Effective Internal Rating System Concept

[JHAI4]

RANT:

Okay so I'm putting my foot down... I've decided no more Mr. Nice guy... All those people that are selfish, inconsiderate, free loaders and general jerks are being black listed from my buddy list (I assume that's what it's there for). I am sick of people assuming that you are that their beck and call, you will hold items indefinitely,negotiate prices after that fact, short changing you, standing you up etc.

I have an idea, why don't we initiate our own rating system starting off with the Premium members. I will generate a "tank of trust" icon that all buyer/seller approved members would have next to their username in the headers of their threads - next to the 'I support SDREEFS icon'. In order to get it you have to apply for it though me with five supporting members recommendations all of which have to have the seal.

All I need is some support and the permission of the moderators to place the new icon in the users account and hey presto we have a credited seller/buyer and it can be taken away on a three strikes basis.

I assume that we would start it off with automatic seal awards to people like: Jasper, Victortrav, SDFISHMAN, YOLO, ERIC F, VINNEY etc. the veterans and members people trust and go from there!

What do you think...

[Trickman2]

Not a bad Idea but it would seem to get somewhat subjective. For this to be fair and effective I feel you are going to have to set a clearer set of guidelines and avoid leaving the power in one members hands.

Just my opinion

[mazilla]

This idea seems a bit overkill to me. the "selfish, inconsiderate, free loaders and general jerks" are part of the cost of doing business. all of the classifications you listed are "in the eye of the beholder" so to speak. people have the right to be jerks, selfish, inconsiderate and to negotiate prices whenever they choose. some members wishing to impose their particular opinion on who "deserves" to be a participating member and buy/sell frags seems a little ridiculous to me.

[JHAI4]

It's not subjective because if there are five recommendations then they get the seal... It's not up to me it's up to the approved members.

[Trickman2]

It's not subjective because if there are five recommendations then they get the seal... It's not up to me it's up to the approved members.


Again not a horrible idea but it needs to be refined and all the subjective aspects removed.

[JHAI4]

I understand your point of view, but the quality of ethics and therefore the quality of this site is on the line. Look at Yolo's experiences it's horrific, it's more of a question of do we as a community what a better forum or are we willing to let it go down hill?


This idea seems a bit overkill to me. the "selfish, inconsiderate, free loaders and general jerks" are part of the cost of doing business. all of the classifications you listed are "in the eye of the beholder" so to speak. people have the right to be jerks, selfish, inconsiderate and to negotiate prices whenever they choose. some members wishing to impose their particular opinion on who "deserves" to be a participating member and buy/sell frags seems a little ridiculous to me.

[SDguy]

I go more with the water-off-a-duck's-back attitute. I think over 4 years on reefcentral thickened my skin, and that's not even dealing with people locally ;) I'm dying to know what happened to you though to bring up this thread :D

Try ocean1 for info about the rating type systems he uses on his website...

[mazilla]

Another point, there are not enough members here that we need a large scale rating system. how long does it take to figure out you dont want to business with somebody in the future? there are only a select number of people here that sell frags on a continuous basis, so this entire system is basically for their pleasure and convenience. it adversely effects the new guy or the person who does not buy often like some of us. when you put up a frag it then becomes who has the best rating so i can give them first pick. again, this is a tool for the convenience of the seller and THIS IS NOT EBAY. i could see if there were even hundreds of different users to rate, but we know who everybody is already. it seems like a waste of time for us and the administrators who will have to create this whole thing, and in return deal with the potential problems that will arise.

[JHAI4]

Thanks Peter.

I was trying to come up with a solution rather then just complain. However, without the support of the members, I will simply have to take you up on your suggestion of "water-off-a-duck's-back attitude"!


I go more with the water-off-a-duck's-back attitute. I think over 4 years on reefcentral thickened my skin, and that's not even dealing with people locally ;) I'm dying to know what happened to you though to bring up this thread :D

Try ocean1 for info about the rating type systems he uses on his website...

