Setting thread to Sold or Closed

[DelboyJay]

This is a question for moderators really, basically I just joined and there are tonnes of items being sold which have actually sold but are still displayed as For Sale???

From reading some of the posts it looks like the poster has to ask a moderator to Close a thread, and even when the moderator closes the thread then it still says For Sale in the title and will still be picked up as part of a For Sale only search hence my searches are full of stuff I dont want.

So how is this all supposed to work in practice?? Is there a way I can vote for a thread to be marked as Sold for a moderator to sort out to help with the tidy up?

Cheers,

Delboy

 

[davideo]

What normally happens is that the seller or person with a wanted thread will ask within the thread for the thread to be marked as sold and eventually closed.

If we spot that an item has been paid for or agreement reached on a wanted ad we can also mark it as sold or found. Again eventually marking it as closed.

Unfortunately some threads do escape the net and can get missed.

More Mods/VIPs have been enlisted to help with this process but considering that when I logged on this morning there were more than 150 new posts you can appreciate that it is easy to miss the odd thread.

Ops can of course send a PM to a Mod if they wish to have a change made to a thread.

Dave G

 

[DelboyJay]

OK thanks davideo i'll see if I can help out a bit. ;-)

 

[AndyLandy]

As ever, if you see a post that you think needs staff attention (for whatever reason, be it trolling, abuse or just needs closed) you can always bang the report post button. That leaves a message for all the staff moderators, so it can be swooped down on quickly and effortlessly.

 

[fitzsteve]

I think what might be meant here is that when VIP's are closing we're not marking the thread as 'closed' we're only using the 'close thread' command when replying.

What we need to do is edit the first post and change the 'title prefix' to closed and then close the thread. You'll notice there is no 'edit' button on a thread not created by yourself however there is still and 'edit thread' option on a dropdown menu under 'thread tools' and you can also uncheck the box 'thread is open' which has the same effect as 'close thread'

Hope that helps the new VIP's

Steve.

 

[davideo]

Steve

Not all thread prefixes need changing to Closed.

Only those items withdrawn should be set to Closed.

For Sale items should be set to Sold if they have Sold.

And Wanted should be changed to Found if they have been found.

Other than those two small points all you VIPs are doing a sterling job

Dave G

 

[fitzsteve]

Thanks for the info davideo

So is there a scenario where you would leave a thread as 'for sale' and close it?

Cheers,

Steve.

 

[davideo]

Nope Or at least not so far

Dave G

 

[rkauer]

Simply put: if the OP declares the item as not available for sale here for whatever reason, thread must be closed down and the title edited to "closed".

The "Sold" is reserved for when the item is sold in this site.

 

[DelboyJay]

Advanced Edit Button

Advanced Edit Button

I think one of the problems is that users don't realize that they can click on the advanced button after editing a post and change the title from "For Sale" to "Sold" or "Closed" this is because by default we are presented with the simple edit form and then a new button called Advanced. If the advanced form was always shown people are more likely to see that they can change this.

Maybe we could add a sticky post to inform people of how to do it in case they don't know? Obviously it won;t cure the problem in cases where people buy stuff then don't log on to the site again but it might help a bit.

I'm currently writing an app for you guys to help identify posts which are a candidate for being set to Closed, Sold or Found. If I get it to a useful standard i'll post here with updates.

 

[fgh]

users can click on the advanced button after editing a post and change the title from "For Sale" to "Sold" or "Closed"

Either I'm blind or this does not apply to all users.
In advanced edit I can not change the Wanted/For Sale/Closed part.

Edit: It seems I can edit the prefix part on threads where there are no replies.

 

[fitzsteve]

users can click on the advanced button after editing a post and change the title from "For Sale" to "Sold" or "Closed"

Either I'm blind or this does not apply to all users.
In advanced edit I can not change the Wanted/For Sale/Closed part.

Edit: It seems I can edit the prefix part on threads where there are no replies.

Hi,

Only VIP & Moderators can edit posts in this way, if you need a thread prefix changed you just need to post a reply to the thread with, item sold, item removed, etc and we'll update for you

Steve.

 

[DelboyJay]

users can click on the advanced button after editing a post and change the title from "For Sale" to "Sold" or "Closed"

Either I'm blind or this does not apply to all users.
In advanced edit I can not change the Wanted/For Sale/Closed part.

Edit: It seems I can edit the prefix part on threads where there are no replies.

Hi,

Only VIP & Moderators can edit posts in this way, if you need a thread prefix changed you just need to post a reply to the thread with, item sold, item removed, etc and we'll update for you

Steve.

Just curious but what is the reasoning behind that? Is the problem that users will either always be able to change the prefix (i.e. when Sold they can flip it back to For Sale which is undesired) or users cannot change the prefix after someone posts because of limitation to the forum back-end and therefore you have taken the defensive approach which completely makes sense?

 

[AndyLandy]

Just curious but what is the reasoning behind that? Is the problem that users will either always be able to change the prefix (i.e. when Sold they can flip it back to For Sale which is undesired) or users cannot change the prefix after someone posts because of limitation to the forum back-end and therefore you have taken the defensive approach which completely makes sense?

It's almost certainly down to the way vB works. I've never really thought about it to be honest, we just consider it part of the housekeeping tasks of the 'bay to go around and change prefixes and close threads.

 

[DelboyJay]

users can click on the advanced button after editing a post and change the title from "For Sale" to "Sold" or "Closed"

Either I'm blind or this does not apply to all users.
In advanced edit I can not change the Wanted/For Sale/Closed part.

Edit: It seems I can edit the prefix part on threads where there are no replies.

Ah, my "Wanted" thread didn't have any posts which from what you are saying is why it worked for me also. I haven't tried changing it if posts have been submitted, I did that stupid thing and assumed it was the same DOH!

 

[davideo]

Ah, my "Wanted" thread didn't have any posts which from what you are saying is why it worked for me also. I haven't tried changing it if posts have been submitted, I did that stupid thing and assumed it was the same DOH!

Nobody on here is stupid - it's just that there are things still to learn

Dave G