New classified section?

[ac7av]

That was my thoughts too.
My listing is on page 5. No one is going to go digging that far for anything. 1 maybe 2 pages is as far as I even want to look to see what’s for sale. It makes me want to delete the ad and re post it. Maybe that’s what will have to do. It was just easer before to get peoples attention if there is a price change or change in what’s available

 

[saltwaterfishes]

I upload my photos to photobucket, will we be able to pull pics from a website in the future?

 

[estoniangirl]

yes its a different way of posting things and all that, yes sometimes it's better to let things be as they are, but sometimes change is good too, i work for a breast cancer doctor and i would rather go see a surgeon now with all the new upgrades and tools they have, then back 15 years ago... just my opinion. lets try to make the best of it maybe it will be possible to put the old with the new?!?!? just maybe?!?!
other than that thanks for working on this site and making it still possible to see all the great info!!!!

 

[mcoomer]

I just brought the subject up because I was making a change on the listing and reducing the price but no one will know because it is stuck at the bottom. Other then that, the site is fine

That was my thoughts too.
My listing is on page 5. No one is going to go digging that far for anything. 1 maybe 2 pages is as far as I even want to look to see what’s for sale. It makes me want to delete the ad and re post it. Maybe that’s what will have to do. It was just easer before to get peoples attention if there is a price change or change in what’s available

That's one of the problems to be sure. If a person is actively trying to sell an item they're going to have to post that item several times in order to keep it on Page 1. I don't think people are going to wade through several pages of ads to hope to find an item they might be looking for. Also, since the ads don't show up on the home page as they used to you don't have the quick look ability to see when a new item or critter has been put up for sale. If it ain't broke doesn't mean you can't tweak it but I don't think a radical change was necessary.

BTW...I think everyone involved needs to take a deep breath. Nothing gets better, nothing gets resolved through Internet sniping.

Mike

 

[dieden]

Well.. due to all the drama from the classifieds changing, I decided to visit them (for the first time). I only visited the old classifieds twice, want to be completely open with my subjectivity, and can not make specific comparisons between the two. I can, however, comment subjectively on the new classifieds as this is my first visit.

First impression...
I find the layout to be very streamline. After I log in, I am required to select either livestock or Reefing equipment. I like how these are seperated as I would not like to wade through ads completely unrelated to my search. I would like to possibly see another option at this point, perhaps a section for full systems (there may not be enough listings to justify this, but it seams recently there are quite a few full system listings). I notice that there is a box for recent ads... First of all, holy crap thats alot of ads. I am assuming that this lists the most recently posted ads (12 in total). Below this is a location for recent comments, and beside that is a list of active members viewing the classifieds.
Selecting a Section
I find ads listed linearly (is that a word?) by post date. I see that one of the posts on this first page is colored yellow. (sorry it drew my attention... hopefully it is meant to draw my attention and is not sold) There is a tab on the top right of the posting that allows me to select the arrangement of the postings... Date, popularity, location, number of views, title, price... now thats cool. ok, I selected Zip code as I am in Texas and most members on this site are in the Northwest. The posts are listed differently, but without explaination. Is this listed by sequential zip codes.. by distance from my zipcode (I don't remember entering my zipcode). cant be distance, as the top choice is Monroe (WA 2,113 miles). Chunk the zip code option, but the rest work as listed.
Entering an Ad
Ads seem to be pretty well formated (at least the top 10 popular ones), pictures, descriptions and prices are all easy to find. Seller's profile, quantity of said item, views and post dates are all readily viewable. not many complaints or comments as this part of the forum is very well planned out.

In overview, I seriously like the layout and functionality of the current classified section. If I could reccomend some changes they would be as follows....
Add a Full setup section
Kill the Zip Code option on sorting
swap the recent ads and Recent Comments sections (to appease the "bump" friendliness crowd)
If not able/willing to swap these, move the "currently viewing" below the Sponsor adds on the right and expand the "Recent comments"
Give an explanation of the colored ads
stop complaining about a pretty straightforward and simple classified forum (sorry, just had to say it)

I'm a fan, even with the couple of things I would change. This is much better than the classifieds in my two local forums that I am on, which more resemble RF's former classified section. This is just my opinion, but I think it is pretty objective and thorough. Perhaps if complaints were more specific as to the actual shortcoming, instead of just saying the other form was better, the problems could be addressed.

Sorry for the book...

 

[mojoreef]

Ahh my favorite thing to take care of!! Ok here is the story so everyone is in the loop and knows.
With the classifieds I get members complaining that folks are just joining up and selling and thats not fair, so we put in RULES to fix that, then we get members complaining about the rules?? then we get the mods who have to spend half their life moderating these new rules, closing threads for folks when the item is sold, edit the thread when its past the time, deal with negative fights between buyers and sellers. Then you mix in a little sponsors unhappy with the direct compitition from members who are in reality running a business and making a tidy little profit from it to (and good for them, they do alot better with this hobby then do I ). Soooooo lots of fun eh??

