Very Few New Posts?

[etc]

IMHO, the challenges of posting photos and photo bucket represent an opportunity.

I don't have time to goof around finding a host, figuring it out, and then linking.

If there was a relatively easy and inexpensive way (say $5 / month) that I could post (some) photos right into the forum, hosted by cpf that could make it more interesting. I am not quite sure how to tie the concept of "no longer paying - no longer showing the photos" but maybe there is a way.

I have other hobby and business interests that are sort of historically related to my flash light hobby, but now really more emergency power / solar oriented. If there was a good way to do some professional marketing related to those on CPF that could be interesting, but honestly with the declining use, it is tougher to justify and a bit harder to implement non flash light related products.

As an example, I hosted a CPF + conversion van get together - only 2-3 people from CPF even replied to the thread, and I think one person from CPF showed up to a party with free food and drinks. 10 years ago we would have gotten a house full.

I would prefer to pay some fee annually if it came to that, instead of having to worry about renewal every month. And something affordable. Or follow the CL model that has no fees at all.

 

[nbp]

Do you really think people are going to join this forum just to sell flashlights for free? Who are all these enthusiasts with extra flashlights to sell who have thus far neglected to join the forum? I certainly never come across them in my day to day life.

 

[etc]

Of course, absolutely I do.

the lurkers are just lurking, the ratio of lurkers to actual posters is what, 10:1 or 20:1?

They are either members who went into lurk mode due to fees. Or never joined.

do you understand the concept of an "Anchor store" at a shopping mall?

You can think of the classifieds section as a mini-Ebay type setup. The fee situation has to be restructured somehow to make it more appealing, an annual membership of $5-10 or some kind of fund raising.

No other forums that I know charge to sell in their for-sale section and I know dozens. Some have "you must have x number of posts to sell" but none have a fee-based for-sale abilities.

this is significant because CPF is the only place for that type of product. Membership and active posts will grow and so will the lurking traffic.

 

[bykfixer]

I like the small fee to sell. You start letting every johnny and jane just start selling from day 1....
Bad idea.

Craiglist? Are you joking? Do you know how many scams and sketchy stuff is sold there?

Once upon a time my truck got robbed. My stuff was on Craigslist the next day!!!!

Besides for sale threads don't drive this place. Sure we members frequent the joint... we're flashaholics for pete's sake. Nope, it's a basic supply and demand for all things brighter.

Used to be you had to DIY, but now for $22.95 you can get many lights that are as brights as the old days... delivered to your house from China in about 12 days.....

And anchor store spaces are rapidly being occupied grocery stores, harbor freights and flea markets.

 

[Chauncey Gardiner]

I would prefer to pay some fee annually if it came to that, instead of having to worry about renewal every month. And something affordable. Or follow the CL model that has no fees at all.

I chose the 180 day supporter package for $20. No worries about having to renew every month and it's a great bargain.

~ Chance

 

[HarryN]

I would prefer to pay some fee annually if it came to that, instead of having to worry about renewal every month. And something affordable. Or follow the CL model that has no fees at all.

Actually CL now charges $5 / month to post each adv for a month and I think also charges for posting jobs. I am kind of happy about this actually because it got rid of a lot of riff raff and noise. This seems like a reasonable amount of money.

 

[nbp]

Bladeforums charges $40 per year for a Gold membership which allows selling. I really don't think the fees here to sell are causing a huge issue. Omg, $5 for a whole month of unlimited sales?!?! What a burden!

It costs nothing to be a member here and participate. If people want to join and participate they can and will. It only costs a small fee if you want to sell something. And it's still cheaper than selling on ebay.

 

[Modernflame]

It costs nothing to be a member here and participate. If people want to join and participate they can and will. It only costs a small fee if you want to sell something. And it's still cheaper than selling on ebay.

Yes, far cheaper than ebay. The CPF marketplace is a jewel.

lovecpf

 

[peter yetman]

The CPF Marketplace feels a helluvalot safer than Ebay, most of the stuff is sold and bought by true enthusiasts. Change whatever causes that and it will be a nightmare.
But thanks for giving this thread a jumpstart, ETC.
P

 

[etc]

The CPF Marketplace feels a helluvalot safer than Ebay, most of the stuff is sold and bought by true enthusiasts. Change whatever causes that and it will be a nightmare.
But thanks for giving this thread a jumpstart, ETC.
P

You welcome.

