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

Why would mnhq want to limit the amount of people using this website?????

We really are working on bringing you a revamped Talk that should help to eliminate all these issues - shouldn't be long, providing we remember to feed tech every now and then.

But what are we going to argue about THEN, Abby?!!

You're not going to revamp it like you did last time are you abby?

If you've got humans checking a moderation queue then you can use common sense.

Things to look out for:

• registered for a long time (not exclusively - someone who's only been here a month can be regularly chatting and engaging in the mumsnet community)
• engaging in real chat (not just 20 hi huns in a row)
• not all their posts in For Sale only

It is tough on the lurkers (so stop lurking, come out of the shadows and argue against me!) but if all you have done it lurk for 2 years, then I don't think you can count as a regular Mumsnetter. You might think you are a regular, but part of the definition of being a regular is being recognised by others, I think.

Oops, crossposted with Abbey

(don't let Tech ban me for creating more hypothetical work, will you?! )

erm ... ABBY even.

It's going to be orange and pink, with flashing tickers and SOUND!

Carmenere, I have to be honest and say I do not understand how revenue is generated on sites like this. Do people who come here solely to sell items generate revenue for Mumsnet? How?

orange, pink and purple please - my favourites!

lapin: don't forget the animated emoticons... we could have a vomiting emoticon for all the emetophobes

My overly simple understanding is that number of visitors each day = more attractive proposition for advertisers = money

I dropped this = *big (number of visitors)

Yes, it's throughput and traffic DG (which can be tracked).

So if MNHQ say to, I don't know, Nestle for example "we have 10,000 registered posters and 75,000 daily hits", that's quite attractive, especially given the demographic of MN posters.

Oh I see. Do MN take into the equation though that they are going to lose regulars if this issue is not resolved? I suppose they don't mind so long as they have a net gain in hits.

Customer satisfaction - where did it go? sigh.

Maybe they could make an elite usergroup that long term posters could choose to subscribe to for £20 a year or something?

I think it will be resolved DG. From the little I know about the revamp (SPARKLY TICKERS! ) it should solve most issues.

I guess none of us are customers until we click through links or in some other way make a financial contribution?

how about everyone has to have a basic profile which says member since 200*....etc.

or this can be shown if you hover over their name? That way you can easily check regularity?

Abby.....I know that you are working on allowing us to customise our talk preferences, but it doesn't get over the issue with the buying and selling boards.

Like others, I have tried to sell a pram as I have down graded to a more compact buggy, but it is being lost in amongst all the trading/swapping of the same 16 buggies that are doing the rounds.

Gah, I wish I could participate more fully in this discussion, but DH has me helping him sort stuff in our spare room so I can only dip in when his back is turned....apologies if I've repeated anything anyone else has said.

Daisy, in my mind, you have hit the nail on the head in your last post. It is the fact that the for sale threads have ceased to be about members of the community selling occasional items eg a pram or a set of clothes their child has just outgrown, and has become a market place for professional ebayers.

not only that, Bayamogate clarified that people are prepared to be completely arsey and unscrupulous, so regular MNer buyers are being done. if someone had bought that maternitysara's buggy they'd have been sorely disappointed as the photos were from 2 owners' ago. it's not so much about the selling as the buying, imo. at least on ebay there is a degree of regulation with the feedback system, but this system allows regular mners to be taken advantage of. [LOSSERS]

Can we do what Soupy/Lapin said and have swaps as well as sales moved elsewhere (and charged for), then not make a fuss if a known talk regular puts a few items up for sale in chat or other subjects? Report immediately if an ebay hun pops up doing the same thing?

I've got quite a few bits I'd like to sell at a reasonable price, to regulars - just no point at the moment.

Message withdrawn