Well, hell, if I’m going to have to scroll, I might as well click.
|
Private message 
|
Is it? I think it could be THE issue. At times the site has been almost unusable due to the speed. Unless you are very deadicated to this site, I doubt you stick around waiting for page loads. I would think there is a very direct correlation between page load times and # of posts & overall quality of visits. If not, I’m wasting a lot of my clients money making sure they have plenty of processor space and bandwidth.
|
Private message
|
To let you guys know. TBC has raised the issue on the Admin Forum and pushed very hard for some kind of Trade advertising on the Forum front page. However the feeling among the admins is very strong and totally unanimous that Trade postings should not go back on the front page because of the level of complaints we had from other site users about trade postings dominating the front page. The feeling is that if people wish to trade they need only click onto the Trade forum. Trading is something that users do amongst themselves, but Ratebeer aids that as far as possible without hindering the enjoyment of the site for other users.
There is the possibility of premium users being able to select a "view Trade forums on the front page" option, and our tech volunteer has said he will look into it when he gets the time.
Our understanding from feedback is that the majority of trading is done successfully via beermails and the wishlist system. One of the main purposes of setting up the Trade Forum was to discuss trading in general rather than simply setting up individual trades.
It’s up to you guys how you want to proceed, but it might be worth exploring the notion of actually forbidding ISO and FT postings on this forum for a month and see if the level, depth, range and quality of communication and discussion about trading flourishes. It might or it might not, but it’s something worth considering. And it might encourage people to update their wishlists and to explore other peoples wishlists that they might not have done for a while. Make some new contacts. Trade some more beer.
|
Private message
|
THAT would be very cool. I will be honest and admit that a large part of my objection is that I am very lazy and could not get used to having two tabs in FireFox open at the same time dedicated to RB (main forums and trade area). Thank you for opening this dialogue a bit though - I have no ideas I should be consulted, but being informed every now and then is nice. To repeat - thank you!
- Harry
|
Private message
|
The problem with eliminating the ISO/FT threads is that a lot of people have certain beers that they might not think to list on their wants page. There are also a lot of people who do not want to list the contents of their cellar for various reasons but will trade for the right offer or if the right kind of person comes around. Another issue is that there are a lot of beers people have access to but only a limited amount of beers you can list on your haves/wants page. There are also people who sometimes just want to set up a few locals for locals trades and that’s hard to do behind the scenes. In short, eliminating ISO/FT threads=bad idea.
|
Private message
|
+1
eliminating iso/ft threads is a horrible idea, and would be akin to rb saying they do not encourage trading. I agree 100% with everything jpm just said, and will add that while I might have a case of the latest sought after beer sitting in my cellar, I probably have no intention of trading many so why put it on my have list? I’ll just make a thread for it and trade a couple bottles and be done with it. I find that I get maybe.. 1 or 2 unsolicited trade requests over the course of a year(and I’m probably being generous here). I’m not talking about people I’ve traded with in the past, I mean genuine, "hey I saw you have this on your cellar list, want to trade" type msgs. When I post a ft I get plenty of responses, most of the nature ’you have a nice cellar want to also trade for x,y, z)’ although I get far fewer responses than I used to before the trade threads got ripped off the main page. The FT/ISO threads are the starting point of actual discussion and trading... there would be little else to talk about in the forum otherwise, and at that point you might as well get rid of the trading forum all together.
|
Private message
|
+1 on both posts. Not a good idea to banish the ft/iso posts, at least in my humble opinion.
|
Private message
|
I am FOR keeping the trading forum off the main page, as I said a million pages ago. I think it was clogging and useless. I think it has nothing to do with the super rare issue.
I like having Europe on the front page, because I for one am super proud of our European presence. But I can see the whole food/Industry/Europe going off the main page as a unit as several have suggested.
I am in favor of subscribeable forums, especially for multiple metros.
Do not ban ISO/FT posts - in the case I just had, where I came across a stash of Founders Harvest, no one would have seen it in my want lists for a while, but they saw it in the trade forum immediately. I got the two trades I needed and bam, done.
Thanks for all the work, folks.
|
Private message
|
A couple comments:
1.) How exactly is adding a recent trade threads section to the bottom of the screen in the corner where nothing exists now going to impact the masses and cause people to complain? I don’t understand that logic, please explain.(I agree it shouldn’t go back in the recent topics section of the page)
2.) There was healthy discussion in the trade forum before it was segregated off the main page(and for that matter, why aren’t other forums of little use to most users treated the same way? homebrewing/europe/food)
|
Private message
|
OK, what I think I’m hearing is that people don’t want list some of their beers on their want/have lists, but would rather post ISO/FT threads. To me that translates to "I’m not using the features I’ve been given, so give me more features".
I have visions where on a beer page you can click the new availability link for trades and instead of a list of users, it will compare your want/have with anyone else’s want/have and tell you the person where you have not only the beer in question in common, but several other beers making for a bigger and more effective trade.
How can we ask for new features if we don’t use the features we have been given?
Because there has never been a release of a new brewpot causing 20 homebrewers to post individual ISO/FT threads and take over the whole recent posts list.
|
Private message
|
|
