Members Only Access to "Found for Sale/Hot Deal" ?

[Tarhead]

Just a suggestion and a question as I don't know if this has been hashed out behind the scenes. Most times there are as many if not almost double the number of guests here as there are members. I know a lot of the "Guests" are virtual bots but I imagine a lot are lurkers. It would increase the value of membership and may motivate a few lurkers into joining up.

 

[froglips]

Its a classic catch 22.

Some folks are more inclined to join after seeing into forums such as this one.

DQ Qualified offers are part of the exclusive special benefits of joining.

Closing off forums is technically possible, I'll leave it to debate as to the philosophical implications

Jim
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[Tarhead]

Thanks Jim,
Seems like we put a lot of effort into this category. For future one off deals I find I'll just make an announcement in the Found for Sale/Hot Deal Forum and offer to PM details. The Shellac discount Vijay offers us brought this to mind as we don't have a place anymore that I can find to post NCWW DQ offers, discount codes, etc. It used to be in the Discounts and Offers for NCWW DQ Members section.
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[JimmyC]

Good luck Mark. I've brought up this exact proposal a few times and the powers that be have shot me down. So now I don't bother posting in this forum anymore. I do however find good deals for people that post the need for certain items and then pm them (ie; DaveO a moisture meter, Sawduster a scrollsaw, etc.) with the info.

I support your effort wholeheartedly and hope that the new regime sees it the way you and I do.

Good Luck,

 

[WoodWrangler]

Seems like a member benefit to me ...
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[bwat]

Does it have to be one or the other? Is there a way to make the info available only to members for xx hours then available to all?
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[WoodWrangler]

Maybe another forum for "Member Only Deals" where the member who posts can decide if they want to share with the world, or just the NCWW user base.:thumbs_up
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[Travis Porter]

Seems like a member benefit to me as well, but not my decision. I suggest everyone PM'ing the NCWW President multiple times to ensure he gets the message!!!!
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[Bas]

A few things to consider:

• Requiring people to register might lead to more members. But...do we really want members who only joined to access the "Found for sale" forum? I'd prefer they remain lurkers if this is the only value they perceive here
• How many members will we lose because they don't find/ visit the site because this forum is inaccessible? I came to NCWW because I was looking for 6" S&D pipe. I sort of stuck around after that.
• Our advertisement revenue doesn't distinguish between guests and registered users. If we gain 1 registered user but lose 2 guests, we lose overall
• Most of the deals posted here are also posted on BT3Central, Sawmill Creek, Woodnet etc. Local deals often come from Craig's List. How much extra benefit are we really providing to the registered users here by limiting access?
• We do have a forum to post deals that are only available to people who are Discount Qualified (a subset of the overall registered user base).

Does it have to be one or the other? Is there a way to make the info available only to members for xx hours then available to all?

Not easily.

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[JimmyC]

I suggest everyone PM'ing the North Carolina Woodworker President multiple times to ensure he gets the message!!!!

What's the matter Travis ? Are you mad at Doug or something :rotflm: ?
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[WoodWrangler]

Good points, Bas. I wasn't aware of the other place to post these deals for DQ members only (I like that idea for some stuff). That alone may do it ... so that when JimmyC finds me a 32" disc sander for $200 he can inform all of my competition! haha
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[froglips]

Bas re-discovered the "Confidential Offers for DQ Members" which is a Sub-Forum in User Announcements.

From the looks of it, its been almost a year since it was last used. (Hence re-discovery!)

Based on the history of posts in there, I suspect the Classifieds replaced much of what it was being used for.

I'll do some digging to see how we could make it more useful and better known member benefit.

Jim
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[Tarhead]

That's the place!
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[Douglas Robinson]

Seems like a member benefit to me as well, but not my decision. I suggest everyone PM'ing the North Carolina Woodworker President multiple times to ensure he gets the message!!!!
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Like I don't get enough PM's now!

