jrleech wrote:Indeed.
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I don't think a lot of Mk1 forum users look anywhere else
(at least not often).
Yup, something I've been trying to address with a simple sticky thread that I'll finish real soon.
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jrleech wrote:Would creating a Group Purchase in the correct GP forum, and then posting a single message thread in the Mk1 forum to it be allowed
(for GP's only, I agree that for general for sale stuff it'd get very cluttered)?
That way everyone knows it's there, can subscribe to it in the correct forum and follow it from there.
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This is often done for events etc.
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Ummm.
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I believe that was the reason why we tried out the shadow function for Kev's GP.
Frankly most group buys are left waiting for people to join for more than a week anyway.
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So as long as the Mk1 owners spend a few seconds checking the group buy section to see if there's anything new just once a week.
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jrleech wrote:Personally I really don't like the tags section in the main forums.
Makes it easier to use the search function, but I find it harder to
'skim browse' the forum as I've got to read past the tags to get to the subject.
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maybe that's just me
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I suppose it could make searching for Mk1 parts in the general For Sale forum easier though.
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I think that's just you.
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Nah, there may be other members who feel the same.
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(hence why it's good to hear your views) but I find it's very easy to skim the Mk1 and Mk2 headings to pick out just the Mk1 ones then read those titles.
Far easier than skimming through entire thread titles to find ones relevant to what I've got and know a little about.
jrleech wrote:Question for you all.
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Within the rules, how do you sell something to someone who doesn't know they want it yet?
If someone is looking for a particular item, then they'll go to the search function and look round the site.
There are however, a lot of things users find
/ build that many people would be interested in, if they knew it existed.
Someone might design and build a new suspension component, but they can only advertise it in the for sale section or in the group buys section.
If I'm not currently looking for that, I won't find it, doesn't mean I don't want it though, I might if I knew it existed.
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?????
I see what you're saying Jon, but it's a difficult one to answer.
I personally find parts I may not have been specifically looking for just by looking through the parts for sale section and noticing something in there.
I.e.
if something is actually for sale, it'd be put there.
If it's a one-off item, it's either for sale or it's not.
I suppose there's the possibility that someone can have a part sitting in their garage unused and unwanted which
may attract a potential buyer if it was for sale.
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but without the owner listing that part or the potential buyer putting up an interest in purchasing such a part, then the item is not for sale.
It's as simple as that.
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There's no way except telepathy that the potential buyer could know about that part unless it's listed in the for sale section
- i.e.
put up for sale.
The way I see it is an item is either for sale or it's not.
Thus it's down to the potential buyer to browse the parts for sale section every once in a while.
As you say, they may find something that interests them that they didn't think of earlier.
All it takes is going to the parts for sale section once or twice a week.
I know it as that's what I do.
Granted I may miss out on the odd item or two, but at least that saves me money!
As for if someone builds a part to sell
- well that's a difficult one as, particularly if there is more than one, that's approaching a requirement for affiliate status.
I think the key is that we have to try to work out a solution that's ideal for everyone
- though as you can hopefully now appreciate it's not easy.
Mind you, it's not as though we're hiding the parts that are for sale for a Mk1.
They are there, it just requires people to leave the Mk1 section every once in a while, and not just to go and post in Items Wanted.
IMOC isn't that huge if you limit your interest to Mk1s only
- in fact this leaves you pretty much with just the Mk1 club, events, Items for sale and items wanted.
It just seems there are some Mk1 owners who don't want to navigate beyond the Mk1 section.
jrleech wrote:Maybe having a separate Mk1 for sale section isn't the answer, as I've described above, if you're looking for something, then you'll find it.
It's getting information about stuff that will interest people without them having to look for it that's the problem.
I see what you're saying but I'm afraid I also don't see it as a problem.
It really doesn't take much to browse the parts for sale section every once in a while.
I suppose I have an advantage now in that I can tell whether a part is Mk1 or Mk2 based solely on who's selling it as I've gotten used to many of the regulars.
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Though having said that most Mk1 parts are normally labelled as such.
jrleech wrote:I guess the
'For Sale' section isn't actually advertising, as you go there to search for what you want from what's available
(i.e.
it's shopping).
Yup.
It's browsing what's for sale.
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shopping.
Different options have been discussed about this.
We welcome any ideas or suggestions that you or other members may have obviously but it's not an easy one to solve.
If we put a for sale section in the Mk1 section, what happens to items that are generic to Mk1 and Mk2? Wouldn't we just be segregating the Mk1 owners more? And wouldn't we just be encouraging them to stick just to the Mk1 section more as well?
While I can see why people want the Mk1 club to be independent from IMOC, I don't see that as being possible or a good thing.
Just think of it from an events point of view
- many events are shared between both clubs now.
Putting Mk1 events in the Mk1 section will result in less overall interest as no Mk2 or Mk3 owners will see them.
And again it'll encourage the Mk1 owners to just check there, thus missing events that are open to all Marks but advertised only on the main events board on IMOC.
Now mirror that behaviour to the parts for sale section and you'll hopefully see what I'm getting at.
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In my opinion, if we keep the Mk1 parts for sale to the Mk1 club section, it will still result in people missing out on parts.
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