The rule that requires 80 good posting before users are allowed to create posting at magic marketplace is a standard practice and does reward users that contribute to the forum. That being said, new users could be looking for Want To Buy (wtb) instead of wts.

So if new users are allowed to post wtb posting that would be good. This could be done in a seperate categeory. Having said that I see few challenges in doing so

1. (technical) Resources required to do so might not justify the rate of return

2. In case wtb posting are viewble by everyone then users that have not reached 80 posting might respond to the wtb request diluting privilege of users that have been contributing to the forum. One solution could be to make wtb forum viewable only by users that have reached 80.

I am just thinking aloud here. If Magic Marketplace can bring buyers and sellers of original items togather, that could reduce the amount of piracy going on on DVD/VCD .

As I am new to this forum, I am sure moderates would have given a thought to above suggestion before and would have seen loopholes in doing so.

Comments appreciated.

say dude, that is a good suggestion. But i think it's going to be a very complicated process to code the site into allowing "wtb" and not "wts" for people withy less than 80 posts. ^_^

then again, nothing is impossible. :lol:

Aaron

It should be quite easy actually. One forum for WTS, where only the people with 80+ posts can post, and another forum for WTB, where everyone can post.

Well, there could be a reason why the mods and admins don't do so.

One of which could be that new forumites might disappear after 'wanting to buy' an item.
That could be a problem.
After 80 posts, they can be trusted enough to do trading.

Thats just what I think, I could be wrong. :o

That's one of the main reasons, you got it right ;)

The other reason is to prevent SMC from disintegrating into just a marketplace for people to buy and sell, which is the reason we want to control usage of Marketplace.
We don't want people to come to SMC ONLY for buying and selling and doesn't contribute anywhere else.

However, instead of closing off the Marketplace althogether to new forumites, we have kept it open for ALL to use. The "privilege" of starting new threads are for those who have contributed in the forums though.
But once a thread has been started, anyone can buy and sell from it.
This system seems to be the most balanced we can find.

Thanks for the suggestions and feedback. Maybe we might change things in the future depending on user needs. B)


Cheers

That's one of the main reasons, you got it right ;)

I fully agree with that.


But once a thread has been started, anyone can buy and sell from it.

Can others also place their request to buy a same (if the original item has already been sold) or similar item from a thread started by some else ? would that be not considered thread hijacking ?
For example I too wanted to buy
MAGIC THAT CAN BE PERFORMED ANYWHERE By Cellini

and bigbadwolf identified that gem before me . Now can I post in the same thread that I would like to buy a same DVD if anyone else is planning to sell ?


Cheers

Yes, that would be considered thread hijacking. :)

The "privilege" for regular contributors is the ability to initiate transactions. I know this is a little cumbersome but this is just one of the cases where a rotten few spoils it for everyone.
For too long, we've had too many people coming in purely to advertise their goods or asking to buy 2nd hand stuff without really contributing to the forum. We were really forced into this position to implement these rules.

Anyways, with the amount of activities going on in the forum and the localised nature of it, it really shouldn't be a great difficulty to hit 80 posts easily if you are geniunely interested in the discussions. :)
Try it, who knows, you might actually enjoy it. B)

Fair enough. Would it be better to re-worded the following statement

But once a thread has been started, anyone can buy and sell from it.

So that Newbies do not get the wrong idea.

Thanks