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Please can we have our UK Car Boot thread back


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On the 8th May the popular Car Boot thread used for the exchange of second hand equipment was removed from the UK forum (see here)

 

Since it was absorbed into the "worldwide" i.e. American thread there have been almost not posts relevant to the UK. I've just had a quick look and I can find two posts pertaining to the UK, and guess how many replies those two postings have had? Correct - zero!

 

I realise that the decision to close it was not taken by our UK moderator, rather it was imposed on him so I'm not getting at him. I'm making this plea for common sense to those who make these decisions. Please let us have our thread back as anything advertised there is almost certainly to be relevant to just UK cachers. The current arrangement just isn't working.

 

Thank you.

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On the 8th May the popular Car Boot thread used for the exchange of second hand equipment was removed from the UK forum (see here)

 

Since it was absorbed into the "worldwide" i.e. American thread there have been almost not posts relevant to the UK. I've just had a quick look and I can find two posts pertaining to the UK, and guess how many replies those two postings have had? Correct - zero!

 

I realise that the decision to close it was not taken by our UK moderator, rather it was imposed on him so I'm not getting at him. I'm making this plea for common sense to those who make these decisions. Please let us have our thread back as anything advertised there is almost certainly to be relevant to just UK cachers. The current arrangement just isn't working.

 

Thank you.

 

Groundspeak moved it to the proper forum because that is where all threads like it belongs. However, understanding that out of site = out of mind I have pinned the link to the top of this forum thread list. You can now access the thread from this forum and it can still reside in the proper forum. This was the original plan but there was a problem when it was moved and pinned. I believe I have solved that problem. As it is now, pinned at the top, it will always be easy to find.

 

I hope you find this solution acceptable.

Edited by Michael
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On the 8th May the popular Car Boot thread used for the exchange of second hand equipment was removed from the UK forum (see here)

 

Since it was absorbed into the "worldwide" i.e. American thread there have been almost not posts relevant to the UK. I've just had a quick look and I can find two posts pertaining to the UK, and guess how many replies those two postings have had? Correct - zero!

 

I realise that the decision to close it was not taken by our UK moderator, rather it was imposed on him so I'm not getting at him. I'm making this plea for common sense to those who make these decisions. Please let us have our thread back as anything advertised there is almost certainly to be relevant to just UK cachers. The current arrangement just isn't working.

 

Thank you.

 

Groundspeak moved it to the proper forum because that is where all threads like it belongs. However, understanding that out of site = out of mind I have pinned the link to the top of this forum thread list. You can now access the thread from this forum and it can still reside in the proper forum. This was the original plan but there was a problem when it was moved and pinned. I believe I have solved that problem. As it is now, pinned at the top, it will always be easy to find.

 

I hope you find this solution acceptable.

As I suspected would be the case, it just ain't worth waisting your breath in this place as GSP really DO NOT listen :) . Do it their way or not at all :) .

 

The only option seems to be to do what fraggle69 suggested:

 

We already had this as a supposed solution on our "Multiple Pinned Topics" thread, all this has done is added clutter to the pinned topics which the "Multiple Pinned Topics" thread was designed to reduce. By doing it this way, unless you regularly visit "GPS Garage Sale" page you will not know that an item has been posted for sale. It is pointless having a forum of this type if the majority of your potential customers do not see it on a regular basis.

 

[me]Bangs head on wall[/me]

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I hope you find this solution acceptable.

Thanks for that Michael but it doesn't address the problem that the thread over in the "main" forum is totally dominated by sales from one country. That's fine and I don't have a problem with American cachers having an outlet for such sales, I encourage a bit of free enterprise.

 

The problem we have is that anything local to us gets "buried" in amongst the majority of stuff that is of no relevance to us. This then becomes self defeating as if you know you are unlikely to get a response you don't bother advertising, and without local adverts people stop visiting. Classic Catch 22. Try putting yourself into the position of a UK based geocacher searching for something you might be interested in. I'm not saying it can't be done, I'm just saying that it is impractical.

 

I believe, as I did when I was responsible for allowing the thread to continue, that this is a good example of where flexibility in a local forum benefits everybody. I can't imagine ANY user of the "main" thread objecting. Neither can I see any danger of the approach causing a proliferation of irrelevant duplicate threads. If it didn't happen over the past 5 years I see little likelihood of it happening now.

 

Please ask those in charge to reconsider this specific request.

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Sorry, am I mssing something here now.

 

I was all in agreement with having it back and what seems to have hppened is it now appears in the pinned topics at the top of the UK forum and we can just click on it and post away. It's not a topic I ever look at or use, or at least not to date, but it is no longer in the main forum body where it would slide down the pages but is easily findable at the top. It is no longer on the US side of things.

 

Of course, I my be missing something obvious. Rather like when I look for 1 rated caches! :)

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.........it didn't happen over the past 5 years I see little likelihood of it happening now.

 

Please ask those in charge to reconsider this specific request.

 

 

....and thus demonstrate that GSP can listen to one of its client groups, and is prepared to meet their appropriate requests :) .

