Sales section

[Kenworth W900]

Okay, firstly may I apologise if this has already been suggested and discussed.

 

Secondly, may I outline my suggestion for the sales sections:

 

So what I would like to suggest is some form of thread icon system to flag up all sales threads that need deleting. My idea would involve the same sort of system which allows people to attach a thread/post icon when creating a new thread e.g. a heart or smiley, etc.

 

Here is how I imagine the process would typically pan out:

 

1. A member creates a new sales thread in the sales section, e.g. the AEG accessories section.

 

2. As per usual there is some interest in the item, people post/PM seller and then eventually some sort of deal is normally agreed with another member.

 

3a. Then the seller draws the thread to a close by declaring the item as 'SOLD' and asking a mod to 'CLOSE THREAD PLEASE', or something to that effect.

 

3b. Now in my plan the seller would simply click a button to flag up the post for it to be deleted.

 

My specific suggestions are as follows:

-the seller/starter of the thread would obviously be the only one who could have access to this button, much in the same way that the 'EDIT' button can only be selected by the seller/thread starter too.

-the aforementioned button could be placed next to the 'EDIT' button.

-the button could read 'CLOSE THREAD'

-the thread icon that would then appear could be in the form of a red 'X'

-this system would obviously only be implemented in the sales sections

 

The benefits of this suggestion would be to:

1. encourage members to close their threads,some lazy members may find it more appealing to click one button, instead of writing a whole new post

 

and 2. help the moderaters to quickly/efficiently clean up the sales threads, because they would simply have to browse the sales section page and look for any threads marked with a red cross

 

I wouldn't know if this was a feasable plan myself since I am not computer minded as such, so let me know what you think.

 

P.s. I have attached a thread icon to give an example of what I am talking about.

[Marlowe]

I'm always a firm believer in the simplest solutions being the best.

 

The 'Report Post' option at the bottom of each post in a thread automatically PMs all Moderators and Admin staff. If a member wishes to have thread closed, all they need do is simply close it.

[Hedganian]

Wouldn't it be better to be able to have users close their own sales thread, instead of having to pester a Mod, who I'm sure have better things to do...?

 

(Or can we do that already without me noticing?)

[MDK_Marshal]

Wouldn't it be better to be able to have users close their own sales thread, instead of having to pester a Mod, who I'm sure have better things to do...?

 

(Or can we do that already without me noticing?)

 

Okay. Look at that wonderful little bar that appears to the elft of this post, telling you all about me, the author of this post. Notice what it says for "Group"?

 

It says "Sales/Off Topic Moderator". That is, it's my job to keep order in two main sections of the forum; sales, and off topic. Odly enough, the sales section is included in these two sections. There are, at current count, 5 other mods that do this same job, and only this same job. That's not taking into account Global mods and the admins (IE, marlowe and, when he's about, arnie). Plenty of people who basically are here to patrol the sales topics. If you'd rather we were going around off-topic and cracking down on every little stray off-topic that happened there, instead of moderating sales, then fine. I'm sure I can get the guys to try it for a few days and see what sort of anarchy descends.

 

Have you actually thought about the consequences of giving users the power to close topics, sales or otherwise? Lets just take sales.

 

Imagine someone decides to scam someone one day. They advertise something for sale, get a buyer, and receive payment. Then, they post something along the lines of "Sold!", and close the thread, and vanish. Your casual observer is none the wiser as to what's happened, and will have no idea that the user has just scammed someone. And may buy from, and get scammed by, that same user at a later date.

 

This is just a very simple example of why it's a damned bad idea. The best way to keep order in a big forum, such as this, is either to police it so hard that you can't do anything new without getting banned, or restrict what users can do. Think about it; the average user is very restricted, especially compared to what proboards allows by default. You can't delete posts, editing times out after five minutes, you can't close your own topics.... There's a hell of a lot you can't do, and it's like that to keep the forum running smoothly.

 

In any case, I can lock a topic faster than you can go to the bathroom. In fact, I think all the mods can. If you can think of a better use for those three seconds, I'm happy to hear it.

 

 

Quick Edit: Wow, you really are trying your hardest to troll Site Suggestions tonight, aren't you? If I find one more post like this lurking around, or made recently, I'm going to seek something out in my applicable jurisdictions and double warn you. You have been warned.

Edited June 28, 2009 by MDK_Marshal

[Marlowe]

I was going to post, but then I realised I was pretty much going to say word for word what I did before.

 

As MDK says, there's plenty of us about. Just report the post using the report feature, and wait for a staff member to close. It's our jobs and it won't kill anyone to wait an hour or so for a moderator to act.

 

Thanks.

[Hedganian]

Imagine someone decides to scam someone one day. They advertise something for sale, get a buyer, and receive payment. Then, they post something along the lines of "Sold!", and close the thread, and vanish. Your casual observer is none the wiser as to what's happened, and will have no idea that the user has just scammed someone. And may buy from, and get scammed by, that same user at a later date.

 

Not sure how that's different from having a Mod close the thread. And isn't that why there's a Bad Trades thread?

 

Quick Edit: Wow, you really are trying your hardest to troll Site Suggestions tonight, aren't you? If I find one more post like this lurking around, or made recently, I'm going to seek something out in my applicable jurisdictions and double warn you. You have been warned.

 

I'm not trying my hardest to do anything other than use the forums in the manner intended - for discussions. That's what a forum is for, after all.

 

I was searching through the Site News and Suggestions area of the forum looking for notice of the rules change mentioned in my other thread, in the process I found a few other threads which I had not seen before which seemed interesting, and I read them. In a couple of them, I made a post. I don't see how that's against the rules, and I'm sorry if I've somehow offended you by trying to make reasonable suggestions or ask reasonable questions. If I've somehow broken a rule, then it wasn't intentional.

 

 

EDIT: On checking, I guess it was a bit of a necro post, since Marlowe's last post was in Janurary. MY bad, I thought it said Jun, not Jan (which wouldn't even have made sense, since June doesn't have 31 days) when I read it the first time. I'll try to read the dates more carefully in future.

Edited June 28, 2009 by Hedganian