Hey HAMB admins, I was just thinking that it would be nice to have two separate cl***ifieds section, one for cars wanted/for sale, and one for part/accessories/related paraphernalia. I know that I am more often looking for a complete car, so being able to quickly scan the ads would be great. I would guess that sellers might appreciate the ability to keep their posts closer to the top by the segregation, especially since there are far fewer complete cars for sale/wanted than parts. So, if it's not too much trouble and/or there's a positive response to this post, what are the chances of creating two cl***ifieds sections? Also, other HAMBers, let's hear your thoughts on this!
Thanks for the input, this has actually already been discussed about two weeks ago by the moderators and it was concluded that it would be too ***bersome on an administrative level. That is why it is asked that people use FS, WTB, etc, as the first thing on the subject line. Thank you again for your interest.
If the goal is to make it easier to cruise the cl***ifieds, looking for (more or less) "complete cars" that are for sale, maybe those posts could use a designated icon that would appear in that second column of the page. All the usual FS, WTB, WTT designations would still be required in the ***le, but someone posting a complete car for sale could select a designated "post icon" that indicates the cl***ified is for a complete car for sale. I'm not suggesting a "special" icon for every conceivable item that someone might sell, but maybe just one that highlights the cars for sale. These post icons I keep referring to are the "red mad guy", "green smiley guy", "thumbs up", "thumbs down" "blue question mark" icons that users can select after they type their post, and which appear in the second column of each HAMB message board. I don't know if it's worth adding a special "car" icon or not. And I am certainly NOT suggesting a bunch of goofy icons to cover every type of cl***ified ad. That's what the "WTB", "FS", "WTT" designations in the ***le are for. I think wannabewannabe's suggestion for two cl***ified sections, was to keep the cars from rolling down the list so quick. The icon solution wouldn't prevent the cars from moving down, but it would be very easy for folks to scan that second column, and look for the "car for sale icon". I guess I'm trying to suggest a solution that won't require any real implementation or administrative effort, yet helps achieve the desired results. Using a spiffy icon (whether it be a new one, or maybe one of the "lesser used" ones already in place) will allow users to scroll the cl***ifieds quickly and find "mostly complete" cars for sale. Although it wouldn't be "a rule" to use the icon, it would be beneficial for sellers to use it, in order to help potential buyers find their listing. Because this would be more a "guideline" than a "rule", I'm not sure if the icon description, and it's use, should be included in the official Rules at the top of the page. I think that's where most people look first before posting an ad, so that might be the logical place for it. And finally, no problem if this idea doesn't fly. I dig things the way they are, but hey, wannabewannabe took the time to make a suggestion he believed in, so I figure it's worth the time to discuss. Plus, there's no rule that says a good thing can't get better. (Bearing in mind that most/all improvements require some amount of work and resources - no free lunch). -murph
As long as it doesn't get too complicated. If you visit NICO, for nissan enthusiasts, there are 50 different sections and it gets real hard to find things
All good ideas. You guys would be surprised how much work it is to get things they way they are now. Real surprised. We try to keep it all hidden because the average cl***ified user doesn't want to sif through the ****. Ask anyone that's seen one of these lately... Today, 03:33 PM CURIOUS RASH vbmenu_register("postmenu_", true); Moderator CURIOUS RASH is invisible Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Verdigris, OK. (Tulsa) Posts: 6,653 Post Warning The forum management have issued you a warning for this post. Please ensure that you follow the forum rules when posting. Any addtional information may be found below. Thanks, The Forum Management. ---------- Additional Information (if any): Sample I like the idea of the little icon. The only thing that would concern me is that people would not use it, list a car without it, and then some guy who could really use it misses it because he scanned for the little icons only. I have a few ideas that would take alot of this away but am SLOWLY getting time to see if I can impliment them. One thing I would like to see that would cut down on alot of misunderstandings would be a form that you fill the blanks in. This way no pertinent info would be forgotten. If we can pull this off, we can make the icons part of that. Say there is a field where you have to select check boxes For Sale, Want to Buy. and then another Complete car, Parts. When these boxes are checked they could automatically add the icon. Again, I have no idea yet if this can be done or what kind of impact it will have on server times and many other issues. But I am always thinking about how to make it better. Just don't get the time to do it.
