Changes to Classified Ads board

[RossW]

I am not sure if the reference to posting complaints is directed towards this thread or not.  If it was not in reference to this thread, then ignore my statement.

In defense of the thread, I think everyone gave it a chance and was only providing their opinions and suggestions in the interest of the club.  IMHO, it has been very mature and open minded.

If users of the forum spent more time working for the best of the club rather than just posting complaints on a keyboard, we'd sure have a better group.

[audioslave_36]

The reason the club has an Executive is to make decisions on behalf of the membership. You can't have polls to decide every issue that confronts a club. If you don't like the decisions that the Executive make, then one should run for the positions available and make the changes they feel best represent the membership. We are all ready to see some new faces "anti up to the bar"!!
If users of the forum spent more time working for the best of the club rather than just posting complaints on a keyboard, we'd sure have a better group.

is this for real ?  the webmaster set up the poll to get our input, so who are you to put us down? mabye you should stay away from your keyboard!

[cichlidicted]

I was hoping someone would come out and speak bout these recent changes to the C/F ... they truly are disappointing. Just because it reduces the time needed to review the posts doesn't mean its good. I usually post 1 "WANTED" ad and get a couple of replies every time i bump it !!... now i have to wait another 30 days to get more replies.

To tell you the truth ... ovas.ca was no.1 on my list for posting ads.... now i visit Usedottawa and Kijiji first then ovas.

I also liked the replies cause it works as a "FAQ" thingi...

It also sometimes, works as a feedback for the seller. Other people can benefit. Isn't this what ovas is about... a society !? to help each other.

I really dont understand the point behind these new updates... And in response to members who support these new changes.... (NO OFFENSE TO ANYONE).

Anyone who elects him/her self to a position on ovas SHOULD HAVE THE TIME TO MODERATE..... thats a position he/she chose and should take its responsibility completely. If no time is available then please step aside and let someone else do the job. Second, A member who represents a society should take the right decisions. If a decisions is hard to make, discussions could be useful, if not, polls would do good. Unless, this is a dactatorial kinda thing and we should obay.

Third, mr. markw with all respect. If anyone has a complain and whatever the complain is. This is not a way to respond; as a member of ovas. I'd like to thank fischkopp for providing the oppurtunity to comment.


I think i said enough... please dont take this personally, am just saying whats on my head.
Thank you & Goodluck all

[FocusFin]

 

[bitterman]

I was hoping someone would come out and speak bout these recent changes to the C/F ... they truly are disappointing. Just because it reduces the time needed to review the posts doesn't mean its good. I usually post 1 "WANTED" ad and get a couple of replies every time i bump it !!... now i have to wait another 30 days to get more replies.

If you have a paid OVAS membership, you can bump any add in the classified section. Its only $20 for the whole year. Thats nothing compared to what some people spend weekly on say lotery tickets, beer, smokes etc.

I support the changes to the classified section. Their has been way too many people tread crapping in the classified section for too long. Do you really relaize the time require to moderate a site of this size? It takes many many people hours and hours per day. Then for all their hard work and dontated time people send nast pm's and critisize everything they do. Does not make them feel good for the work they do I'm sure. It simply does not make sense to have people spend there time here working hard for OVAS donating there time becuase people don't know enought not to post converstations in the classifieds. That is the way it was and you all got out of hand for too long so this was the result. Your own fault for being naughty children! Like all things a numerious bad apples have resulted in lost privledges for the rest of us.

Look at the exec. How many of them have been exec's for say 10 years running? You think maybe there is a reason? It takes time, patience, more patience, and there is a larger voice from people who try to run the club that don't even donate twards it.  Some of these users don't even try to give back to the OVAS comunity in any way either its just take take take... and when something change they start complaining the most.

Bruce

[RoxyDog]

I am personally on the fence about what to do with the classifieds.  I'd like to allow discussion in the classifieds A BIT, b/c I do think we can learn from it.  BUT, too many people abused it.  It got difficult to moderate, and often it was not OVAS members who abused it.  It's frustrating to see people who don't give a damn come in and make a mess of things.  It ruins it for those who do give a damn.  The way it is now at least gives some benefit to those who go out of their way to support the club, their ads get some priority. 

