Marketplace thread bumping

[bousozoku]

Since bumping of threads in the Marketplace (among other places) continues, I'm going to suggest the following:

Everyone dealing should have private messages and notifications enabled. There is no reason to post "PM sent" or "PM replied" in a thread.

Posting "anyone interesting?" or something similar will also be counted as an unnecessary bump. If someone is interested, they will let you know.

If you change the price, add or subtract items, or otherwise modify the deal, change the original post and use colour or bolding to let people know. Please do not create an additional post saying "price lowered" or "item 1 sold."

By the way, having your friends bump the thread for you may also get the thread into trouble, so it would be advisable to keep the thread as clean as possible.

I'm sure someone will have a suggestion for me, but consider these guidelines to be real because that's what I already use to judge Marketplace threads.

Thanks!

 

[amacgenius]

Everyone dealing should have private messages and notifications enabled. There is no reason to post "PM sent" or "PM replied" in a thread.

This has been bugging me forever, when somebody says "PM Replied/Sent" I just wanna explode, but the forum rules prevent me from doing so .

 

[skoker]

This needs to be stickied in the Marketplace.

 

[Doctor Q]

We've added mention of the "PM sent" habit to the Marketplace Rules.

Such posts should not be necessary since all parties should already know to have Private Messages enabled and to check them when a Marketplace deal is under consideration or in progress.

 

[Kwyjibo]

good stuff

you guys tackled a lot of things that tend to bother me there. Thanks for the goood work. Only other thing that has been bothering me lately is some of the user trying to moderate the sales. I would guess they're reporting too hopefully.

 

[amacgenius]

We've added mention of the "PM sent" habit to the Marketplace Rules.

Thank you very much Doctor Q!

 

[bousozoku]

This needs to be stickied in the Marketplace.

It's posted here for now because they are still mostly suggestions at this moment.

 

[WinterMute]

good stuff

you guys tackled a lot of things that tend to bother me there. Thanks for the goood work. Only other thing that has been bothering me lately is some of the user trying to moderate the sales. I would guess they're reporting too hopefully.

yes, we've noted that too, if it becomes a problem then it will be dealt with, there is an element of self-moderation on the forums anyway which is no bad thing, but "self-appointed" moderators are never a good idea.

As always, if you see something out of line, report it.

 

[eva01]

*still hoping that the modification gets implemented that the person creates a thread and no one can reply to it, so no concern of bumping*

 

[ipacmm]

*still hoping that the modification gets implemented that the person creates a thread and no one can reply to it, so no concern of bumping*

That could work or maybe have it so the person that created the thread can't post in it for 3 days....like how howardforums.com does it or just have the original person not allowed to post in the thread at all, just people that are interested can post.

 

[Doctor Q]

We have to balance the suggestions to be stricter and stricter against the effectiveness of the Marketplace.

If we treat Marketplace threads more as ad placement areas, and less as a place for negotiations, we may inhibit successful transactions, and that's not our intent.

Even if moderation continues to be required, we don't want to pour out the baby with the bathwater. Or however that cliché goes.

 

[bousozoku]

We have to balance the suggestions to be stricter and stricter against the effectiveness of the Marketplace.

If we treat Marketplace threads more as ad placement areas, and less as a place for negotiations, we may inhibit successful transactions, and that's not our intent.

Even if moderation continues to be required, we don't want to pour out the baby with the bathwater. Or however that cliché goes.

We've been selling babies?

Yes, we need to be careful to balance the Marketplace. We don't want to stifle the business there but only to give everyone a fair chance. Obviously, self-restraint would be the most helpful action exercised but that hasn't worked.

 

[Doctor Q]

We've been selling babies?

Some people do consider their Macs to be members of their family. It's a shame when you have to sell your child, but sometimes you just need the cash.

 

[danny_w]

Everybody seems to be so upset about thread bumping in the marketplace, but the one good thing about it is that it gives me a chance to see things that I might otherwise miss. Of course it can be annoying, but canning a thread because of bumping (as has happened a lot lately) can really stifle sales and make people far less likely to use the marketplace. I think you need to keep that in mind before getting to heavy handed. Just my 2 cents.