 

Alternatively you could continue to demonstrate what some of us in UK now believe - that you could not care one iota about us :) .

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I hope you find this solution acceptable.

Thanks for that Michael but it doesn't address the problem that the thread over in the "main" forum is totally dominated by sales from one country. That's fine and I don't have a problem with American cachers having an outlet for such sales, I encourage a bit of free enterprise.

 

The problem we have is that anything local to us gets "buried" in amongst the majority of stuff that is of no relevance to us. This then becomes self defeating as if you know you are unlikely to get a response you don't bother advertising, and without local adverts people stop visiting. Classic Catch 22. Try putting yourself into the position of a UK based geocacher searching for something you might be interested in. I'm not saying it can't be done, I'm just saying that it is impractical.

 

I believe, as I did when I was responsible for allowing the thread to continue, that this is a good example of where flexibility in a local forum benefits everybody. I can't imagine ANY user of the "main" thread objecting. Neither can I see any danger of the approach causing a proliferation of irrelevant duplicate threads. If it didn't happen over the past 5 years I see little likelihood of it happening now.

 

Please ask those in charge to reconsider this specific request.

 

Anything posted to that thread that is not in the UK would be off topic and can be reported. That thread is not dominated by anyone at the moment. So there is no reason to believe that the thread will contain anything but UK stuff for sale. As I said if someone puts something there that is not for sale in the UK then its off topic and should be removed. The forum is for sales of items that meet the guidelines from/to all cachers. The UK thread is for sales of items in the UK only.

 

For those that feel they do not want to go to that forum to see if there is something new all you need do is subscribe to the thread. You will be notified when there is something new in the thread.

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Hangs head in shame :)

 

I offer my apologies to Michael as the original thread is unchanged in content, it has just moved location. I had missed it being pinned to the top of the general forum, I was just scrolling through the body of the thread and all I could see were postings from American cachers.

 

I see now that we still have "our" thread, albeit somewhere else, so I am reasonably happy with this solution. I was wrong, sorry.

 

Just goes to show how you can miss the "bleedin' obvious"!! :)

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Can we lock this thread now before someone gets the wrong end of the stick again. I was just going to comment myself until I read the last post.

It is now at the top for good and probably the best place for it but I have never been to a garage sale before.

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Hangs head in shame :)

 

I offer my apologies to Michael as the original thread is unchanged in content, it has just moved location. I had missed it being pinned to the top of the general forum, I was just scrolling through the body of the thread and all I could see were postings from American cachers.

 

I see now that we still have "our" thread, albeit somewhere else, so I am reasonably happy with this solution. I was wrong, sorry.

 

Just goes to show how you can miss the "bleedin' obvious"!! :)

 

It happens. No problem. It is not a big deal.

 

I am glad that its acceptable to you. :)

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Hangs head in shame :)

 

I offer my apologies to Michael as the original thread is unchanged in content, it has just moved location. I had missed it being pinned to the top of the general forum, I was just scrolling through the body of the thread and all I could see were postings from American cachers.

 

I see now that we still have "our" thread, albeit somewhere else, so I am reasonably happy with this solution. I was wrong, sorry.

 

Just goes to show how you can miss the "bleedin' obvious"!! :)

I'd just like to thank our friendly G.O.G for taking the big step of admitting he made a mistake, something I know from experience of working with him for nearly 2 years is a rare occurrence [making a mistake that is :) ].

 

I'd also like to thank Michael for his excellent handling of things ;)

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What a pathetic bag of crap. I did want to sell an item to a UK geocacher. Apparently I am unable to post it in a place likely to be seen by the UK caching population. Off to ebay then...

 

Make sure you list in the correct category, I mistakenly listed a TV in the pink frilly knickers section, and ended up with a 99p offer and a proposal of marrage from an elderly gentleman who assured me he had his own teeth.

 

Good offer.......that telly was crap!

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What a pathetic bag of crap. I did want to sell an item to a UK geocacher. Apparently I am unable to post it in a place likely to be seen by the UK caching population. Off to ebay then...

 

Make sure you list in the correct category, I mistakenly listed a TV in the pink frilly knickers section, and ended up with a 99p offer and a proposal of marrage from an elderly gentleman who assured me he had his own teeth.

 

Good offer.......that telly was crap!

 

Have to say, yes, it is up there in the 'pinned' topics, but -has to be a but!- it appears that the last post in there was Deci on 8th of May... :(

 

 

No one got anything to sell?

 

Where are you guys looking??? :(

 

The pinned topic at the top of the page has 15 entries after the May 8th by Deci!! :(

 

The last one being July 6th. 2008.

 

:)

 

The fact that it is now pinned instead of floating around the forum actually makes life easier... Doh!

Edited by careygang
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Where are you guys looking??? :(

Actually if you look at the list of pinned topics at the top of the UK forum the Car Boot thread has its last entry dated 8th May.

 

This is the problem. Many people, I'm sure, look to the list of topics to see when the last entry was made before reading it. If I see a thread I'm interested in has had a recent entry I'll go and look at it. However if there's nothing new since I last looked why would I open the thread again?