In response to markw's post, I think he's right...and I don't think he's trying to put anyone down.  I think he's just saying that you elect officials to the Executive/Parliament/whatever to make choices for you.  Hopefully that will be in your best interest.  But note, only OVAS members can vote, and we act in what we think is the best interest of OVAS members, no one else.  I think he's also saying that if you think there needs to be a different spin on things, well then step up and help us.  Or even that we'd like to see more people at the meetings, more involvement overall, instead of JUST online.  BTW, thank you to those who volunteered for the Exec this year, but you'll note, there aren't even enough people to fill all of the Executive positions.  What does that tell you?   

In this particular case, I think it's fine that we implemented the change, then had some discussion and a poll about how it was going.  BUT we can't have polls every time we do anything, we'd never get anything done.  We really try to achieve a happy medium around here, but sometimes it just can't be done and we must just do what we think is best. 

[fischkopp]

Absolutely!  

I am not sure if it has been said, but one THE main reason for implementing this change is that OVAS wants to move the focus of its web-site back aquatic discussions, rather than being commonly known as a marketplace for aquarium goods. After all, OVAS is an aquarium club and shall represent itself accordingly. Has everyone read what OVAS is about? Here is a little reminder taken from front page:

The Ottawa Valley Aquarium Society (OVAS) is a non-profit, educational, and recreational organization. It has four main objectives:
   * to further the study of all forms of aquatic life,  
   * to promote interest, exchange ideas, and distribute information concerning the hobby,  
   * to encourage breeding and displaying of aquatic life,  
   * and to work toward the conservation of endangered species.  

Our thinking is that, by reducing the weight of the classifieds on OVAS, we get the focus back to aquatic discussion. We do not want to be known as the "place where you can get cheap stuff". We want to be perceived as aquatic community that encourages everyone to think a little about fish, plant and coral keeping, and maybe to do a bit more and try new challenges. This will no happen over night, we are aware of that, but we think that there is potential to establish a vivid community if the club gets back to its roots.

Keeping this in mind it becomes obvious that one can get quite frustrated, if a change of format draws so much attention expressing their lack of understanding, while other discussions that ask for active involvement in the club and the hobby remain widely unnoticed.

Now, are you just shopping around or are you keeping fish? Happy fish-keeping everyone!

[Brine]

I find it really entertaining and interesting to see that there are almost two distinct sides to this discussion. Some people think the changes are good and necessary and others think they are bad and unnecessary. It also shows up in the way people comment. Some will offer an opinion and others will complain. I guess it depends on which side you find yourself. It is kind of like the saying "one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist"

As for myself I really miss the discussions that used to happen in the classifieds but if the club wants to keep the changes then so be it. The changes as they are now mean I personally enjoy the site less. That is unfortunate for me but it is "our" club so whatever we decide is what will be.

[FocusFin]

I was hoping someone would come out and speak bout these recent changes to the C/F ... they truly are disappointing. Just because it reduces the time needed to review the posts doesn't mean its good. I usually post 1 "WANTED" ad and get a couple of replies every time i bump it !!... now i have to wait another 30 days to get more replies.

If you have a paid OVAS membership, you can bump any add in the classified section. Its only $20 for the whole year. Thats nothing compared to what some people spend weekly on say lotery tickets, beer, smokes etc.
Bruce

Cichlidicted,

Come to the meeting tonight and bring $5.00, I will spring for the rest for your membership.

I'm not trying to be a smart*ss, I just think that once you have a membership you might see the benefit in it both for yourself and for the club. The first time you use it at Big Al's you'll pay yourself back.

Consider it my way of thanking the people who continually step up for the club.

Mike

[gauthier613]

My Vote is with Brine

How do we add a Poll?

[garnpet]

How do we add a Poll?

It's already been done for you.

http://ovas.ca/index.php?topic=37087.new#new

[markw]

I'm not trying to offend anyone with comments about how they use the club and its website. But it does need to be said that the classified section of the site occupies the majority of the issues dealt with by the Exec. Most Aquarium societies, either don't have a classified section in their forum, or they have deleted the feedback section as well. http://www.kwas.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=12381
The PM is still available to access info, and there is always the opportunity to start a new thread in a different section if a classified generates interest for discussion.
The club needs good people to run it and tonights meeting is important to spark new blood into the Exec. If my post got some people excited, then it served its purpose. Get involved and help the club in a positive way!

