Auctions Moderator

[necronomicon]

Over the past few months, I have done a significant amount of business through the auctions here and noticed a few things that I feel could be improved upon. It would only take someone to monitor the auctions periodically to solve most these problems.

1. People abusing the comments section. I can see a friendly comment as ok, but there is no profanity filter there. I have been witness in the past to some profane, nasty and otherwise unwarranted comments from others not even seeking out to make a deal with the person listing the auction.

2. Abuse of the feedback system. I do not recall the specific username of the seller, but he had feedback on his account that simply read "I don't like you". A moderator in that section would prove useful to remove spam comments such as that, and possibly block them from leaving comments or feedback on people's accounts, or from buying/selling things altogether.

3. Items listed in the wrong section. A lot of items in the Airsoft Accessories section at one time or another are not accessories, but sometimes guns. This is mostly from people not choosing a specific category when they post an auction, because it defaults to the accessory page when another category is not selected. Not a big problem, just a simple mistake that I have even made. A moderator would prove useful here to get things in the right category.

This really isn't going to seem like an issue of upmost importance to a lot of you, but I want to hear how the moderators and administrators of Airsoft Ohio would feel about appointing someone to keep an eye on the auctions. While it would be a small and menial task in my opinion, I feel that every effort made to make something on the site better, whether it be small or big, makes a difference.

[D_Man]

I agree with you on most points, however, I believe by the design of the auction, only the website administrators can modify or change anything in the auction zone.

[Locutus]

Actually, the main problem currently with the auction system is the administration functions of it are somewhat lacking. The software (phpAuction) seems to be somewhat incomplete. Texx has offered to be the auction moderator, but due to software limitations the admin currently only has the ability to delete auctions and do a few other trivial tasks. So I (or someone, volunteers anyone? :)) needs to really create a more robust administration section for the auctions.

[Texx]

Some of the newer versions of PHPAuction offers more administrative features ranging from simple site maintenance to expanded access priveleges (ban, limited access, etc.). The problem is that the software is not free and I don't feel that Admin should be forced to front the costs for software because I'm quite sure that charging users for use would pretty much be the end of it.

Here are some ideas that may help offset these things.
1. Sell commercial accounts allowing retailers to advertise specials in the auction format.
This would pay for software and possibly help pay for hosting
This would allow some of the smaller retailers to sell through the site.
I didn't have another idea, but just love making lists.

2. Open up another "Support AO" fund to help pay for new software.
Contributions would be taken to help get new software.
Paypal, donation pot at AO games, coffee cans for "Support AO" at some of the AO member retailers.
Auction Members/Retailers hold "Support AO" auctions with proceeds benefitting the AO Auction fund.
Raffle tickets?
Foxtrot poses for AK Monthly and they pay him not to undress

3. Take down the auction site and go back to a classified format.
I like the auction format, but this is still an option.
Having a Classified forum would alleviate some of the moderation concerns voiced above.
AO is somewhat unique with its auctions and removing it seems to me a terrible idea...

Just a few ideas.

[necronomicon]

I definately see your point on converting the section over to a classifieds section. Very rarely do I ever see anyone use the bid system, and when they do, its usually people posting million-dollar bids or something of the like. Hate to say it, but unless an item is exremely rare/sought after (like a fully upgraded piece similar to my old SVD, or a classic gun), its not going to generate much of a bidding crowd, as Airsoft Ohio simply does not have a high enough amount of active users that do business here to really make anything of it. But then again, thats just my perspective thus far.

You will have to forgive me, as I was not aware of the limitations of PHP. The last time I did any type of web administration was when I was very young, probobly more that 5 years ago, and thats was just an insignificant personal website consisting of pure HTML writted in wordpad. Beyond that - I'm pretty much clueless.