Okay, I will play:

I got into a fraud situation on Ebay, I paid via paypal $300 for an SSD (solid state drive) and the buyer never shipped. To be precisely, he shipped but never delivered. He gave me and Ebay a bogus tracking number. Eventually the USPS showed the item as delivered but my mailbox was empty. Come to find out, he underpaid the postage. You know what happens in that instance? The item goes back to the seller and the tracking shows "delivered". Ebay was confused for a while. They go - well, it says "Delivered". I asked the seller "what's up?"
The seller dropped off the face of the earth. He gave me a bogus text number I texted/called half a million times with null replies. No response via ebay either. $300 gone.

Well -- I got my funds back after 10 days, Ebay sent him a bunch of emails, please respond, etc. and after several phone calls the funds, held in escrow, were refunded. Because you see that is the way works.

Now let's explore the situation where hypothetically I buy a $300 item here on CPF and the seller drops off the face of the planet without ever delivering.
Maybe there is no light, maybe it is some kind of error, like it got lost in shipping, maybe he underpaid postage and it went who knows where.
Maybe he sent the wrong, much cheaper item by mistake.
bottom line is, you don't have it.
The seller is not responding. Or fails to take responsibility.
Don't tell me you never faced that reality. I think it's normal for about 1 percent of all transaction to fail. That is just a guestimate.

You know what the admins here will say? Well - of course you do. All you have to do is read the terms / rules of the for-sale forum and there is your answer. Don't mean to insult your intelligence.

You are not buying from CPF. You are buying from an individual seller. Think of all parties involved as independent contractors. CPF will not own it. You are an independent contractor interacting with another independent contractor and CPF just facilitates, much like a newspaper where you place your ads. You will own it. And to no avail. Especially as it sometimes happens if you send paypal gift. You have no recourse whatsoever. Or even if you don't gift it.
I mean, CPF has no more legal liability for a failed transaction than Washington Post classifieds section where you buy a car with a bad engine or missing title or stolen or any permutation of known fraud.

So, to spell it out - if you are never delivered a $10 or $300 or $1500 item you pay for here on CPF, you have absolutely no recourse via this forum. Just consider it a gift to them (the recipient) at that point. CPF will not own it -- nor can they -- nor should they.




So, no, CPF is not like Ebay at all. You have a **** of a lot more leverage on Ebay to get your funds back if a transaction goes South, quick.
Sellers also have a lot of pressure on them via the feedback system.
I am not cheering for Ebay here - I am just pointing out the obvious differences and addressing the argument about what is "safer".

 

[etc]

Bladeforums charges $40 per year for a Gold membership which allows selling. I really don't think the fees here to sell are causing a huge issue. Omg, $5 for a whole month of unlimited sales?!?! What a burden!

It costs nothing to be a member here and participate. If people want to join and participate they can and will. It only costs a small fee if you want to sell something. And it's still cheaper than selling on ebay.

That is cherry-picking. I don't do blade forums but I can point out about a dozen forums which have free for sale sections. Though I won't. I could, but will not. About half you them you might recognize.

It seems this thread if paralyzed by group-think, inability to think outside of the box, propose any new ideas or not cave in to both peer pressure and authority respect and is not really a mechanism or a viable forum discussion to figure out the answer to the original question posed in the opening title - Why are there "Very Few New Posts".
Since the participants - well, most of them, anyway -- are not really interested in figuring out this answer or a solution and just prefer things the way they are.
If that is the case, stop complaining.

There is no problem, apparently.

 

[peter yetman]

Wow,
Didn't mean to get your hackles up, sorry.
P

 

[etc]

I chose the 180 day supporter package for $20. No worries about having to renew every month and it's a great bargain.

~ Chance

You do.

but you are a part of a very small demographic, even within this community, a hard core user with commitment and a large post count.
Hence the fee system supports the model with few new posts, few new users - relatively speaking and nurtures that model.

the fee model excludes the lowest common denominator and lots of fresh blood pumped in. Hence the fee system results in stagnation. Where it is basically the same 15 people talking to each other, like an exclusive club. this is an exaggeration but basically so.

