Sales & Wants

[Chris KC]

Just wondering out loud, but is it perhaps possible to format the sales & wants pages on this site in a slightly more user-friendly way?

The running thread style works OK for technical discussions etc. and there is value in being able to search back through old topics.

For sales and wants however, old posts - and indeed recent ones which have been 'closed' - are simply a waste of time for everyone who looks through them. Ideally they would be taken down when the item is obtained or sold, but this would rely on all members diligently removing them once fulfilled. Expire them, or oblige the poster to refresh them, after a month perhaps? Then at least the majority of ads displayed will be open offers or requests.

I can imagine some may reply simply don't look at old pages - however when you're not finding what you want you inevitably start trawling back through old ads to see if anything is still on offer.

[Chris KC]

I'll take it no-one agrees! Only suggesting to cull dead ads...

[Ruairidh Dunford]

Culling expired adverts is an excellent idea Chris - would you be willing to oversee this, if we give you admin rights on those pages please?

[Chris KC]

Culling expired adverts is an excellent idea Chris - would you be willing to oversee this, if we give you admin rights on those pages please?

Ha ha, well volunteered!

I'll message you later Ruairidh.

[Ruairidh Dunford]

Great news!

[Timothy P]

Agree it's definitely a good point.
I had a quick look yesterday, and I believe it is possible to set threads in sales and wants forums to disappear after a given time.
I think the best option would be to have a sticky guide on the two sections outlining that threads will expire after say a month of inactivity (I think adding a reply to the thread before this time would reset the time), and asking that users remove their ads (or change the title to say sold or found) once they're satisfied. Might save chasing people to find out if the ad is still relevant.

[Chris KC]

Agree it's definitely a good point.
I had a quick look yesterday, and I believe it is possible to set threads in sales and wants forums to disappear after a given time.
I think the best option would be to have a sticky guide on the two sections outlining that threads will expire after say a month of inactivity (I think adding a reply to the thread before this time would reset the time), and asking that users remove their ads (or change the title to say sold or found) once they're satisfied. Might save chasing people to find out if the ad is still relevant.

Yes tbh that's more what I had in mind - I doubt anyone wants to have to chase people to find out whether their gear has sold or not. Just set it to disappear after 4 weeks perhaps. If people are aware of this then they can re-post if needed (on the system as described by Tim they'd only have to update with 'still looking' or 'still for sale' to keep the thread live).

I'd happily manage a manual tidy-up every few weeks if the above can't be configured. Inevitably some live ads will fall off, but if there have been no takers after a month hopes will surely be waning anyway.

[Ruairidh Dunford]

Perfect!

[Timothy P]

There are set increments for the cut off and the two that are closest to the month are either 20 days or 50 days.
I have set it to 50 days for the moment, but am unsure whether this seems a bit much, but am worried people will see 20 days as too short?
All opinions greatly appreciated, and once we've decided on cut off I'll add a 'sticky' to the section to explain.

[JonE]

After 20 days, we've all generally forgotten we had something in the first place...

It's no harm that people have to re-post things? I've noticed that the sales and wants don't seem as well used as the previous forum. Not sure why but it seems odd that people don't try for 'no commission at all' solution before putting decent stuff on ebay?

How could we improve the quantity of material being put in the forum direction, as its a viable way of getting new people in.