New Layout

[TallTree01]

On the section it say ' board announcements and suggestions .' <------ that full stop right there is what shes getting at. I couldn't even see it before she pointed it out lol.

By top 3 I meant the most important nations in the world. Here's the top 5
1. Australia
2. U.S
3. England
4. China
5. Canada maybe?

Of course this list is different for everyone naturally our home countrys would be at the top for most of us.

 

[Lunar Jetman]

As stated above I'm working out the classifieds in my mind right now. I am leaning toward doing away with the country as a forum and just asking people to include it in the post and include if they are willing to ship or not. That way if you are looking for a heater you can find one anywhere and if the person on the other end is in Australia and they are willing to ship then you can get your heater, if not, move on. It's the location division that's really making that area ugly.

This is just my opinion, but are you sure that is a good idea though? I would have thought it unlikely someone in the UK would buy an electrical product from someone in the US as both countries have different power sockets and currents. In some cases items might even need a different transformer for the different country.

I'd be less likely to visit a classified section if I have to trawl through lots of items that are irrelevant to me. Having separate country sections allows me to just look at items from my own country where I know the product in question should be designed to be operated.

Also, with regards to plants, there are much stricter rules in say Australia for import/export of this kind of thing so again I would only want to look at UK related items.

On the section it say ' board announcements and suggestions .' <------ that full stop right there is what shes getting at. I couldn't even see it before she pointed it out lol.

By top 3 I meant the most important nations in the world. Here's the top 5
1. Australia
2. U.S
3. England
4. China
5.

Canada maybe?

Of course this list is different for everyone naturally our home countrys would be at the top for most of us.

I think it would better to list in the volume of members from each country on the board and the usage. What's the point of having separate sections for Australia, China and Canada for example if they only account for 5% of classified activities?

I think the UK, US & Canada and Other sections seem ok to me. I've been on this board for a while and generally interact with fellow UK'ers, people from the US and few Aussies. The danger of having lots of sections means that posts will just get lost and items won't sell.

If the volume of Aussies dictates that a new section for them is required then fair enough, but there's not been one up to now and I wasn't aware of any calling for one so far.

I think there is a real danger of the forum dissolving into too many sections so it becomes unusable. Keeping things simple and general is the way to go IMHO.

 

[the_lock_man]

It's one of the top 3 ( Australia,US, england ( in that order ) ) for heavens sake!

 
Oooh, dear, you're in for it when the jocks and taffies read this........

 

[techen]

LOL England, Come on. That's a low blow.


As for the sales, KEEP THEM. I've sold and bought plants on there cheaper than anywhere else. Sorted.

 

[Lunar Jetman]

LOL England, Come on. That's a low blow.

That's ok, we can change Australia to Tasmania...

 

[Chad]

I see your point about the classifieds. Perhaps then just country and inside the categories with no division for marine equipment, planted equipment, FW equipment...just UK/equipment...

On the section it say ' board announcements and suggestions .' <------ that full stop right there is what shes getting at. I couldn't even see it before she pointed it out lol.

Do you mean the period?

 

[the_lock_man]

I see your point about the classifieds. Perhaps then just country and inside the categories with no division for marine equipment, planted equipment, FW equipment...just UK/equipment...

On the section it say ' board announcements and suggestions .' <------ that full stop right there is what shes getting at. I couldn't even see it before she pointed it out lol.

Do you mean the period?

 
 
In the UK (and our colonies ), a full stop is the dot at the end of the sentence. A period is something to do with ladies......

 

[Chad]

For the U.S. a "full stop" is what you are supposed to come to at a stop sign. We have the lady thing too of course

but context clues help us determin which is which.

Either way...the full stop has been removed...period!

 

[the_lock_man]

For the U.S. a "full stop" is what you are supposed to come to at a stop sign. We have the lady thing too of course

but context clues help us determin which is which.

Either way...the full stop has been removed...period!

 
We just come to a stop at a Stop sign. There's no such thing as a partial stop, you are either stopped or you're moving, much like a lady can't be partly pregnant.
 
Just a thought, to be pregnant, do the periods have to come to a full stop?

 

[Chad]

But we digress!

 
Do the classifieds really need to be divided into FW/Marine/Planted? Can't we just have UK/plants UK/equipment? I can see how we might need that...if we do then the current layout is the one that actually best serves the need even if it seems a bit messy.

 

[RCA]

For the U.S. a "full stop" is what you are supposed to come to at a stop sign. We have the lady thing too of course

but context clues help us determin which is which.

Either way...the full stop has been removed...period!

 
Thanks, now back to topic...
 

