Cleaning Up The Trading Forum

[FallenPixels]

As many of you are aware, the trade forum can get very messy and it makes searching it for a specific coupon difficult as traders have multiple threads listing the same coupon when they traded it a long time ago etc. I am also getting a lot of complaints about traders having more than 3 threads and multiple bumping and it being unfair to those sticking to the rules.

This morning I expired anything before Jan 25-28 (depending on if it looked like it was being used, I assume you bump wishlists etc at least once a month) and expired over 450 threads. 168 of these threads were from users with more than 3 threads - some of those came from traders who have been on SC for 2 years+ and know the rules and only a few were from 'newbies' with under 100 posts or 2months membership.

So what do we do to keep it organized?

The original intention on having 3 threads was 1 tradelist, 1 wishlist and an optional thread that allowed for auctions, highlighting a special coupon, short expiry etc. It is very clear that some users are unwilling to check to see how many threads they have and some just don't care as they bump 5+ at a time.

Some suggestions that have been made by users who PMed me (and I am certainly open to others as all of these have issues). At this time, Boo does not want to add any additional forums. The mods, myself included do not have the time to go through the forum every few days and check for people with 4+ threads or bumping.

1) users could have 1 thread each, wishlist in one post, trade list in another. 1 bump per day and a weekly thread would be started where users could place auctions. All auctions would go in that sticky so people who dislike them don't see them every few posts (all auctions would need to end by the date that thread gets expired, likely Sundays).
One thread would make it easier to moderate/notice who has more than one and cut down on duplicate threads by the same person which makes it harder for them to edit them when a coupon is traded, and therefore keep the forum tidier and easier to search.

2) users caught with more than 3 threads or excessive bumping would get progressive trading bans of 7 days to a month
I dislike this idea as it would involve extensive lists of offenders and lots of mod time when we all have more to do. It is impossible to know if the person is doing trades, may discourage members from trading plus the ban may give users an excuse to disappear with existing trades

3) Users could have 2 threads and use the 2nd only for auctions, trade and wishlist would go in the main thread and you can highlight coupons in title

4) Users could have 2 threads to use as they wish, they could do a wishlist/tradelist plus auction or highlight coupons or separate their wishlist and tradelist

I also had some complaints that users are using local sections etc to keep their wishlist and linking people to it, how do you feel about that? While I see the point that it allows for an extra thread, they could be using the about me section in their profile and still have the extra thread but having them in the forum does make them searchable. However, this is not the intention of the local sections - we have allowed for trade threads because people may meet up for short expiries etc but the threads are not expire-able so that adds to the work mods have to do

[Stretchthatdollar!]

I think 3 is a good amount and I don't think we should categorize what people should be allowed to post.
Thats too micro managing in my opinion. As long as its being used for trades...
im sure a lot of users find it useful to get what you want faster to sometimes set up a direct "ft: a LF:-" thread of one or two items, in addition to trade and wishlists. Also, I think that as a trar looking to get rid of certain things it's much easier to not have to scroll through a million lists ( I know I hate it! Lol)
but some people are bumping ALOT...like..ALOT.
Oh oh, and my opinion on the local trade thread thing is that i see a value in sometimes posting there if you are looking for a local trade specifically - or because some local ppl don't really check the trade thread but will get together in person. I have seen that, and like that idea.

[FallenPixels]

Stretch, the problem is that people are not sticking to three, one user had 15 threads and 8 of them were made/bumped in the last week

[angel_2011]

I agree with stretch about having 3 threads and letting ppl do whatever they choose with those 3.

Regarding multiple threads - what if a wiki thread was created "Users with more than 3 threads"... post the users name and the date of the post... members and mods would be able to post names.. noone should be offended if their name is in this thread, as it is more of a reminder (because I guess some ppl forget to delete or don't know how to delete their old threads). Then the individuals whose names are listed, should be given a week or 3 days (some sort of timeframe) to clean up their old threads.... which is why the date is important for when the name was posted in the list..... then, if they don't clean up their old threads, maybe a 3 day ban?
I also don't think that tradelists/wishlists etc, should be in any other forum than the trading forum or in "about me" in the profile.

[Venuila]

I really like the idea of having auctions in a seperate place. Whether it be a sticky or another sub-forum.

I think 3 threads per user is reasonable, to use whichever way they see fit. But I don't think users should be able to make a thread where they just simply link you to their TL/WL.

[ericaraina]

I agree with auctions in a separate places. It would be nice to have them all in one place.

I think having the option to post 3 times is important because sometimes I just like to post a general "TL/WL" as well as a specific " I AM LOOKING FOR." They attract different types of traders so both are useful. I understand some people abuse it, so maybe there could be some sort of repercussion? I don't know!

[torontogal12]

Re: the auctions, I think having them all in one thread would be confusing once the highest bids come in. It would be hard to track which post belongs to which person, you'd have to go back multiple pages to see which auctions are current. A forum would be ideal for this, but it would probably be a lot of mod work and I personally don't find it annoying to have autions mixed in with trades anyway.

[Bronwen]

Just wanted to give my two cents...

