How do you reckon we can improve the FS forum?

This is in no way a "this will happen" thread, just a common thread for people to state what they want or how we can improve it.

Stuff like:

Trading ratings?
1 stike = out?
250 posts min?

etc

 

Feedback would be good not foolproof but it does help another vote here for feedback

 

All of the above tbh.

I've been semi-connedish, I bought a hdd off someone around Christmas 2004, but never recieved anything, but since I had his address I wrote a letter, a few months later I got the hdd from the wife of the guy, who claimed that guy died on new year's eve 2004. However he's still posting in these forums today...

So really, if you ever do a trade, get the seller's address, that way it's harder for them to hide, if you want to verify the address, send them a letter with a passcode, and let them pm the passcode to you.

It might take longer to go through with the trade, but better safe than sorry. There are limits to what the forum can do, but at the end of the day, it's down to the buyer and seller to ensure everything goes smoothly.

 

I think the first 2 options above and maybe have to be a member of the forum for a length of time say 6 months or so before you can use the FS forum.Not everybody posts frequently and min post could cause alot of spamming just to bring the post count up.
Possibly some form of feedback system with trade points under where the post count is.

 

It's currently a 3 month min iirc and that seems to be ok. Ideally I'd say trader ratings and maybe a bit more moderation in the forum?

 

Yup, all those suggestions are good bindi, trading ratings are very beneficial, but if people have obviously failed to live up to their side of the deal, a ban should ensue, imo not just from the FS area but the whole forum.

Also, another idea is only let people sell stuff once they've been members for 6 months, that'd mean people can't spam up to 250.

 

So far about the only thing that is actually workable in any method is the 6 month/250 post count rule, which I think would be wise. Perhaps 120 days AND 250 posts.

Many of the other ideas have been discussed before, and frankly are a lot of work that is very difficult to keep up with, that would detract from us being able to get other work done that brings y'all to the site in the first place.

For example, more moderation in that forum, particularly banning for bad trades, could give cause for people to settle grudges. Maybe your seller didn't post it off quickly enough for you, or took a week to get back to you because he was out of town? Yeah, it's etiquette to inform the buyer, but sometimes you just get caught up in things. In the meantime, we just banned a year-long member because he didn't respond quickly enough for your/our standards. Ratings systems, feedback, etc. have their own problems, as they end up becoming endorsements with the Bit-tech name unofficially attached..."well, he was rated highly on BT, I can't believe he stiffed me...they must not check carefully!" And what if someone leaves inaccurate feedback? We're not e-bay, folks, and it would take a lot of time and detective work to constantly monitor that. In fact, there was a problem that isn't even all that long ago with a member complaining to mods about getting ripped off, here to find out the dude had been out of town...and bigz ended up having to go and fix all the posts, etc. Huge hassle.

At the end of the day, you have to remember that the FS/FT forums are there as an extended convenience for our members to swap kit like they would with their mates next door or at school. If you don't think of the person you'd be buying from in that way, it's always best to proceed with some good caution, and a bit of patience for the fact that the other dude might just have other things on his plate right now.

Basically, BT is not ebay, and it won't ever be - mostly by design.

 

I'd go for the 250 post count rule tbh.

In most cases, if a forum allows users with no posts to access FS Forums there'll be more incidents of theft.

 

i think the amount of time is alot better indication of how authentic someone is, if its a tim eliit, scumbags would be more inclined to go elsewhere and just spam, takes them a few days/weeks maybe then. as opposed to 3 or 6 months say.
there should also be an extra forum in the for sale section, purely for sellers to start a thread with their name in it and for buyers to leave a quick note, telling how the overall transaction went. if anyones a member of the dvd forums you'll know exactly what i mean. its pretty simple and it would be the easiest to implement imho, so that bit staff arent trying to merge something into the forums code or anything.
my 2p.

 

250 post count & Trader Ratings to help buyers make an informed decision.

As Da Dego said, a bit more patience and good caution along with the above, would make the FS/FT area safer and more helpful imo.

 

250 too high.

Rating system would be perfect, with possibly higher rating buyer recieving item before lower rated seller getting cash.

For example, but this was just out of goodwill, with TimXP I send goods next day even though payment wouldnt clear for about 5 days.

Its all about trust guys.

 

Feedback, and cross-forum vouching.

 

Increase the time, i know of atleast 2 people who have said they joined just for the forsale forum. Not really helping the community. Hopefully this would put them off.

Also you could go the route as mentioned above of a forum for just feedback. So no new system. When a sale happens someone leaves feedback under that persons named thread.

 

(somehow replied to the other thread instead of this one..so *posts this here*)

Head-fi forums has a great way of doing this, they have a board dedicated to User feedback. If someone were to start selling stuff, you would simply open up a thread for your feedback, and anytime someone was to buy something from you, they would leave good or bad feedback in that thread. Works pretty well over there.

 

Thats a bloody good idea.

 

Some form of rating system without a doubt, it's a fairly small implementation and definitely does instill some confidence into buyers. Then again it does hinder new sellers somewhat. The pros definitely outweigh the cons though.

I think a dedicated forum is a bit of a waste of resources, a button that can be clicked (under an av or summat) if a sale went well/badly should suffice. However some sort of system to stop people signing up and bigging up some user as that would defeat the entire object.

 

Man 250 posts will take forever, guess I'll be waiting the six months. I wonder if I can keep the 007 figure, kinda cool .

 

How about a first trade (or 2 or 3, doesnt really matter) value limit. IE you cant sell goods of more than a set value until you have completed a certain number of trades. That is as well as the current measures.

 

If you set the min post count too high, you're just going to propogate spam. You know, "omg cool mod update plzz1!" and "roflhaxLOLORZ" type things.

A feedback thread and/or rating system would be awesome; both I'd say would be best. That or just some heatware-esque system. Of course, that could mean trying to implement something to make sure a trade actually went through, to stop a couple buddies upping each other's feedback.

That and a "we highly recommend you get a pic with the user's name included in it" type advice, like those GD threads.

I know phpBB has a full auction system hack you can add; vB may have something similar. Obviously dumping the auction bit and just buy-it-now, but it was a great concept. Almost a micro-eBay. It even had something where the forum could charge a listing price (plus stuff for bold, italic, forced top, etc, again a la eBay) but I'm sure it'd be free here.

I've done quite a few forum trades, and only one ever went sour. Luckily I got my money back, but I think some others weren't so lucky. I won't name names, but the person in question certainly won't be getting more of my business. While I generally dislike PayPal, it's the one time the "seller" requested a money order for payment, which obviously offers about no protection.

For me it really depends on the value of the item. If it's some $5 thing, I'm not too worried; if I'm spending $50, I'm going to be checking for feedback on heatware/ebay/other forum sales/etc.

 

At the end of the day, it's a free service and as with every free service there are risks. You can use ebay, pay, and still have risks for example. Also, the trading forum is considered a privilage for perminent members.

There will be no more moderation than there is already.