isaacullah
1693 posts
Dec 06, 2011
1:13 PM
|
I got this topic started in a different thread, but it was way off topic for that thread, and was hiacking it. It warrants it's own discussion. Here's what I originally said in that other thread:
"We ought to be due for a new "for sale" thread for 2012, and I just wanted to pass some thoughts by the admins before they make the new thread. I've been thinking that it might be nice to have separate pages for pro craftsman/techs selling their wares and for players looking buy/sell used gear. The issue is that the two groups have different goals and means. The pros are maintaining a business, and so need to post lot's of large colorful ads for their wares (which is cool for us!). The players just want to sell off some excess gear, and only make occasional small posts. The problem is that when you combine the two, it makes a LOT of page turn over on the "for sale" thread, and posts have a tendency to get buried really quickly. Also, there tends to be a LOT of very large high res pics of beautiful mics and harps, which is great, but which also tends to bury smaller posts. So anyway, I'm just raising this issue in hopes the admins see it... Thoughts?"
So, I thought I'd open up a little poll for folks to leave their 2 cents. Who agrees? Who doesn't? Why or why not?
----------
== I S A A C ==
View my videos on YouTube!
Visit my reverb nation page!
|
HawkeyeKane
527 posts
Dec 06, 2011
1:21 PM
|
I agree. I think it'd be a good idea to seperate the two. It does give the craftsmen a more distinctive niche for their products and services, and at the same time, gives the "laymen" more exposure for items they're selling or looking to acquire.
----------
Hawkeye Kane
|
jim
1066 posts
Dec 06, 2011
1:26 PM
|
I disagree. I tried that on one of my forum projects - and it only brings in chaos. Just make a limit on the amount of pics attached.
It's better to separate it into categories - Harmonicas, and gear for example.
----------
Free Harp Learning Center
|
rbeetsme
501 posts
Dec 06, 2011
2:42 PM
|
I agree, give the vendors their own page.
|
oldwailer
1790 posts
Dec 06, 2011
3:04 PM
|
I seem to remember Adam doing a poll to see what kinds of categories we should have for a more modern software for the forum. Until that happens, I don't think it matters much how you cut up the sales threads--this software just doesn't work for that kind of divisions. . .
----------
Oldwailer's Web Site
Always be yourself--unless you suck. . .
-Joss Whedon
|
Stickman
718 posts
Dec 06, 2011
3:44 PM
|
I vote Isaacullah 2012
----------
|
Chickenthief
201 posts
Dec 06, 2011
4:07 PM
|
Sounds like it wouldn't hurt ( hey there's some famous last words for you ) to experiment and see if something different might work better.
Also, maybe it would be a good idea for us (everyone, anyone) to get in the habit of bouncing that thread back up to the top ever time it hits the bottom of the page. That way anyone who is new here would be able to see it right away instead of having to scrounge around in the lost and found.
|
earlounge
379 posts
Dec 06, 2011
6:05 PM
|
I'm sure the vendors like the traffic from the used gear, but the huge pictures are annoying. I say leave them together, but limit the size of the photos people can post. Vendors can link to a website with huge HQ pics.
----------
|
MrVerylongusername
2095 posts
Dec 07, 2011
4:54 AM
|
I agree about the pictures - they need to be optimised for the web before posting. Otherwise they really add to the loading times for the page.
Given that the photos have to be hosted externally anyway - I'd rather have thumbnails or simple text links to a gallery.
Easy enough to do if you're using Flickr, Photobucket or the like.
I continually see posters saying they can't find the for sale thread. I don't understand why we can't put a static link to the For sale thread (or threads) underneath the creed text - like the forum "how to" link.
As to the original question, I think it could get a little unclear where the boundary between commercial and hobbyist lies. Probably best to keep it simple, but try to make the thread more manageable and visible.
|
HarpNinja
1962 posts
Dec 07, 2011
7:38 AM
|
IMO, this isn't much of an issue at all, but with the current state of the forum, it makes no sense to have two threads. While I totally agree that the picture thing is excessive - and some people really push the boundary of creating unique sell threads when they aren't supposed to, I can just choose to not view those posts.
We already have a hard enough time keeping one in an easy to reach spot (which actually becomes an issue for those who don't generally post for sale items resulting a break of the agreement that we would confine sales to one thread) and the picture issue seems to stem from the same few people (who could easily be asked to limit the pics or make them smaller).
My first choice would be to see the thread with a direct hyperlink at the bottom of the forum creed, just like with the forum how-to. This would keep it on the forum page without asking a mod to continually bump it to the first page (and it will still be there most the time if people are using it).
Then, just like how we moderate keeping things for sale on the thread and not in unique posts, we ask that direct links to pictures be included rather than embedding pics. I would settle for a generic statement limiting the size and number of pics, but that might be more moderating work and nit-picking.
Really, IMHO, it seems that this is an issue for some due to the behavior of newbies and a few people who are embedding a ton of pics. The simplest solution would be to kindly ask the offenders to stop the behavior via email or kind reminder. Starting a thread like this might be over the top.
