Classifieds... Split into models?

[Jace]

Hey Aaron, and whoever else,

The classifieds are pretty flat out now, and everything pre-MKV gets flooded and buried quickly by all the electronic stuff.

Could they be split up a bit? Like MK1-3 Golf/Vento, MK4-6 Golf/Bora/Jetta/Passat, and Skoda/SEAT and other variants?

It's like 90% of the thread titles contain multiple acronyms "PMS SMS RCD 510 WAKA WAKA" and i for one feel like i need to squint to find a thread relavant to anything made prior to 2005.

Just a thought, but the forum is only getting more and more popular, meaning there will only be more and more traffic through the classifieds.

- Jace

[Domel]

Very good suggestion.

[The_Hawk]

I understand it's a busy little section of the forum, but then that's why we have a search function!

As it is we have Cars, Parts and Other + WTB and what's on eBay. I'm interesting in the idea, but I'm concerned that we end up with too many sections for people to have to trawl through combined with the confusion of what goes where? Do we have an Audio a section? Tuning? Wheels? Suspension?

[Jarred]

Both Jace and Aaron make good points.

It would be pretty hard to split them up I think. As many parts can cross different generations.

Sellers should do thier best to write accurate and distinct titles.

[The_Hawk]

Another option might be to put in some different prefixes, like Mk1, Mk2 etc etc

The question is, would you rather see what State your parts are in or what model in the title? (also something to filter by)

[Jace]

Model prefixes would be better IMO (for parts, maybe state prefixes for cars, assuming the thread titles were concise), shipping is cheap and easy these days and most of the parts are small enough to post anyway.

I've found the search function is next to useless, because it emits terms like 'MK1' because they're too short. Being able to search specific forums (like VWVortex) would be great, as it would reduce the need for model related terms. This would work really well with divided classifieds forums too.

Perhaps the 'What's On Ebay' sub-forum could be divided; instead of having it's own forum solely devoted to individual threads about ebay items, have a stickied 'Parts on Ebay' and 'Vehicles on Ebay' thread at the top of each FS forum (MK1-MK3 for instance).

Really, if you were to divide the classifieds and get rid of the What's on Ebay forum, you would only need one (maybe two) more FS subforums than what we have now (as mentioned in first post, MK1-3, MK4-6, Skoda/SEAT and others, etc.)


For the record, I really like the What's On Ebay posts. I like to browse the FS forums (i don't know that I want to buy something until i see it for sale haha)

I also realize that even moving all the current classifieds ads would be a hell of a job, if i could help with this, i would. :)

[The_Hawk]

I understand the search isn't always so good for short terms, a pain when you're looking for the PVW thread like I always used to. You can try the Google search bar instead, although I am not aware of a way to make it search within a specific sub forum so you would get results from over the whole forum. On the upside it's happy to search for small words.

If you want to come up with a list of prefixes that you think are relevant I'm happy to have a look at implementing them as additional options.

As for the eBay section, again the same prefixes can be used so you would be able to filter on those.

New sections...

Since some of the common threads are about Wheels and Audio, maybe subsections for those will filter out more of the clutter that crops up in the current sections.

Unlike the other section I don't know that I would bother moving anything since it all drops off the radar 30 days after the last post and doesn't need to be kept, unlike those threads about how to fix the brakes in a Mk1 which are always relevant :P Long story short, there would be a transition period while the old threads die off :)



Lastly, the eBay section is designed for people to list stuff they have seen on eBay or Gum tree etc, the idea being that the items listed here are not on offer by our members but rather from some unknown third party. (members wanting to list stuff THEY have for sale on eBay should list it in the normal sections). Maybe some additional prefixes might just help you sort through what is listed in there.

[Jace]

I guess MK1, MK2, MK3, MK4, MK5, MK6, dunno what else is popular but most of the parts are the same for MK5/6 and Jettas, Skodas, and all that other new junk.

Maybe a colour to indicate Golf, Vento, Jetta etc.

A separate section for whatever those MK5 headunits are might solve the clutter on it's own...

[The_Hawk]

But then what about the Polo's? Or Audi's...

You don't want to give people 50 different options to choose from when listing something, broader categories are usually better unless there is a very high demand for something very easily identifiable.

How about a couple of new sections:

Pre 2000 Parts
Post 2000 parts
Wheels
Car Audio

Loose the general Parts for Sale

Keep
Cars for sale
Wanted to Buy
What's on eBay
The Dub Tub


That way you get Mk 1,2 & 3 Golf in the former and the later stuff in other, Polo works much the same, although in both cases there is a little cross over although I think that's something we could deal with with a couple of notes/instructions in the Classifieds rules threads. We still cover newer vs older in all marques while also separating out some of the very commonly sold items (wheels/audio) which may be common to many vehicles.

[Jace]

Sounds good. I'm not sure that a separate category for wheels are all that necessary though. Wheels are also only relevant to certain age cars as well, with only a little crossover (5x100 i guess).

How about Pre-97/Post-97? Because MK4's were made from what, 1998 to 2003 or so? And being that the majority of cars on the forum are Golfs and Polos (which weren't really popular until the later model ones anyway)