Separate WTB section in the classifieds

[chobone]

I was wondering what everyone's take is on having a separate section for WantToBuy ads. I like that there are different sections for horns, mouthpieces, etc but I find navigating them frustrating. It feels unnecessarily cluttered. Would it be easier for everyone if there was a WTB/WTT section?

Thoughts? Thanks!

[BGuttman]

It would be much easier if everybody used the same prefixes on their ads:

FS for For Sale
WTB for Want to Buy
WTT for Want to Trade.

Also, what do you do for a person who is looking for something but wants to trade for it (or wants to sell or trade for something)?

[chobone]

It would be much easier if everybody used the same prefixes on their ads:

FS for For Sale
WTB for Want to Buy
WTT for Want to Trade.

Also, what do you do for a person who is looking for something but wants to trade for it (or wants to sell or trade for something)?

I agree, those prefixes do help. Some other forums I belong to have clear rules about selling and trading. Basically the trader creates an ad in the for sale section and states that they are more interested in trading than selling. This person HAS to include a sale price. I do agree it creates more steps and complications but in my experience it's a much cleaner and easier overall way to buy/sell/trade.

(all of these are WTB)

Screen Shot 2024-06-16 at 11.31.08 PM.png

VS

Screen Shot 2024-06-16 at 11.34.54 PM.png

[WGWTR180]

Even if The Chat adopted these Prefixes some people just can't help themselves. FS-"will you take any trades?" Or useless comments like "the holy grail" or "Id never pay that for ________"
But I do agree that it's a bit difficult to follow. More so because so many things are posted your post from an hour earlier is already lost. I would like to see an instruments only section, a parts and components section, a mouthpiece section, and a case section. Leave the FS, FT, WTB prefixes. My 2 cents

[Matt K]

I have on my backlog of things-to-do cleaning this up and making it more deterministic. I've thought about a bot that helps enforce stuff but also just something from scratch (programmed in PHP I guess) that would make it easier to navigate and take it away from being in the bulletin board portion of the site. My move is almost finished (about to put the old house on the market) fingers crossed on having more time to dedicate to solving that particular issue soon.

[JohnL]

It would be much easier if everybody used the same prefixes on their ads:

FS for For Sale
WTB for Want to Buy
WTT for Want to Trade.

Add "FT" for For Trade. If someone is willing to sell or trade, it's FS/FT (maybe FSoT if you wanna get fancy).

EDIT: Just to be clear: "FT" would be "I have this item I'd like to trade" while "WTT" would be "I would like to trade for this item."

I suppose what works best for you depends on how you read the forum. For people (like me) who use the "Unread Posts" and "Mark all read" features to read the forum, having the standard prefixes on classified ads makes sorting through the list of unread posts a lot more efficient.

I would like to see an instruments only section, a parts and components section, a mouthpiece section, and a case section.

Other than needing to split the "Instruments and Parts" section, that's what we have now (plus an "Everything Else" section).

Even if The Chat adopted these Prefixes some people just can't help themselves. FS-"will you take any trades?

Particularly when the original ad specifically says: "No trades, please."

Trade with a martin committee from 1952,?

[BGuttman]

When we started up we never intended to be a sales site. We were a technical site with a sales area. There are more sales oriented boards out there (although they probably aren't as safe from bad actors as here). Still, I'd prefer we put our technical expertise toward issues with the content sections relating to gear, learning how to play, artistic aspects of playing, etc.

[WGWTR180]

When we started up we never intended to be a sales site. We were a technical site with a sales area. There are more sales oriented boards out there (although they probably aren't as safe from bad actors as here). Still, I'd prefer we put our technical expertise toward issues with the content sections relating to gear, learning how to play, artistic aspects of playing, etc.

I don't think anyone is being critical. I know I'm not. Just discussing. Many of us use this but we're like the folks who go to the beach, use it, and then leave. Other folks come in and maintain and "clean up" for the rest of us without any real appreciation from the folks who use it.

[DanReiter]

It would be much easier if everybody used the same prefixes on their ads:

FS for For Sale
WTB for Want to Buy
WTT for Want to Trade.

Also, what do you do for a person who is looking for something but wants to trade for it (or wants to sell or trade for something)?

I agree, those prefixes do help. Some other forums I belong to have clear rules about selling and trading. Basically the trader creates an ad in the for sale section and states that they are more interested in trading than selling. This person HAS to include a sale price. I do agree it creates more steps and complications but in my experience it's a much cleaner and easier overall way to buy/sell/trade.

(all of these are WTB)
Screen Shot 2024-06-16 at 11.31.08 PM.png

VS

Screen Shot 2024-06-16 at 11.34.54 PM.png

I do truly wish that I could be blessed with the full experience of this post but, alas, I have yet to be verified.