Classifieds Changing

AlanRatcliffe

OK... the new classifieds system will be coming in within the next day or two. The current classifieds have been renamed as "Classifieds (old)" in preparation. We will keep both up and running for a few weeks while we iron any bugs out of the new system and to allow those with existing classifieds to copy and paste info from one to the other.

The new classifieds is a proper system designed specifically for the purpose. It will change the way ads are posted and viewed - more along the lines of Gumtree than the existing forum-based system. It will take a little while to get used to. So please use it for a few days before telling us cr*p it is and how you want the old system back, and I'm sure you will find the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages and the "disadvantages" are actually improvements. ?

New Classifieds features:

Categories to divide the different types of instruments/equipment
Allows the upload and display of up to three images per advert
Auto expiry of ads (currently set to 30 days) and an option to extend your ad if the item has not sold
Price and Location fields
A classifieds only search engine
RSS feeds for the classifieds or for individual categories
Much more - I can't remember at the moment ?

Not implemented yet, but it also allows us to:

Have categories of affordable paid ads for listings of teachers, luthiers, rehearsal, studios and other services
Show a "recent ads" listing at the bottom of the home page - similar to (and in addition to) "recent posts"
Incorporate a "reputation" system where buyers can rank sellers and vice versa
Add any number of subcategories as the classifieds become busier
Add auction listings with a bidding system
Incorporate PayPal for both paid ads and buying items (we are also going to look into using a more ZA-centric payment system)

Start Using It
While it's not showing on the index yet, you can already take a look and start adding your items:
http://www.guitarforum.co.za/index.php?action=classifieds

Report problems
Please let us know of any bugs you find by replying to this and entering details.

[deleted]

Tried to add a picture, a .jpg
get an error message saying, cannot add picture, must be one of the following formats * * * * * .jpg

Looks promising this... I like

strataxe

Good stuff. Just occurred to me that this isn't the first forumn where classifieds has started as a simple message, and then... all hell breaks lose. Well done, auto expiry is an excellent idea.

NorioDS

Brent, try another jpg. Some cameras do weird things to jpg files that not all code can handle. If a different jpg works, then first edit your original jpg in something like Picasa and then re-save it. Often works for me.

Wizard

Very nice ?

Conrad

Wow. That is nice. Thanks for always working on improving the forum Alan and Norio.

shaundtsl

Looks excellent. Although something seems to have squashed all the recent posts stuff at the bottom of the home page for me. Maybe related?

BTW Using IE9 and firefox also seems to do this.

[deleted]

Norio wrote: Brent, try another jpg. Some cameras do weird things to jpg files that not all code can handle. If a different jpg works, then first edit your original jpg in something like Picasa and then re-save it. Often works for me.

Got the picture in.. Well I see it there. But the quality of the picture is very poor.
Dont know if anyone else sees it? definitly not the photo I took ?
Should I try again?

DonRoos

Very nice! I would like the option to 'Watch' an item. I often see an item and may be interested (or know someone that may be interested) but not sure yet and don't want to forget about it or maybe want to do some research first. I like the 'Unviewed' option but once viewed I would then have to search for the item (if I can remember what it was called). Putting in a bid is rather final.

NorioDS

Conrad wrote: Wow. That is nice. Thanks for always working on improving the forum Alan and Norio.

Plesh ?

shaundtsl wrote: Looks excellent. Although something seems to have squashed all the recent posts stuff at the bottom of the home page for me. Maybe related?

BTW Using IE9 and firefox also seems to do this.

Just fixed that. Have another bash.

Brentcgp wrote:
Norio wrote: Brent, try another jpg. Some cameras do weird things to jpg files that not all code can handle. If a different jpg works, then first edit your original jpg in something like Picasa and then re-save it. Often works for me.
Got the picture in.. Well I see it there. But the quality of the picture is very poor.
Dont know if anyone else sees it? definitly not the photo I took ?
Should I try again?

Yep, please try again.

DonRoos wrote: Very nice! I would like the option to 'Watch' an item. I often see an item and may be interested (or know someone that may be interested) but not sure yet and don't want to forget about it or maybe want to do some research first. I like the 'Unviewed' option but once viewed I would then have to search for the item (if I can remember what it was called). Putting in a bid is rather final.

I don't think the system we put in supports that but it might be something we could add in the future, time- and resources-permitting.

AlanRatcliffe

DonRoos wrote: Very nice! I would like the option to 'Watch' an item. I often see an item and may be interested (or know someone that may be interested) but not sure yet and don't want to forget about it or maybe want to do some research first. I like the 'Unviewed' option but once viewed I would then have to search for the item (if I can remember what it was called). Putting in a bid is rather final.

It's not set up as an auction site and the ads stay until they expire or are deleted, so nothing changes to trigger a PM or email. If you want to come back to it, simply bookmark it (I keep a whole bookmark folder full of "possible purchases ...if I get the money" ?).

Averatu

No more snide comments and discussions in Classifieds!?!?!?!

Sean

Averatu wrote: No more snide comments and discussions in Classifieds!?!?!?!

Snide comments in classifieds? ? That's pretty rare. And I would imagine most sellers like discussions on their classifieds, keeps the ad currant ?

AlanRatcliffe

Hmm. I just posted an ad to test the picture functionality and it worked fine - also had no problems with multiple images during testing. Anyone willing to email me one of the problem pics so I can investigate further? myname@mysurname.co.za

Sean wrote: Snide comments in classifieds? ? That's pretty rare.

But it does happen, as does the occasional slagging off of the price or long-winded off-topic (or vaguely-on-topic) discussion.

And I would imagine most sellers like discussions on their classifieds, keeps the ad currant ?

Not needed now - the division into categories, weeding out of expired ads and 30 day renewal should be enough to keep the listings in each category fresh and compact. If needed later, I'll add in subcategories (like "electric", "acoustic" and "bass" under "Guitars" to keep the listings in a compact, relevant form.

shaundtsl

Norio wrote:
shaundtsl wrote: Looks excellent. Although something seems to have squashed all the recent posts stuff at the bottom of the home page for me. Maybe related?

BTW Using IE9 and firefox also seems to do this.
Just fixed that. Have another bash.

Looks sorted! Thanks dude!

Averatu

Looks really cool. Picture not uploading? Whats the file size limit?

AlanRatcliffe

Averatu wrote: Looks really cool. Picture not uploading? Whats the file size limit?

Uploading fine but the colour is going funny - I think it's the resizing doing it.

mity88

i like it very very much!!!
i only have two questions...
1) where would i post a set of pickups? ???
2)does having the "recent classifieds" mean we dont know whos birthday it is??? ☹

Averatu

Alan Ratcliffe wrote:
Averatu wrote: Looks really cool. Picture not uploading? Whats the file size limit?
Uploading fine but the colour is going funny - I think it's the resizing doing it.

It says 'error, number of of pictures exceeded'.
update:
"This listing has reached the limit of the number of images it can have."

AlanRatcliffe

Which board?