Enough is enough with the classifieds (*or* Why you cannot reply to classified ads)

Originally Posted by Southern Wolf

If that is the case.. then you should understand where Im coming from. I've had real threats at work and inmates coming at me with weapons. We get to carry nothing.. not even spray to protect ourselves. Why would I want to make it easier for them to find me on the outside.

I've heard these kinds of arguments before. And my recommendation has been for those people who fear such things to stay off of the internet. It's not the place for you if you desire to be anonymous or keep yourself hidden from someone.

Originally Posted by Southern Wolf

Like I said... I know Im not gonna change the staff's mind. Been thru this before.... but I dang sure aint part of the sheeple crowd that will follow everything blindly without saying something.

So unless you disagree with a change, that makes you a "sheeple"?

Originally Posted by Southern Wolf

As Rich pointed out earlier... this change doesn't affect me in the least. I no longer sale animals here because I sold my business. But I do have a right to speak my peace. Do I not?

Depends on your motive and how you present yourself. In any event, it's really not a "right" here at all. It's a privilege granted in most instances. If it were actually a "right" then I could not do anything at all about ANYTHING you say here. I believe you know the difference as well as I do.

Originally Posted by Dennis Hultman

Well for years anyone could add to the trader ratings and people started putting less stock in it because people abused it by giving themselves fake ratings under shill accounts.

If anything, I put more stock in it than before and similar rating systems on every other site. You know these people had a transaction. Nobody is going to keep paying Contributor memberships to inflate their own rating. Most certainly is one of the more reliable ways to get a feel for someone.

Shall we compile a list of all the bad guys that had/have a contributor membership. I can think of at least two that had one in the range of $100 a year... and I busted one of them. Now whether or not they have alter egos... I cant say.

While I do agree it cuts down on them... bad guys have coins too. I just happen to put more stock in the BOI than I do the trader ratings... and that's because everyone is free to speak about their transactions.

Originally Posted by WebSlave

I've heard these kinds of arguments before. And my recommendation has been for those people who fear such things to stay off of the internet. It's not the place for you if you desire to be anonymous or keep yourself hidden from someone.

See... you have me mistaken. There is a difference between fear and caution. If it was fear I wouldn't go into work everyday.

Depends on your motive and how you present yourself. In any event, it's really not a "right" here at all. It's a privilege granted in most instances. If it were actually a "right" then I could not do anything at all about ANYTHING you say here. I believe you know the difference as well as I do.

I believe I know the difference... and I also believe Im able to read between the lines. I guess since I dont agree with everything ... I should shut up.

gotcha

Originally Posted by Southern Wolf

Shall we compile a list of all the bad guys that had/have a contributor membership. I can think of at least two that had one in the range of $100 a year... and I busted one of them. Now whether or not they have alter egos... I cant say.

While I do agree it cuts down on them... bad guys have coins too. I just happen to put more stock in the BOI than I do the trader ratings... and that's because everyone is free to speak about their transactions.

I think there is a big difference between someone who is a Contributing Member and paying to be member multiple times under different names for a one time shot to boost their rating. I find it hard to believe that many would be willing to put up 25 dollars for each fake trader rating they want to leave themselves. I would think it would cut it down a lot from simply being able to do it for free.

Originally Posted by Southern Wolf

See... you have me mistaken. There is a difference between fear and caution. If it was fear I wouldn't go into work everyday.

"Fear" and "caution" are "cause" and "effect".

Originally Posted by Southern Wolf

I believe I know the difference... and I also believe Im able to read between the lines. I guess since I dont agree with everything ... I should shut up.

gotcha

Nope, there is nothing between the lines. You asked a question and I answered in plain direct language. If I have something to say to you, I certainly don't feel the need to pussyfoot around it.

Originally Posted by WebSlave

Well, if people believe this change was instigated by some desire on my part to try to make more money from this site by forcing more people to become paying members, the simple solution for me to prove otherwise is to simply shut down replies in the classifieds to ALL members. That was what I had originally planned to do, so I don't have any real qualms about doing that.

