MARKETPLACE CHANGES

[CyberDyneSystems]

All I have ti say on this Dave is you have no idea how much "fuss" there was.
As with all forums on POTN, we don;t leave the dirt laying about for all to step in.
We sweep it clean.
Marketpalce has always had a much larger percentage of "fuss: than the rest of the forum.

Bottom line is that every time the marketplace changes it is in response to the increasing levels of fuss.

POTN can not keep your transactions ssafe, no matter what steps we coudl take using the forum.
Since this is fact, plain and simple, and since no matter what steps we take to inform the membership that we can not protect them we still get requests daily to intervene in these transactions, POTN feels the only solution left was to try harder to make the point that we can not moderate your sales.

Thus the change from a sell "forum" to a sell "Classifieds"

[CyberDyneSystems]

Originally Posted by Kadath

The problem here "our" vision of how the forum works is how it worked for YEARS before the meltdown last year. Mods stepped in and added some reasonable rules and some rules many of us considered unworkable, unfriendly and just plain bizarre. AND community killing. The way "you" see it is how things would operate in some mod utopia but you really are making a ton more work for yourselves and destroying the heart of charm that that forum held.

Again, your perception of how well the marketplace worked before we made any changes has no bearing on the realities of how many complaints we were receiving from the membership to make the changes we did.

We do not sit and dream this up in a vacuum, we don't wake up in the morning saying "let's fix a non existent problem" We are working in response to the incoming flood of complaints and issues.

[Michel Souris]

Ok. I'm back in with comments, though thought I was done. I agree with the above concerns about losing the "fun" in the forum. It was fun. There was some banter - and a lot of good extra information provided about the item as part of the process. The fun is gone now. Why the concern about "level playing field"? It is level, and has been level. Everyone has the right to post and everyone can be more or less active. It's up to them, and it's how the world works. We don't need more rules, however well intentioned they may be. I miss the old forum.

[the_incubus]

I think the mods want the sell forum to follow Laissez-faire policies. They dont want to have any involvement in your sales at all. The only way to ensure this and still keep the classified section "clean" is to do what they have done. I could be wrong but i think this was their goal and i personally think it works well (i think the price drop rule isnt necessary but its not that big of a deal). Mods please correct me if im mistaken.

[blonde]

Originally Posted by the_incubus

I think the mods want the sell forum to follow Laissez-faire policies. They dont want to have any involvement in your sales at all. The only way to ensure this and still keep the classified section "clean" is to do what they have done. I could be wrong but i think this was their goal and i personally think it works well (i think the price drop rule isnt necessary but its not that big of a deal). Mods please correct me if im mistaken.

how are they not involved if we have to PM them every time we need to add or change info? my point all along the way was that i have been a member of tons of forums and have been an active participant in all of the buy and sell forums (i like to switch a lot as some of you know by now) and i have never seen such rules implemented. if the mods don't want to be involved, they don't need to be. i think that they made it very clear by now that people buy or sell at their own risk and if something does go wrong, it is not the forum's fault (i agree with this policy 100%).

the only thing i see happening due to the recent changes is that more and more people will simply take their items someplace else (FM, EBAY etc..) and we are all going to lose from that (i feel much better buying from the members of POTN than ebay).

[CyberDyneSystems]

Let me ask this, (with no strings attached, but I would like to know opinions on this on aspect)

Would it preferable if the OP could edit there 1st post, but no one (including OP ) could reply.

[blonde]

for me, absolutely!!!! i just don't see myself reporting a post every time i need to add an image, throw a bonus item in with the sale, add date code for lens (which we always forget to do etc..).

[Permagrin]

Originally Posted by CyberDyneSystems

Let me ask this, (with no strings attached, but I would like to know opinions on this on aspect)

Would it preferable if the OP could edit there 1st post, but no one (including OP ) could reply.

Yes. That would be extremely helpful. IF we can update the sold items, add photos or post relevant info that we forgot (though I KNOW we should remember it all before we post, sometimes we don't), that would be very helpful.

It would still alleviate the bumping issues (because we can't bump unless we lower the price, reasonably) and mindless chatter & YET allow us to deal with relevant material in our listing.

Also, I wouldn't have to have a separate thread for every item I want to sell. To me, that would be very valuable.

[tommykjensen]

Originally Posted by Permagrin

Yes. That would be extremely helpful. IF we can update the sold items, add photos or post relevant info that we forgot (though I KNOW we should remember it all before we post, sometimes we don't), that would be very helpful.

It would still alleviate the bumping issues (because we can't bump unless we lower the price, reasonably) and mindless chatter & YET allow us to deal with relevant material in our listing.

In the scenario CDS ask about you would not be able to bump the thread at all.

[blonde]

Originally Posted by tommykjensen

In the scenario CDS ask about you would not be able to bump the thread at all.

well, if that is the case, we will also need to define some guidelines on how soon we can start a new thread. for example, if my item is now in the 3rd page, when can i start a new thread so i can actually sell the item?

[Permagrin]

Originally Posted by tommykjensen

In the scenario CDS ask about you would not be able to bump the thread at all.

I see. Interesting. Actually if it's a choice of the two, I'd rather be able to edit than bump.

[JBaz]

Editing the original Post without bumping would be fine by me. Would allow me to post the most updated information. If the problem of the original information is getting deleted by one or a few of the members on this forum, everyone else on this forum shouldn't be penalized.

What about having a categorization system for the classified section? So when a seller or buyer posts a thread, he/she classify what they are looking for (lens, body, bag, etc...). Something similar to the slickdeals.net forum where you can just click on a type of item.

[Pekka]

Originally Posted by JBaz

Editing the original Post without bumping would be fine by me. Would allow me to post the most updated information. If the problem of the original information is getting deleted by one or a few of the members on this forum, everyone else on this forum shouldn't be penalized.

What about having a categorization system for the classified section? So when a seller or buyer posts a thread, he/she classify what they are looking for (lens, body, bag, etc...). Something similar to the slickdeals.net forum where you can just click on a type of item.

When we'll have Vbulletin 3.7 here we will change marketplace to so that you can edit your own post, no replies, no bumps. Reason for not doing it now is that we can not trace edits. With 3.7 we (mods) can see every change easily later.

With 3.7 we also can have post tags which let people find specific categories easily.

I do not have 3.7 release date, but I suspect it will take a month at least.

[TeamSpeed]

There are some very nice changes coming in 3.7. Did you see the administrator defined posting tags per forum? This means that the FT, FA, and FS would all be tags for the Sell forum.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/...d.php?t=418067

Social groups, better profile pages, etc. Cool!

[Permagrin]

Originally Posted by Pekka

When we'll have Vbulletin 3.7 here we will change marketplace to so that you can edit your own post, no replies, no bumps. Reason for not doing it now is that we can not trace edits. With 3.7 we (mods) can see every change easily later.

With 3.7 we also can have post tags which let people find specific categories easily.

I do not have 3.7 release date, but I suspect it will take a month at least.

thank you Pekka.