 

[devilot]

Everybody seems to be so upset about thread bumping in the marketplace, but the one good thing about it is that it gives me a chance to see things that I might otherwise miss. Of course it can be annoying, but canning a thread because of bumping (as has happened a lot lately) can really stifle sales and make people far less likely to use the marketplace.

The problem is that usually only a few specific sellers will 'bump' their threads and other sellers that actually follow the Marketplace rules get burned because their threads drop off the radar.

 

[jared_kipe]

Danny and myself might be the only ones to disagree.

Out of all the useless posts I've seen on macrumors, the ones that say "pm sent" and what not are probably the least obtrusive.

But seriously, say you're selling something like a powermac, and after a week nobody cares so you decide to lower the price. Using your method, by the time you change your price, nobody will ever know because you'll be on page 3 or 5.

What do you do? Start a new thread? Or keep things organized and just bump your own thread. I honestly think that if you still have something for sale, it doesn't HURT anybody to bump it once every few days. Nobody looks back a few pages for things to buy.

Maybe there could be a thing in the marketplace where you can wasteland your own thread after something gets sold or is taken off the market. That way only current things would be in the marketplace (as long as most people do it).

 

[Anonymous Freak]

*still hoping that the modification gets implemented that the person creates a thread and no one can reply to it, so no concern of bumping*

The only problem I see with that is what happens when someone has a question about the item for sale?

Yes, it could be handled through PM, but most questions are ones that anyone interested in the item would also like answered.

 

[macEfan]

*still hoping that the modification gets implemented that the person creates a thread and no one can reply to it, so no concern of bumping*

if we ended up doing that idea, we would have to increase the PM inbox amount again. We'd have to say 200 Pms, or people will get upset.

 

[StarbucksSam]

That could work or maybe have it so the person that created the thread can't post in it for 3 days....like how howardforums.com does it or just have the original person not allowed to post in the thread at all, just people that are interested can post.

I go to HoFo and I HATE the way they do it. And their marketplace has even more problems than ours... it's TERRIBLE.

 

[Doctor Q]

Maybe there could be a thing in the marketplace where you can wasteland your own thread after something gets sold or is taken off the market. That way only current things would be in the marketplace (as long as most people do it).

People who are cooperative enough to make that system work, I suspect, would be fine with the current system as well.

 

[bousozoku]

The only problem I see with that is what happens when someone has a question about the item for sale?

Yes, it could be handled through PM, but most questions are ones that anyone interested in the item would also like answered.

Within reason, that should be handled in the thread but the original poster should update the original post. Of course, if they fill out the information in the first place, there will be fewer questions bumping the thread. It seems as though some people purposely leave out information in order to bump the thread.

 

[clayj]

The only problem I see with that is what happens when someone has a question about the item for sale?

Yes, it could be handled through PM, but most questions are ones that anyone interested in the item would also like answered.

And in that case, the OP could amend the original post to answer said question... in fact, it would behoove them to do so so as not to have to answer multiple PMs with the same question.

And we wouldn't have to raise the limit on the number of PMs in each person's mailbox... that's what the Save and Delete functions are for.

 

[BakedBeans]

Personally, all this uptightness about the marketplace has made the decision never to use it again pretty simple.

Not being allowed to bump your thread when it has slipped to page 3 over 24 hours or so is detrimental to both the seller and the buyer.

I know my opinion counts for about..... >this< .........much but i thought i would stick my oar in.

 

[edesignuk]

Not being allowed to bump your thread when it has slipped to page 3 over 24 hours or so is detrimental to both the seller and the buyer.

That wouldn't be the case if every other jackass didn't try in one way or another to bump their own threads.

 

[bousozoku]

Personally, all this uptightness about the marketplace has made the decision never to use it again pretty simple.

Not being allowed to bump your thread when it has slipped to page 3 over 24 hours or so is detrimental to both the seller and the buyer.

I know my opinion counts for about..... >this< .........much but i thought i would stick my oar in.

If everyone plays by the rules, the threads won't slip that far away.

Besides, you know that people are going to find old threads--they've dug up 3 and 4 year old threads just this last week.