People are cheap. They will not pay for an annual membership where are dozens that are similar and free. I could give you a long list right now. None are CPF-focused though, some have it as tangent, like a side dish.

Paying for things on the Internet is like going to the forest and paying to see the trees.

Oh and the Craigslist model is free. You know get charged a few bucks for job ads. And help wanted with gigs, like a moving gig.
99.9% of it *is* free. Posting items for sale on CL is most certainly free.

So if the identity of the forum is a relatively small, exclusive group of hard core enthusiasts who do not mind paying small fees to move items that are worth maybe hundreds, then we have no legitimate way to complain about "few new posts".
Fees are a tax and taxes discourage production or lower participation. That's economics 101.

That may not be necessarily a bad thing as you would rather have 100 quality users versus 10,000 and 1 spammers. I *get* that point. Just that pick one- or another.

 

[archimedes]

Although I understand how this thread turned from a topic of possibly reduced posting activity, to increasingly strident discussion of fees for sellers, the fact remains that CPF has no mandatory fees for general casual participation.

Thus, this should not be a limiting factor of any real significance.

Yes, there are fees for hosting photos here, although there are any number of fee-free alternatives readily available and easily utilized here which provide similar functionality.

And, yes, there are fees to use the CPF marketplace as a seller. Most would likely agree that those fees are minimal, and rather lower than most similar alternatives.

Yes, there are marketplaces which do not have even those minimal fees, but those may present other challenges and difficulties of different types.

Let's leave aside further complaints about Supporter Badges for sellers, and redirect this thread towards other issues which may perhaps be impacting participation in the forums here more generally (apart from the marketplace)

Thank you.

 

[Chauncey Gardiner]

1. I don't post as much as I once did because...... well, I'm just not that interesting and therefore don't have much to say.
2. I haven't listed anything on The Market Place for a couple of years, so I'm not paying for things on the internet.
3. My cheap level 1 badge (good for 180 days) is just me supporting something I enjoy.

~ Chance :wave:

 

[peter yetman]

1. I don't post as much as I once did because...... well, I'm just not that interesting and therefore don't have much to say.
You are very funny when you do post.
2. I haven't listed anything on The Market Place for a couple of years, so I'm not paying for things on the internet.
That's because you're a hoarder.
3. My cheap level 1 badge (good for 180 days) is just me supporting something I enjoy.
And that's what we should all do to make sure this place stays the same.



~ Chance :wave:

Good on you.
P

 

[bykfixer]

CPF'rs in general follow the golden rule in the wts section.

 

[HarryN]

Oh and the Craigslist model is free. You know get charged a few bucks for job ads. And help wanted with gigs, like a moving gig.
99.9% of it *is* free. Posting items for sale on CL is most certainly free.

CL has recently changed. I routinely post an adv on CL in the services section for installing solar panels and electrical systems in conversion vans. It used to be free - the past 2 months it is $5 / adv / month. I didn't care about the $5, I just wanted to be sure payment system was secure. The fee did get rid of a lot of adv - many were just multi posting the same thing anyway. Personally I think it improved CL.

__________

Coming back to the topic of what might encourage people to post more things on CPF. For me personally, the area I am most likely to post in is homemade / modified flashlights, and photos are a natural for this section. For me, 1 photo is not enough - maybe 25 or something and figure out an appropriate price for it?

In some ways, the incredible level of perfection that has been achieved in machining, optics, LED output - have made it slightly embarrassing to post my simple hack job / hobby projects.

 

[Chauncey Gardiner]

Good on you.
P

1. Thank you. I try.

2. Yep. We, however, prefer the term collector.

3. Indeed!

~ Chance

 

[archimedes]

IMHO, the challenges of posting photos and photo bucket represent an opportunity.

I don't have time to goof around finding a host, figuring it out, and then linking.

.... Coming back to the topic of what might encourage people to post more things on CPF. For me personally, the area I am most likely to post in is homemade / modified flashlights, and photos are a natural for this section. For me, 1 photo is not enough - maybe 25 or something and figure out an appropriate price for it? ....

Not trying to be flippant about things, but truly, doing even the simplest flashlight mod is about 10x more challenging than finding and using an image hosting service....