Time to evaluate the issue of replies in the classified ad sections.

Originally Posted by rcarichter

Probably a long-shot, but....
What if, when a non-paying member attempts to reply, they get a pop-up type thing that says "Non-paying members cannot reply within the ad. Please contact the seller via pm with any questions". If they're interested in the animal, it wouldn't be off-putting. If they're trolling to gripe about price, etc. it wouldn't give them the attention they're looking for.

Noelle

I agree - the current message states that the user doesn't have permission to access the page, and mentions the possibility that an admin has taken action against their account (a lot of the inquiries indicate that people believe this to be the case, and that the limitation is due to some random infraction). If the message could be adjusted, it would help people's understanding.

I think it would be ok for everyone to reply to ads. But I don't think the ad should be bumped back to the top from any reply to prevent old ads from being brought back to the first page.

I'm not sure, but I think that is a global setting (vs section specific). It is something we've tossed around, though - just not sure how much of an impact that would have on the BOI discussions (though I have to admit there are times I wish posts didn't bump those up, lol).

BTW, discussion and comments are welcome...but don't forget to vote in the poll. We aren't going to sort through the thread & cross reference the poll to make sure everybody's opinion gets counted.

Originally Posted by butter popcorn

I think it would be ok for everyone to reply to ads. But I don't think the ad should be bumped back to the top from any reply to prevent old ads from being brought back to the first page.

Yes, that has been addressed before. Problem is that the bump and highlighting feature in the Classifieds Control Panel uses the same code, so disabling that function via the admin panel would then disable the bump feature in the control panel. Otherwise that likely would have been the simplest solution for the bumping problem.

Originally Posted by hhmoore

I agree - the current message states that the user doesn't have permission to access the page, and mentions the possibility that an admin has taken action against their account (a lot of the inquiries indicate that people believe this to be the case, and that the limitation is due to some random infraction). If the message could be adjusted, it would help people's understanding.

The problem with this is that the vBulletin code uses templates for many of it's functions, which are used globally in all pages. Which is why the text in many of them are pretty generic sounding. Many of the error displays can be triggered by several conditions and not by a single condition, so yes, it can be confusing to some people.

So modifying a template affects the entire site. Just adding more text to the specific template may help, but I'm not at all confident that many people will take the time to actually READ what it says. At least based on prior history. Heck, I put a notice in the CONTACT US link to try to direct people to check the FEEDBACK FORUM before contacting me, and the number of people who are still asking questions that are obviously answered in the FEEDBACK FORUM is discouraging, to say the least. Apparently some people believe that my time is less valuable than theirs is, so I should be perfectly willing to spend my time to answer them, since they do not wish to spend their own time seeking the answer to their question. I suppose it just pisses them off when I reply to their emails with "Please check the Feedback Forum on the site."

Originally Posted by WebSlave

Just adding more text to the specific template may help, but I'm not at all confident that many people will take the time to actually READ what it says. At least based on prior history.

As a non-paying member I tried to reply to an ad so I could see the error message. I can see why you're getting inundated with emails based on how it's worded. I would suggest changing to something like:

bcr229, you do not have permission to perform this action. This could be due to one of several reasons:

- You are a non-paying member attempting to reply to a classified ad. Please use a PM to contact the seller.
- Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
- If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation.

Originally Posted by bcr229

As a non-paying member I tried to reply to an ad so I could see the error message. I can see why you're getting inundated with emails based on how it's worded. I would suggest changing to something like:

bcr229, you do not have permission to perform this action. This could be due to one of several reasons:

- You are a non-paying member attempting to reply to a classified ad. Please use a PM to contact the seller.
- Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
- If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation.

OK. Done. Please see how that looks now.

Works for me, but the way to gauge its effectiveness going forward is to see if it reduces the number of emails you get.

Melinda, could you perhaps post a screen capture of the message when you attempt to post a reply to a classified ad? I will love you forever and ever. Thanks!

Here you go. But you don't have to love me forever and ever...