So, how's Beer Trading going?

yes. i do. and you didn't answer my question.

 

I feel that allowing Iso:Ft comments encourages the thread starter to get educated. I spent months on here reading and researching before I felt prepared enough to wade into the trade waters without a serious threat of threadshitting. Allowing comments brought a sense of transparency to the trading market whereas now, people do their ******, pillaging and personal attacks through PM's without any sort of public accountability.

Oh yeah, ideas 1&2 sound great.

 

In direct response:

1. Yes.
2. Yes.
3. It may be better if replies don't bump threads (or don't bump after "x" period of time, although I honestly don't know what the would entail). People post ridiculous ISO/FTs without any consequence. No one knows what gets completed, which does help with what it takes to land a bottle. The General Help forum has become somewhat of a joke. I actually follow that forum the most because I find it the most amusing. I've had little success with the new ISO/FT forum style, and I do attribute that to what I find is an auction-like mentality of many traders. I may be in the vocal minority, but those are my thoughts. Posting ISO/FTs without replies helps the auction-style trading thrive.

Furthermore, I think that a lot of people are overly-sensitive to replies. Anytime someone says anything other than, "Wow, your trade seems great!", they cry wolf. Saying that "x" beer is super-rare and that the OP may want to up the ante above Zombie Dust or Pliny is not "threadshitting".

 

If you're actually curious (doubtful), no trade was made. But that's the beauty of the system, nobody was interested and nothing bad happened! At least as far as I can tell, the world has not ended (I refuse to accept responsibility for the storm currently ravaging the east coast), and based on the fact that I'm typing this response to you BA is still is a functional website. Amazing, even with the ability to gaggle and snark, life goes on. Hence my continued suport of the no replies.

 

If you buy into the idea that people have been less active on the trade forums because of no replies, then you might consider allowing replies for the sake of site activity. I'd imagine if more people are active in one area of the site they are more likely to be active in others.

To deal with threadshitting (this is kinda trader feedback) if someone was reported as threashitting, could it be noted in their profile/under their avatar? Having this would hopefully discourage people from doing so (if they care about being considered a threadshitter at all). Maybe have a title with the number of threadshits next to it somewhere in their profile for people to see.

 

So if someone posted in your thread letting you know that you needed to throw more in to get that trade done and alerting other people that that trade is uneven, even if they did it in a flippant way, would anything bad have happened? Could you have blamed me for the storm currently ravaging the east coast if I had told you that that was uneven? Would anything bad happen at all to anyone? Hell no, but someone might have gotten some new info that they didn't have before and the community would be better off for it. If you are afraid of what someone on the internet will say to you in a thread, go get a dog.

 

I like this idea. Other forums that I belong to make you post 25-50 quality posts before you can post in the trade forums.

 

So, in case you didn't notice, I'm currently posting and debating with someone I'm assuming is your friend based on the fact you two live 17 minuted away from each other (so says google maps). So do you really think I'm afraid of what someone is going to reply to me on the internet? And if I was afraid of internet-posted words, why would I get a dog? Must be a PA thing?

In simplest terms, too many people feel the world needs their opinion to function. Clearly the trade section operates without those opinions, so why add them? I would not have posted at all in this section if I didn't see several requests for the replies coming back. And if you feel the glaring, desperate need to share your opinions, why don't you get a dog (seeing as that must be a PA thing)?

 

Seriously. The only reason I can see is that they know they're making a bad offer and don't want people to call them out on it. If your offer is fair then you have no reason to fear threadshitting, and it seems like threadshitting helped more trades than it hurt.

As for the original questions, I'd say yes to all 3.

 

Yea I do know the chick who you are also talking to, but what does that have to do with anything? It's great when you seize on a throwaway sentence at the end of my post and don't address the real questions I'm asking. If you're curious, it is something that some local dickbag on the radio says sometimes that i thought mildly applied. I was having fun on a forum on the internet. It has nothing to do with me sharing my opinion that everyone must hear because I am always right and great (which happens to be true BTW), it has to do with telling people things that are true. "ISO rare hard to get beer, FT Locals in person" is a fucking stupid trade that does nothing but push legitimate offers off the front page and clogs up the forum. Marginal offers don't get shat on, horrible ones do. Responses discourage the ""you miss 100% of the shots you don't take - wayne gretzky" -michael scott " mentality keeping ridiculous threads to a minimum, and inform other people who may not know about the beers people are talking about.

So again, I would love to know:

A) If someone posted in your thread letting you know that you needed to throw more in to get that trade done and alerting other people that that trade is uneven, even if they did it in a flippant way, would anything bad have happened?
B) Could you have blamed me for the storm currently ravaging the east coast if I had told you that that was uneven?


K thnx bai

 

We're ganging up on people? Awesome! I'll go grab the taser and you get some crowbars! Wheee!!

 

1. Yes!
2. Yes!
3. Understand the technicalities/involvement behind non-bumping replies, but some sort of user/trading feedback system would prove valuable in limiting auctioneering and blatant douchebaggery.

Additionally, a 4-6 month minimum before trading would be fantastic. I waited 7 months before starting to trade and I still didn't have it dialed in (arguably still don't).

 

he is right about that. i hear it all the time. and have come to believe it. fear this man. all non-digital thermometers quake in his presence.

 

There used to be a minimum time/ karma requirement, but too many people bitched about it so it went away. I thought it was a great idea because it forced people to slow down, read and follow the forums, and learn a bit before they started shipping hundreds of dollars in beer across the country.

 

This is (again) why we can't have nice things.

 

As it has been pointed out, there are no actual bad ramifications of allowing comments, except perhaps a slight bogging down of things (discussions taking up top space that is reserved for ISO/FTs).

As it has been pointed out, there are no actual bad ramifications of disallowing comments, except perhaps a slight bogging down of things (proliferation of bad/uneven FTs that don't get done taking up space better used by fair ISO/FTs).

Suggestions for solving the bog downs...non-bumping threads in ISO/FT, sorting threads by newly created, increased moderation of ISO/FTs, or actually completed trade check boxes. Any other ideas?

 

As others have stated, allowing replies is a necessary evil. There are several posts that seem to want to "rip-off" noobs and/or others. Most people that seem to hate the "threadshitters" are the ones that are posting these ISO:FT threads. I have never had anyone "rain on my parade" when I have posted an ISO:FT thread. I have had people let me know how difficult a beer may be to find or that a particular beer was not bottled which was very helpful to not only myself but anyone else that my be looking for the same beer(s). Maybe adding a couple of trading forum mods would help things out?

 

1) Except that comments allow some traders to artificially inflate the value of their cellars by creating the perception that a given trade is "unfair".

2) There is no such thing as a bad/uneven trade. Value is subjective. If someone wants to trade a KtG for two 4 packs of Heady Topper, how is anyone hurt by this? Certainly nobody is "ripped off".

 

You realize your 2 points contradict each other right?

*Edit* If you want to substitute "more likely to get done" for "fair" then be my guest.

 

1) That is no different than what happens now. Take a look at threads related to the trade value of GI Rare for reference.

2) That is a ripoff if the person trading the KtG is a n00b and doesn't know the value of the bottle/cans. Taking advantage of n00bs isn't helping the community.

If you're going to troll, at least try to do better than that.