Updated Oakley Forum Exchange Rules

[cyclerdoug]

Comments?: NOPE.
Legitimate questions about the item being offered?: YEP.

I think if you make a prospective buyer PM the seller for a question about the item that may be glaring that the seller overlooked he now has to answer a multitude of PM's about the item. If I have a question and it's already been answered in the thread by the seller I don't have to waste a PM and wait for an answer.

Tough to police? Hell yes.

 

[cyclerdoug]

LOL- I saw this before I left the house and I didn't even have the time to get to work and settled in before the **** hit the fan ha ha ha

Not to reiterate what others have said but- my first thought when I saw the no bumps/no comments was "that's a new one for any forum I've been a part of" and my second thought was "that'll create more issues than it's worth- and not more issues than it solves because I don't think there's any issues with bumps OR comments".


As for comments- that's part of the forum experience. Does a thread here or there get off the hook with non sales related comments? Yes. But they're few and far between. For the most part the dialogue between members in sales threads, to me, adds to the sense of community and sometimes forum members will look out for others they know want something that's been posted and tag it. And there's things like discussions about the model etc. which adds to the buying and selling experience. Eliminating that would make the buying and selling process very cold and informal- and honestly there's not enough threads in the exchange section to warrant it- its not like we have 100 new sales posts a day (which happened on a forum I was on once- THAT forum needed rules like this because it was overwhelming otherwise- we don't).



Frankly I'm surprised the poll numbers are as close as they are (although statistically a near 60/40 split is considered overwhelmingly for something and against something else) and I'll bet if you did a bump poll it would be more like 80/20 or 90/10 in favor of allowing 48 hr or 72 hr bumps. The comments topic is in my mind a whole lot more divisive than the bump topic.

Here you go Boss. Well stated, ucdavis.

 

[ucdavis4PT0gpa]

Can we now discuss eliminating "TWSS" everywhere on the forum?

Yes let's go down the slippery slope of having the mods censoring everything. I'm pretty sure most of us have been members on other forums before- starting down paths like this goes nowhere fast and can kill a forum (I can recall a notable watch forum where the censoring by the mods got ridiculously out of control and they were power tripping to the extreme- it helped kill that forum...and it started with something little like "can we get rid of people saying xyz"). Listen....being here is kind of like going to a party with a couple people you know pretty well and a bunch you don't- and you hear people say things maybe you don't really like or that your friends wouldn't say (that's why they're your friends) but that's the nature of mixed company. If you don't like it and it bugs you that much, then don't be there. Of course it's all within reason and I'm not advocating anything goes- but I think we all know where the line is and frankly it's not this although I'd argue the line is different for some members based on their "stature" or "status"...but that's another topic altogether.

 

[OakleyOneKenobi]

I'm not a big fan of either change. I'm more ok with the no comments. As that was really a free bump. But it was also sort of free advertising keeping the popular stuff up.
I'm interested to read others opinions as I might be one that was frequently bumping. I'll follow the new rules unless something changes!
Thanks to all.

Me too. Don't like the comments much but the bump system should definitely stay. Don't mind comments that see a fault with the sale thread or a quick GLWS post. It's the annoying people who gob off about the price and write inane stuff when not needed.

 

[OakleyOneKenobi]

Be careful people are easily offended

Sent from: Outer Space

Maybe they should have consulted the members in the first place instead of blindly making these daft rule changes. The members are the forum at the end of the day.

 

[saulsaul]

LOL- I saw this before I left the house and I didn't even have the time to get to work and settled in before the **** hit the fan ha ha ha

Not to reiterate what others have said but- my first thought when I saw the no bumps/no comments was "that's a new one for any forum I've been a part of" and my second thought was "that'll create more issues than it's worth- and not more issues than it solves because I don't think there's any issues with bumps OR comments".

It's fine the way it is- and if you're literally proposing we have to create a NEW post every 7 days? Um- no thank you. I'll stop listing here and I think other will too- we don't have time for that and just to get it back to the top? As far as bumps go they serve a purpose- they show that someone is actively moving an item. Sometimes I'll see a post that's even 3 or 4 days old and wonder "hmmm...is that still available" and I may not PM on it. But if someone is bumping ever couple/few days, I know its not only available but they're still interested in moving it. And what about price drops? If something doesn't sell immediately many of us wait for the opportunity to bump and then we'll also update the price. As buyers we miss out on the opportunity to take advantage of such if that's buried in a listing 5 days old on the 3rd page that we already looked at 3 days ago but thought "maybe if the price goes lower"....and it does but we're not given the heads up by the seller because he's not allowed to do that. Besides- it'll just create more multi posts- rather than someone posting 4 items in one listing, they'll create 4 different ones and scatter them across days do keep something closer to the top- you want forum clutter, that's the way to create it.

As for comments- that's part of the forum experience. Does a thread here or there get off the hook with non sales related comments? Yes. But they're few and far between. For the most part the dialogue between members in sales threads, to me, adds to the sense of community and sometimes forum members will look out for others they know want something that's been posted and tag it. And there's things like discussions about the model etc. which adds to the buying and selling experience. Eliminating that would make the buying and selling process very cold and informal- and honestly there's not enough threads in the exchange section to warrant it- its not like we have 100 new sales posts a day (which happened on a forum I was on once- THAT forum needed rules like this because it was overwhelming otherwise- we don't).

I also don't think ALL sales related comments should be limited to PM. Why? Example- someone posts something for sale. They don't really specify condition- you ask "what's the condition?" in the thread - seller answers. If one person is thinking it, many others are too. As a buyer, that's a GOOD thing if someone else asks and the reply answers it for me as well. As a seller, I also don't want to have to be answering umpteenth PM's about the same thing I may have overlooked.

Frankly I'm surprised the poll numbers are as close as they are (although statistically a near 60/40 split is considered overwhelmingly for something and against something else) and I'll bet if you did a bump poll it would be more like 80/20 or 90/10 in favor of allowing 48 hr or 72 hr bumps. The comments topic is in my mind a whole lot more divisive than the bump topic.

This is a great post and gives me a fresh perspective on the issue.

I can see how the whole trade experience would get very 'cold' and impersonal. I can also see how posting questions and getting answers that benefit all is a good thing.

The bump issue (whether 48 hours or other people's comments) bugs me less than the proliferation of sale threads, exacerbated when all bumped at the same time, knocking others off page 1.

I used to be all about consolidating sales on a single thread but was persuaded that that was disadvantageous to selling. I've stopped that myself but still try to limit myself to 3-4 threads at a time.

Why can't we just impose a limit to the number of sale threads, charge if you want more, limit the bumps to 72hrs, and generally discourage all the 'glws' posts, but not be too militant about it? Create a culture where only relevant comments are tolerated, but don't get too obsessed with it?

In short, fine tune the exchanges but don't attempt a major overhaul.

 

[Michael LaPlante]

As not being an expert, often times I am able to learn about products/styles I was unaware about. I have used others comments as a learning tool.

 

[saulsaul]

Maybe they should have consulted the members in the first place instead of blindly making these daft rule changes. The members are the forum at the end of the day.

It's alarming that major changes would be made like this, then immediately repealed for discussion. Leadership needs to learn how to secure community buy-in and involvement in decision-making!

Kudos however for admitting they are contentious and suspending those two rules.

 

[69RainbowTIwarrior71]

I'd like to say something
But

My post will be deleted

 

[QLR1]

I'd like to say something
But
View attachment 267001
My post will be deleted

Don't be scared Rob. Just SAY IT.

Sent from Q's Note5