[Ted S]

Originally Posted by eoc_Jason

CADguru - well the actual trader rating is based on unique userids... so even if you created dummy rankings, it would be most appropriate to set them to a uid of 0 (so no name is displayed as the buyer/seller)... In theory you could modify the SQL code so that userid 0 would not be distinct, but the rest would be...

Everyone Else - So do you think it would be more worthwhile to just start working on a classifieds / auction hack (with the trader ratings system of course) rather than just try to bodge together this "buy/sell" button concept thing? I think there could be potentially 3 listing types, 1. classfieds (listings with no time limit till the user removes it), 2. auctions & 3. buy it now (time-limited listings)....

I think it would still be worthwhile to continue developing this hack, adding things like the rebuttal / followup comments, and a stats page...

Please let me know what you guys think...

I think the best way to insure the system is both effective and accurate is to build in a classified type module as per your description. Every site may not need this feature but the hack would not be for every site. At ScubaBoard our marketplace is just starting to grow and while we have a few listings a day, things aren't huge. If however we had a full on classified buy/trade system it would only help to grow things out. To say you can ever have an ebay quality feedback program without actually charging for transactions is pretty much impossible but you can make it better. I don't think you need to take it to the full auction level although that would be pretty cool, simply allowing for classified postings with responses and perhaps offers would be more than enough....

Here's my main idea for a classifieds system:
1) Buyer posts their offer/request
2) People post followups which can be either public questions or offers (or private ones)
3) Once the seller/poster finds an offer they like they click "accept offer" and then they can do their whole feedback thing.

This is a simple system yet much more effective then trying to hack some portion of the forum system to make it work for certain categories but not others and so forth. Again there would be an easy way to inflate #s but you know what, that's ok, people can always chat... having a recorded history of their purchases/transactions in a public forum is more than enough to let people understand the true history of any "trader".