StrictlyExotics
New member
Has anyone noticed that lately people are placing trade items and crossing ads into the ball pythons for sale thread. I dont know if it just me, but, it has become annoying.
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A Suggestion
- Thread starter StrictlyExotics
- Start date
hhmoore
tired & cranky shadow
So...what's your suggestion?
Just kidding. I understand your point - that trades belong in the trade section; the last time this was discussed by the moderation team, I believe that the feeling was that we didn't want to be too overbearing regarding placement of those ads, and that as long as they were in the category of the animal they wanted to trade for, we'd leave them.
I do still encourage people to utilize the trade section, and (IMO) it would be better if they posted a Wanted ad in the appropriate category, and a link to their trade ad. (Unfortunately, it can be difficult to convince people of the benefit to this, short of repeatedly deleting their ads, lol)
Just kidding. I understand your point - that trades belong in the trade section; the last time this was discussed by the moderation team, I believe that the feeling was that we didn't want to be too overbearing regarding placement of those ads, and that as long as they were in the category of the animal they wanted to trade for, we'd leave them.
I do still encourage people to utilize the trade section, and (IMO) it would be better if they posted a Wanted ad in the appropriate category, and a link to their trade ad. (Unfortunately, it can be difficult to convince people of the benefit to this, short of repeatedly deleting their ads, lol)
StrictlyExotics
New member
I think that is entirely why I DIDNT make a suggestion, although I wanted to. It just seems lately that there is so much scatter in the for sale ads because thats where the traffic is. Now, I dont think being overbearing or "traffic cop" would be the best thing, but, in the long run, I see it killing the Trade section traffic as well as discussion boards.
Even though I KNEW that you would respond, thank you for doing so sir.
Even though I KNEW that you would respond, thank you for doing so sir.
The concept of trades has always been problematical to work with in a more or less structured design of a classifieds section. For sale items are not nearly as complex, because someone simply wants to sell something and lists what it is in the proper category. Wanteds are the same way. You post what you want IN the section where people who have them might be most often putting their eyes to your post.
But with trades, well someone can certainly list what they have available for trade and list that in the proper section accordingly, but what about what they are willing to ACCEPT in trade? Generally it may be a whole list of things that would be acceptable. So if they want to target the people who may have those things available that the traded might be interested in, how exactly do they REACH such people?
Generally this results in "shotgun style" posts in multiple sections, either mentioning the animals they specifically are interested in within the pertinent section, or else they post the same list in all the sections that are pertinent to their desires. So which way is best? In reality none of them are. But so many people are obviously interested in trading that it just can't be ignored by being restricted here.
Which is why I just put a "catch-all" section for TRADES. Not even close to being the "best" way to handle the situation, but I figured at least in this manner, people who MAY be interested in trades would likely spend the time looking there and posting such hoped for transactions.
Actually, the "best" way to handle trades would likely have to be custom written software that would handle this in much the way people THINK about trades. Pretty much involved a column listing what is available for trade (which in reality COULD be multiple types of items) and another column listing what is desired in trade. Each column would have it's own separate and isolate search capability to allow either side of the potential trading to search on what they might be interested in. Either someone LOOKING for what someone has for trade, or else LOOKING for what someone WANTS from a trade. Obviously, there is going to be little incentive for me to pay the price for the custom programming needed to implement something of this nature.
So yeah, there are always going to be situations arising that may not exactly be to everyone else's liking. But since there is really no perfect way to handle things like this, all we can all do is bear with it and try to be considerate of everyone else. After all, maybe they need to wade through a lot of YOUR ads that they don't care to because of lack of interest.........
Hope that explains this a bit.
But with trades, well someone can certainly list what they have available for trade and list that in the proper section accordingly, but what about what they are willing to ACCEPT in trade? Generally it may be a whole list of things that would be acceptable. So if they want to target the people who may have those things available that the traded might be interested in, how exactly do they REACH such people?
Generally this results in "shotgun style" posts in multiple sections, either mentioning the animals they specifically are interested in within the pertinent section, or else they post the same list in all the sections that are pertinent to their desires. So which way is best? In reality none of them are. But so many people are obviously interested in trading that it just can't be ignored by being restricted here.
Which is why I just put a "catch-all" section for TRADES. Not even close to being the "best" way to handle the situation, but I figured at least in this manner, people who MAY be interested in trades would likely spend the time looking there and posting such hoped for transactions.
Actually, the "best" way to handle trades would likely have to be custom written software that would handle this in much the way people THINK about trades. Pretty much involved a column listing what is available for trade (which in reality COULD be multiple types of items) and another column listing what is desired in trade. Each column would have it's own separate and isolate search capability to allow either side of the potential trading to search on what they might be interested in. Either someone LOOKING for what someone has for trade, or else LOOKING for what someone WANTS from a trade. Obviously, there is going to be little incentive for me to pay the price for the custom programming needed to implement something of this nature.
So yeah, there are always going to be situations arising that may not exactly be to everyone else's liking. But since there is really no perfect way to handle things like this, all we can all do is bear with it and try to be considerate of everyone else. After all, maybe they need to wade through a lot of YOUR ads that they don't care to because of lack of interest.........
Hope that explains this a bit.