The buy sell trade forum is hectic! especially the links section. Is it possible this could be done in a more effective way. Can you please invent something to make this section of the forums more livable. How do you allow buyers and sellers to: meet, communicate and transact effectively in a forum environment??? The only reason forum owners have a BST type section in many cases is to keep those posts out of the other forums... but it's still worth getting right if it's such a popular section of the forums. Dominic
I'm thinking about something for the "Buy/Sell" part, but not sure if it will do any good for the "Trade" stuff, so... Any specific suggestions?
I would suggest a rating system similar to ebays.. so when a transaction happens you get to leave "feedback" thats positive, negative or neutral and it adds 1 point to your score... i think it would help repeated sellers/buyers build credibility maybe also seperate place to have "fixed price" and "auction" style sales...
Get rid of the need for posts like: pm me the site, pm sent, 3 spots left etc Enable the seller to indicate the status of the sale: Fixed Price or Auction, Open or Closed (sold) If you are going to use some kind of form to list selling points, it would be great to categorise on the basis of theme... some selling points categories could be: yahoo backlinks to page, yahoo backlinks to site, pagerank of page, number of links on page (internal/external)... payment options. Sorting options for the listings, like: category, new listings, pagerank, price bracket or some combination thereof. Maybe something along the same lines for sites for sale. A new interface may open up some good advertising spots for you - for the likes of text-link-ads and so on.
Require 25 or 50 posts to start a new thread there. Moderate new posts? (I know, time.) I'm guessing no one wants to be charged for posting there. *Thinks of that other place.*
I think its fine. My implement some better formatting for titles. FS: DaDaDa WTB: Yadayada LE (?) : Boolbblah Best place around ot buy and sell links, serivces and such.
I guess I'd just like to see something really innovative that solves the current problems and improves the offering. Which is right up your alley Shawn! So put that mind of yours to work Master of the Universe!!!
While we are on the topic of usability / forum functionality... The Directories forum has pretty much been taken over by people promoting directories. That's fine, but could you have a ponder on it too... Maybe a sub-forum for: Submit To Or even better... some kind of interface where directory owners could input the defining characteristics that profile their forum and how to submit / prices etc (or: pay for listing / requires reciprocal link / free) type info... also if they are general or niche. Make it sortable by characteristics. I know bobmuch has something like this, but for the sake of innovation at DP it would be cool and helpful. Maybe this would create space for advertisers who submit for you or larger paid directories. I know directories are looked upon differently over time as to their usefulness or lack there of, but if we are going to have a gazillion posts about submit to this directory you may as well make it a space that is functional and informative. Some defining characteristics could be: theme, price, pages indexed in Google, homepage PR, number of categories, backlinks to whole of directory as reported by yahoo. You may even be able to incorporate a paid level for people listing directories. The goal would be to offer those promoting directories better promotion and an option for premium profiling... while at the same time offering better info for DP forum members and more useful interface.
I would propose making a sticky thread of the most SEO friendly web directories (both free/paid) to prevent the same questions being asked on a daily basis.
I really cant see how that could work out. What's preventing directory owners from just promoting their directories in their sigs to achieve the same purpose?
Shawn seperated out the buy/sell section a few weeks back. It is better than it was but still has room for imporvement. There are two areas that are confusing. 1) Link Exchange / Sale - this is confusing and is very active. IMO, the two should be seperated. 2) Sites - Should be sites and domains. This would help clear up some of the post off the main section. I might even be better to not keep them as subcategories but make them their own categories. For example under Business: Business: -Links for Sale -Link Exchange (don't fight it Shawn... lol) -Sites/Domains for Sale -Services for Hire MY2C
Maybe the link exchange section should be members only so that the robots don't pick it up. Otherwise we will become flooded with requests.
You can requests tags in title. [SELL] [TRADE] [WANTED] or however you want to organize. Congrats on the growing pains.
I've seen massive improvement when the categories were split but with Sitepoint charging, DP has definately become the place to sell. Dominic makes a LOT of great points and I can't wait to see that section develop. I have been pretty impressed with the variety now offered and bid quite often. I particularly like a rating system seperate from rep where the comments are public. This may have saved all the people ripped off by Web_Junkie
I can hear it from here!... anyone else hear the cogs turning... those juices flowing... that mind working! Can't wait to see what Shawn comes up with. Anyone got a picture of a mad scientist they can post?