The old BoD considered this, and the new board is revisiting it. Please do not make any changes without consulting the BoD. As Bas noted there are pluses and minuses to any change, as well as difficulties. We still are hving issues with people complying with the existing classified rules.

Thanks for your patience.

Doug
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[Gotcha6]

Another option to consider is to give members a time window on offers - say 1 week. After that it goes on the street to any taker, so to say. This should give serious offers from members time to gel, and if not, other buyers may be waiting.
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[Gofor]

I guess I don't understand the question. Is the point that the "hot deals" should be restricted to members only, or do we need more members? My personal opinion is most of the "hot deals" aren't that hot, so I usually skip them. The ones that have promise are gone before I get to view them because I don't live on my computer. We don't yet charge a membership fee, so why do we want/need more people to be members if all they are looking for is cheap buys? I see plenty of daily posts giving the info/support for those that are here for the core reason of sharing knowledge/experience of things related to wood working. (I may be wrong on that point as I recall maybe this was all started because Steve was looking for some good plywood!!) I guess I am just dumb about why "more is better" when it comes to anything internet.

JMTCW

Go
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[McRabbet]

We have the restricted Forum for DQ Members and I think that is sufficient. Otherwise, let's not be overly restrictive. Our Classified Ads are for Members Only and if members choose, they can post a thread in the DQ forum rather that the Found For Sale/Hot Deal forum. I'd say let's leave it as is and promote the use of our forgotten forum with a User Announcement.
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[Tarhead]

Mark and others scratching their heads on this:

My suggestion and question was to bring back an area we had earlier where we could post private deals such as the discount code Vijay gave me for NCWW members for shellac. Because that function had vanished I offered to do it by PM.

Also, I know some members are searching for rarely available items. For instance: Yesterday I posted a floor model Jet OSS. Might have seen 3 of these in the used/auction market in the NC/SC/VA area in the last 12 months and I got one of them:eusa_danc (thanks Tom! It's da bomb!). I was asking about the hot deals section going member access to protect these types of local, rare, legitimate, real deals for the group, not the typical thing you can find on the other forums and HF/Woodcraft/Rockler flyers. Maybe I was just having a xenophobic moment. I don't see the big picture sometimes. The best idea I guess is to post an announcement when you see something like this without a lot of detail. If someone is interested use PM for the details.

If you're looking for something, having 350 or so active members spread out looking can be a powerful thing. Speak up. Some of us are master shoppers, spotters and enablers.

Still looking for a sub $500 Emmert Vise complete in good shape.
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[Bigdog72]

Mark and others scratching their heads on this:

My suggestion and question was to bring back an area we had earlier where we could post private deals such as the discount code Vijay gave me for North Carolina Woodworker members for shellac. Because that function had vanished I offered to do it by PM.

Also, I know some members are searching for rarely available items. For instance: Yesterday I posted a floor model Jet OSS. Might have seen 3 of these in the used/auction market in the NC/SC/VA area in the last 12 months and I got one of them:eusa_danc (thanks Tom! It's da bomb!). I was asking about the hot deals section going member access to protect these types of local, rare, legitimate, real deals for the group, not the typical thing you can find on the other forums and HF/Woodcraft/Rockler flyers. Maybe I was just having a xenophobic moment. I don't see the big picture sometimes. The best idea I guess is to post an announcement when you see something like this without a lot of detail. If someone is interested use PM for the details.
If you're looking for something, having 350 or so active members spread out looking can be a powerful thing. Speak up. Some of us are master shoppers, spotters and enablers.
Still looking for a sub $500 Emmert Vise complete in good shape.
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+1



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[JimmyC]

Good points, Bas. I wasn't aware of the other place to post these deals for DQ members only (I like that idea for some stuff). That alone may do it ... so that when JimmyC finds me a 32" disc sander for $200 he can inform all of my competition! haha
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You'll be the first on my list to call about that 32" disc sander Jeremy :icon_thum. :gar-La;

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