I don't see a need for more than three threads per trader. I personally have two; a wishlist thread and a trade list thread. I bump one in the morning and the other in the evening. I don't bump every day because sometimes I don't have time to trade or update it and there's really no point in bumping if you don't have time to update it first. Sometimes I start a third thread to use for auctions and once my auctions are done I am done with the thread and it is expired.

Just an idea (this is what I do)... If you have a ton of coupons FT and they all don't fit in the subject line, edit your subject line each time you bump it to advertise different coupons. Some of us take one or two minutes multiple times a day to peek at the trade forum and we see the same thread all the time and probably pass it by if nothing interests us. So by editing it each time you bump (ie ONCE a day) you are adding variety and more coupons thus more trades without having a bunch of "FT" threads. Not sure if that even makes sense lol.

I'm not even sure if this is possible but maybe someone really techy could make it so that each user has a cap. Like if you try to start a third or fourth thread in one forum it will be blocked and you won't be able to post. Maybe someone really computer savvy knows if this is possible ... Or maybe it's not possible an it's kind of like the time when I thought maybe there was an Android app where I could take my son's temperature by holding the screen of my smartphone to his forehead (true story)

[FallenPixels]

Bronwen, not sure if it is possible, but it wouldn't work as there are some users who have 4 threads legitimately as there are a few discussion threads (mostly on the last page now) and we do not want to penalize those traders

Torontogal, as far as the auctions in one thread, there is rarely more than 1 page worth going on at once and it may drive down some of the insane auction rates as people can easily compare them (which was the original intent on the suggestion sent to me)

When I first started as trade mod, I agreed to leave both trades at three and trains as they were each but honestly, the amount of time I spend just cleaning this forum is getting stupid. If people would stick to three, it would not be an issue. The fact is, if I don't clean it, I get 10+ PMs a week complaining about it plus multiple reports sent about the bumping and additional threads and it is harder to find coupons you want to trade.

While it would be nice to leave it at 3 that you can use as you like, we have done that for 6 months now and it isn't working. Sadly, the people who will post in here have likely never been offenders and manage perfectly well with 3 threads. Having less means I don't need to go through pages and pages every time I clean the forum (and we all know how well it went last time users got together and marked them expired until they were removed - it was a fiasco and legit threads were expired because there were too many people involved and it left a lot of bad feelings)

[Stretchthatdollar!]

Maybe even a few weeks of tough love Pms fromyou warning the others to use it right or get out will wor? I know you said you have no time but in the long run maybe it would work?- I dunno I'm out of bad ideas I am just worried its going to change for the worse.. I don't have that big a problem with it now but I'm not on the other end of it with you!

Bronwen, not sure if it is possible, but it wouldn't work as there are some users who have 4 threads legitimately as there are a few discussion threads (mostly on the last page now) and we do not want to penalize those traders

Torontogal, as far as the auctions in one thread, there is rarely more than 1 page worth going on at once and it may drive down some of the insane auction rates as people can easily compare them (which was the original intent on the suggestion sent to me)

When I first started as trade mod, I agreed to leave both trades at three and trains as they were each but honestly, the amount of time I spend just cleaning this forum is getting stupid. If people would stick to three, it would not be an issue. The fact is, if I don't clean it, I get 10+ PMs a week complaining about it plus multiple reports sent about the bumping and additional threads and it is harder to find coupons you want to trade.

While it would be nice to leave it at 3 that you can use as you like, we have done that for 6 months now and it isn't working. Sadly, the people who will post in here have likely never been offenders and manage perfectly well with 3 threads. Having less means I don't need to go through pages and pages every time I clean the forum (and we all know how well it went last time users got together and marked them expired until they were removed - it was a fiasco and legit threads were expired because there were too many people involved and it left a lot of bad feelings)

[redhdlois]

How about some guidelines for running auctions !!!!

[angel_2011]

what about posting a thread with instructions on how to delete/expire old threads - some members especially newbies prob don't know how to do it.

[FallenPixels]

The repeat offenders have received PMs (some of which got me not very nice replies complaining that they were using the threads I expired)

I just bumped the how to expire thread, but honestly many of the repeat offenders are long term members and know better, I just went through again and since yesterday 4 members had started newthreads that made them have 4+

@redheadlois, I replied to your PM about that already

[dariusz8]

i think the forum should have an auto expire bot/script... working similar to how kijiji ads work... gives a member notification when there thread has been inactive for example 3 weeks..... if no activity in thread by the end of the 4 weeks the thread gets moved to expired. A similar script could easily limit members to a max of 3 threads, forcing people to delete a previous thread. It would take a little to get this going but i am sure SC could get it done.

[FallenPixels]

I do expire the threads over a month, we dont auto expire as the blacklist, rules etc need to stay and those threads should not take away from the ability of their thread starters to have 3 threads if others have three (for example macw1960 runs the GC exchange thread, Pathea has a thread about paypal not being allowed, Candini about putting your name on the envie, 2010ontest about stamps etc)

I am talking over 150 threads that were less than a month old. I deleted as far as January 25 then worked on the traders with 3+ threads