More Changes to the Classifieds

Linds · 12-13-04, 08:47 PM

Due to the incredible amount of threads that go up each month, the monthly cleaning isn't working as well as we had hoped, and threads are still becoming lost. As a result, we have decided to try a bi-monthly cleaning

Threads will be cleaned on the 1st and 15th of each month. Below are the updated rules. Please make sure to adhere to them, as failure to follow them will result in loss of use of the classifieds, and repeated offenses will result in ultimately being banned from the site. The reply function isn't working for everyone at the moment, if you are unable to reply to your thread, then please post an update (labelled as such) and we will merge it with the original thread. Deleting and reposting ads is not permitted, and will result in the thread being taken down and the ad not being posted until the following month.

<center><b><u>sSnakeSs.com Classified Forum Rules.</u></center></b>

Do NOT post more then 1 ad, per 2 week period, for each species of animal(s) you have for sale. If you post the same animal for sale more then once in the 2-week period, your ad will be taken down.

-At the end of each 2 week period (the 15th and 30th/31st of every month) the Classified Ads will be cleared. After they are cleared, feel free to repost your ad.

-If you already have an ad in place for an animal, do NOT put up another one.

Do NOT reply to your own threads to move your post up, you may reply only to update the ad in the event something changes (price, etc.) or to say that the animal(s) have been sold so we can remove it.

No 'blanket ads'. This means combining different types in to one ad, such as mixing lizards with snakes. Please post animals/products in their own appropriate forums.

Non-herp related products are strictly prohibited! Articles DIRECTLY related to Reptiles only.. This does NOT include Camera's and Freezers, while they are used in the herp community, they're not directly related..

When your animal(s) has sold, please state that its been sold in the thread so the post can be deleted.

If you are a bigger breeder or sell alot of animals in our classifieds, it is encouraged that you support the site and buy a banner ad, make a donation and/or upgrade your photohosting account.

Animals to be advertised are limited to reptiles, amphibians, invertabrates, and feeders.

If you registered with a fake or unknown email adress i suggest you change it to one that you actually use or you wont get any emails from people inquiring about your animals.

Buy responsibly! sSNAKESs.com is not responsible for anything bought or sold in our classifieds.

Thank You,
sSNAKESs.com Administration.

BoidKeeper · 12-13-04, 09:14 PM

So if I post on the 14th it will be gone on the 15th or in two weeks? If I post on the 14th and then it is gone on the 15th do I still have two wait two weeks from the 14th to post again or can I post right away? It seems like it would just be easier to post your adds on the 1st and 15th or the month but you can't always wait to post and add for something you need to sell right away.
How is deleting the adds ever two weeks better than once a month? Seem like more work for you guys and an inconvinience for the poster to have to post twice a month?

Quote:

If you are a bigger breeder or sell alot of animals in our classifieds, it is encouraged that you support the site and buy a banner ad, make a donation and/or upgrade your photohosting account.

Does this mean that the site is selling photo accounts and taking donations again?
Cheers,
Trevor

Matt_K · 12-13-04, 09:19 PM

Trevor, If you post on the 14th, it will hopefully NOT be deleted.. We try and delete everything that is more than one day old on the night of our classified cleanings.. If for whatever reason, it does get removed, you WILL be able to create a new one without it being taken down. It's not more work for us, it takes us about 3 minutes per section to clear them out.

As far as it being an inconvienence for the poster to have to post twice a month, 95% of the people using the classifieds do it anyway (breaking the rules), so why not do it when they're actually able to..

No, Photo Accounts and Donations aren't being taken right now..

-Matt

marisa · 12-13-04, 10:03 PM

Besides, most people actually asked for it to be two weeks, instead of one month. So this will hopefully make everyone happier with the set up.

Marisa

Linds · 12-13-04, 11:25 PM

Ahhh I'm such a tool

I was running a search to find the original thread in which we had discussed the period in which we would be cleaning, and came across a <a href="http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=59024">thread</a> Heather had already started. I must've been away. I figured there would've been a sticky if there was one. Ah well... now everyone will have no excuse to not know!

Quote:

Originally posted by marisa
Besides, most people actually asked for it to be two weeks, instead of one month. So this will hopefully make everyone happier with the set up.

Yup! A lot of people had mentioned <a href="http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=52056">originally</a> they thought a bi-monthly cleaning would've been better, but we wanted to give a monthly sweep a fair trial first. We are still experimenting with how we are handling the VERY busy classifieds, so lets see how it works this time around

HeatherRose · 12-13-04, 11:37 PM

Tsk tsk, that Heather, I tell you.

I think yours looks better anyway...and now everyone will see it!

BoidKeeper · 12-14-04, 05:10 AM

I'm not saying it is or it isn't better, because I haven't decided yet but I wondering why people think it's better to have a bi-monthly. Is it because their add is at the top at least twice a month? Has there been something posted some where that talks about replying to adds to change price and availability?
Thanks guys,
Trevor

rwg · 12-14-04, 09:54 AM

I'm just wondering how this is supposed to be an improvement. Not meaning to criticize...just genuinely interested in what the problem is, and what might be good solutions. If you are going to bi-monthly cleaning because of the "incredible amount of threads that go up each month", I think you are going to be making it worse. You'll have an incredible amount of threads that go up twice each month instead.

Is the real problem that people dont delete their ads when animals get sold?