So I figure I will go out and buy the so called latest in forum selling software, then pay for someone to install it. Now members can edit their own ads, mark it sold and have it deleted auto, leave comments, communicate directly and so on. The membership requirements are all automatic so a little easier on the mods and since its run as a seperate program its out of site and out of mind for the sponsors.

WIN WIN right?? rofl SO anyway thats the skinny just so everyone understands it was not a "Hmmmm let me think of ways to create nightmares for myself :idea:

I think folks need to keep in mind that everyone that mods RF doesnt make a dime they do it all for free, those that own RF have it even better, we get to pay for this board to be online and all we are trying to do is to find the point in the middle where everyone gets some of their concerns taken care of, truely as simple as that.

ANyway lets get to the feedback and their has been some great feedback given. On the hotlinking your pictures, we tried and tried (just asked Sid) but their is no way of doing that, you will have to download to your desktop and then upload them, sorry.
On yellow ads, they are ads that have been marked as Highlighted ads by the user when creating the ad.
On the bumping thing it doesnt have the same effect as a thread and that cannot be changed.
As per the focus of folks on selling stuff and not contributing elsewhere, to be honest I dont really care, if thats all you want to do?? all the power to ya. So really I dont want to hear about that anymore, no need

Ok hear are some things I can do, I can increase the size of the recent ads shown?? its currently 12 I can make it larger if you wish, I can also move it around a bit. I can add another thing that is similar but just shows random ads?? I can make it so more comments are showing?? Would this help in being more noticed?? I can add another section of pictures of ads that are for the most popular??
So these are the options I have and I am willing to change things around if it makes it better for ya. Think about it and let me know what you think might make it better for ya and we can always try something and if it doesnt work switch it again

Mojo

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Mike, you can please all of the people, some of the time...Well you know the quote.
I personally didn't like the change and think any of the sponsors who were complaining - miss the idea of traffic creates traffic; such as why all fast food joints build on the same street. Be that as it may, I don't work here so my vote is moot.

More to the point, I can really see the positive effects of your recent contributions here. I want to give a really big THUMBS UP to all the thought you have put into raising quality and the HUGE amount of effort into raising the level of sanity and lessoning the distractions.

Thanks for bringing the Mojo and keep up the good work!

 

[Skimmy]

not complaining, but actually i dont like the new classifieds either... im sorry.

next time i want to sell something i'll post it in my sponsor forum if thats ok...

ahhh, and is that why our post count changed??? closing of classifieds?

 

[small alien]

If I could FIND the new classified section I could comment on it. I just want to give away a fish to a good home and that used to be easy.

 

[small alien]

Found it!!!

 

[sandollar]

i am not as ungrateful as some. the site looks great and everything works fine. thank you for all of your efforts whoever is responsible for it. i am not quite the complainer. i don't have to pay a dime to use this forum at all so who am I to demand any changes. i will use what is offered to me and if I don't like something then I will go somewhere else. very simple. maybe we should ask the mods and owners to wipe our noses too while we are at it?

 

[returnofsid]

I upload my photos to photobucket, will we be able to pull pics from a website in the future?

Unfortunately, No, image tagging is not available. We tried to figure out a way to make that possible, and tried, and tried, but it just didn't work. As it stands, now, pictures will have to be uploaded, to the classified library, from your computer. Also, some images (all of mine, in particular) are too large for the auto resizer to handle. This will become an issue, for those who have higher mp cameras, and take all of their photos in the largest file size. So, for instance, I am unable to upload my original pictures, to the classified library. I have to resize them, to a smaller size, before I can upload them. For most people, this won't be an issue. However, for me, shooting with a Canon 7D, my photos are a whoppin' 7MB or larger, some up to 12MB.

 

[mojoreef]

Herefishyfishy thanks for the kind words. On the Sponsors I can see their point (and not all have complained) they go the extra step to setup a proper shop and then sponsor the board, while a member probibly sells more stuff and doesnt have to sponsor. To be honest that was the smallest reason for making the change.

skimerwhisperer you should be actively selling stuff in your forum, you pay for it as per the posts count thing I am not sure what you are talking about, the old forums are not deleted their just inactive in the library, but all posts, threads and so on are still their. did your post count go down??

Someone earlier mentioned the posts showing up on the front page and thats also not the case, it was for the couple of weeks prior to removing them but thats all I know of.

Anyway I made a few changes to it so you all could take a peek and decide what you might want to change to enhance it a bit better for ya so let me know.

Sorry if its not being all you want it to be in order for you to sell stuff, we tried.

Mojo

 

[pyton]

me like the classified section even though view only it look good. most of which people talk about is a learning curve. they do not understand it so they do not like it. from what we see the points are clear. me only read what other say and see this stuff.

