What is the possibility of having a Classified Section?

[penumbra]

i didn't know there was one.

Precisely!

 

[JudyB]

I've sold plenty of stuff on the sales page as it is right now. I think it's fine just the way it is. I list on FB, but usually ask here if anyone is interested first. I do feel like if it's a higher end item, it's better to sell it on FB than here, as there are more high end buyers there. But that said, I've been happy selling here to members too.

 

[Lorax7]

There is a section that's classified, but it's "need to know".

 

[penumbra]

I've sold plenty of stuff on the sales page as it is right now. I think it's fine just the way it is. I list on FB, but usually ask here if anyone is interested first. I do feel like if it's a higher end item, it's better to sell it on FB than here, as there are more high end buyers there. But that said, I've been happy selling here to members too.

I agree that is fine the way it is Now. But I can see where soon we will Outgrow it.
There are a lot of members here who will not use FB.

 

[Enfield Snapper]

The regulars here pretty much know what each other has going on. It's the new members that pop up and try to sell something here and "EVERYONE" gets suspicious about that listing. This is one of my reasoning before you get to sell on here you should have a minimum post count so we all get to know who you are. Once you build that trust amongst everyone here then you should have no issues selling.

I don't frequent the site anymore, but Head-Fi had a minimum post requirement with their classifieds. It was a sub-forum separate from the rest of the site, so it was completely contained. It worked well for a long time and the traffic there was probably 100x what's going on in the sales section here. They had a buyer/seller review and rating system so people don't have to go into a transaction simply hoping the other party is legitimate. When an item sold or a price changed, they could change the title to reflect that. I don't believe anything ever got deleted.

They've since built an entirely new classifieds section and I'm not familiar with it, but I bought a couple items through the old system.

 

[Enfield Snapper]

The problem with this is that if you post a really cool pine progression and dont post it in the pines section but in the General Discussions section, it makes it very very very hard to find later on . . . It basically makes your post pretty much worthless for trying to learn something from.

I also think threads should be put in the appropriate category, if only for the sake of browsing. But doesn't the search function work just fine for the use case outlined above? The advanced search under Search Threads will even allow you to specify which forums you want to include. You can check "Display results as threads" to limit it to the main thread instead of every post that mentions your search terms.

If I'm looking for something I go straight to the search and I don't bother with the predefined categories.

 

[penumbra]

before you get to sell on here you should have a minimum post count so we all get to know who you are. Once you build that trust amongst everyone here then you should have no issues selling.

This is usually the procedure on sites I have bought and sold on.

but Head-Fi had a minimum post requirement with their classifieds. It was a sub-forum separate from the rest of the site, so it was completely contained. It worked well for a long time and the traffic there was probably 100x what's going on in the sales section here.

That is the message I am trying to say.

 

[Paradox]

I also think threads should be put in the appropriate category, if only for the sake of browsing. But doesn't the search function work just fine for the use case outlined above? The advanced search under Search Threads will even allow you to specify which forums you want to include. You can check "Display results as threads" to limit it to the main thread instead of every post that mentions your search terms.

If I'm looking for something I go straight to the search and I don't bother with the predefined categories.

If you know what you are looking for in the pines section, you can refine the search to that section instead of the entire forum.
It reduces the number of returns to then sort through by a very large amount.

 

[ShadyStump]

I'm not going to argue with anything @penumbra is saying. He makes many good points, and I believe he is correct that the BNut community would benefit from a more robust economic forum.

I get the feeling that much of the apprehension over doing so comes from a very understandable fear that (if I'm permitted a rare for me biblical reference) the money changers will overrun the temple. We don't want to lose our community to scam artists, shysters and back alley hucksters.

So if anything's to be changed, let's do it a step at a time is all I'm saying.
First, bump the sales forum up into the home forums section, and see what happens after a few months. If all is good, or at least good signs, let's go from there.

 

[sorce]

Sometimes I feel like Yins is pulling my Yang.

Sorce

 

[penumbra]

Sometimes I feel like Yins is pulling my Yang.

Sorce

It does absolutely. That is what gives birth to everything and sets the universe in motion.

 

[HorseloverFat]

Sometimes I feel like Yins is pulling my Yang.

Sorce

For every action..... there IS....

 

[penumbra]

There has been more activity on the selling forum lately but we need to bump it up. Come on all you pot makers, stand makers, plant growers, and anyone having anything to sell that is bonsai related, get those things listed.
We need a marketplace that is taken seriously.
I know you are out there. What is your reluctance?

 

[HorseloverFat]

There has been more activity on the selling forum lately but we need to bump it up. Come on all you pot makers, stand makers, plant growers, and anyone having anything to sell that is bonsai related, get those things listed.
We need a marketplace that is taken seriously.