If the problem is sheer volume, maybe split the classifieds forums down a bit finer. Boids and colubrids in separate forums to make browsing more manageable for instance.

Just some thoughts
Roy

Linds · 12-14-04, 11:16 AM

Heather,
Hehehehe I still feel like a tool

Quote:

Originally posted by rwg

Is the real problem that people dont delete their ads when animals get sold?

...If the problem is sheer volume, maybe split the classifieds forums down a bit finer. Boids and colubrids in separate forums to make browsing more manageable for instance.

It isn't that the people are not necessarily deleting, it is just the sheer volume that accumulates by the end of the month. As mods, we do not have the powers to create extra forums, so that isn't an entirely feasible option right now. I don't necessarily think anyone is in a hurry to post, or that they intentionally wait it out over the month, so that we will have the months accumulation showing up in the two weeks instead, so the bi-monthly cleaning may be the answer for the moment. We will see, as I mentioned, we are still trying out different methods for dealing with the classifieds. This is one we had talked about, but put on the backburner to try a different one, and we have decided to bring forward in to effect

Quote:

Originally posted by BoidKeeper
...I wondering why people think it's better to have a bi-monthly. Is it because their add is at the top at least twice a month? Has there been something posted some where that talks about replying to adds to change price and availability?

Quote:

Originally posted by Linds
The reply function isn't working for everyone at the moment, if you are unable to reply to your thread, then please post an update (labelled as such) and we will merge it with the original thread. Deleting and reposting ads is not permitted, and will result in the thread being taken down and the ad not being posted until the following month...

...Do NOT reply to your own threads to move your post up, you may reply only to update the ad in the event something changes (price, etc.) or to say that the animal(s) have been sold so we can remove it...

...When your animal(s) has sold, please state that its been sold in the thread so the post can be deleted.

Quote:

Originally posted by Linds
Due to the incredible amount of threads that go up each month, the monthly cleaning isn't working as well as we had hoped, and threads are still becoming lost.

There are many opinions in the thread I linked to above on why people thought twice monthly would be best, some were mainly because they found when posting every two weeks, they had better repsonse, and some just didn't like their threads getting lost, and weren't so sure the monthly cleaning woudl help that.

marisa · 12-14-04, 02:14 PM

If I was a seller I can't see one reason why I would choose to post once a month over twice a month. You get double the ads!

I think it's great idea. It won't be much work for mods, and people can get their ad seen twice per month. Also, "you are going to bi-monthly cleaning because of the "incredible amount of threads that go up each month", I think you are going to be making it worse. You'll have an incredible amount of threads that go up twice each month instead. "

Not totally true. Most animals sell within a couple days for people. They don't need their ads up for a whole month or posted twice. And from an opinion point of view, if it takes an entire month to sell your animal, something is wrong. :P :P

Anyways I am hoping this will make people happier. It really is impossible to have everyone happy, but at least trying different methods and options can help figure things out better.

Marisa

Matt_K · 12-14-04, 03:00 PM

I just want to ad one more time that there is NO excuse for anyone to not know the rules of the classifieds anymore. They have been posted, Updated, Posted, Updated and TWO Threads have been made to point out the updates.

Please everyone, Read the rules and follow them..

-Matt

HeatherRose · 12-14-04, 03:17 PM

Quote:

I'm just wondering how this is supposed to be an improvement. Not meaning to criticize...just genuinely interested in what the problem is, and what might be good solutions.

Not as a moderator, but as a user of the site, I think it's easier to sift through and remember 3-4 pages of classifieds in one forum as opposed to 9 or 10. Thats just my personal reason, I'm sure others have different ones

MouseKilla · 12-18-04, 05:35 PM

I still think that if you want that section to be easier to use that it's far more important to police what is posted in there.

It's much better now that it was just a few months ago but I still see a lot of ads with no seller location, no price (on single animals) and worst of all ads that aren't ads at all but "wanted" posts or "thinking about maybe selling". This stuff wastes everyone's time, it's either for sale or it doesn't belong in the classifieds and if it's for sale for the love of God tell me how much you want for it and where you live. That is not a difficult standard to meet.

Cull the clutter and it will take a long time to fill a whole page. It think putting the time into only allowing complete and legitimate ads to be posted would eliminate the need for erasing ads that may only be a day old on the 1st or 15th. I know I would rather see a month old ad that makes some sense than one that went up today but is useless.

marisa · 12-18-04, 05:47 PM

You are talking about the qaulity of ads. We cannot remove ads because someone doesn't want to share their location. It might loose them sales, but that's their problem. No price, same thing.

What you are talking about is people needing to learn how to place a good, readable ad for their animals. While I think thats HUGE important, it has nothing to do with us. If someone doesn't want to share their location, that's a privacy matter and up to them.

Marisa

MouseKilla · 12-18-04, 08:58 PM

I see what you're saying Marisa and it's obviously up to the mods how they want to organize the forums that they have to try to manage. I have always read the ads, even when it was 4 pages long and full of repeated ads so I'm not complaining at all because the recent changes have definitely been an improvement.

I agree that what I'm talking about is a matter of quality but I just think that if a certain mininum level of quality isn't reached then the ad isn't worth the space it occupies. It seems also that badly written and poorly thought out ads are the most likely to be repeated later on when the first one is too ambiguous to accomplish anything.