Beer Trading...Post Only or Replies?

No argument there, but given everyone's moderately civil behavior so far it doesn't seem to be that big a deal. We've only had a few threads reach critical mass so far.

 

oh - yeah, it's definitely not as bad as it could get. give it time though.

 

In many cases I think it's foolish to bump another person's thread with offers and whatnot if you're really interested in making the trade. Why bring attention to it unnecessarily and invite more "competition?"

 

they're not even entertaining.

" bm sent "
" you know i can order the beer you are offering from an online store, right? "
" i have a beer you are not looking for for a beer you aren't offering "

etc.

signal-to-noise is very low, no matter how you define signal (entertainment, utility).

 

Allow replies.

Whether we like it or not, the most useful dialoge and discussion come out when a trade thread is posted. Nobody would think to ask the question or make the point otherwise. Release details, availability, cost, etc. The last FT that I posted ended up in a good discussion on shipping internationally.

There are some people with questionable motives every now and then, and there have been a decent amount of useless posts since switching over to the new forums, but on the whole, I'd say the positives outweigh the negatives.

Jeff

 

I think it was worse without replies.

 

I'm with Jeff on this one.

 

Well, my thread related to this got locked so I'll post my thoughts here.

I don't have a problem with allowing replies as long as they are moderated evenly. "Bumping" is not allowed if you call it a bump, but responding to your own post is okay as long as you say something other than "bump."

People have gotten warnings for bumping their threads, yet "threadshitting" is also against the rules but people constantly tell people how shitty their offer is and that goes untouched.

The problem with allowing replies is that almost every reply I've seen is against the rules. Either allow all replies or don't. Every trade I've done since they opened up replies has been completely negotiated through PMs anyway, so I don't think allowing replies is "getting information out there" as people have said.

 

Do you have any response to jeffo's post above, then? Since those are concrete examples of things that you say don't happen.

Also, threadshitting is in the eyes of the beholder. Some people seem to have extremely thin skin, while most don't.

 

I think things are going well with the open posting. It's only the occasional thread that devolves, and once the snowball is rolling on a thread, you can't stop it, so it can make the issue look bigger than it really is. Mods will completely fix this problem, and they are supposedly coming.

Beyond that I've seen tons of informative follow-up posts and a bit of good natured banter. We're supposed to be here to have fun and enjoy the hobby - discussion is good.

 

Conversations are fun. If you don't like them, don't look.

 

I'm sure a number of people would say the same thing about your posts. Not that I agree, but I've seen plenty of people give you crap. Point is, worth is subjective. The responses may be worthless to you, but it doesn't mean they're worthless to everyone. I don't think it's a coincidence that I basically stopped trading when they went all communist China on the ISO:FT board.

 

I didn't say it doesn't happen ever, I said it almost never happens. Those are all things that are covered all over the site in various subforums, including the one we're posting in now. Further, I'm not opposed to allowing replies if people think the occasional useful/informative discussions that pop in trading forums is worth it. My problem is what's considered a legitimate reply and what is not. Someone can't bump their thread to get more eyes on it, but it is okay to trash someone's offer? People reply to threads all of the time saying offers are bad when they don't even have the beer in question.

 

I think you're drastically overestimating how much that happens. If you see it, REPORT IT. That's the only way to get it stopped, if it really bothers you that much.

 

I agree, much more fun and entertaining.

 

Use the report button if you need to. Soon there will be moderators (hopefully) to help clean this stuff up nice and quick, but the Bro's do a pretty decent job of taking care of things that are reported.

 

I think a lot of the old forum threadshitters left. Or they haven't been too interested in using the new forums.

 

Use the report feature if you see someone threadshitting.

 

Yes, the more dialogue the better. It allows people to ask whether or not a trade has been fulfilled along with a million other things.

 

a nice new feature on this site is that you can ignore users. i have yet to try it, but suspect that i will soon...so if you feel someone's posts are useless and you aren't interested in reading their posts fighting with other users, give it a try.