Beer Trader Feedback: Sneak Peek (Part 1)

Would the "not as expected" only be used if the agreed upon trade is not done? Or would someone who sends extras but does not get any extras in return deem it "not as expected"? I think clear and concise feedback by both participants as well as the ability for a person receiving a negative feedback to issue a rebuttal would help clear up the confusion. Would mods be called upon to settle differences in these cases?

 

True. You could set the numbers at any level.

Positive +1
Negative -1
Incomplete -2

Or any other combo that makes it work.

 

Good point.

We're still just brainstorming

Maybe then keep it even more simple with a good trade or bad trade with a little note from the BA explaining the decision. This way it would just tally up good trades versus bad ones.

Do we really need trade points?

 

I think you're missing +2, insane trader.

 

Agreed. It would clearly separate the good from the bad.

 

I was hesitant at first about trading, but now with this new feedback system I'm pretty excited to get started.

 

Another way to reduce subjectivity would be to move away from simple value assignments and measure actual behaviors more directly. You'd have to take a step back and ask "what makes a good or bad trade experience?" Then construct questions/measurements around those things. Not to beat a dead horse, but timing would be one factor. Another one off the top of my head: "Did they send extras even when you agreed not to?" This actually hasn't happened to me yet, and it seems to be a point of pride when someone breaks this agreement, but I think it says something about what trading with someone's going to be like. For me, there's good reasons why I might not want to do extras: budget, having too much beer on hand already, etc. If someone sent me extras in spite of agreeing not to, I'd feel bad and beer would probably get wasted. Anyway, that's just one example.

For me, an ideal feedback profile would tell me something about how long it took the trade to complete, whether the person stayed in good communication throughout the process (confirmed shipping dates, tracking numbers, etc.), and something objective about extras--"sent awesome extras" doesn't really help me.

This approach is hard to translate into points, and/or a reward/punishment system, though.

 

This is going to be an excellent upgrade!

 

Another objective question: "Would you trade with this person again?"

 

How about:
Completed, timely and smooth +2
Completed, but with complications +1 (this could represent an unexplained shipping delay, broken bottles due to poor packing etc, basically anything that caused one side grief but that was eventually resolved to both side's satisfaction)
Not Completed -1 (one side never shipped, or ignored communication to the point where the other called it off)

I also feel like there should also be an option where both parties can agree to amicably cancel a trade in case of unforeseen circumstances that would result in no point gain or loss.

 

I just might start trading (in person) now... I've really enjoyed all the new things in the site redesign lately. Bravo!

 

In regards to the time frame there can be extenuating circumstances. As it stands I have a few trades I've needed to shuffle time frames around on due to sub zero temperatures money issues etc everyone so far is cool because we keep in touch but if theres essentially a timer that affects your trader rating that I have to baby sit there could be mistakes. What if you just had a way to report on whether or not the trade was timely. So you could just have whatever system you set up but at the bottom have a check box for timely and untimely or something like that with a text box to explain the untimley's so you could see they're a good trader but have frequent delays or are very timley.

 

I think the scores need to be locked in and both need to submit by a certain time to avoid possible retaliation scoring. Let's say I sent 5 extras to a guy and he sends none and I had to chase the guy down to get him to send the box. I, therefore, give a neutral score; the trade was completed, but it wasn't anything worth posting about. If this neutral score is broadcast before he publishes his score for me, he may score me lower as a way to "get back at me" for my neutral score.

Just a thought.

I think running it IDENTICALLY to the eBay system is the best way to go. I want to see percentages, not just total points. I also think having a 'Top 25' traders list would be really fun!

 

Could people use this system to catalog past trades? (sorry if this was asked/answered, I skimmed some of the posts)

 

Sometimes bottles break because entire fork lift smashes a box. If I trader goes above and beyond to replace the bottle I don't think he/she should be penalized for this by a reduction of a point. Sometimes there are matters out of the traders hands and it would be unfair to penalize them a point for this.

 

Im LOVING the way this is going and think this can be an amazing feature..One thing I really hope is Oldport is involved (as long as he wants to be). His contributions with the bad trader list has really helped..

Another thing Id like to see is this...I see the point system and do agree with it except 1 thing...A bad trader needs to be pounded with point loss..I dont believe -1 or -2 is enough...People need to be warned about bad traders and bad traders need to be "pounded" with point loss...IMO, it should be a -5 or a -10... Bad traders need to be sent a message that it is not acceptable..losing a measly point or 2 does not send a message imo..

To be quite honest, along with the point loss I believe the poster should be banned from the site for a certain time frame left up to the mods..Weather its a couple weeks or a month..I know its possible, as we do this on a site I mod..

Just wanted to put this out there..Thanks Bros!

 

I definitely agree to -2 points for bad feedback, +1 for positive and 0 for completed with issues. Making it harder to rack up points, while making it easier to lose points would really drive home the desire to be deemed a great trader.

Also, what is going to be the character limit on feedback responses? Is it going to be a twitter-esque 140 characters?

 

I should have been clearer, but I was thinking the 1 pt reduction only for cases where there has been negligence on the part of one trader. Say in your example a forklift smashed the box or something. Did the sender offer to send replacements immediately? That could still be 2 points, but if it took some hassling (repeated emails, calls etc) to get done it might only get 1. Even if the package was just poorly packed and something was damaged they could still earn 2 under the same criteria of "was it resolved quickly? It's all arbitrary, but I'm also now thinking that there should be a minimum word count when grading someone below 2 to explain what happened.