New traders who don't have time for a simple reply

Getting rid of the "pm for ratio's" should help a ton. Leaving it open ended is just another way of bringing in offers. Thanks for the update!

 

@F2brewers - totally fair. Either way, the efforts to keep the trade forums honest and auction free are appreciated. I have no doubt the mods will be having a busy few weeks due to the change!

 

you can always report these too. sometimes it will be obvious what's going on.

 

Haha, love the new update. I feel sorry for the MOD's, I have a feeling you'll be working OT, but this closes another loophole to auctions. I'm sure the bitching will be epic and full of lame excuses but that's nothing new.

 

Agreed - I feel like I can guess the main complaint already. It will be 'but there are so many possible combinations!'
I have one word for them - points. Yeah, they can be a bit clunky, but it solves the problem and is very clear. If there is a 'priority goes to' or 'must include' clause that is fine, but points are very specific and can't be called an auction as long as you stick to your original post.

 

Indeed.

Remember, posts are supposed to be as specific as possible. We can always remove posts for a lack of specificity or clarity. Believe me, if we get 4-5 user reports about a given post, we'll take a close look.

That said, we'd prefer *not* to have to implement more rules as they generate more moderation (yeah, so fun), more confusion (i can haz reading comprehension?) and more user complaints (you can't tell me how to trade!).

More to the point, the more we tighten our grip, the more star systems will slip through our fingers...

But we have to try *something*.

 

Love the "points" posts. They are entertaining and are very clear (usually) on what it will take to get the trade completed.

 

To me the ideal trading system would be a rule that a post has to have at least one of the following indicated:

1) $4$ trade
2) exact trade , ie. 3 Plinys for 4 HT
3) Points if there are a lot of beers in play

This would eliminate the vague, behind the scene auction posts.

 

Is eliminating "PM for ratios" really going to have any backlash? I haven't heard anyone even attempt to give a good reason for using "PM for ratios" when they're just listing one or two beers. I see the reasoning if you have a huge list of beers but I feel like 95% of the "PM for ratios" posts are just 1-3 beers when it makes absolutely no sense (outside of auctioning).

That said, I don't see all the "you can't tell me how to trade" responses the poor mods apparently get .

 

Agreed. The above are pretty much cover all potential scenarios and keeps things totally transparent.

 

Usually I'm right with your posts, but I don't like this idea at all.

If I'm looking for a specific beer, especially one that's obscure (probably something only I want), I don't want to have to go through all the points nonsense. I want to say "Hey, I'm looking for this weird Peanut Butter Chocolate Raspberry IPA from Podunk Brewery in rural Idaho - if anyone has one, here's 16 beers I'd be happy to part with." Having to assign "points" to all those beers would be annoying enough that I likely would try other trading sites first, to avoid what I would see as stupid extra work.

I agree that the "ratios" stuff isn't cool. But you can tighten "the rules" so much that it will eventually drive away even legit traders (& I'm not a big fan of massive amounts of rules anyways). I don't want to see that.

 

Fair - but what is wrong with just going 1:1 in that case? Sure some of the bottles you offer might be a bit more than others, but if it is close enough? That is what I did on my last post:
http://www.beeradvocate.com/communi...lease-iso-bbbb-or-cw-16-ft-short-list.340618/

Sure, some of the bottles I was giving away an extra $5 but I got both trades done, and none of my list was that far off 1:1 that I felt I was giving up the farm...

 

Nothing wrong with that at all. But at least in MN, bombers can run from $5 - $25, so while I think it can work if your list is limited & in the same price range, it won't always work.

I guess what I'm saying is that this is beginning to look a bit like Salem, with a witch/auctioneer in every shadow. I can honestly say that in 350+ trades I've only run into about half-dozen shysters that were trying to pull something. Perhaps that's not typical, but & I don't want the 'solution' to maim the patient.

 

Fair. I agree it needs to be balanced

 

This very much.

We're not interested in making everything 100% absolute cut and dry, set it in concrete, don't even think of any flexibility. It's not realistic or practical.

As in any system, there's a certain minimum amount of chaos and uncertainty we need to accept in order to allow the system to function in a (somewhat) efficient and independent way.

Some people will always hate the level of control exerted. Others will bemoan the lack of control. Both are normal and expected. There's no utopian trade world where everyone is happy, noone breaks the rules and we don't need mods (too bad, that last point ).

We all need to understand and accept that.

 

I got the hook-up on alllll the Podunk PBCRIPA.

 

In your case, just put $4$ and no need to assign points.

Also, I agree with extra rules being a hassle for the legit traders. In a perfect world you would be right, it is a huge hassle to do that. But unfortunately the auctioneers and the "beer day traders" have ruined it for guys like you, me and everyone else who just wants to make reasonable trades, drink beer they can't normally get and make some friends along the way.

The trade board used to be, "Hey, I am from the east coast, would like to trade some beers with someone from west coast, I prefer IPAs." Now it is littered with the latest instawhale.

 

My rule is to reply to all inquiries I receive. At the very least I will give you a polite no to your proposal. That's common courtesy.

 

What's the rule if people unilaterally reach out to you asking to trade for one of your beers without being solicited or without you posting a FT? Should you respond to all of them? I try to, but sometimes I can't or I just don't have it in me to. But I don't want to be rude or be blacklisted. Is there etiquette for this?