Consolidate the "FOR SALE" and "WANTEDS" forums?

I'm thinking about simplifying the classifieds sections a little bit. I suppose when someone is looking to sell something, they go and check out the "Wanted" forums to see if anyone is looking for what they have to offer. Likewise, when someone is wanting something in particular, they probably go to the "For Sale" section to check and see if anyone has to offer what they are looking for.

So, why not just consolidate the two sections? Instead of having "Boas - For Sale" and a "Boas - Wanted" forums, just have a single "Boas - Available/Wanted" forum?

Since most people probably check both anyway, why not just have them both together in one spot?

And I'm still trying to figure out how to make the discussion forums more visible and easily accessible. I am toying around with displaying more of the forums all on a single page in order to be able to do that. So expect some wierd looking things while I am puttering around to see what looks workable.

A lot of people seem to cross-post anyway, at least when they want something, they post in the 'for sale' section as well. I see no reason to keep them seperate.

I agree, as long as people will differentiate whether they are looking to buy or sell. Otherwise, I could see it getting a bit convoluted.

I dunno if "A lot of people make the mistake anyway" is really a valid reason for combining them...

If they were combined, there might have to be a change in the rules about Ad titles, making "For Sale" or "Wanted" or "To Trade" a part of it... Ads which simply say "Cornsnake" would just end up being a waste of time for half the people who look at it.

An idea...is it possible to put three selections when posting an ad? For Sale, For Trade, and Wanted? If none of these are checked, the ad won't post? That way all ads would have that right at the beginning of the title thread? Or even 4 choices, the fourth being FS/FT?

Just an idea, I'm not sure how easy it would be to implement....

Actually, Jennifer, it would not be easy to implement. This software uses templates for most of the screens, so the template used to display the threads in the classifieds section is the same one used in all of the other forums as well. So a change would be reflected everywhere, which would not work too well. Of course, anything can be coded around, but it would certainly complicate things and may make it a lot more difficult for me to make changes in the future.

But thanks for the thought.

I've just completed consolidating the FOR SALE and WANTEDS sections. Now I am going to try to rearrange the furniture a bit so I can try to get things logically laid out and not have it so confusing trying to get to the right section. I might have to try several things just to see how they look, do bear with me if things look a little odd every now and again.

The problem is that some arrangements will look differently depending on how you get to them. Plus ANY level can be made to be a category or forum, no matter how far down the line they are. Trying to get the proper balance of categories/subcategories and forums/subforums, can be a bit tricky.

Plus there are always tradeoffs. Do I have a series of cascading sections, which gives small bite sized overviews of the system, but requires a lot of mouse clicks to get to the lower sections? Or do I have a large number of forums displayed on the screen at one time, which is easier to get to any one of them, but can be overwhelming to someone new to the site? There probably is a perfect compromise somewhere in this mess, but so far I haven't been able to hit the target.

Oh, one other thing. I am seriously considering reopening the classifieds sections to replies again.

"Oh, one other thing. I am seriously considering reopening the classifieds sections to replies again."

That is the part about which I was most interested. Please do!

Yeah, I understand the pros and cons of doing this, but the more I dwell on it the more I think it would be better in the long run to re-enable the discussions.

I guess I wasn't as clear in what I meant there ... sorry!

I meant, "Please do" reinstate the capacity to reply to those ads. I think it is beneficial to the point of outweighing the negatives that will inevitably follow.

Thanks!