Nothing about this forum is nearly as up-to-date or efficient as it could be. However, as long as we are working under the current model, and not evolving with some of the popular wants from the forum, we have to find a way to deal with it.
----------
Mike
Quicksilver Custom Harmonicas
VHT Special 6 Mods
Last Edited by on Dec 07, 2011 7:41 AM
|
nacoran
5016 posts
Dec 07, 2011
9:37 AM
|
Right now the how to page is still hosted on GH's site. It was hosted there so he could have access to it without having access to everything else, back in the early days of the site. I'll talk to Adam and see if it's okay to build an onsite version of the page were we can add stuff like permanent links. As for the pro/one time issue, I kind of like having it all together. I think more people look at it that way, but that's just my personal preference. We could certainly set some limits on picture size. (A good start would be 'if it's wider than the screen it's not allowed' although I know different browsers display differently.)
----------
Nate
Facebook
Thread Organizer (A list of all sorts of useful threads)
|
MrVerylongusername
2097 posts
Dec 07, 2011
9:50 AM
|
nate - you don't need to do that! GH's how to page has nothing to do with it. It's just a case of adding a little HTML to the forum homepage
Just add after the link to GH's page (not to GH's page itself):
<br> <a href="insert URL of 2012 for sale thread here">2012 For Sale Thread</a>
I guess Adam might be the only person with access to editing that page, but it really isn't much harder than updating the creed.
Last Edited by on Dec 07, 2011 9:53 AM
|
isaacullah
1694 posts
Dec 07, 2011
10:25 AM
|
Good debate! I mainly wanted to get some ideas about this. I think we can improve the situation that we have currently. In the early days of the site, we didn't have NEARLY the amount of commerce traffic that we have now, so a single free-for-all thread worked fine. We've got way more commerce traffic now, so that original system doesn't really work very well anymore.
I think that the commerce traffic is a HUGE benefit for all members of the forum, and wouldn't want to do anything to make it harder to buy/sell/trade on this site. I just was hoping we could somehow make it easier for everyone to a) actually be able to find/read posts about items they are interested in buying, and to b) get their own "for sale" posts read by as many people as possible.
I agree that limiting number/size of photos would go a LONG way towards achieving this, as would making a perma-link under the forum creed. Those may be better solutions than separating the pros from the craigslisters.
----------
== I S A A C ==
View my videos on YouTube!
Visit my reverb nation page!
Last Edited by on Dec 07, 2011 10:28 AM
|
paul45
88 posts
Dec 07, 2011
5:54 PM
|
I would just like to keep it on the first page or have a direct link, just make it easy to find.
|
nacoran
5022 posts
Dec 07, 2011
8:13 PM
|
MrLUVN, I was thinking about doing that anyway. YouTube has changed where they put the embed button, and it doesn't cover how to deal with some browser issues that have come up, or sizing pictures. It seems like 'How To Sell Stuff' would fall under that page, although I suppose it could go on the forum page. (And remember, you can always find the link by clicking on the Thread Organizer link in my signature if you can find one of my posts!)
I started trying to make an updated how-to page. I need to find a couple resources and figure out a font issue. I'd welcome any suggestions on the topic.
----------
Nate
Facebook
Thread Organizer (A list of all sorts of useful threads)
|
MrVerylongusername
2102 posts
Dec 07, 2011
11:46 PM
|
What's the font issue?
|
BeardHarmonica
49 posts
Dec 08, 2011
3:27 AM
|
Id like to see a real forum with sticky post, category and a good search script.
This site needs a makeover real bad.
|
nacoran
5025 posts
Dec 08, 2011
12:55 PM
|
MrVLUN, it's silly really... the software won't tell you what font you are using, even when you highlight a bit. I even tried highlighting everything and setting it to one font and the part I'd changed looked different than the rest. Same size, bold/italic status, just looks different. If I have to I can just retype everything to fix the problem, but now it's got me curious as much as anything else. Then I've got to make it look presentable. It's a lot of information and with the red stripe on the same page it looks very busy. I'm not sure about the HTML, but part of that solution, if it's supported, would be to have one of those table of contents that you click that takes you to the right part of the page. We could have a perma-link section there. I just don't want a monolithic list of information, and I think we've got enough pages in the red nav bar already (I really wish we could have collapsing menus there.)
Beard, with the current software the best we could do is put some perma-links in. The search actually works pretty well. We've had a few efforts to human sort stuff too. We have the forum archives, but they are out of date. I've got the thread organizers, but they are out of date too. The way they are set up though, people can add info to them themselves. Bluemoose has his web-brain video catalog. The how-to is currently hosted on GH's site, so to make changes we have to contact him and get him to make them. (I can't figure out the host even with a password. :) )
We have the software we have, so the question is, using the elements of a basic web page, how do we organize the How-To/FAQ to achieve some of what we are looking for?
----------
Nate
Facebook
Thread Organizer (A list of all sorts of useful threads)
|