[JHAI4]

Mazila,

I am not just talking about frags but rather selling in general. I do not want to get into a debate with you as this was not the intent, your objection is well noted. Thank you for your feedback.

[dbrooks]

Mazilla, are you the ACLU in drag? Not everything is fair.

[Trickman2]

JHAI3,
Don't let everyone get you down a rating system would be a good thing but I would hope we could just get a fair system and one that is not subjective.

Good luck

[dbrooks]

The whole WORLD is subjective. We left "that's not fair" on the elementary school playground. I am all for the most draconian rating system possible!

[swissfish]

Yes, why don't we just call guys out on the board in a feedback section. Name the names and offence.
Maybe it is not politicaly correct but people will be warned of some potential flakes. (kinda like jessicas law)

[victortrav]

i appreciate the vote of confidence there justin and i feel your pain i think in a hobby that can get as expensive as this one you will get individuals that have next to no morals or ethics when it comes to a deal sellers here will extract the very last penny they can from something and buyers will save that penny if they can. A rating system has been talked about since ive been on this board, but no concensus as to how it should work. The best advice i can give ya is to hold your ground. If you set a price keep it and if the buyer wants to haggle tell them to kick rocks. There is usually a line for items on here so the next person will take it. Same goes for buying.

[mazilla]

Mazilla, are you the ACLU in drag? Not everything is fair.


aclu in drag? i'm not following you.

[dbrooks]

It was an apparently bad joke.

[mazilla]

The whole WORLD is subjective. We left "that's not fair" on the elementary school playground. I am all for the most draconian rating system possible!


it's only gonna bite you in your draconian ass, mark my words.


what your not seeing is the potential that heavy buyers have to completely corner the market on the cherry frags. who are you gonna sell to, the new guy with none of these rediculous ratings or the guy who runs around and buys everything so he can sell it for a mark up later. if your all fine with that, there is something wrong.


AGAIN, THIS IS NOT EBAY. selling frags(or anything else) is not the sole intent of this site. if you want to profit, go open a legitamite shop, dont try to muscle out the little guys.

[mazilla]

It was an apparently bad joke.


ohhh, are you saying the aclu is full of women? since i am a guy, i would be in drag. i agree, that was a bad joke.

[dbrooks]

I never sell frags. I am one of the "little guys" looking to buy. I don't think that your forecast of rule-by-the-few will come to pass. I know that I can always get things at a fair price from YOLO...

[dbrooks]

ohhh, are you saying the aclu is full of women? since i am a guy, i would be in drag. i agree, that was a bad joke.
Nt really what I meant...I'll just drop it.

[mazilla]

i'm not offended, just curious as to what you could have meant. unless you were trying to call me a woman, but @ 6' 250lbs with a full beard and a hairy chest, i would make one ugly woman(to most of us anyways).

[Poacher]

THIS IS NOT EBAY.

We are close-nit group of hobbiest who are more concerned about SDreefs and Reefing then buying or selling. That includes being patient with all the flaky people who are great people outside the fact that they are flaky. Remember this is a hobbiest board, not Craigslist!

[Poacher]

AGAIN, THIS IS NOT EBAY. selling frags(or anything else) is not the sole intent of this site. if you want to profit, go open a legitamite shop, dont try to muscle out the little guys.

OOH, Mazilla, 2 for 2 on the best post of the day!:D

[Poacher]

P.S- Discussions on the ACLU would destroy this board...so stop it!;) :D :D

[swissfish]

it's only gonna bite you in your draconian ass, mark my words.


what your not seeing is the potential that heavy buyers have to completely corner the market on the cherry frags. who are you gonna sell to, the new guy with none of these rediculous ratings or the guy who runs around and buys everything so he can sell it for a mark up later. if your all fine with that, there is something wrong.


AGAIN, THIS IS NOT EBAY. selling frags(or anything else) is not the sole intent of this site. if you want to profit, go open a legitamite shop, dont try to muscle out the little guys.

