can someone please delete the items that have been sold?

[+Super20]

I'm a new guy here trying to week my way through posts looking for a decent gps and everytime i find something interesting....it ends up being sold. Is there a way that those posts can be deleted or moved to an archive or something to help us newbies on the geocaching front out? Kind of frustrating. And whoever reads this...I'm looking for an inexpensive handheld gps that will work with my Apple powerboook G4 if you can help a guy out.

[+Cacheoholic]

You used to be able to close your own topic in the good old days. Some found ways to abuse that and that door was closed. Now moderators are the only ones that can delete posts.

[+benjamin921]

... Kind of frustrating.

Yup. I'm not sure why it got so out of hand (I didn't think that it was bad but who am I huh?). Maybe time for an additional mod in the GPS Garage Sale.?

[Stephen2]

Maybe time for an additional mod in the GPS Garage Sale.?

PLEASE- No more. Too many as it is!

 

You only probably buy a GPS off of here once in a while, so it is only a minor inconvenience to search through the threads. Besides, after you do it once, no need to do it again.

[+benjamin921]

Maybe time for an additional mod in the GPS Garage Sale.?

PLEASE- No more. Too many as it is!

 

You only probably buy a GPS off of here once in a while, so it is only a minor inconvenience to search through the threads. Besides, after you do it once, no need to do it again.

There are only two moderators for this board, is that too many? Having closed threads makes it so much easier for people to work their way through the threads so they don't keep going back to the same one all the time by mistake.

[Stephen2]

There are only two moderators for this board, is that too many? Having closed threads makes it so much easier for people to work their way through the threads so they don't keep going back to the same one all the time by mistake.

2 mods for about a dozen different threads in one day? Even if it was 50 threads a day that is excessive.

[+Super20]

At the expense of possibly sounding sarcastic....why wouldn't you want a clean forum? Clean from clutter that doesn't need to be there. Maybe if someone were to pm the expired topic address to a mod...it takes 5 seconds to get rid of it. I know you probably only look for one once and the odds of coming back for another are pretty high, but it sure does make it a lot easier for people to find what they are looking for. Marketplace forums aren't like other forums that can be left alone. I was more or less maybe wondering if people could delete their own posts or if someone could maybe take a quick scan through to delete some old posts.

[Stephen2]

A clean forum would be fine with me.

 

Deleting your own posts/threads would be nice too.

 

As it is now there are already so many mods. Im sure most of them are fine. IMO some though use their personal feelings to affect what they do though. I have seen it several times.

 

But hey, it is just my opinion.

[+Cardinal Red]

Every post has a REPORT button. That brings the reported post to the attention of the MODS. I'm sure it was designed to quickly identify posts with inappropriate content. But it would just as quickly identify a Garage sale where the item is sold and the Thread was never closed. I would wait a while before reporting threads with items identified as sold. Sometimes the initial deal falls through. Sometimes the buyer might want to leave feedback.

[+user13371]

Puzzled.

 

Post #2 says some features were locked down because users found a way to "abuse" them. What form of abuse takes place when users are allowed to lock, delete, or rename topics they have created?

 

About the only thing I can think of -- if someone deleted a product description after an item is sold... and if there was a dispute later they might claim "I never said I would include the XYZ thingy with the GPS."

 

But users are allowed to edit the content of posts for some time after posting, so even now that potential for abuse still exists.

[+Cardinal Red]

Puzzled.

 

Post #2 says some features were locked down because users found a way to "abuse" them. What form of abuse takes place when users are allowed to lock, delete, or rename topics they have created?

 

About the only thing I can think of -- if someone deleted a product description after an item is sold... and if there was a dispute later they might claim "I never said I would include the XYZ thingy with the GPS."

 

But users are allowed to edit the content of posts for some time after posting, so even now that potential for abuse still exists.

 

Hi Lee. The "abuse" was not in the Garage Sale Forum. When an OP in any Forum had to ability to LOCK their own threads, they also had the ability to Re-open them after they were locked down by a MOD. And some did. In a perfect world the Lock Down and Re-open privlidges could be seperated. But since that is part of the Forum Software code, it is not something Groundspeak can modify. So it's all or nothing for the average user. And after the "abuse" it became nothing.