As stated above I'm working out the classifieds in my mind right now. I am leaning toward doing away with the country as a forum and just asking people to include it in the post and include if they are willing to ship or not. That way if you are looking for a heater you can find one anywhere and if the person on the other end is in Australia and they are willing to ship then you can get your heater, if not, move on. It's the location division that's really making that area ugly.

This is just my opinion, but are you sure that is a good idea though? I would have thought it unlikely someone in the UK would buy an electrical product from someone in the US as both countries have different power sockets and currents. In some cases items might even need a different transformer for the different country.

I'd be less likely to visit a classified section if I have to trawl through lots of items that are irrelevant to me. Having separate country sections allows me to just look at items from my own country where I know the product in question should be designed to be operated.

Also, with regards to plants, there are much stricter rules in say Australia for import/export of this kind of thing so again I would only want to look at UK related items.

>On the section it say ' board announcements and suggestions .' <------ that full stop right there is what shes getting at. I couldn't even see it before she pointed it out lol.

By top 3 I meant the most important nations in the world. Here's the top 5
1. Australia
2. U.S
3. England
4. China
5.

Canada maybe?

Of course this list is different for everyone naturally our home countrys would be at the top for most of us.

I think it would better to list in the volume of members from each country on the board and the usage. What's the point of having separate sections for Australia, China and Canada for example if they only account for 5% of classified activities?

I think the UK, US & Canada and Other sections seem ok to me. I've been on this board for a while and generally interact with fellow UK'ers, people from the US and few Aussies. The danger of having lots of sections means that posts will just get lost and items won't sell.

If the volume of Aussies dictates that a new section for them is required then fair enough, but there's not been one up to now and I wasn't aware of any calling for one so far.

I think there is a real danger of the forum dissolving into too many sections so it becomes unusable. Keeping things simple and general is the way to go IMHO.
 

 
Lunar Jetman makes some good points here.  Personally I think if someone is willing to ship abroad or if the person reading it wants to have it shipped abroad they would make contact directly asking the question surely?
 
Also, I like the sales form format, and it would be good if it could even be a pre-designed form, with the relevant boxes?  That way it ensures that the format is followed and everyone knows to post to agree a sales rather than behind the scenes activity and maybe new people loosing out?

 

[Lunar Jetman]

But we digress!

 
Do the classifieds really need to be divided into FW/Marine/Planted? Can't we just have UK/plants UK/equipment? I can see how we might need that...if we do then the current layout is the one that actually best serves the need even if it seems a bit messy.

How about a section for UK, with three sub headings, Plants, Equipment and Livestock, a section for US & Canada with the same sub headings and then a section for ROW with the same sub headings?

 

[Chad]

I do think marine is unique enough that it somehow needs to be separated.
 
So maybe...
 
Freshwater & Planted
Marine & Reef
 
Then when they click on one they see
 
UK
US & Canada
Other Countries
 
When they click on one of those they see
 
Equipment
Livestock
 
And whatever else needs to be there.
 
That way when they click on classifieds the first thing they see is the type of tank they have, once that is picked they see their country of choice, and finally the item they are looking for.

 

[RCA]

...
 
Do the classifieds really need to be divided into FW/Marine/Planted? Can't we just have UK/plants UK/equipment? I can see how we might need that...if we do then the current layout is the one that actually best serves the need even if it seems a bit messy.

 
I guess you always have to plan for the future ideally, and as the TFF grows as we would all like there maybe more activity appearing in the sales.  I for one would not want to go into a section to find Saltwater items when I do not need or want them (at present).  That said, what happens if someone has an item that can be used in either SW or FW?  Making it complex causing further issues for all?
 
Is it possible to force certain elements into a post so that they show up i.e. the forum then sorts itself? e.g. you select from a pick list, SW, FW, Any ...  etc
 
Of course having different categories and sub-categories can be helpful as you can assign different moderators to their areas of expertise to manage?
 

But we digress!

 
Do the classifieds really need to be divided into FW/Marine/Planted? Can't we just have UK/plants UK/equipment? I can see how we might need that...if we do then the current layout is the one that actually best serves the need even if it seems a bit messy.

How about a section for UK, with three sub headings, Plants, Equipment and Livestock, a section for US & Canada with the same sub headings and then a section for ROW with the same sub headings?

 
Sounds good to me
Then you can monitor ROW - and if one country is then advertising a lot then they get their own subsection?

 

[Chad]

The ideal solution is to have a form that gets filled out but that's not a built-in function. I will explore what is possible along those lines for the future but in the mean time I think the above will clean it up for now.