This post is attempting to report fact and not make any judgments.  If my rational readers have any comments I would love to hear them…

Today my 2 millionaires forum thread (and many other 2 Millionaires threads) were locked (no new posts allowed.)  My guess is this was done because due to complaints by 2 millionaires.  I tried to have nonincendiary open dialogue.  But both sides are very very quick to flame… There are reports of 10 or more people being banned from the forum.  I have not been banned.

Here is what Prosper Brian said when locking the thread:

All,  

This thread has been locked because it violates the forum policies of “Baiting other members into a fight or displaying other aggressive behavior” and “Being mean-spirited, unruly, or rude.”

Brian

Here is a link to the thread: http://forums.prosper.com/index.php?showtopic=22124

This thread talks about banned members: http://forums.prosper.com/index.php?showtopic=22451.  Here is the email they recieved:

You have been suspended from the Prosper forum for violating the following forum policies:

Baiting other members into a fight or displaying other aggressive behavior.

Being mean-spirited, unruly, or rude.

Encouraging others to violate the Prosper Policies, the Prosper Terms of Use or any Prosper legal agreements.

Brian 

Also, in response this thread was started calling for reporting 2 millionaires: http://forums.prosper.com/index.php?showtopic=22468

And I have decided to copy the text in case the thread is removed…

Dear Prosper Community:  

As you know, 10 members have been banned from the forums for 5 days. We are receiving phone calls from Prosper Shira and Brian to explain what is going on.

During my conversation with Shira, it was relayed that in order to have Prosper.com look into a group, we need to use the “report” button that is on every page of prosper.com.

So, I urge everyone to use that function now in reporting these two groups:

TWO MILLIONAIRES have been where you are – will help! Grp 1
TWO MILLIONAIRES have been where you are – will help! Grp 2

The report button is at the bottom of the page. When you report them, you should chose the “Other, please explain below” option.

In there, please explain why you are reporting them. You may wish to use this if you wish:

Prosper Marketplace,

I am reporting this group due to their deceptive business practices. This group is manipulating the star system through community payments. As a result, the group continues to push through (by brute force) massive number of loans by virtue of their 5 star status. The group process is supposed to FILTER OUT bad loans, not FILTER IN bad loans. Unfortunately, this is what is occurring.

Purposely using community payments to keep their 5 star rating is deceptive to the marketplace those stars were created to aide. The stars are meant to reflect the payment history of the group’s borrowers; to indicate to lenders that a group is less or more of a risk based repayment compared historical Experian performance. By making community payments for non-paying members WITH THE SOLE INTENTION OF KEEPING THEIR STARS, the group leader of this group is falsifying the one metric made available to lenders to analytically judge a group. This creates a dangerous situation where lenders will bid based not only borrower’s listing but also on the rating of the group. By fraudulently maintaining a 5 star rating, this group is creating a ponzi-scheme like scenario where the first people in get paid off and tell their friends how great it is. It keeps building and building until it becomes unsustainable, where then the top of the pyramid leaves with the funds and the investors are left holding the bag.

While this group is not violating the letter of the TOS, surely they are violating the spirit of the TOS via the community payment method. I am asking for this group to immediately be suspended from making community payments until the time the star rating mechanism can be changed so that it is not influenced by community payments.

Sincerely,

Please add, remove or edit any part you want. If you have a better or more eloquent way of putting something, please let me know and I’ll update my letter.

Please, if you want this madness to stop, this is the way prosper has communicated that it should done.

ETA: Some suggestions from below.

 

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