New Rules for the Exchange forum - Feedback thread.

Bastid said:
And now we have some of the same people pushing their threads under the alternate view.

All that does for a lot of people including myself is drive business away.

The attempt here is to keep the playing field as level as possible. Personally I would not do business with those who are attempting to abuse or disregard that intent. There are too many straight forward people who I would rather work with in the knife community to deal with those cutting corners.
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What Gus said.

People are bumping their threads everyday now to keep them above others in the alternate view and display ads in "new posts" and the forum preview, having more posts on page 1 than they were allowed to before, posting ads just so they can link those ads to their older bigger ads, and not getting so much as warning for it. Yet, they're still whining that it's not fair. I don't get it. The new system works for 99% of us. That other 1% seems think that anything that doesn't put them above everyone else is absurd.
 
People will always find wiggle room in any hierarchy. It is human nature. That is why there are moderators. They will find a way to skirt the rules and the moderators are supposed to be there to make adjustments.

If the prior system had been given sufficient time to work through the previous "new" rules, things would have settled down. There were fewer violations every day with the old new rules for the exchange and there was less need for moderator interdiction each succeeding day.

Now, it is going to be more labor intensive for moderators to enforce the 2 week rule of re-listing knives. Each knife will have to be researched to find out if it was re-listed. Regular members cannot determine whether this is happening without having moderator privileges, so they cannot give the moderators the "heads up".
 
Daniel said:
Now, it is going to be more labor intensive for moderators to enforce the 2 week rule of re-listing knives. Each knife will have to be researched to find out if it was re-listed. Regular members cannot determine whether this is happening without having moderator privileges, so they cannot give the moderators the "heads up".
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Very few people actually erase their entire post after their knives have sold. Posts like that should be a red flag for the mods to check into. Those who simply close and repost will be caught by the community and reported for moderation.

I suppose if you were a particularly devious fellow, you could come up with a way to cheat the system with a little more finesse (I can think of one way) but attentive forumgoers might just throw a wrench in your plans.

Honestly, if you are going to spend that much brainpower trying to cheat the system, why not instead put it to use in your presentation, research and pricing of your knives? :confused:
 
Many of the same people who were not following the rules before are again not following the rules. It is happening more than you realize. They are deleting items and re-listing them.

Personally, I followed the rules before. I do like the elimination of people "bumping" the threads with superfluous posts.

It appears that "for sale" threads will stay up in the sub-forums longer-especially the custom knives one. I still think that the 2 week rule is too long.

I can tell that the number of views on a thread depends largely on its' positioning in the sub-forum. Once it is relegated to a page after page one, it drops significantly.

Yes, selling depends on the description, photographs, and pricing. But, it also depends on people seeing the thread-they have to see it to read it. Why do you think that websites track "hits"? The number of views on a thread directly impacts its' effectiveness.

The right price on a custom knife is uncertain when you put it up for sale. In many cases, you have to progressively reduce the price to find the sweet spot. Just because a knife was selling earlier in the year for $875 does not mean that it will sell for that now. You start out at $875 thinking that it is the market price and then when the market does not support that price, you reduce it. Not everyone reading a thread will subscribe to a thread to wait until you change the price. If you do post that you will accept reasonable offers, there are many people who will not make an offer. If you do not get the thread in front of people, you don't sell it.
 
I would just reinstate the thread limit per user per page. It is impossible for your thread count on the first page to go up using thread start time, other than for old threads to get deleted. If that is gonna be done to tidy things up, only do it several pages back, leaving the first 5 pages or so of threads alone.
 
hardheart said:
is there a way to cap the number of threads someone can create in a time period?
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Not in any way that would be considered; that would take modding.

Daniel said:
They are deleting items and re-listing them.[/B]
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Unless you have moderator status or higher, it is not (I believe?) possible to completely remove a post. You will always have to leave something behind.

