Eliminating discussion in classifieds

I've had great success with the classifieds here so I am not complaining that they don't work but, is there a way to make the 'for sale' forum a non-discussion zone? Not saying it's here or there, but the mods on Moparts delete ads of this nature and replace them with something like 'wrong forum' or 'this is not a discussion forum'. Big Block Dart eliminated their classifieds altogether. I realize it might be more work and difficult to police. Anyone have any suggestions?

One of my recent for sale ads was clouded by a negative comment, posted by someone who clearly had no interest in buying the part. Despite that, he felt the need to let everyone know what his own personal opinion in regards to the part being sold was (which happened to be negative) in the very first reply after the initial post. The result of that is that anyone who looks at the ad will see his comment right afterwords. I was pissed and rightfully so.

In general, this type of scenario could directly impact the sale of the part which is totally unfair and disrespectful to a seller. People should be able to make their own decisions regarding what they see without the influence of a third party opinion, good or bad.

At this point, sale is pending on my item, but there were almost two pages of back and forth that had nothing to do with what was being sold. Everything worked out OK in that particular instance but I'd like to avoid these debates in the future.

I try to be straight up and put thought into my ads - I'm sure anyone else trying to sell something does the same. It's not OK to take potshots at sellers when it could cost them sales, especailly if you don't intend to buy the item.

I think comments should be limited to questions on specifics. And perhaps people could put forth a little more effort and PM rather than take up logistics discussions in these threads that have nothing to do with anyone else except the buyer and seller. And lastly, comments like "boy, if I had the money I'd be knocking down your door" add nothing and are in fact kinda irritating.

Let people alone to sell their wares and keep the comments under your hat. Perhaps start a new thread and yammer away if you're so worked up, but leave it out of the classifieds.

Stepping off soap box now... thanks for reading.

- Greg
Author: admin