 

I have only been here about 3 years and in that time we never could Delete posts or Modify Forum Titles. And you Post edit capability is only good for 24 hours.

[+PapaDean]

I'm a new guy here trying to week my way through posts looking for a decent gps and everytime i find something interesting....it ends up being sold. Is there a way that those posts can be deleted or moved to an archive or something to help us newbies on the geocaching front out? Kind of frustrating. And whoever reads this...I'm looking for an inexpensive handheld gps that will work with my Apple powerboook G4 if you can help a guy out.

 

I believe one of the reasons for leaving sold items on the board is to give users a chance to look back and see what things have been priced at and sold for in the recent past. That being said, historical prices over 3-6 months old are probably not useful. Perhaps the moderators could advise what criteria they use to remove listings for sold items?

[Keystone]

If a thread is reported by the OP with a request to close it, I will close it... especially in this forum.

 

I don't get hardly any of those requests.

 

Absent a request from the OP, old topics can slip off the page.

[+Mopar]

Puzzled.

 

Post #2 says some features were locked down because users found a way to "abuse" them. What form of abuse takes place when users are allowed to lock, delete, or rename topics they have created?

 

About the only thing I can think of -- if someone deleted a product description after an item is sold... and if there was a dispute later they might claim "I never said I would include the XYZ thingy with the GPS."

 

But users are allowed to edit the content of posts for some time after posting, so even now that potential for abuse still exists.

 

Hi Lee. The "abuse" was not in the Garage Sale Forum. When an OP in any Forum had to ability to LOCK their own threads, they also had the ability to Re-open them after they were locked down by a MOD. And some did. In a perfect world the Lock Down and Re-open privlidges could be seperated. But since that is part of the Forum Software code, it is not something Groundspeak can modify. So it's all or nothing for the average user. And after the "abuse" it became nothing.

 

I have only been here about 3 years and in that time we never could Delete posts or Modify Forum Titles. And you Post edit capability is only good for 24 hours.

Remember, the garage sale section is just a tiny part of a large forum with hundreds of posts and thousands of users a day. Even if you figure less then 1% of people are jerks, that's still a fair amount of jerks. The feature and controls of the forum would apply to all sections, not just this one.

Some other forms of abuse:

Like was already mentioned, reopening a thread that a mod had closed.

 

Posting an opinion or taking a parting shot and then closing the thread so people can't disagree or defend themselves.

 

Going back and editing a post so the replies are out of context or have no meaning. For example; I post a thread how we should be allowed to edit threads. A bunch of people post "yeah, I agree with Mopar!", then later I go back and change the title and post to read "Stephen2 is a jerk".

 

Deleting entire threads full of helpful or historical info. I can give you plenty of examples where people have deleted legit cache finds, deleted their own logs, or gone back and deleted all the content of their posts over some petty issue or other. Take this old thread for example: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=57843

The OP deleted his posts and all his cache logs because nobody agreed with him that he should be the only person in the world allowed to use a lizard avatar in the forums. Years later it still makes for good reading, and is a well-known part of the GC.com forums history. It surely would have been deleted totally if the OP had been allowed to do so. More in line with this section. Cacher A posts a gps for sale. Cacher B agrees to buy it and sends the money. Cacher A doesn't send the GPS, and then deletes the entire thread so there is no history of the sale agreement. Or maybe Cacher A posts a like new 76csx for sale, then ships an old yellow etrex and edits his post to say that's what he was selling all along.

 

Overall, allowing those features would (and has in the past) caused all sorts of problems site-wide. Enabling them just to save a few seconds in one of the least used forums of the entire site (4000 topics, 14,000 TOTAL posts ever. Some other forums sections see more traffic than that in a single month) while making more work and problems for everyone else is nuts.

[+user13371]

Mopar - Thanks for the expansive reply on how user privileges have been misused. My puzzlement came entirely from not realizing the moderators couldn't more precisely limit the scope of those settings.

 

Obviously, if a change like "allow users in the Garage Sale forum to lock their own threads" really means "Let users do whatever they want to any topic or post they create in any forum" then there's not much you can but lock the things down.