtfulness for others. They could equally have been referring to a 7A28-7040 or a 7A38-7040. This sort of thing is commonplace on Instagram and possibly acceptable in PM's between members. However, to save me having to edit your post, or ask the question, if I can't figure it out - please comply.

I don't expect other members to cite the SAAxxxJ sales codes the way I quote them (in fact, I often need to look them up - you may also find this spreadsheet useful), but when referring to your watch, especially if asking for help or advice, you should be aware that there are sometimes up to three different case finish versions of certain models, notably the 7A38-7260, 7A38-7270/A and 7A38-7280/9, being all stainless, two-tone and gold-tone variants. Therefore to save anyone having to ask, to enable them to properly answer your query, please state which you are referring to.

[Seiko7A38]

If you think my list of Rules / Guidelines is getting a bit lengthy, then I suggest taking a few minutes to scroll through The SCWF's Rules. That is just one sub-section relating to posting rules. They were nailed together 10 years ago by one of their original admin's 'Isthmus' (Gabe) who has been mysteriously inactive for 3 years. I looked them up to check the exact wording of their rules concerning posting of eBay links - which I'll hasten to add, much to my amusement and cynicism, they appear to conveniently ignore when it suits them.

SCWF-Rules-Linking-eBay-Auctions.png (11.75 KiB) Viewed 8290 times

Strange how their rule actually encourages linking of eBay images*, which might be deemed as breach of copyright.

Having linked hundreds (if not thousands) of live eBay auctions on the old forum myself, I have absolutely NO problem with anybody else posting links to current live eBay listings (or other auction sites). I'd be a bit of a hypocrite if I did. But please DO NOT use the link to promote your own eBay listing or other advertisement, unless you have previously offered the watch / other item for sale in the Members Trading Area - for a reasonable period.

I'm in England, so naturally my default eBay domain is ebay.co.uk. Historically, on the old forum, I'd always posted links and taken my screen shots of listings from ebay.co.uk - both for consistency and convenience (and out of habit). As I'm sure you're all aware, UK left the EU 'Common Market' at midnight on 31st December 2020 - under the cloud known as 'Brexit'. One of the 'benefits' for the UK government is that HM Customs can further contribute to their coffers, by now charging impecunious UK buyers 20% VAT on 30-year old secondhand watches purchased from European sellers, which previously would have been tax exempt !

Early in January, eBay (.co.uk) seem to have latched onto this and appointed themselves as proxy tax collectors to HM government by randomly adding 20% to the seller's asking price on Buy-it-Now listings and the displayed sold results. But it was very random. I not only saw it on a couple of German and Italian eBay listings, but one from Australia !! Fortunately, I had the presence of mind to save both versions of the screenshots, which I included in the 'Yema' thread.

As originally posted on eBay.com.au with a Buy-it-Now price of $180 Au.

Yema-N81W63-Gold-Blue SilverFace-eBay-Jan2021-Re-Listing-(Au).png (245.28 KiB) Viewed 8224 times

As linked from ebay.co.uk, with 20% VAT added, FFS !!:

Yema-N81W63-Gold-Blue SilverFace-eBay-Jan2021-Re-Listing-(UK).png (201.24 KiB) Viewed 8224 times

I wrote in that post at the time:

eBay-Adding20%VAT-fromAustralia.png (6.64 KiB) Viewed 8208 times

I suspect, from the previous random sightings, given that they'd only had a fortnight or so, since the terms of 'Brexit' were announced, that eBay's implementation was rushed and they went off half-cocked. It seems to have abated for the time being. No doubt, being the money-grabbing b*st*rds they are, once their programmers get their act together, they'll be back. When that happens and assuming that the 20% VAT added is displayed in the same manner (rolled into the price), I suggest, that in fairness to sellers, rather than overstate their often already ambitious prices by a further 20%, anybody posting links (or screen shots) for Buy-it-Now listings from abroad, does so from the original eBay domain on which they were listed (rather than ebay.co.uk).


If by posting a link, say in a thread in the eBay forum section, you're hoping to solicit opinions on condition or pricing from other members, please do not simply post 'Wadderya all think of this ?' and dump the link into your post and just leave it at that. Please at the bare minimum, state the model number and the seller's asking price. I'd appreciate if you could also upload either a screen print of the listing or at least the eBay primary image as an attachment, for posterity's sake. I've already started a few random threads in the eBay section, which can serve as examples, such as this one.

The reason is simple. We need to bear in mind, that since August 2019, eBay started actively deleting all ended listings after 60 days. So two months or so after you made your minimal post, without bothering with the additional details, anybody clicking on your link is going to be met with nothing more than this annoying little brat in an orange anorak:

eBay-WeLookedEverywhere.png (200.92 KiB) Viewed 8284 times

*For the same reason (as already stated at the bottom of this thread), please DO NOT hotlink eBay images. Thank you.

[Seiko7A38]

Rules for using Members Trading Area

[Seiko7A38]

A word about signatures !!!

Some watches are made to last only as long as they are fashionable.
Some watches simply aren't made to last.
Seiko watches are designed to withstand the ravages of both time and fashion.
Some day, perhaps, all watches will be made this way.

Mine is 242 characters long (versus 255 maximum allowed)


I just added my signature to one post (as a test) and found it had retrospectively added it to all my previous posts. Figure out how to disable that a bit sharpish !!

No images in signatures. Do not even think about listing your entire watch collection in your signature (seems to be popular on WatchUseek) URL's in signatures are disabled.

[Seiko7A38]

The majority of the foregoing rules and guidelines are in the interests of keeping the forum's threads looking clean and tidy, well-organised, on topic and free from extraneous clutter, so as a final footnote:

Tapatalk mobile users. I DO NOT want to see 'Uploaded from my iPhone 12, Samsung Galaxy S21, Motorola RAZR 5G (or any other greasy fingered screen smearing mobile device) using Crapatalk', at the bottom of your every post. Please figure out how to suppress it. How would you like it if I added 'Uploaded from my Windows 10 PC, using a 102 Key keyboard' every time I posted ?