When did someone put a big notice on BC saying 'Sell Here'?

[Kev]

iv lost count of how many times iv suggested this, but i still think that members should have to have a certain post count and/or a certain amount of time since joining, before being able to post new threads in the for sale forums

[kdphysio]

[quote name='D-L-B' post='172451' date='Apr 8 2008, 05:35 PM']......I'm not about to start posting rubbish.[/quote]

How [b]very[/b] dare you!!

All post on here are of the utmost intellect, & about well thought out subjects, [b]surely[/b]??!!

Edited April 8, 2008 by kdphysio

[LukeFRC]

ive sold one thing. gave away a few and spend too much time reading rubbish on here.
if i was buying/selling i think i would only buy off folk i recognised from the other forums and wanted to deal with.
it becomes very dull if it just becomes about buying and selling though.
very dull

[warwickhunt]

Just out of interest; why the move?

[Kiwi]

[quote name='BassManKev' post='172485' date='Apr 8 2008, 06:30 PM']iv lost count of how many times iv suggested this, but i still think that members should have to have a certain post count and/or a certain amount of time since joining, before being able to post new threads in the for sale forums[/quote]
I believe members have also made a good case for why thats going to create more problems than it solves, each time you've raised it.

[KennysFord]

I consider myself a noob on here although im "no longer a noob"...just.Ive been on a week or so.
What attracted me to BC was the easy going and humerous nature of the forum,these guys are for me i thought,still do.
I recently joined the ernie ball forum and was very quickly put-off with the holier than thou attitude from the admin team and some of the members,god forbid you should mention fitting a different make of strings other than slinky's,if you mentioned changing the colour of your scratchplate....well that was it.No talk whatsoever about other company's products or else you recieved a very stern ticking off.
Ive been involved with running forums myself and been chair of a club,we found the quickest way to turn people of and make them feel unwelcome was to treat them as lesser because they were noobs.In turn then they feel like the forum is "holier than thou".The way to avoid "bumps" from new members is a simple and polite pm from the team.Its easy for senior members to flag this up or even to send the pm themselves.
Give people a chance,treat them the same as everyone else and you'll have good loyal members without the elitist atttude that exists elsewhere.
Thanks.

[warwickhunt]

[quote name='kennyrodg' post='172535' date='Apr 8 2008, 07:35 PM']I consider myself a noob on here although im "no longer a noob"...just.Ive been on a week or so.
What attracted me to BC was the easy going and humerous nature of the forum,these guys are for me i thought,still do.
I recently joined the ernie ball forum and was very quickly put-off with the holier than thou attitude from the admin team and some of the members,god forbid you should mention fitting a different make of strings other than slinky's,if you mentioned changing the colour of your scratchplate....well that was it.No talk whatsoever about other company's products or else you recieved a very stern ticking off.
Ive been involved with running forums myself and been chair of a club,we found the quickest way to turn people of and make them feel unwelcome was to treat them as lesser because they were noobs.In turn then they feel like the forum is "holier than thou".The way to avoid "bumps" from new members is a simple and polite pm from the team.Its easy for senior members to flag this up or even to send the pm themselves.
Give people a chance,treat them the same as everyone else and you'll have good loyal members without the elitist atttude that exists elsewhere.
Thanks.[/quote]

I agree (almost) completely. I've gone out of my way to welcome folk to the forum, I've given stuff (not sold) to people who've been in a fix (strings, Warwick screws & saddles, jack sockets & plugs) and I'd think that there are a whole heap of other members who would do the same BUT it cuts both ways!

Come in pull up a chair, introduce yourself, you don't have to show that you know it all (or anything for that matter) and maybe tell us where abouts you live... perhaps someone might live near you and it'd be a great introduction. MAYBE that kind of info will be useful because if your in a fix someone local might be able to pull you out of the sh*t (dead amp etc) but coming on and diving straight in with 'I've got this for sale' seems a bit 'self-centred' for my personal tastes!

[KennysFord]

fair comment.

[Waldo]

[quote]The classifieds are a major way of generating traffic for the site, especially in search engines, [b]and often how people first get introduced to the forum[/b][/quote]

This is how I first discovered the old bassworld forum and I've been here for years since

[MacDaddy]

bump

[MacDaddy]

[quote name='MacDaddy' post='172669' date='Apr 8 2008, 10:26 PM']bump[/quote]

sorry, just trying to enhance my post count to look better for selling stuff

Edited April 8, 2008 by MacDaddy

[warwickhunt]

[quote name='MacDaddy' post='172671' date='Apr 8 2008, 10:27 PM']sorry, just trying to enhance my post count to look better for selling stuff [/quote]

Doesn't count if you bump whilst the thread is in the cupboard

[Toasted]

I first found here through the for sale forum.

[Lenny B]

I've bought a bass and sold a bass since I've been on here, but haven't even got round to putting up for sale the other bits i want to shift!
Will manage it soon. Bargains guaranteed, step right up, step right up etc.

[warwickhunt]

[quote name='Toasted' post='172716' date='Apr 8 2008, 11:10 PM']I first found here through the for sale forum.[/quote]


[quote name='Lenny B' post='172727' date='Apr 8 2008, 11:24 PM']I've bought a bass and sold a bass since I've been on here, but haven't even got round to putting up for sale the other bits i want to shift!
Will manage it soon. Bargains guaranteed, step right up, step right up etc.[/quote]

People 'may' be missing my point. It is the number/multitude of people coming on here and they launch straight into sale mode. What's wrong with saying 'Hi, this is me'?

I was pointed in the direction of this forum (well, actually it was BW at the time) because I was after a particular bass and out of common courtesy I came on and introduce myself, said what I was into and give a bit of history. I then offered to help, (if I could) with anything pertaining to Warwicks, I could equally have come on and said, 'can any body help me I'm interested in...'.

