ISO:FT Board: "whales" only?

We used to have that option, but my understanding is the current version of the forum software doesn't support it. I would be totally on board with it though...maybe make a suggestion to that effect in the Site Help forum?

The downside (of course), is that we have no way of actively verifying a user's home address short of establishing some sort of Brute Squad (and Andre the Giant, is, sadly, no longer with us).

People ship to their offices or Fed/Ex / UPS Store sites or to friends or parents. They can enter whatever they want for their location in their profile and with the proliferation of burn phones, registering anonymously for cell numbers, wireless connections, IP blockers and th proxy servers (among other things I'm sure I'm missing), it's difficult to guarantee that any of the IP addresses linked to activity here are valid for establishing home addresses.

And some people have valid personal privacy reasons (as opposed to nefarious bad trader/auctioneer reasons) for using any/all of those options above.

At a certain point, it all comes down to trust. My thought: if you don't have that trust, don't trade.

 

You posted a trade offer, boosted it until you got the beer you thought you wanted, then ended up with some buyers remorse. This is how you learn about trading for yourself. This really is not a bad way to gain knowledge.

I mean, if nothing else, you might remember where your limits are the next time you're about to boost an offer outside your comfort zone for a bottle you might not really want but feel "committed" to trading for.

 

The ISOFT board is so bogged down with crazy posts its impossible to sift through. Because there is no longer the ability to post on people's threads (self moderate, threadshit whatever you want to call it) you have too many uneducated/inexperienced traders posting FT: 2 fresh 6ers of ZD ISO: BVDL or '13 Prop (haven't seen that exact post but you get the point). As a result I've pretty much taken my trading elsewhere.

 

I tend to agree with most of what you said but I have just adjusted how I read the FT:ISO. Before I use to read literally everything in the forum. Now there is a lot more threads, some are very far fetched, either intentionally or just from people new to trading. But I would counter there a lot more reasonable threads too. Just a lot more of everything. Now I just use the search function when looking for a specific bottle that is FT or when looking to see what I should be ISO for a certain bottle I want to put up FT. I still believe trading on BA to be a worthwhile endeavor. The feedback system is tough to beat elsewhere.

tl;dr I use FT:ISO as a search engine now instead of a newspaper

 

Like you I used to try to read the entire forum. Especially when I was new to trading, I used it to educate myself on trade values. I don't think you can really use it for that purpose anymore which is a shame, and you see the byproduct of that in the increased volume of ISOFTs that are way off. I do use the search function more now but still find it a little too bogged down with crazy posts. I do agree the feedback system is solid.

 

Like @TheSamKuehn , most of my trades really are shelf for shelf, or maybe limited shelf for the same. I don't use the ISO:FT boards much anymore, due to repeat trade partners in all areas of the country where I want stuff.

And the ISO:FT posts these days are pretty ridiculous overall. Shelf for shelf trade posts are few and far between.

 

I find it funny that most of the people complaining about no replies were notorious threadshitters and trade winners (trade winning also includes low balling in a FT). That's how you know the system is working.

 

It's working now because people are complaining or that there are 10x the amount of (trade winning) lowball offers?

 

I honestly prefer lowball offers that never get done over a lowball offer that then has 2 to 3 comments about how "they are right on" with their terrible offer. Pretty funny that I have still been able to post a trade and get it completed pretty quickly, I also turned down "increased offers" after I already agreed to a trade. If you can't gauge what is a fair deal, you aren't paying attention or are lazy... because to me, it's already pretty obvious what is, and isn't getting done.

 

I guess I'm curious as to the difference between "lowball offers that never get done over a lowball offer that then has 2 to 3 comments about how "they are right on" If they are truly lowball offers they won't get done, period.

 

Either way they weren't getting done, but we don't need 3 hype trade comments that are either trying to inflate or devalue particular beers trading value. That's what we got sick of. The comments were unnecessary and that's why they are shut off. About .01% were comments that were of some use... and if you didn't notice, ISO's are the ones that dictate value.