NEW Classifieds!

[woody]

Perhaps it has stayed alive because it didn’t change like other forums or go the way of Facebook, ect.

The changes have been endless over 20+ years....SimpleMachines to vBuletin to Xenforo, and multiple XF updates since. Another should release this year.

Many other forums have died due to corporate buyouts. Like it or not, admin decisions here remain all my fault.

 

[SNLC]

The changes have been endless over 20+ years....SimpleMachines to vBuletin to Xenforo, and multiple XF updates since. Another should release this year.

Many other forums have died due to corporate buyouts. Like it or not, admin decisions here remain all my fault.

You seem to have missed what I meant by the forum format vs other formats like Facebook. Yes Pirate was bought out and that killed it. I can think of 4-5 other forums I visited daily in the last 20+yrs that were not bought out, they simply died because of the birth of social media, aka Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, ect. Expedition Portal is still live, but just barely, 10yrs ago it was more active than iH8mud.

It has always been your forum and business. If it succeeds or fails is up to you, obviously. The general consensus seems to be the classifieds is now fairly dead. Which is also your choice, I don't think you made much if any money on the classifieds. If anything it has probably been a hassle for you.

Again, I am bummed as others seem bummed too with the new classifieds. I would have been more happy with paying a small fee to list items (putting money in your pocket) vs the new format. I have sold many things using your classifieds, 1% fee would have been fine with me. I sell (which I have before) a $35k Cruiser on your classifieds and you get a $350 fee, seems more than reasonable to me. Some people were nearly making a living using the classifieds on this forum, the changes have obviously had an effect on that. $100,000 a day in transactions @ 1% would have put $1000/day in your pocket. $500k a day = $5,000. I have no idea how much $$$ were happening daily in the classifieds transactions but I would bet it was a decent number. It only takes four Cruisers sold at $25k a day to equal $100k.

Cheers

 

[COS80]

I'm perfectly content with the new classifieds.

 

[Bisonthecruiser]

Constructive feedback, but personally, the old version was better. I've been using this consistently since you rolled it out and I don't think there's much value add here. We live in an era where organic traffic will continue to get decimated and your forum has been devoured to feed the new AI gods for data and answers. Not sure how to solve that, but a functional and usable classifieds this is not.

 

[baldilocks]

Ever since I joined Mud 12 years ago I have enjoyed simply looking over the classifieds. I own an 80 but will peruse whatever because I’m a cruiser head. I’ve also sold many items here. The simplicity of these processes has been, without a doubt, foundational to the immense amount of traffic in and success of the classifieds here.

Using the old version was very quick and simple whether buying or selling. Being into a car hobby is supposed to be fun and complicated is not fun.

Sellers paying a fee was mentioned in an earlier post. Maybe for those who basically run a business here this would be appropriate. Or there could be an upgrade membership. I’d buy such a membership to retain the old, user friendly format. Many of us don’t live in the digital world, it’s merely a tool. I read something once that said, anyone can build/create something that’s complicated, but to accomplish the same end simply, requires genius.

 

[Bisonthecruiser]

The more I think about it, you probably need to go more heavily into content creation with ih8mud approved products, videos, etc. Not sure if you're willing to do that, but might be smarter to build a brand around what you have. I've long thought the landing page was horribly utilized for the occasional update every few years. Go the other route and make your approved products top and center no matter where people land. Doesn't have to be intrusive, but include an affiliate link. Use your brand and knowledge base here in some sort of way. Not sure what your actual business looks like here or what your goals are, but there have to be better ways of having the site perform without worrying about ad blockers, AI threats, etc. My $.02.

 

[cruisermatt]

Alright it’s been a month can you put the old classified’s back now?

 

[TRDdrew]

Was your goal to make the classifieds have more or less traffic? I went from checking it every few hours (addiction level) to barely at all over the last few weeks.
Also have not had any movement or views on my items that I would have expected to sell very quickly in the past.

I'm the same way, I have 3 big monitors at work and one is always is dedicated to MUD and would frequent the classifieds through out the day, I've gone from checking it daily to maybe once or twice last month.