[presto]

I'm glad to see a poll out on this issue, the results so far are very close. Thank you for considering my request.

Personal Interest :

What is involved in moderating?

How much time would one need to commit each week on this?

Is it something that can be divided into smaller pieces?

Basically giving fischkopp(I assume) a small team to spread the workload around.

[Brine]

I just googled "aquarium societies in Canada". On the fist page of links 7 of 9 clubs have classified sections.
That is nearly 80% (77.77%)
Of the ones that do have such sections 4 of 7 can be replied in. So 57.15.% can be replied to.

You could say we are not the only ones to experience this phenomenon but to say that ...

Most Aquarium societies, either don't have a classified section in their forum, or they have deleted the feedback section as well.

is just not true...
The truth is that just over 20% (22.33%) have no classified sections and just over 40% (42.85%) have no reply options.



Here are the links...
http://www.eastcoastaquariumsociety.ca/forum/viewforum.php?id=6
Classifieds available, reply possible

http://www.reginaaquariumsociety.ca/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=5
Classifieds available, reply possible

http://ovas.ca/index.php?board=6.0
Classifieds available, no reply possible

http://forums.dras.ca/phpbb3/viewforum.php?f=25&sid=a1650f748f84e64bd0bc5b824d2a8708 Durham Region
Classifieds available, reply possible

http://www.calgaryaquariumsociety.com/classifieds.php
Classifieds available, no reply possible

http://brantaquariumsociety.ca/forum/index.php?board=33.0
Classifieds available, reply possible

http://www.asw.ca/links.html Winnipeg
no personal classifieds

http://www.kwas.ca/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=19
Classifieds available, no reply possible

http://www.saskatoonaquarium.com/phpBB/index.php?sid=e47cdc846d2fb7d6a7e21155358b1333
no personal classifieds

[bitterman]

If memory serves me corectly........ 
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/
No reply in classified

http://www.cyphos.com
No reply in classified

http://frontosa.com
No reply in classified

[charlie]

I can tell you from my vantage view, the baby sitting of the Classified forum is way down, it`s only the few that try to delete & re post their post in order to get around the no bump for non members, fortunately this is only done by a small few.

The other big difference, is that their is less need for the members to be bumping their post everyday & in some instances 1/2 a day in the past, since their is no more long discussions & filling up the first page, prior to the change a classified post would be on page 2 or 3 by the next day.

I also feel that discussion is better served in the respective forums, simply because the post are archive their  for revisiting, this is not the case when a lengthy discussion occurs in the classified & the item is sold & the thread is removed.
I don`t think the discussion has been any less prior to the change, what is different is the unnecessary posting/discussion in the classifieds is no longer their, which gives the appearance that their is less posting, this can be viewed as sad, i highly doubt the purpose of the forum is most effective as a market place.

[Brine]

It looks like whichever way we go half of us won't like it.

[Brine]

Your own fault for being naughty children! Like all things a numerious bad apples have resulted in lost privledges for the rest of us.
Bruce

is that you mother?

[Nerine]

usedottawa you can't reply to the classifieds on the page...you have to pm the person!

so I don't really see the big deal...
I like it!! saves people from being flamed or bashed in public in their advertisement.

Hey we're lucky to have a classified board the aquarium club I used to frequent didn't have one! their website consisted of one page saying where they could be found!!

Personally I like the change and voted so

[FocusFin]

I just googled "aquarium societies in Canada". On the fist page of links 7 of 9 clubs have classified sections.
That is nearly 80% (77.77%)
Of the ones that do have such sections 4 of 7 can be replied in. So 57.15.% can be replied to.

You could say we are not the only ones to experience this phenomenon but to say that ...

is just not true...
The truth is that just over 20% (22.33%) have no classified sections and just over 40% (42.85%) have no reply options.

Goes to show you how statistics can be open to interpretation. I read this as 4 out of 9 Aquarium Societies have classifieds that can be replied to, so in fact that's 55% that choose a no reply option. The fact that two clubs don't have a classified to begin with is all part of the same argument.


Edit:

It's kind of like saying " 4 out of 5 dentists who use Colgate recommend it to their patients". What about the other 5 dentists questioned who don't use it and would not recommend it to their patients.