Staff Member
Diamond Supporter
Platinum Supporter
Bronze Supporter
- Messages
- 12,581
- Reactions
- 18,020
I wanted to create this thread to explain to everyone the changed we're making to the classified section, and our reasoning behind it.
Many of you who have been here a while remember how back when we were running vBulletin 3.8 the software automatically limited members from bumping their classified ads before seven days had elapsed, per the rules of this forum. The fact that this software wasn't available for vBulletin 4 was one of the main reasons we delayed so long in upgrading. Eventually we decided that the benefits outweighed the drawbacks and made the move to vBulletin 4, losing that feature.
All of you who regularly participate in our community have heard complaints about people bumping their ads more frequently than their allowed. Some do it by accident, many do it on purpose. We have people creating multiple accounts in order to bump each others threads, and our own rules create somewhat of a gray area in certain situations that even we can't consistently decipher. I strive to ensure all of our rules are clear and concise, and this has bothered me for some time now. We also have a problem with people posting useless comments in sale threads such as 'Nice gun! I used to own one', or even worse, talking bad about someone's sale.
Because of these issues the classified section consumes over half of the time and resources of our staff, which is unacceptable. I'm finding this site is slowly moving away from the goals and focus I had in mind when I started it, and it's the job of myself and the staff to make sure it continues in that direction.
After discussing this amongst ourselves as well as our supporting membership, we've decided the best course of action is to do the same as other large firearm sites and implement some restrictions such as the ones we once had. Members will now be software-limited to bumping their threads once every seven (7) days, as per the forum rules, and replies to for sale threads will be disabled for everyone except the original poster. Sellers will have full permission to edit their original post, or reply to their posts with updated information after seven days has elapsed. Threads should still be closed once an item has sold.
This will have many benefits, but among the largest it will:
During our discussions we did receive a couple potential negatives to this change.
As always, I'd love to hear input either way on this decision we've made. It is my hope that these changes will make sellers more responsible with their ads and create a better purchasing environment for the buyer. Time will tell how this all works out, and no decision is set in stone.
Many of you who have been here a while remember how back when we were running vBulletin 3.8 the software automatically limited members from bumping their classified ads before seven days had elapsed, per the rules of this forum. The fact that this software wasn't available for vBulletin 4 was one of the main reasons we delayed so long in upgrading. Eventually we decided that the benefits outweighed the drawbacks and made the move to vBulletin 4, losing that feature.
All of you who regularly participate in our community have heard complaints about people bumping their ads more frequently than their allowed. Some do it by accident, many do it on purpose. We have people creating multiple accounts in order to bump each others threads, and our own rules create somewhat of a gray area in certain situations that even we can't consistently decipher. I strive to ensure all of our rules are clear and concise, and this has bothered me for some time now. We also have a problem with people posting useless comments in sale threads such as 'Nice gun! I used to own one', or even worse, talking bad about someone's sale.
Because of these issues the classified section consumes over half of the time and resources of our staff, which is unacceptable. I'm finding this site is slowly moving away from the goals and focus I had in mind when I started it, and it's the job of myself and the staff to make sure it continues in that direction.
After discussing this amongst ourselves as well as our supporting membership, we've decided the best course of action is to do the same as other large firearm sites and implement some restrictions such as the ones we once had. Members will now be software-limited to bumping their threads once every seven (7) days, as per the forum rules, and replies to for sale threads will be disabled for everyone except the original poster. Sellers will have full permission to edit their original post, or reply to their posts with updated information after seven days has elapsed. Threads should still be closed once an item has sold.
This will have many benefits, but among the largest it will:
1. Eliminate the possibility of bumping a thread (by the original poster, other members, or fake accounts) more often than once every seven days. The option of creating multiple accounts to gain a selling advantage will no longer exist.
2. Prevent people from thread crapping on a sale. My belief is people have the right to set the price and terms of their sale, and others can move on if they don't like it.
During our discussions we did receive a couple potential negatives to this change.
1. People like to read the ads for entertainment, and without replies the classified section will be boring and stale. This is true, and there really isn't any way around it. My hope is that people will become more active in the general areas of the site. If we can modify the software in the future to make it so other replies do not bump the ad we may consider this.
2. People like to post 'I'll take it' as a form of calling dibs on an item. The official NWFA stance on this is that posting 'I'll take it' or other statements to this effect does not obligate the seller to sell the item to you. The seller is free to dictate the price and terms of the sale, as well as choose whom he or she does business with. An honorable seller will set his exact terms in the ad, such as 'first one with the cash gets it' or 'dibs to the person who PM's me first', but it's still up to the seller. In most cases it will probably work to your advantage to PM the seller rather than posting in the thread. The seller will see who's PM arrived first, if that's how they choose to select who to sell the item to, and you won't stir up interest in an item by posting publicly that you're interested in it.
As always, I'd love to hear input either way on this decision we've made. It is my hope that these changes will make sellers more responsible with their ads and create a better purchasing environment for the buyer. Time will tell how this all works out, and no decision is set in stone.