Idk, if something wasn't broken? why did it need fixing? I'm not loving the new lay out.

Just my 2cents, which usually isnt worth anything

 

[woody]

I'm the same way, I have 3 big monitors at work and one is always is dedicated to MUD and would frequent the classifieds through out the day, I've gone from checking it daily to maybe once or twice last month.

Idk, if something wasn't broken? why did it need fixing? I'm not loving the new lay out.

Just my 2cents, which usually isnt worth anything

You click Classifieds, and most recent 30 classifieds appear. There are never more than 30 posted per day. That was never possible with the prior setup daily checks are literally one click.

 

[Bisonthecruiser]

You click Classifieds, and most recent 30 classifieds appear. There are never more than 30 posted per day. That was never possible with the prior setup daily checks are literally one click.

Yeah, your customers are telling you they don't like it and you're here telling them click classifieds. They aren't clicking classifieds from what I'm reading above.

 

[TRDdrew]

You click Classifieds, and most recent 30 classifieds appear. There are never more than 30 posted per day. That was never possible with the prior setup daily checks are literally one click.

I'll get used to it I suppose. All I was saying is I look at myself as pretty tech savvy (I'm not the best but certainly not the worst) and I find the updated format not very user friendly and just prefer the old set up.

I know a lot goes into make these changes and I'm certainly not telling you how to run your website, just not sure the juice was worth the squeeze IMO

 

[woody]

I'm the opposite, I actually click Classifieds 1-2x/day to see what's new. The pic/description/photo being right there makes browsing super quick for me.

 

[woody]

Yeah, your customers are telling you they don't like it and you're here telling them click classifieds. They aren't clicking classifieds from what I'm reading above.

And yet, traffic wise, there is no change from a few months back. If anything, the number of listings per day has increased.

There are thousands of customers on the site daily, and there unfortunately is zero chance of making 100% of them happy.

You were around when the change to Xenforo happened (2014). I cannot count the number of members who thought that was the end of the site, that hated how it worked, etc etc. That change ended up highly beneficial for the forum and its future.

 

[COS80]

And yet, traffic wise, there is no change from a few months back. If anything, the number of listings per day has increased.

To be fair, there would be a lot of reposts of ads already in the old page. I reposted two.

 

[Bisonthecruiser]

To be fair, there would be a lot of reposts of ads already in the old page. I reposted two.

Yeah, the reality is that this was and will be a fragmented and ultimately wrong decision. People who want a feed of crap being posted are already getting that served via Facebook. This is that, and the shiny pictures are great, but when 9.9/10 items have no application in what I need, I just get frustrated and wonder why the hell am I looking at this. And then I remember I don't need to.

 

[baldilocks]

This thread is what happens when you try to fix what isn’t broken.

 

[woody]

Yeah, the reality is that this was and will be a fragmented and ultimately wrong decision. People who want a feed of crap being posted are already getting that served via Facebook. This is that, and the shiny pictures are great, but when 9.9/10 items have no application in what I need, I just get frustrated and wonder why the hell am I looking at this. And then I remember I don't need to.

You can switch the photos off in your preferences. That's been brought up a few times.

 

[Bisonthecruiser]

You can switch the photos off in your preferences. That's been brought up a few times.

I must not have communicated my point clearly. The feed is the problem. The photos are nice, no complaints there. But the doomscrolling look and feel don't add value. Why am i looking at FJ40's when I need an 80. Or a $69,000 70 series I can't afford or register. Or random diesel parts when I don't have a diesel.

 

[COS80]

The pushback on this is getting comical.

 

[woody]

I must not have communicated my point clearly. The feed is the problem. The photos are nice, no complaints there. But the doomscrolling look and feel don't add value. Why am i looking at FJ40's when I need an 80. Or a $69,000 70 series I can't afford or register. Or random diesel parts when I don't have a diesel.

Did you know you can click ANY prefix in the forum to filter? Click "Build" in the 80 section and all you see are 80 builds.

Click the olive "80-series/LX450" in Classifieds and all you see is 80 series stuff. Or there is a Classifieds only Filter, with a price min/max option.