If deleting content out of old threads for the purpose of reposting becomes a serious problem, new rules can be enacted to deal with that. As an example, it would be stupidly easy for Spark to remove post-editing rights for all levels of membership within the Exchange. Five minutes and a few dozen clicks and shenanigans like these would be put to rest.
 
The problem with that, however, is that people wouldn't be able to edit prices in their OP, or mark things as sold.
 
Spark said:
The problem with that, however, is that people wouldn't be able to edit prices in their OP, or mark things as sold.
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Err, yea, I forgot to qualify that as a pretty much doomsday scenario.
Something tells me the mod-staff and the community wont let it get that far out of hand. ;)

As long as the average Joe is unable to delete their own threads, I think we're pretty safe. The effort it would take to put together a repost in such a way to fool all but the keenest among us simply not worth it, especially when you consider how much easier it would be to just start a post elsewhere in addition to your one here.
 
Spark... how about something simple and more conducive to selling knives?? :confused:

I'm not saying I have the answer, but the rules seem to be like walking a tight rope. :( :eek: And I'm not really sure there is a way to "level the playing field" in a competitive environment.

I vote for going back to the simple 72 hour bump rule... we should be allowed to address valid questions asked within our threads, altering pricing and letting the buying population aware of the change / update.

I know it's not an easy task, but should selling a knife be this difficult? :confused:

Honestly, I feel I have a better chance of selling if I were to create a new sales thread every day. I would of course edit the previous thread with something like "knives moved here <link>"

Just my 2 cents. :p

Foo



 
make sure they can not just take the post away to put on a new post. I dont care if they bump but make sure that they stay in the same spot and cant move up on the list. and if they can not obey these rules send them dowm the road.
 
richard thurman said:
make sure they can not just take the post away to put on a new post. I dont care if they bump but make sure that they stay in the same spot and cant move up on the list. and if they can not obey these rules send them dowm the road.
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im confused by this,if we start a new thread and lock the old one after 2 weeks.then the new thread would be on the 1st page,right?
how can you start a new thread and have it in the same spot?
 
In other words, we have a few people here who would really like to make it very simple: NO rules. Because some of the ideas we're getting, from people who don't even intend to give the current system a chance, amount to too much work for mods to get to.
 
lovemoney said:
im confused by this,if we start a new thread and lock the old one after 2 weeks.then the new thread would be on the 1st page,right?
how can you start a new thread and have it in the same spot?
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why are you starting a new thread?? just to get on the first page??
 
Esav Benyamin said:
You could subscribe without emails and just check your User CP regularly, which is what I do.
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That is what I do also, to me that is simple ad easy. :thumbup:
FLymon said:
The biggest surprise to me is actually how few new threads there are. It is obvious now that the bumping that had been going on was IMO excessive, to say the least.
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I noticed the exact same thing. ;)
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My .02 is this... mostly from a buyers point of view.

To whatever Spark and the Mods come up with as the best and most efficient way for them to handle & oversee this matter.... I will adapt. End of story. ;)
 
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Sure is. What some people may be questioning is starting new threads already, since the rules only went into effect on 11/15.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
Sure is. What some people may be questioning is starting new threads already, since the rules only went into effect on 11/15.
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Esav,

Are there duplicate lists of rules? These rules (following ) are the only ones I can find and there is no mention of a two week waiting period. The rule that is being ignored is the rule:

"Do not post in an ad unless you are interested in the item / service that is being offered."

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=786432
 
Spark put up new rules on 10/30. There were complaints, there was support -- and there were suggestions. Spark took one of the suggestions and used it to simplify the new rules as of 11/15.

The rules currently in effect are superimposed over the previous revision here:
Rules for the Exchange forums - Revised again, 11/15 - No more rules on bumping, commentary, please read!!!!

The feedback thread you linked began under the 10/30 rules and brought in the ideas that led to 11/15.
New Rules for the Exchange forum - Feedback thread.
 
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