I’ll have cuttings, seedlings, and younger collected “pre-bonsai” stock to go up soon. I’ve really been enjoying “nurseryman” life.. but sold MOST of my stock, locally..

I will “step it up”, friend.

 

[HorseloverFat]

Also, as soon as I get the Boron, magnesium and vegetable ash mixtures JUST right in my Cone 1 glazes... I will have pots by this fall.. which will be tested against my winters... but THEN available for sale NEXT year.

 

[penumbra]

You might want to rethink that. Cone 1 is not really a good idea for a bonsai pot imo.
Cone 5 at a minimum.
A simple test can be performed by soaking the finished pot very well and then putting it in your freezer for a few cycles. Also a problem with low fire ceramics is that they are awfully brittle and they chip easily.

 

[HorseloverFat]

You might want to rethink that. Cone 1 is not really a good idea for a bonsai pot imo.
Cone 5 at a minimum.
A simple test can be performed by soaking the finished pot very well and then putting it in your freezer for a few cycles. Also a problem with low fire ceramics is that they are awfully brittle and they chip easily.

Understood! Red/Crimson earthen/(brick occasionally) is the best quality I can collect here.. I spent like a year doing “batchwork” to find the most efficient filtration methods and tempers in attempt to “tame” the wild clay..

My clay bodies HOLD at cone 6.. the only reason I KNOW this is that A friend of mine glazed a bisque piece I had given her.

At the time while DOING the batchwork.. cone 1 was all I could achieve... but NOW i have a “real-deal” shell for my gas blowers. (Picking up in Chi-town ) and am halfway through my wood-fired conversion.

So I’ll be able to TAKE them to at least cone 5 now..

I just learned all these things about constructing/fabricating cone 1 glazes.. I’m sure I will soon “set my cross-hairs” on higher-firing glazes

 

[Forsoothe!]

Okay, I just tried out posting an item for sale. We will see how well it works.

I just looked at "Tree Selling" out of curiosity, and even though I thought I was ~watching~ all new posts, there was a response last Friday to a post for sale or trade I had posted 7/19/20, but I didn't see it because I was out of town for the weekend. Boo Hiss

 

[HorseloverFat]

I think it would be neat for potters to do “broad swing” commission “swaps”.. not ME, yet. But soon...

Like.. for COMPLETE example..

I’d say, “ @sorce , I have this Beech that will need a pot in three years... whatcha think?”

Then the door would swing the other way.

Then get Tree trades in there the SAME way.

I realize this only benefits those with stock... but I think it will open up “commission” lines and test each other’s mettle.

Just an idea.. “hack it up” or “sculpt” it to fit.

 

[penumbra]

I think it would be neat for potters to do “broad swing” commission “swaps”.. not ME, yet. But soon...

Like.. for COMPLETE example..

I’d say, “ @sorce , I have this Beech that will need a pot in three years... whatcha think?”

Then the door would swing the other way.

Then get Tree trades in there the SAME way.

I realize this only benefits those with stock... but I think it will open up “commission” lines and test each other’s mettle.

Just an idea.. “hack it up” or “sculpt” it to fit.

The idea certainly has merit, I'll give you that.
I am not interested in commission work. I don't at all mind suggestions, but I am getting too old to fart around struggling to make something because I am committed to it. Selfish? Maybe. But I want to make what I want to make. I guess that really has more to do with my nature than with my age.
About 30 years ago I learned the lapidary arts and silversmithing and was well tutored. I had fun with it for several years, sitting up until the wee morning hours "expressing" myself. I did some craft shows and had some experience with people who wanted to special order things, sometimes in quantity and sometimes even for a price break. A well dressed gentleman walked up to me at a local annual show and was looking at a pair of chakra earrings I had made. It was a sting of seven different stones to represent the chakras, set in sterling. He had a dilemma. His words, not mine. "Should I buy these for my wife or my secretary." I simply replied that I wasn't "going there". He disappeared for awhile and returned about an hour later. He said he wanted 7 pairs, one for his wife and one for each of the women in his office. Indeed a generous thing to consider. His question was, "If I buy 7 pair, how much of a discount can I get". I looked him squarely in the eyes and quietly said that because I am generally a nice guy, pair number two would cost the same as pair number one, but then each subsequent pair would be 20% more than the prior pair. He though I was joking, so I explained that the first pair was an act of creation that I had taken pleasure in making, but that any subsequent pair was only a copy and no longer fun, but work. He bought the pair for his wife as an original one of a kind creation upon my sage advice.