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Classifieds


al mcguire

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Yes, Al, that's got me worried also: go-chroma signed up and moments later is selling stuff. The first post was actually made as a reply in the regular Want To Buy - Want To Sell section (and I'm not sure how he/she was able to do that --- maybe I didn't put a restriction on new members replying).

 

I can see trouble ahead.

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Jeff, maybe you could make every post AND reply to the classified section (and perhaps the WTS/WTB section) moderated. So the posts would HAVE to be reviewed and approved before appearing. Maybe have a simple list of rules that need to be followed (must have been a member for XX weeks/months, must have at least YY posts to the rest of the forum, etc)...

 

To keep this from being too much work for you, perhaps you could deputize several trusted board members to review/approve posts to those sections. Don't know if your forum software allows for such fine-grained admin privileges, and sure there may be other stickier/liability issues. But I think with a few moderators, legit posts will get approved quickly, no single moderator will suffer too much of a burden, and the classifieds could be a great mostly problem-free resource.

 

Good luck and let me know if I can help in some way!

 

Jim "trying to figure out something similar for a group I run" Feeley

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Thank you, Jim, for your offer to help (and for your always thoughtful guidance on so many things). What I have discovered with the Classifieds plug-in is that there is actually less control and less possibility for moderation than the regular WTB - WTS section of the forum. It's greatest strength is that it is designed specifically to make it easy to put up a classified (or categorized) ad and also provides for the poster to make a payment to put up an ad (something I am not going to ask for from our members).

 

The structure of the main forum does make it easy to assign additional moderators and any and all posts to the WTB - WTS section could be subject to moderator approval before it even hits the streets so to speak. If I decide to go this route, I think you will be one of the people I might "volunteer" to do some of this moderation (but we'll talk about this later).

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Moderators are a necessary evil when forums get to a certain size, I think this is the only one I now of this size with none, that's a testament to the friendly attitude on here generally.

 

I agree with you Jon --- we have been pretty lucky all these years relying on only the sort of moderating that I do (which is always AFTER the fact, never before). I think with the problematical WTB - WTS section, advance moderation before anything gets posted may be the way we have to go.

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I haven't looked at the new section yet.

As someone who regularly shops for gear, and reads almost all WTB and FS posts in order to track the value of gear, etc., I'd be happy to help moderate the "old" section.

*** Quickly looked at "classifieds" on mobile site. After you go back from looking at an ad, you are now in that section, as opposed to in the all ad section. Makes it hard to browse all ads. Clicking on pictures doesn't show you the pictures. It's not very helpful. I think a monitored WTB/WTS section is the way to go, with administrator ability to delete the thread after a month. Although, I often refer to old ads for current pricing.

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I like the look and layout of the classifieds much better than the old section. The only downside to not being able to post replies is, I think, that interested buyers won't know how many people are interested in the item (as in the old section people would post something like "PM sent"). Not sure how important that seems to others though.

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Each has its good points and its bad ones --- I tend to prefer the way I originally did it, a discussion forum section that just happens to be discussing things you want to buy or things you want to sell. If we can just keep it to that, keep the discussions civil, weed out fraud and occasional poster who just wants to sell as bunch of stuff, then I think we'll be okay.

 

As for the look and functionality of the Classifieds section, it works okay but nothing so wonderful that anybody would miss. For Robert (or anyone else looking at classifieds on a mobile device, images I believe do not expand (via ajax routine) on mobile. With full size browser, clicking on an image you get a lightbox style slideshow of all images.

 

No one needs to get nervous, I'm not going to take down our old WTB - WTS section, just looking into ways we  might make things better.

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The new Classified section looks great but I'd vote to keep the old section as is. I like most of the comments if they stay on topic and not get personal.

CrewC

I too like the old style. I was thinking like "What happens when an item is purchased?" Will the item be gone? erased from archives? I occasionally look at old posts just to see what gear is floating around and what they do. I've learned a lot from just reading those threads... Would be a shame if it all weren't searchable.. 

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I too like the old style. I was thinking like "What happens when an item is purchased?" Will the item be gone? erased from archives? I occasionally look at old posts just to see what gear is floating around and what they do. I've learned a lot from just reading those threads... Would be a shame if it all weren't searchable.. 

I agree with you Olle, lots of people find that browsing through the old "discussions" that we have in the WTB - WTS section have a value all their own. The dedicated Classifieds Ad section with time limits, no real discussions, etc., seems to be not the best way to go. We'll keep the experiment going and see how it pans out.

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