comments in the classifieds

[back alley]

i belong to another photo site that has free classifieds for it's members and they have a simple rule...absolutely NO COMMENTS are allowed after the ad is placed. none! all questions have to made by email or p.m.

they feel this is fair as no ad can be bumped and all ads have the same chance of success.

i used to hate that rule!

but now i am beginning to agree with it, not so much for the ad bumping part but because i get so tired of the same people making comments in ads that they have no real intention of buying the product.
and i get also get tired of editing out the negative comments regarding pricing of some items.

it's like we have a bunch of old ladies here with nothing better to do than bother others.

please stop...

joe

 

[Keith]

i belong to another photo site that has free classifieds for it's members and they have a simple rule...absolutely NO COMMENTS are allowed after the ad is placed. none! all questions have to made by email or p.m.

they feel this is fair as no ad can be bumped and all ads have the same chance of success.

i used to hate that rule!

but now i am beginning to agree with it, not so much for the ad bumping part but because i get so tired of the same people making comments in ads that they have no real intention of buying the product.
and i get also get tired of editing out the negative comments regarding pricing of some items.

it's like we have a bunch of old ladies here with nothing better to do than bother others.

please stop...

joe

I agree ... some of the comments are ridiculous but when the threads becoming boring it's somewhere to go for a read! 😛

That said I wouldn't miss the comments and if the function was banned I personally wouldn't mind!

 

[climbing_vine]

I'm curious... one hopes that most people are smart enough to shop around, but if someone posts (say) a used Bessa R for, I dunno, $500, and some newb snaps it up.

I understand caveat emptor and all that but it seems shady to prevent the rest of the community from helping someone to avoid getting rooked. Just my personal feeling whenever I see this "no comments on ads" thing come up.

 

[Avotius]

I think editing out comments about prices being too high or something is not a smart idea. Sure someone should know to shop around or something but editing out negative things online sounds like something they do in this country im in now.

 

[dfoo]

Exactly... it doesn't only help the buyer, but also the seller. Sometimes you just don't know what to ask, and if you ask too high, with no feedback what then?

 

[vrgard]

Not allowing comments would prevent the positive comments as much as the negative ones. I, for one, appreciate the positive comments about a particular item or seller and comments highlighting some particular benefit or use for an item that might not be well known. So, I guess my answer is I like the positive helpful comments and for that reason would not want to see comments blocked altogether.

-Randy

 

[stesm]

"Bumping an ad" ? Tell me how leaving a comment does anything to it's position in the listings. My experience is that an ad is lucky to stay on the front page for more than 3 days. How about- get rid of the "Recent Comments" and "Random Ads" sections and make a couple more rows of the current new ads?

 

[maddoc]

Me too really appreciate positive comments from people who have already had a good experience with a not so well known seller. Sometimes, a seller has only a very low posting rate and it is the first time for him to have an ad here at RFF, why not making a positive comment if one had a good experience with the seller in the past or knows him in person ?

 

[back alley]

excuse me, but we have a forum here where discussions take place on a regular basis, discussions that do not have to take place in the classifieds.

if a newbie has a question about appropriate pricing or what to look for in a used camera they can start a thread.

positive comments are one thing and yes i would miss those but i could live with that if it meant the same few folks would stop playing in the classifieds.

 

[jonmanjiro]

Me too really appreciate positive comments from people who have already had a good experience with a not so well known seller. Sometimes, a seller has only a very low posting rate and it is the first time for him to have an ad here at RFF, why not making a positive comment if one had a good experience with the seller in the past or knows him in person ?

Completely agree with this!

 

[Avotius]

hm.....punish the collective to get a "few" people, we can only hope the person in charge makes the right choice on what to do, there will always be a few people who are not serious about what they do, but you are a moderator, deal with it, that's what you do here. By your thinking it might be a good idea to close all of RFF just because you sometimes get one person messing around on here. Kill the person to get the disease?

 

[wintoid]

As we pay for ads, perhaps it should be an option for the seller to decide whether comments are available or not. Just thinking aloud.

Personally I like comments.

 

[Krosya]

well, ebay doesnt have "comments" section and seems to do well with just a feedback. So, why not read feedback on a seller? Many seen to offer some feedback from other sites if they have none from RFF. I'd have no problem if there was no Comments section there. Plus, how come we cant leave comments for the Sponsor ads, yet it's OK for regular sellers?

 

[thomasw_]

I have sold, bought and traded a fair amount here at RFF. My experience is that +ve remarks and encourage give confidence to a buyer, at least when that buyer is someone like me🙂 But I don't think Joe cares one iota about +ve comments; his point is that it is the buyer's show and let all who support him do so; yet no one has any business trying to wreck his show even if you think his pricing is whacko. In all my time here I can't think of a time when it has been necessary for a seller to be condemned or reproached for selling an item at a certain price. I think it is simply a matter of classifieds etiquette. I think it is fair to ask questions publicly about features and such, but not to discuss his pricing. That's the buyer's concern and the seller's decision. The idea that we have a duty to warn others of inflated pricing is ill-judged. It is simply a wise buyer's practice to comparison shop. A seller has a right to ask whatever he wants for his item. Poorly priced items generally do not sell; but the only thing that should be telling the seller this fact is the lack of interest in his listed item.

my 2 cents, Thomas

 

[__hh]

I personally don't mind the comments (hey, I'm one of those "ladies" who like window shopping and yapping) as they do serve a purpose.

If the RFF gods decide that this is going to be a new rule because of a pet hate, so be it. Just as long as the vBulletin is able to enforce this (e.g. locking the advert, and allowing modifications to just the seller). A rule is bound to be broken if the environment allows people to do it (e.g have a box that says "comments" begging for user input).

 

[JOLILLO]

Well, I am not against the comments, but some people is not playing right with the comments, is your personal apreciation if something is cheap or not. Then I agree in someway with back alley, someone left a negative comment about the price I asked for something in the classifieds.The caseis that and one week before ,someone said in the ad of other member that was selling the same staff, both excellent condition, that paying 1,5 times the price I put for it would be an excellent deal.😕
To me sounds like if sometimes the comments are much focused towards the people who puts the ad and not really towards what is offered in the ad.

 

[gilpen123]

Comments for me seems ok and I find great use from it on a buyers perspective. Maybe better if we put a posting limit before one can sell thru the classifieds. I have seen some with 0 posts and already able to put an ad to sell which IMO is a security risk for the members of this fora.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Can the software be set to allow the poster of the ad to edit out and delete the comments made in their own ad?

They paid for it, they sould have control over it.

 

[Paul T.]

Actually, I think people here are very restrained compared to the old days!

I spotted a couple of items recently priced at 20 per cent more than I've sold similar items here - and somehow it does bug me, it's often from people who post rarely, too. But I've bitten my tongue, and so have others. And the silence speaks volumes.

Personally I would leave this as is.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I've made a comment regarding cameras that were WAY overpriced and sounded like a used car ad.

Not often, but once. The poster of the ad lowered their prices to something more reasonable. Not good, but not outrageous to the point of inviting jokes. I do not think anything in that ad has sold in the one month allotted.

I see the comments were deleted.