Not to drag this out any further, but the issue is "the good posts" (namely "cars for sale") getting dropped off the first page, due to folks selling stickers, t-shirts, art, looking for htf parts, selling htf parts, etc. Note that 99% of these posts in the cl***ifieds are appropriate and wanted by the community (the other 1% get cleaned out by the moderators). But, the original poster's point was that the it's hard to cruise through looking just for cars for sale (which are in the minority). You have to wade through lots of text to find what you're looking for. His suggestion to create a seperate area for car ads, would solve the problem. However, there is administrative overhead that's prohibitive to doing this, so an alternative was being discussed - namely the icon thing. And after some thought, I can see where this would be ***bersome/problematic too. Right now, not many folks select a "post icon", so ANY icon would really stand out. But, as soon as you cook up a bunch of icons to mean various things, the task of wading through text (FS CC whatever) becomes one of wading through icons. And there is another (possibly bigger) issue that the icon thing won't solve. I'm talking about the practice of folks using the "bttt" trick to keep their ad (or their buddy's ad) on the first page of the cl***ifieds. I wonder which would have a bigger impact to the HAMB? Possibly going through the pains of adding a cl***ified section "just for cars" (which there are fewer of, and tend to get lost a**** the other ads) or continuing to deal with the high volume of superfluous "bttt" posts. It would be interesting to ***ociate a "cost" with archiving all those "bttt" posts, and whatever other server magic has to take place to process them, and weighing it against the cost of creating a designated place for JUST the cars to be listed. Rashy, thanks for your reply man. I definitely know where you're coming from, and I'm sure I'm not alone in REALLY appreciating everything you do for the HAMB. I actually LIKE the free-form nature of the cl***ifieds. Having a special cl***ifieds form to fill out, like you described, will definitely take a lot to develop and maintain. Plus, it might prove too restrictive for cars/items that don't fit into a specific category. I guess there's always a trade-off between flexibility and consistency/control. -murph
curious rash- I hear ya loud and clear on the time it takes to properly administer one of these boards. I've got a buddy going through the same thing with a page he's creating for law school applicants. It was just an idea that came to me because I am looking for a car right now. I don't have the space or tools to take on overwhelming projects or building cars from 18 boxes or parts, so I look for complete (or mostly so) cars. The good cars always seem to float back to the top of the page anyway like the cream in the milk, but I also thought it would be a nice feature to improve the site's efficiency for the user. I know a lot of guys on here are scrounging for parts and plenty are looking for cars, and it can be frustrating to sift through lots and lots of postings that are irrelevant to what you're looking for. On the other hand, I understand the inherent complexity of a site like this, and any changes that are made should be done with all due fore-thought and deliberateness. That being said, if you do decide to make some changes to how cl***ifieds works, I do like the idea of having a standardized form to fill that will, in effect, create the posting for you so as to create a common format for ads. If putting in the car icon (or whatever mechanism would work there) is part of that, I think that would be great, too. And just because I'm looking for a car now doesn't mean I'm impatient about changes. If any changes do occur, I would be more than happy to see them implemented at a regular periodic HAMB freshening.
It's a full time job just getting people to follow a few simple rules, never mind making it more complicated. The subject line should tell you what you need to know.
I'm a computer idiot, so I can understand how this could get very complicated very fast for those that have to police it. Would a simple answer be to just make the complete car posts in bold letters or strange type style that stand out from the other posts and would then be easier to locate. I don't know how hard this would be to impliment but it might be an easier fix than another "for sale" section.Just a thought since it was being discussed.
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