This f*ckin society of ours is turning into me me me.

OH and I now get to test the chaos theory... If a BCer rants in the BassChat closet (for things best left unsaid) does anyone hear him/her?

[The Funk]

We have a Bass Chat closet now?

Is that for people who publicly denounce Victor Wooten for show-boating but cream themselves in private at his monstrous chops?

[Kiwi]

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='172741' date='Apr 8 2008, 11:50 PM']People 'may' be missing my point. It is the number/multitude of people coming on here and they launch straight into sale mode. What's wrong with saying 'Hi, this is me'?[/quote]

I understand your frustration, but there's not a lot of options open to the mods to encourage politeness. However, if you see some people who are just posting classifieds, how about about one of you invite them to introduce themselves in the intro forum, by posting the invite on their for sale thread?

If they take you up on the offer you'll have a slightly better insight into the kind of person they are. It also shows that the forum is interested in new members instead of viewing all non-locals with suspicion.

If they don't bother to introduce themselves, then you're definitely in the picture about what their intentions are. And every one else knows too. However this isn't justification for lynching them if they're not cooperative. You might just be better off showing a bit of tolerance and just focussing on enjoying another part of the forum, maybe?

[wateroftyne]

It's not something that bothers me, to be honest. Truth is, there's a large percentage of people out there who are either a ) unaware of etiqutte or b ) just plain impolite.

As BC becomes more established in search engines, etc, it's bound to attract more fly-by-nighters in search of a quick sale with minimal effort.

What's that, Bruce? That's just the way it is? Some things never change?

Right on.

Edited April 9, 2008 by wateroftyne

[pete.young]

[quote name='dlloyd' post='172397' date='Apr 8 2008, 04:42 PM']There's at least one seller on the first page who is 'no longer a newbie' on the strength of his 'bump' posts.[/quote]

A fix for that could be to classify the 'For Sale' forums in the same way as Off Topic, so posts in there don't count towards the rating.

[Kiwi]

But what's the big deal about post counts any way? I mean, am I right in understanding that there are members who feel threatened because another member has accumulated 10 posts from classified ads? Is that the point of being a member for some?

[bass_ferret]

We had a poll on the subject of a minimum post before selling and the result was no. If you dont like people that just come on here to sell, like the Italian chap selling a modulus for retail + 25%, then add them to your ignore user list.

[warwickhunt]

Can I point out that I have no objection 'per se' with someone popping on here giving a minimum of information to establish who they are, selling then bogging off. As has rightly been pointed out, more choice for all... a good thing! The post count minimum etc is almost irrelevant. I think it would be fine to come on here and make your first post a sale IF we knew a little about the seller. I know that people could just trip out a pack of lies but it wouldn't take much to uncover.

I do however have genuine concern that as BC grows and as has been pointed out attracts the fly-bys it'll also attract the scammer. Now before people shoot me down and say you can't eradicate/block/stop them, I know that would be 'almost' impossible BUT a simple rule that if you want to post in the for sale section you have to at least fill in your profile and give a minimum of info; the town where you live, maybe a bit of info on your gear and if you are in a band blah blah. Nothing too intrusive like giving your postal address and number of residents etc. I realise that it could be argued that you are opening the door to scammers establishing a person's identity and using the electoral role etc to establish who, where they live but that could be said of any sale! I could contact someone on the forum at this very moment and say 'I'm interested in your bass, give me your address and I'll pop around and check it out'. I now have the name and address of someone and I know they have a very nice bass at home!

Doesn't it make sense to just put in one or two simple measures to at least not make it a push over to con the gullible and less experienced?

I like CK's idea of asking posters if they'd give a bit of an introduction but shouldn't the onus be on the person joining BC to have the decency to do that?

[jakenewmanbass]

When I first came here back in mid '07 it was to sell my Thumb 5 which I sold on another forum, last week. The point being that I think I'm now regarded as a 'proper' community member (If you can stand my loud mouth) and I was able to wait to sell the bass as I'm a bass player before a seller. I reckon the 'sellers' before bass players would need quicker turn over than that situation allows for so in a way it seems (by my experience anyway) to sort of police itself.
Most of the people I've conversed with either by thread or PM seem sensible enough to look after themselves, and those of us that are that little bit older (I am) and wiser (not sure) remind the less savvy of what to look out for often enough.

[tauzero]

I actually found BC because I was googling something that was on ebay for information and found a for sale advert on BC featuring the same product (but not the same actual item), so the classifieds do have a role to play in attracting new members. Not everyone is aware of forum etiquette (I'm pretty much a newbie to forums, despite 15 or so years on email lists and newsgroups) and not every forum has a meet and greet subforum. And some people (like me) are a bit shy about actually introducing themselves. So it's not necessarily about decency, it's about knowing local custom.

I think the best idea would be a follow-up post to unintroduced sellers asking them to post in introductions.

[Kiwi]

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='172878' date='Apr 9 2008, 09:41 AM']I like CK's idea of asking posters if they'd give a bit of an introduction but shouldn't the onus be on the person joining BC to have the decency to do that?[/quote]
In principal, [i]absolutely[/i].

FWIW I believe the whole point of running forums like this is so people CAN SHARE stuff eg. information, advice and experiences. The more people share, the better the forum is. However we also have a range of backgrounds and social dispositions. As you've already pointed out, some people don't sign up with the intention (or time even) to become part of the forum.

However if the membership encourages newbies to become more involved, then I can't think of a better way to retain them and (hopefully) make the place more interesting to use.

I'd suggest its the membership who can make the biggest difference, not the mods.