I thought up an idea to streamline and improve the trading forum. I'm not a web designer, so I don't know if this is possible. Before I get into the idea, I'd like to point out some great things about the large database that BA has. We have so much data about 90,569 different beers. We have style, ABV, rating, brewery, Wants, and Gots info. I would like to see this info put to use in the trading forum. Here's my idea... What if I could select my beers FOR TRADE and my beers ISO from a drop down list? For example, if I was looking to trade Bud Light for Heady Topper, I could select these beers from a menu that is tied into the BA database. This would help avoid any confusion with abbreviations or misspellings. When I search for a beer FT or ISO in the trade forums I run the risk of missing a lot of postings due to these circumstances. If I'm looking for Heady Topper, some have it listed as HT, Headdy Topper, VT Juice, etc. If this idea is considered and implemented, it would allow us to standardize the trade forum and make for a much more pleasant experience. It would also allow it to be expanded into the Wants and Gots function of the website. This might even lead the way to receiving alerts when a bottle you are ISO shows up with beers you have FT or vice versa. And with location support, IP trades could be specified, too. I'd love to be able to narrow down my searches, too. If I have no interest in trading for Pliny, I could hide all posts containing Pliny FT or ISO. I hope you see the potential of this.
I like the idea, particularly the alerts aspect. However, I am not the one who would have to program all those changes.
isn't there a firefox alert that you can program so it lets you know when a page is updated? seems like it wouldn't be too hard to program it to alert you when a page updates and your keywords are found in that update.
The Gots function needs to be overhauled for your idea to work too. It needs to allow quantity, vintage, size, etc. The Gots feature on this site sucks now, which is why everyone uses a spreadsheet or 3rd party site (CellarHQ).
So the Gots function could be overhauled or BeerAdvocate could embrace the established software like CellarHQ. However, even CellarHQ has standardization issues. I think keeping it simple and in-house would be the best route.
Yes. My point was that it wouldn't work in its current state. Too much ambiguity with the beer specifics.
Vintage is something I've really thought should be included. Especially for beers where recipe is changed year to year like BCBCS using different coffees
Every time I have mentioned vintage distinctions to the Bros, I get the same answer of "do you want to go through and organize all the past reviews?" Two points to this idea: Pre-existing reviews can stay the same. Just from now on, let's give the option to the user. It's obvious that BA users want this feature; it seems to come up every few weeks. It could just be another drop down menu like we currently have for serving type (i.e. on-tap, bottle, growler, can, cask, etc.). That way, there is no need to create a separate listing. Just because it might take some effort now, doesn't mean it shouldn't be done. This site must continue to go through changes if it wants to remain relevant. If any company stops innovating, they will become obsolete and out of touch with the market. I have obviously thought this out. I'm just waiting for someone to contact me for the rest of the details
Changes to gots to allow for this to be more useful (ie quantity, notes, up for trade etc) was to be part of the new features that was announced back in May here however it has seemed to have stalled and I have not seen any further announcements.
I was aware of this. I have heard from the Bros that an overhaul is in the works. That's why I originally posted this thread back in July to get their attention. I know Todd has seen it because he just moved it from the Feedback section to this section.
Will there be a "Make me an offer" option on this menu? If not, I'm afraid you would lose about half of the ISOs.
Maybe trader feedback could be like an eBay transaction of sorts. Once a trade is agreed upon, one party could initiate a trader feedback that the other party confirms, and this would be before shipping. Once that's set, each party could write a review/feedback blurb that would then go onto each other's trading profile that anyone who wants to look can read about. Of course, someone could try to screw someone else over after a successful trade, but there should be some way to prevent that from happening, e.g. community judging... idk, any ideas are welcome.
You can already get alerts for brews you are looking for if you use something like Feed Notifier, as the forum categories are RSS, you set filters for what you want and what you don't want and you get a desktop alert. Imagine having a drop down for 90,000+ beers, that would be a damn nightmare. If people can't do the work to list brews in a way that is readable for potential traders, why would you trade with them? As beer trading gets bigger, traders become a dime a dozen, just make friends with previous traders and you can ignore the ISO:FT altogether.
Yes. And as long as we are pretending what could be, how about marker on their profile if they are on the Bad Trader List? A Scarlett Letter of sorts? There seem to be A LOT of new people hitting the trade forums and lots of Bad Trader List updates the last few months.