I've always been one to dislike the replies allowed in the classified ads. I find it annoying and I am glad you are attempting to lessen it. I think you should not allow anyone to comment in the add, paid member or not, but at least this will lessen the annoyance. Thank you Rich!

just my opinion if your interested in an animal than private message the OP and if the animal is mis represented and or over priced there should be a seperate section of the site just for that and the requirements for posting there should be that there must be a link to the ad and the OP of the ad must be alerted. no matter what any1 does about this problem some1 is going to find a flaw with it. even with my idea. and if you do something about it "change" theres always going to be 2 groups of people the people who hate it and the people who like/love it. just depends on which side your on. my solution is GET OVER IT and agree with the moderators. Its thier site not yours. you dont like it make your own and see how every1 else likes it

Originally Posted by rcpreis3

The main reason I come on this site over KS is because we can post in the classifieds. Instead of blocking all replies, wouldnt it just be easier to change it to where replies wouldnt bump an ad to the top? That would cut out on all the fake profiles and friends bumping friends, which would leave the mods more time. If they arent handing out those infractions the disruptive/abusive post wouldnt seem as much IMHO. But then again I dont really know how many bumping infractions there are compared to abusive ones.

The fact we can post in classifieds and ask questions is what makes FC different from KS. It would be very unfortunate if we are to be blocked indefinitly.

Just wanted to throw a couple pennies out there, but this sounds like it would be a good idea in conjunction with an auto-lock feature to where the member would have to manually unlock it for comments.

Originally Posted by Southern Wolf

I agree that some things need to be handled in private. Like discussing a price not posted in the ad. But if someone wants to know how my snakes were feeding... that info should be up for everyone to see. We dont always remember to include everything in our ads... and we cant possibly answer everyone's questions in the initial post.

That's probably the biggest and most benificial thing that we will lose. Take for example, the non-feeding snake or the '08 that is really small for her age. These are details that are probably left out most often and addressed in the commentary.

When I view a FS ad, and I am interested in a good feeder, I will move on if this item is asked by another member. Without these comments, I'll have to ask a million questions to each seller. OF COURSE, I know the first response is I should be asking these questions anyway, but if they are addressed, I can move on and save both me and the seller some time. Not to mention, having to wait over night or a few days in some cases for a response that won't satisfy you anyway

This is the primary reason I use Fauna and not KS. Basically, because it is a waste of time to go so in depth and investigate every snake I am interested in when many items can be pointed out before I get there.

Also, in a sense, this change will also restrict our membership benifits. I believe paid members have unlimited uploads of pictures, right? I think it's safe to assume a majority of the members upload most of their pictures in the for sale section. Once someone replies, we can post more/additional pictures of our ad. With this change, we won't be able to take advantage of our unlimited uploads unless we have many ads listed. As a small time hobbiest, this will not happen and multiple pic uploads in less threads would be more realistic.

I also think if replies are to be cut, they should be cut for everyone, especially if you are doing a trial for paying-members. The only infractions that will be given now are to paying members so not only will it appear that they are the problem now, but paying members will have a higher probablity of being banned, thus driving away rooted, longer term members (I am using this theory based on post #1 in reference to driving away new members because of the increase of FS infractions). You will continue to grow but drive away the OG's and potentially renewed memberships.

I don't care either way what happens because I will adapt. I just wanted to point out a couple things I've thought about since the pro's of this change have already been addressed. Again, not trying to be antagonistic, just pointing out some stuff that may or may not have been thought of.

If I am asked a question that I didn't answer in the ad - if it is one that I have reason to expect will be asked again, at least - I edit my ad to include the info.
Perhaps the crux of your argument is that you believe a majority of the posts in the classifieds to be helpful questions and responses.....if that was the case, we wouldn't be doing this now. Those posts were far overshadowed by fluff and attaboy posts (harmless enough, and certainly friendly; but they are bumps, and they get in the way - heck, I've gotten complaints because people were scrolling through 5 pages plus of that crap trying to see if something had been asked/answered before posting it). I won't say that legitimate and helpful questions were less common than (malicious) disruptive posts...but I wouldn't be surprised to find that it was pretty close; or that on any given day, the scale was tipped toward the disruptive side. (disruptive didn't necessarily have to be the interpersonal hostility that showed up when certain people posted ads - I'd consider the sarcastic pricing comments, directing people toward other sellers, etc to be included).

Perhaps the part of the negative response is because some people look only at a section or two in the classifieds, so they don't see this as a widespread problem

Yup, I'll do the same by adding the info. Crap, some people won't even reply to you in the thread when you ask a question and send you a PM when it's a question that would benifit everyone interested, i.e. what they are eating... but then again, I don't think I would want to deal with someone that won't update the ad anyway.

I see where this is a double-edged sword.