Post by Paul on Aug 2, 2007 2:58:50 GMT
I've taken down the retailers and reviews section. I don't want to shutdown classifieds completely but things are getting way out of hand and is seriously impacting on the running of this forum.
I'd seriously like a free way of you all selling your snails, a way that can help cut down being mithered and a way for you to vet sellers. The problem is, no matter how loudly we say we can't be involved, we are often treated as if we have responsibility for ads we are willing to place. The local newspaper you saw an ad in, isn't to blame if the goods turn out to be faulty. It is the same here. We have neither the time nor resources to get involved. Our intentions when attempting to help provide a platform for dialogue are more often than not, mistaken as favouritism or being unfair. We can't win.
We are spending so much time courting controversy, it is becoming a spanner in the works, one that seems to keep growing.
We all do this for fun, for free and I can't allow my moderators to take flack for something they aren't involved in, when they're trying to help. It simply isn't fair. I have been asking serious questions of myself, about why I bother to run this forum. I spend more and more of my time playing at being Solomon.
The problem is that we are sympathetic to people when something goes wrong or they have a dispute, we understand the need to vent and show their frustration. But this is becoming totally unmanageable. If we have a review section we have to allow bad reviews. But these bad reviews get out of hand quickly.
Ideally, I would like to continue as normal but that is clearly impossible. I would like to integrate with a selling/classifieds site that I do not run. Ideally, we send people to them and we publish their ads here or on the website, as I do for ebay. As a service with no comeback or discussion. The other site can deal with reviews or ratings or whatever. If anyone has any ideas I'd like to hear them on this.
Although this won't tell you if a seller you find is a bad seller, it will at least give snail owners a place to look for sellers with a good reputation, even if less exotic or rare snails are to be found there. Any transaction outside of this could then be seen as very risky. We could also encourage sellers to use this system for some accountability.
I see that as the only really constructive way forward and I'm willing to do my part, if an opportunity presents itself. I don't think there will be many free versions of this, because who in their right mind would take that task on without some financial reward?
If you do want to run that kind of thing, a forum or website for selling snails please get in touch so I can explain how we can help, in an indirect way of course.
I have decided to still keep the classifieds on the website and forum, they are too useful to take away. There needs to be some way to inform people when someone is ready to sell something. We had loads of problems with mithering. It is some people's view that if I publish classifieds, I have a responsibility to provide a review section. This isn't going to be the case. The classifieds on both the website and forum are simply a notice board.
This forum is for information, discussion and chat. Any mention of transactions that isn't purely incidental will be removed as soon as it is spotted. I ask that everyone refrain from doing this.
There will be a short delay while I alter the website classifieds to allow me to vet ads before publication due to the abuse of that.
I'm truly sorry it has come to this, the compromise makes me angry. We keep having to compromise because of stuff going on and the reputation of the forum keeps getting dragged through the mud. It boils down to the choice between having a forum where everyone can commune peaceably that doesn't include discussion of trading or not having a forum. Well this one anyway.
To survive, we are forced to take the attitude of if you don't like the forum or it's format or content and break the rules rather than using constructive criticism, or you feel the need to let the world know about something we no longer choose to countenance, well, this forum is not the place for you; your own website/forum/blog is only a click away. We can't treat every indiscretion as a huge deal, so we'll simply delete the posts with no explanation and that will be the end of it, except in extreme cases.
I hope this action will take the forum back in the right direction, away from bickering and problems by not giving time to anybody who wants to make trouble or take things too far, and make it a cool place to visit again.
I'd seriously like a free way of you all selling your snails, a way that can help cut down being mithered and a way for you to vet sellers. The problem is, no matter how loudly we say we can't be involved, we are often treated as if we have responsibility for ads we are willing to place. The local newspaper you saw an ad in, isn't to blame if the goods turn out to be faulty. It is the same here. We have neither the time nor resources to get involved. Our intentions when attempting to help provide a platform for dialogue are more often than not, mistaken as favouritism or being unfair. We can't win.
We are spending so much time courting controversy, it is becoming a spanner in the works, one that seems to keep growing.
We all do this for fun, for free and I can't allow my moderators to take flack for something they aren't involved in, when they're trying to help. It simply isn't fair. I have been asking serious questions of myself, about why I bother to run this forum. I spend more and more of my time playing at being Solomon.
The problem is that we are sympathetic to people when something goes wrong or they have a dispute, we understand the need to vent and show their frustration. But this is becoming totally unmanageable. If we have a review section we have to allow bad reviews. But these bad reviews get out of hand quickly.
Ideally, I would like to continue as normal but that is clearly impossible. I would like to integrate with a selling/classifieds site that I do not run. Ideally, we send people to them and we publish their ads here or on the website, as I do for ebay. As a service with no comeback or discussion. The other site can deal with reviews or ratings or whatever. If anyone has any ideas I'd like to hear them on this.
Although this won't tell you if a seller you find is a bad seller, it will at least give snail owners a place to look for sellers with a good reputation, even if less exotic or rare snails are to be found there. Any transaction outside of this could then be seen as very risky. We could also encourage sellers to use this system for some accountability.
I see that as the only really constructive way forward and I'm willing to do my part, if an opportunity presents itself. I don't think there will be many free versions of this, because who in their right mind would take that task on without some financial reward?
If you do want to run that kind of thing, a forum or website for selling snails please get in touch so I can explain how we can help, in an indirect way of course.
I have decided to still keep the classifieds on the website and forum, they are too useful to take away. There needs to be some way to inform people when someone is ready to sell something. We had loads of problems with mithering. It is some people's view that if I publish classifieds, I have a responsibility to provide a review section. This isn't going to be the case. The classifieds on both the website and forum are simply a notice board.
This forum is for information, discussion and chat. Any mention of transactions that isn't purely incidental will be removed as soon as it is spotted. I ask that everyone refrain from doing this.
There will be a short delay while I alter the website classifieds to allow me to vet ads before publication due to the abuse of that.
I'm truly sorry it has come to this, the compromise makes me angry. We keep having to compromise because of stuff going on and the reputation of the forum keeps getting dragged through the mud. It boils down to the choice between having a forum where everyone can commune peaceably that doesn't include discussion of trading or not having a forum. Well this one anyway.
To survive, we are forced to take the attitude of if you don't like the forum or it's format or content and break the rules rather than using constructive criticism, or you feel the need to let the world know about something we no longer choose to countenance, well, this forum is not the place for you; your own website/forum/blog is only a click away. We can't treat every indiscretion as a huge deal, so we'll simply delete the posts with no explanation and that will be the end of it, except in extreme cases.
I hope this action will take the forum back in the right direction, away from bickering and problems by not giving time to anybody who wants to make trouble or take things too far, and make it a cool place to visit again.