May announcements: gallery prefixes, commissionables & shopping services

[armeleia]

We will discuss the negative responses... I wouldn't completely rule out a change or adjustment, but at this point this is the format that we have selected and we will likely try it out for at least some time to let people settle in so that we can evaluate how to best address issues.

Please note that you can also find shops based on prefix by selecting from the dropdown at the top of the subforum. (If the menu shown below is hidden for you, you can click the little down arrow next to the Thread Display Options at the top of the suforum to make it show.)



You can also click a prefix to filter by that prefix.

[Praesagium]

While searching by prefixes is handy, I really don't see the logic behind this. As mentioned before, the previous format was working perfectly fine. A handful of users never use any prefixes, no less keep them updated. I feel like merging the commissions subforum will just turn it into a huge mess similar to the clothing/shoes subforum. I'm just glad I had all my commissioner threads saved.

Nthing thumbs down. I would, however, like to hear the mods' intended purpose for the merge. Was it just to not have so many subforums?

[koneko-chan]

But that way, you can only look for open shops; I don't really see the point in limiting the search to threads with 'open' labels because that's no useful at all for all those (myself included) who want to search threads of artists who have closed temporally but will reopen with new preorders or have interesting information about products and prices being closed because you want to commission in the near future once they reopen. And again, as mentioned before, the previous format was working perfectly fine.

Thumbs down, the search has turned quite messy with the new change...

[Silver Identity]

I would have to say thumbs down from me as well, especially when the previous system just working perfectly and no one complains about it. I'm also curious on why the mods would like to implement this and such. If you would like fewer subforums, it's kinda understandable. But merging the whole thing? It's kinda calling for a really messy situation and some headache for the people who wanna commission people.

[oOnyaOo]

As mentioned, you can only look for open shops in the prefixes, which is fine when I'm looking for someone available now but when it comes to faceups I want them PERFECT so I'm always willing to wait on a closed shop opening so I do like to look amongst the 'full' ones and the 'closed' ones. But now if I look specifically at the 'closed/full' prefix I see wigs and more which isnt what I'm after.
Also, I never looked in the art thread ever so I don't like the idea of those threads thrust upon me for visiting the commissionable services thread.
This change just seems so much messier and adds previously irrelevant steps.
Thumbs down from me as well.

[Jisatsu]

'nthing the thumbs down on this merged commission service move. Not only that but sometimes I have a full list but have a waitlist which a lot of my customers like. Now I can only be open or closed which seeing a 'closed' button before a commission thread (even if it says Waitlist open in the title) is a big turn off for possible customers. Usually, I go into the thread and look at all the WTC threads to find people I can help out... Now it is a hassle with all the WTC clothes/wigs/eye/etc along with it.

[Knibitz]

There is a lot of negative feedback here, and I can only chime in and agree with everything that's been said.

So I'm just honestly curious, and maybe this will help curve the negative feedback -
What brought about this change with the organization? How does the administrative team see this benefiting the forum as a whole.

I think enlightening members to that information may make the change easier to adjust to. I'm reading nothing about why the team decided to make this change, and what benefits it is going to do for us.
Even if it cuts down on bandwidth or something for the site, I think that's relevant information to us.

[Baakay]

It is an interesting question, the "why." It strikes me (continually) that another way to cut down on bandwidth would be to actually enforce the dolls marketplace rules for marking a post as finished as soon as the doll is no longer for sale, so that it can be efficiently spotted and moved. That seems to have not been done for... well, awhile. I get the sense that people misunderstand "graveyard" to mean that they won't be able to access their threads any more, so they ignore the rule. -- it wouldn't take much education/marketing effort to get that back on track again like it was when the new format was implemented (and it is an AWESOME improvement over its predecessor).

It seems counterintuitive to me to implement guidelines in one area (that badly needed them!) but not enforce them, while merging areas that really didn't need tweaking, thereby increasing the need for multiple searches. It's kind of a giant step backwards when compared with the great job that was done planning out the Dolls subforums.

Sooooo (yes I had a point) I agree that having a wee bit of explanation would go a long way to clearing up confusion/frustration.

[ZombChan]

Following up on Baakay's "enforce the graveyard rule", I'd also suggest more enforcement of the "no sold items in the clothing/shoes, eyes/wig, accessories subforums" rule. When the "crackdown" was first implemented, people were pretty good about removing items, but now I find more and more threads with just item after item with a description and "sold" next to it. I try and alert mods to as many of these threads as I can..but some days it feels like all I'm doing is marking threads with excessive amounts of sold items, when what I was trying to do was shop.

I'd also be curious on the "why" behind the merging of the comissionable services subforum..because I'm honestly baffled as to what scenario could make that seem like a good idea. Maybe I'm missing something (I understand trying to free up bandwidth), but it just seems a bit out there as far as "good" ideas go.

[armeleia]

As I said several posts before, we are discussing the points raised here... but please understand that we don't make structural changes lightly, so even "reverting" those subforums would take some discussion to determine the best way to make it work with our future plans for the Marketplace.

I would also like to request that people refrain from using this thread as a springboard to air tangental grievances... we're not really going to go into the intended structural changes that we will be beta'ing soon (wait for it!), but we will be addressing as many of the long-standing Marketplace frustrations as we can. Thanks!

[Knibitz]

We know you don't, and I'm not suggestion that you are. I'm just simply asking why before making assumptions about what benefit the staff found in this change.

I would imagine there was a reason why you made this change to the forum before you made it.
That's what I think might help people adjust better.
Because all we're hearing right now is that it changed, not exactly why ^^;

[elisa_maza]

I have to admit I am disliking the joined subforum as well. I was going to keep quiet until I gave it an honest chance, but it's really overwhelming. I always thought it made perfect sense to have the different types of commissionable services in separate subforums, I don't really understand why it had to change. Other subforums are being split up into even more, why merge this one?

For example, one thing that is bothering me is that I might want to research wig makers, but I want to research the ones that are currently open as well as the ones that are full/closed. I can't just search by the "wigs" prefix, since that will only give me the open ones.

If you are really convinced that this was the best way to go, and you don't want to change it, please consider making item-specific prefixes (i.e. "wigmakers - full/closed"). That would at least only require searching twice (once for open ones, and once for closed ones). Of course in the old, specialized subforum, all I had to do was scroll, without any searching needed at all.

Another thing that has become very awkward is WTC threads. If someone is a customizer of any sort, looking to answer someone's WTC, they have to pay attention like a fox, plus wade through scores of threads that are not pertaining to what they do. Again, we could make WTC prefixes that are specific - like, "WTC - wig".

But if we're going to that trouble, it just seems easier to have it split up the way it was before. I thought it was a perfect concept that didn't need to change at all.

You all know that I really appreciate all your hard work, and usually I welcome the changes and upgrades with open arms. But I would really prefer this subforum to go back to the way it was.

[arrowchild]

First of all, thanks to the mods for keeping an open ear about our concerns about the changes that were made We all appreciate your hard work!

For commissionable artists like me who only open a handful of slots at a time, the new merging of threads is really going to hurt, since it's made it more difficult to view open and full shops in the same commissionable genre. Please do consider going back to the previous version of the commissionables area-it was one of the nicest, most organized I've encountered on any website and it made being both a customer and a customizer a pleasure rather than a chore