 

With the Car Boot thread you could tell at a glance that someone had made a contribution but not any more. Now you have no idea if something new has been posted without actually going into the thread. When Michael explained that everything was still available after Deci was forced to move the thread I was mollified, but seeing how it works in practice I am forced into another "U" turn. :(

 

I now think that this solution to a non-existing "problem" isn't working effectively and that Groundspeak should allow the thread to be reinstated here.

 

If that is too big a step to take how about expanding upon Lianne's "sell a granny" post and have a thread consisting of links to external local caching forums. Whenever someone posts an advert to a regional forum they post a quick link here. That way we can see that something has been posted but Groundspeak can rest easy that we are not actually advertising anything on their forum. Maybe someone from GSP could comment?

Edited by The Hornet
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Where are you guys looking??? :(

Actually if you look at the list of pinned topics at the top of the UK forum the Car Boot thread has its last entry dated 8th May.

 

This is the problem. Many people, I'm sure, look to the list of topics to see when the last entry was made before reading it. If I see a thread I'm interested in has had a recent entry I'll go and look at it. However if there's nothing new since I last looked why would I open the thread again?

 

With the Car Boot thread you could tell at a glance that someone had made a contribution but not any more. Now you have no idea if something new has been posted without actually going into the thread. When Michael explained that everything was still available after Deci was forced to move the thread I was mollified, but seeing how it works in practice I am forced into another "U" turn. :(

 

I now think that this solution to a non-existing "problem" isn't working effectively and that Groundspeak should allow the thread to be reinstated here.

 

If that is too big a step to take how about expanding upon Lianne's "sell a granny" post and have a thread consisting of links to external local caching forums. Whenever someone posts an advert to a regional forum they post a quick link here. That way we can see that something has been posted but Groundspeak can rest easy that we are not actually advertising anything on their forum. Maybe someone from GSP could comment?

 

Exactly!

 

Or use the GAGB forum.

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Where are you guys looking??? :(

Actually if you look at the list of pinned topics at the top of the UK forum the Car Boot thread has its last entry dated 8th May.

 

This is the problem. Many people, I'm sure, look to the list of topics to see when the last entry was made before reading it. If I see a thread I'm interested in has had a recent entry I'll go and look at it. However if there's nothing new since I last looked why would I open the thread again?

 

With the Car Boot thread you could tell at a glance that someone had made a contribution but not any more. Now you have no idea if something new has been posted without actually going into the thread. When Michael explained that everything was still available after Deci was forced to move the thread I was mollified, but seeing how it works in practice I am forced into another "U" turn. :(

 

I now think that this solution to a non-existing "problem" isn't working effectively and that Groundspeak should allow the thread to be reinstated here.

 

If that is too big a step to take how about expanding upon Lianne's "sell a granny" post and have a thread consisting of links to external local caching forums. Whenever someone posts an advert to a regional forum they post a quick link here. That way we can see that something has been posted but Groundspeak can rest easy that we are not actually advertising anything on their forum. Maybe someone from GSP could comment?

 

OK, I see the problem now.

Not a case of there being no posts, just the way the site works in notifying the posts. Surely not beyond the possibility of resolving, but equally not deserving the tone and language of those recent contributions.

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Surely not beyond the possibility of resolving, but equally not deserving the tone and language of those recent contributions.

As I was being extensively quoted I guess the fault is mine. I thought I was making a polite and measured response to the question. I apologise if my tone and/or language has cause anyone offence although I can't see where.

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With the Car Boot thread you could tell at a glance that someone had made a contribution but not any more. Now you have no idea if something new has been posted without actually going into the thread.

 

Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems that you could find out very quickly if someone has made a contribution by tracking the topic. This is under "Options" (in the thread's title bar), then "Track this Topic", and pick how much you want to be spammed. :)

 

That way you can have e-mail in real time when anyone adds anything to the thread. If the bargains on offer are that good, this is probably even better than occasionally refreshing the list of topic titles. In fact you could even set up a filter on your e-mail to send you an SMS, so you'll never miss a second-hand Etrex again. :lol:

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As stated above the "track option" is available and working so there really is no reason to have a separate thread in here. The thread is where it belongs, where all threads of this type belong. While it may not be the best solution in some peoples minds, it is a solution that meets the spirit and the letter of the way the forums are set up. There is an excellent outside forum, the GAGB forum, where I am sure a separate thread could be set up and used if you feel that a UK only thread is needed to sell things. I thank you all for your opinions but the thread needs to stay where it is. Thank you all for your understanding.

 

If people ever want a response, the fastest way is to email me or PM me with the question and the thread URL. As much as I like it here I do not spend a lot of time here as I do have other things I need to take care of. Please feel free to call my attention to any threads I might be able to help in. I can not promise to always give you the answer you want but I will always try to give you an answer.

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Surely not beyond the possibility of resolving, but equally not deserving the tone and language of those recent contributions.

As I was being extensively quoted I guess the fault is mine. I thought I was making a polite and measured response to the question. I apologise if my tone and/or language has cause anyone offence although I can't see where.

 

I took no offense from any of it.

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