Trade thread crowding

[MCRU]

Marco,
The trade for sale thread costs us all £## per year, when I look at it there are 20 sticky threads,
surely some of these can be removed including mine?

Its too messy and as people are generally lazy they won't scroll down the page to see the actual for sale threads.

[Marco]

Good point, dude. I've unstuck a few (those who are no longer active trade members, etc)...

Are you saying that you no longer want to have any sticky threads? You currently have two - do you wish me to unstick them?

Marco.

[StanleyB]

The trade section is a mess IMHO.

[Marco]

Ok, feedback is always good, so how do you suggest we improve it, Stan?

You could start by letting us know what you think is wrong with it now.

Marco.

[Mark Grant]

I suggest Unsticky them all except the rules thread and let threads naturally rise up when people have something to talk about.
If it gets spammy with excessive bumping up then make some more rules
Some of the dealers with sticky threads have not posted here for many months so they wont even notice the thread dropping down the list.

[Marco]

Hi Mark,

I suggest Unsticky them all except the rules thread and let threads naturally rise up when people have something to talk about.

I'd be in favour of that idea if all the traders in question were happy. We'd probably have to take a vote on it, though.

If it gets spammy with excessive bumping up then make some more rules

Sure, although given who's here now (and who's left) that probably wouldn't happen.

Some of the dealers with sticky threads have not posted here for many months so they wont even notice the thread dropping down the list.

All the sticky threads left now are held by currently active trade members.

Marco.

[Reffc]

Personally Marco, I like the Sticky thread idea. The problem with letting regular trade sales threads take their natural course is that they tend to get spammed with multiple ads very quickly (you know who you are) knocking the single entry dealer sales threads down the list very rapidly indeed. It would effectively end trader's blogs, and since not all traders are pure salesmen, some are manufacturers, AoS members would lose the insights and updates, many of whom find interesting judging by the number of views they get (it also may help attract lurkers/new members to the site).

A sensible compromise might be to delete any sticky which isn't/hasn't been added to (meaningfully rather than with a one liner) at least monthly. That would thin a few out straight away. It might also be a timely point to see the ending of some dealers placing many separate ads up at once when it would be just as easy to have a link to a current sales list rather than spam the front pages of the trade area constantly with dozens of ads. That does not make it a level playing field for the smaller guys whos ads get lost in obscurity so quickly.

[walpurgis]

Some interesting points there Paul.

[Toppsy]

Marco, can it not be run on similar grounds to DiyAudio trade section?
Each fee paying trader has his own dedicated area where they can post up new threads and new products and the general members have a opportunity to add to the thread / discussion for that particular trader without having to trawl through the individual threads that can be posted for any the traders. That way if you want to check out a particular trader you only have one link to follow where all that traders posts are located by title.

One of the reasons I decided to cease my trade account. The sticky system is just not working.

Regards
Colin
(Reiver Acoustics - ex ToppSounds)

[StanleyB]

Some of the dealers with sticky threads have not posted here for many months so they wont even notice the thread dropping down the list.

That's probably the biggest problem. Some traders could technically be classified as spammers, finding any reason to post something and get the opposing sellers relegated to the next page. I haven't put much on sale in the trade section over the last two years mainly because of that. Maybe Marco could change the fee structure to one based on amount of posts in the trade section. Like £1 a post plus the yearly fee. This would soon sort out some of the mess generated here.