Could the "Classifieds" topics just be removed from Talk entirely?

[littlelapintofbloodmwahaha]

Since there is an entire Classified tab on the top menu, could we have a separate message board for those topics please? Those being

• For sale
• Wanted
• Childcare
• Swap shop
• Small business ads
• Jobs

Especially if you take up Champs' suggestion of MN Swaps having it's own topic... then we wouldn't have to worry about having No Buying/Selling, No Swaps etc. It seems like the infrastructure is already there for it.

Sorry Tech

Who am I normally???

the thing is though ebay listing fees are only 15p. although i suppose you do have the credit fee at the end.

Daisybooo - that is my point. Most of us here, (regulars), do very much follow the likes of onlyjokings/martianbishops/mummytotandf threads and very much feel for them.

But some people come on here just to buy and sell and they more than likely do not have a clue about what some members have to deal with - I was just trying to suggest that they read these threads to see for themselves so that maybe they would think twice before being being so nasty to somebody else.

Of course there is always a place for lively discussion but not when it sinks to the level of personal insults.

But you can't sell a batch of items to separate sellers on one listing can you?

Plus, you have more of a gamble on what you get for it and who the person is. I think I'd prefer to sell to a regular mumsnetter on the whole.

I called you soupy earlier on this thread, may I just point out?

I don't think just getting rid of it is going to work, presumably MNHQ have had good reasons for keeping it going all this time, so something more constructive is needed.

How can you not know who the Dragon is honeysuckle sugar lamb? The clue is THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ALSO... you could earn credits by checking others' For Sale listings... so effectively getting ads for free by helping out. Not something you could do by listing on Ebay.

And maybe every mumsnetter who has been here more than... a year... say, could start with a balance of 5 credits without paying anything extra?

Here is a prime example of why a thread limit wouldn't work so well. No posts other than in the Classified topics.

i agree swap shop needs to be included in the no buying/selling thing though.

we have thought about how we can monitor sellers selling on here, but do people have a problem selling to non-regular MNers? cos if so we need to monitor who buys our stuff too.

That can be checked by the seller by doing a quick search before agreeing to sell though, can't it?

oh yeah i suppose so. hadn't thought of that. duh!

why did the bayamo thread get pulled? it was hilarious, funniest thing i've seen for months.

anyway, i'm right up for a Special Interests Register, that's good thinking from GGG. and I don't much care about the buying and selling other than it seems that MN is missing out on a potentially lucrative revenue stream which is a bit silly of them.

On further reflection, I think MN should just scrap it altogether. They don't make nay cash from it, and it is abused. If people need to sell stuff, there is always eBay - or Bounty! MN for chat, Bounty for flogging stuff, how's that?

Bah lapin... but my credit system is the only coherent good idea I've had in years...

I do think shifting it off Talk and back to "classifieds" is probably best. Thinking about it, regular MNers can then report any that spill over unless it's from a regular poster Charge a fee for each advert in Classified and you've got shot of all of them.

Aitch... story of my life...

I thought they did benefit from it in terms of traffic and thus to advertising revenue? This discussion has happened so many times before, and they have never got rid of it, so there must be some kind of benefit to them, surely?

i like the idea of being able to earn credits for free.

Agree with soupy.

nappyaddict: yeah, the more I think about it, I don't think you'd need a BACS/paypal payout at all. Those that want to use For Sale would end up financing it themselves, by checking others posts to "earn" credit themselves. It would become self-policing.