1. only stuff not sold is posted, great of viewer we do not have to spend time PM someone to find out it was sold before.
2. buyer should view as many pages as they can
3. if you looking for good deal go to last pages seller might be willing to bargin

thigs we like to see (us personally)
1. one item per post (encourages more frag packs)
2. limit posting per month, not main focus point of forum so 5 listings per month (60 per year) keeps commercial out
3. buy now button like others so we can pay and wiat for ship, if you use buy now button the item is marked sold once you make payment with paypal so no over sell of one item.
4. upload or include from photo website
5. maybe add more categories so skimmer, and tank not in same selling post, less pages for people to view, easier to find things. (look at Main Index - PhotoPost Classifieds or Main Index - ReefTheory.com - Classifieds)
6. a way to say no shipping when making ad

 

[iroll253]

I personally have quit looking at the classifieds. I have things for sale but have been putting them else where because of the inability to show multiple photos back to back in a "Scroll" sequence. Photo bucket has become a traditional thing for most users IMO. I am used to basic forum layout, and would like to buy and sell just as I would answer or ask a question. It just flows more natural in the old scroll and bump sequence then its current layout. Other than the classifieds section, Reef Frontiers has made a very appealing improvement.

 

[Scooterman]

I had to run a test ad just to see how painful it was, I found it very easy to set up, more detailed than the forum based ads and the issues most people seem to be complaining about is it isn't like the forum. Well it isn't a forum, it is a real selling tool, it has more to it so if you do want to sell regularly, then spend 2 minutes and read through it, it is very simple. If I don't want to ship, then I can post no shipping in the comment, I still think the few little issues can be worked out but overall it is way better than before. I think people just don't like change, this may seem intimidating to some but look back before there was ever forums. What did you think about the forums years ago when they all just started out? What we have here it a ton of new features, looks and a whole new concept of a forum and a classified section, galleries and so much to offer, it will take time to absorb I know but I think people need to give it time, just like back in the day when forums first started out, people were scared to post or even sign up but look at how much it has grown. Look at what we did, it is a huge taking, we pushed the limits so I can see where things like this will make people retreat but I think If you give it some time, you will one day see that what we did is like taking the first step on Mars!:shock: Oops, the Moon!
It is good to get feedback but lets fix the issues, it may take some knocking on our heads but lets get it right, it will take work on and input from all of us. The whole thing will take some getting use to and getting around better etc, we already changed so much from day one, things have improved, so where are those comments?
We can do this guys, lets make it better for everyone, take a deep breath, soak it in.
Lets get some good discussions going on, Reefing discussions, lets make the hobby better, even though you think differently about our new forum, lets get the thing that brings us here going again, lets sale REEFING! :razz: WE have some exciting things planned, Mike has put a ton, I mean really a TON of work into this place, above and beyond what most people try to do and he's going over backward to please people and make it right. If you look at all he's done, it is his passion to make it better and good for everyone, lets thank him by doing what we should be doing and start discussing reefing and in the meantime we'll dig into this and work out the kinks to as much of a point as we can.

 

[mcdonaldjosh7]

Sometimes, I feel simplicity is key...as in this situation. I like the old setup better because it was much simpler...also, I don't visit the site near as much, and the For Sale forums were definitely a draw for me...and my routine would be to open the for sale forums, general forums, and any other forums that looked interesting at the time in separate tabs and then surf...not so much anymore.

I am not saying this as a threat, I am just trying to state my views here.

But if we are stuck with the new way, is removing the highlight feature a possibility? (It might not be there anymore i haven't checked recently.)

 

[mojoreef]

Ok I am looking into a couple of the issues brought up here, but they are not visable changes I can find in the admin section, so I have contacted the webmasters to see if some of the things brought up here can be done. So what I have asked them is the following.

> can ads be bumped up if their is something changed in the comments or ad it self

>can we add code to allow users to upload from a photobucket type of inline service.

Other issues:
>I can disable the highlight feature but I would like to see more input on it, as in is this what everyone wants.
>On the buy it now with paypal that leaves us vunerable, so I dont want to do that, but nothing stops folks from doing that via PM's
> can make more directories if that is what folks want.

Another things I mentioned prior but did not get a responce on is the recent ads pictures. Now I can increase the amount shown to whatever. Actually I could increase so the whole front page is recent ads?? this would allow someone to basically shop by picture??? and it would put most of the ads on one page for someone to simply scroll down through them?? I kind of thought this would be more well recieved??


Mojo

 

[mojoreef]

Ok I made a change or two. SO now when you go to the classifieds it shows you every ad in both catagories on one page and they are all shown as pictures??

So for scrolling you can get much better then that??? you dont have to worry about being on the last page?? every ad is on the classifieds home page?? thats got to be easier for those worring about that right??

Anyway still working on the others, but let me know if this works better for ya

MOJo

 

[DonW]

Ok I made a change or two. SO now when you go to the classifieds it shows you every ad in both catagories on one page and they are all shown as pictures??

So for scrolling you can get much better then that??? you dont have to worry about being on the last page?? every ad is on the classifieds home page?? thats got to be easier for those worring about that right??

Anyway still working on the others, but let me know if this works better for ya

MOJo

I think it looked better the way it was. Maybe drop the pic count back down but leave the pics without thumbs option checked. Is anyone using the subscription option? You can subscribe to the classifieds just like the individual forums.

Don