I have no problem selling and giving away stuff to new guys, but I would like to be warned of flakes and bad apples.

[swissfish]

We are close-nit group of hobbiest who are more concerned about SDreefs and Reefing then buying or selling. That includes being patient with all the flacky people who are great people outside the fact that they are flacky. Remember this is a hobbiest board, not Craigslist!

But a lot of people don't want to deal with flakes, life is to buisy and short for that.

[mazilla]

But a lot of people don't want to deal with flakes, life is to buisy and short for that.

i'm not trying to be rude but, tough sh*t. if you dont want to deal with flakes, dont deal at all. this is not supposed to be a place of buisness for 99% of us(minus the sponsors of course).

[mazilla]

are there really that many people who are setting up pickup times getting directions and then not showing up? i have never had that happen to me(of course i have only sold/traded with a half dozen people), and i have never done that to anybody else. what kind of flake numbers are we talking about here, 1 out of 5, 2 out of 3, etc. ?

[swissfish]

2 out of 10. (not counting the 2 calling you the day of pick up to cancle wich doesen't bother me at all as long as i know what is going on)

the higher the sale price the higher the flake rate.

[SDguy]

the higher the sale price the higher the flake rate.

Interesting...I've experienced the opposite. The cheapest stuff has gotten flaked on more than anything for me (very few total though for me at all).

[barometer]

I'm on the fence here. One one side, I agree people should be held accountable for their flakiness and I would have no problem adhering to a rating system. On the other, this is a public board that is not solely for the purpose of selling and ratings would cause some tension. I don't think the forecast of rule-by-the-few will come to pass either, though there would be some form of it rearing it's ugly head.

I've not sold anything here yet, so I have no experience with flaky buyers. But I have been a buyer many times and feel it's only appropriate to follow through with my end of the deal. My guilt won't let me do it any other way, but I realize that differs from person to person. Maybe the best thing to do would be to put it out in the open. If a bad transaction happens, bring it out and let both sides give their story. Then the rest of the board can make their ignore choices as they see fit. It isn't PC, but we're mostly adults here, right? :)

[convict]

Why not just have a feedback area. We are all adults here and I would like to think that we as individuals can read through feedback and see if this person is a repeat offender or if they may have had one bad dealing. Of course if you are dealing with this person for the first time and they flake on you, you are going to have a bad opinion or a gut instinct to call them a flake. But there may have been 99 positive feedbacks with others where the person was ontime, paid what was agreed upon and both parties left happy.

The main difference between here and ebay is that people are not dealing with paypal or UPS or the postal service. Some people live a good distance from others and when you are dealing with San Diego traffic and conflicting scheduling, it can be difficult to plan accordingly for a happy medium to meet up. Then add ontop of that your family and everything they have going on and sometimes agreed upon times have to change and be flexible. I just hope that everyone takes that into consideration before considering someone a flake.

[marineman1978]

[QUOTE=SDguy]I go more with the water-off-a-duck's-back attitute. I think over 4 years on reefcentral thickened my skin, and that's not even dealing with people locally ;) I'm dying to know what happened to you though to bring up this thread :D



I agree with you peter. water-off-a-duck's-back. I've been flaked on before and I feel thats just part of the deal here. I don't take offense to it. It just sucks.

[Techknowledgy]

Let me see:
You can buy stuff here for a fraction of the cost of the LFS. You can find someone to buy your stuff right away, but the cost of doing that is you have to sell it cheaper. If you need advice, or a second opinion, you can get it here, for free. If you need ideas, again, you can get them here for free.
Are there flakes here? Yup. They are everywhere.

Free is good.

[DaveMorris]

It is simple....If someone jerks you around, stop being a wimp and relate the incident here openly. If the offender wants to, they can voice their rebuttle. I, for one, am not at all afraid to name names if/when I get flaked on. If I flake out on someone, which to my knowledge has not yet happened, I fully expect the rath to come down on me. I have never understood what the reluctance to tell everyone what happened comes from. If you are telling the truth, it shouldn't matter.