Clarifying the Wording on Gear Swap Policies

I've noticed the same thing. Thanks for mentioning this, Ben.

HJ

I just wish that post would be deleted once all of the gear sells.

@Jim — I knew I wouldn't be alone in this. Thanks for the support.

@Eddy:

"I just wish that post would be deleted once all of the gear sells."

Curious, why? Old posts sink down into near oblivion with the quick passage of time — bothering no one. Yet, it can be helpful for prospective buyers and sellers to research on older posts.

> "Once the gear is sold, please edit your first post to reflect that fact."
> "Once the gear is sold, do NOT add a new post, but edit your first post to reflect that fact."

The first version takes 9 words for the instruction.
The second version takes 15 words for the instruction.

Cheers

o Gear posted here cannot be posted for sale anywhere else. We'll cheerfully remove such cross-posting information.
o Once the gear is sold, please edit your first post to reflect that fact.
o Play nice.

Well Roger, those 9 words were clearly ineffective. But regardless, there are 33 words in total. So…

o Sale posted here cannot be posted on any other branch. We will remove duplicates.
o When gear is sold, don't add a new post but edit / update your first post instead.
o Play nice.

Well, the big problem is the Subject of the original thread cannot be edited, AFAIK. It would be great to see:

New Gatewood Cape $20 – SOLD

instead of

New Gatewood Cape $20
followed by 1 post for the lucky SOB buyer, then 119 posts: 13 lamenting their 29 second-late post; 4 posts claiming second, third, fourth… postition in line; 17 posts discussing whether the 2007 model Cape for sale uses a different SilNylon than the 2011 model, and the merits the 2011 model offers in site selection above the tree-line in a blizzard; 43 posts questioning whether the seller is reselling from the fantastic SMD wharehouse sale for profit instead of using the gear for the scouts; 1 post proclaiming the Cape has sold, followed by another post saying the buyer backed out; and FINALLY a post (4 pages later) announcing that the Cape is being moved to eBay.

"Well, the big problem is the Subject of the original thread cannot be edited, AFAIK. It would be great to see:"

Of the original thread, no, but of the original post, yes. So if going through Gear Swap, you would see "New Gatewood Cape $20 – SOLD" as the original post on the left, but not on the thread title on the right.

As far as the rest of your post, funny! And oh so true, eh?

I like Ben's version except for one thing. Doesn't the cross-posting issue refer to advertising the item elsewhere, such as on e-bay?

As Simon points out, it would be helpful if the subject line could be modified to add "Sold"!

Hi Mary:

BPL has no restrictive right to what we choose to post outside of BPL. If I am wrong, BPL should clarify this once and for all.

Yeah, I forgot to add the :-) at the end of my post, all in jest…

Anyway, I've seen the Subject modified in the original post, but only the original Subject displays on the main forum list. Not sure if that's unique to the Gear Swap forum, but other forums on other sites do show if an item has been sold–makes it a lot easier to shop!

> Gear posted here cannot be posted for sale anywhere else. We'll cheerfully remove such cross-posting information.

ANYwhere else. ANY does not mean another Forum channel, it means ANYwhere.

Now obviously, if you post something on Gear Swap and on WB (for instance), we probably won't notice that, but if you post on WB and then post a notice on Gear Swap referring to the other posting we will notice and delete.

If you post stuff for sale on another thread then you are just mis-using the Forum channels. It will probably be deleted or maybe moved.

And we especially will get shirty if you give a URL to eBay. That's because we have a severe problem at times with (shoe) spammers etc. That is definitely a no-no.

Yes, I have been monitoring one Gear Swap posting where the vendor said he was moving the stuff soon to eBay. I was not hugely pleased with the way this was done, but it did not actually breach our guidelines. When the vendor said he had moved the stuff to eBay he did not give a URL to eBay, so he remained inside the rules. Close, but still 'legal'.

Cheers

Thanks for clarifying the cross-posting part, Roger. Can you do something to improve the wording about revising rather than adding a post when gear is sold?