Announcement Classifieds Update: Free Ad Limit Changing to 2 on Monday, September 21

[ikeo1]

Hey everyone,

Heads up on a change coming to the Classifieds next week.

What's changing

Starting Monday, September 21, the free Classifieds ad limit is going from 3 active ads down to 2.

• You can still run multiple items in a listing.
• Verified members will move up to 4 images.

What's NOT changing

• Verified accounts keep 3. If you've verified your account, nothing changes for you.
• All other account tiers stay the same. Only the free limit is being adjusted.
• Existing ads are safe. Anything you have up right now stays up until it expires on its own. Nothing gets pulled early.

Why we're doing this

CAguns has grown a lot over the past year, and the Classifieds have grown with it. That's great, but it's also brought a few things we have to deal with:

• Scammers. More traffic means more people trying to take advantage of it. The majority of scam attempts we see come from brand-new, unverified accounts that throw up multiple listings at once. Lowering the free limit and keeping the higher limit for verified members makes that a lot harder to pull off, and makes it easier for us to catch.
• Costs. Hosting, search, storage, and the time it takes to moderate the section all scale with the number of listings. We want to keep the Classifieds free to use, and this helps us do that without cutting corners elsewhere. We've had to double up on our server size due to the growth of the site.
• Quality. Fewer stale and duplicate listings means the section is easier to browse and your ads get seen by more people.

Incidents:

https://caguns.net/threads/site-down-for-about-8-minutes.29844/

https://caguns.net/threads/caguns-under-attack.29694/

Want to keep 3 free ads?

Verify your account. It's quick, it helps everyone know who they're dealing with, and it keeps your limit at 3. Verify here.
We will also be updating our badging system and other parts of the classifieds setup very soon.

Thanks for being part of the community and for helping us keep the Classifieds a place people can actually trust. If you've got questions, drop them below.

- CAguns

 

[beardo]

Just to double check if I am looking at the right thing, the verification to keep 3 free ads limit is to do one of the 7 tiers of payment but NOT the "Verification badges requests" thing right?

 

[ikeo1]

Just to double check if I am looking at the right thing, the verification to keep 3 free ads limit is to do one of the 7 tiers of payment but NOT the "Verification badges requests" thing right?

Right.. not the verification badges.. Those are deprecated and pretty much only for one offs...

Any one of these you'd be good to go.

https://caguns.net/account/upgrades

 

[JackRydden224]

Are we at a point where more paying members are needed ? What’s the target ratio of paying members vs non paying members and what number are we at ?

 

[sped_]

Would the site ever consider implementing timestamping requirements for new members, similar to what GAFS has going on? Would help to cut down on the number of scam listings, especially the ones that use pics from other sites.

 

[ikeo1]

Are we at a point where more paying members are needed ? What’s the target ratio of paying members vs non paying members and what number are we at ?

There's a few problems as detailed... It's helpful to keep things going to operate as a forum, it would be fine and nothing more. The real problem is scammers and duplicate listings and absentee listers, but what would be nice is if these power users also helped

We still have free listings available but the traffic is ever increasing..

I would also say, we'll be expanding the features, like notifications will move down another level for keyword search. So we're pulling a little from the free accounts, to give more to the people that support the site. Right now the people paying subsidize. Also as mentioned, we're expanding to other ranges trying to support more people getting into different disciplines. This is mainly why it's for the classifieds free tier. Everything remains the same or higher for everyone else.

Note: The lowest tier is $1.65/mo to help support the site

Would the site ever consider implementing timestamping requirements for new members, similar to what GAFS has going on? Would help to cut down on the number of scam listings, especially the ones that use pics from other sites.

Not a bad idea.. We've requested it every so often.. There's a difference in the audience. We have it optional, but most people here aren't familiar with doing the extra step. We can eventually move to it now that the demographic is trending younger. That's always been there and if you look at creating a listing its there, its jsut the overhead is high managing people.

with gafs they did that since the beginning, in CA people weren't use to it.

 

[Gawernator]

Would the site ever consider implementing timestamping requirements for new members, similar to what GAFS has going on? Would help to cut down on the number of scam listings, especially the ones that use pics from other sites.

That would be kind of annoying, idk. It's so easy to tell if a ad/profile is a scam or not tbh

 

[sped_]

That would be kind of annoying, idk. It's so easy to tell if a ad/profile is a scam or not tbh

True, but the annoyingness might deter potential scammers. I agree with you though that it's pretty obvious that you're not getting a desirable off-roster firearm for below MSRP in our state but some people are oblivious otherwise. The timestamp requirement could be for new accounts or accounts with less than 2 positive reputation and can be bypassed with an account upgrade, which would also provide another incentive for new members to contribute to the site.

 

[Gawernator]

True, but the annoyingness might deter potential scammers. I agree with you though that it's pretty obvious that you're not getting a desirable off-roster firearm for below MSRP in our state but some people are oblivious otherwise. The timestamp requirement could be for new accounts or accounts with less than 2 positive reputation and can be bypassed with an account upgrade, which would also provide another incentive for new members to contribute to the site.

That's a good idea, we should do that. Require for new accounts and low feedback

 

[ikeo1]

True, but the annoyingness might deter potential scammers. I agree with you though that it's pretty obvious that you're not getting a desirable off-roster firearm for below MSRP in our state but some people are oblivious otherwise. The timestamp requirement could be for new accounts or accounts with less than 2 positive reputation and can be bypassed with an account upgrade, which would also provide another incentive for new members to contribute to the site.

I appreciate the ideas. Main reason we haven't implemented it is because I don't want to put that burden on the mods. They already do a lot, so for the most part we let people tell us. These days we catch a lot, but the main reason behind the limitation is:

1.) People will post duplicates of the same item
2.) Same scammer profile and max out TGTBT items and optics
3.) Reduce the overhead for volunteers
4.) Reduce listing where people don't respond

Considering how often people visit, it would save peoples time too including our own. Fewer low quality listings and reality is good listings move very fast already. If their intention is to keep it there, that's a problem. Also, people tend to set and forget, so they'll stand out a little more.

We get a lot of complaints about people who don't respond. Can you guess what account type has the worst response rate? They'll maximize the listings, put a bunch of stuff and then disappear. Typically, if they are verified they're around more often because they actually value the platform because they're contributing to it.

Also, 5/7 of the options are $5/mo or less. If you've made one sale or purchase, they've already recouped their money. We have 22k feedback. We don't see anything near that, BUT we do have some very good supporters, who subsidize the free users. This is an effort to give a few more features back because I'm planning to clean things up.

Overall, I'm constantly trying to balance free vs supported and try to offer value as much as possible, where the service standard is high with high value. I want the mods here to have a good time too and enjoy overseeing the community, it shouldn't feel like a PITA

 

[Wolkenflieger]

That would be kind of annoying, idk. It's so easy to tell if a ad/profile is a scam or not tbh

Wait, did you say something was easy?

*Loading freakout in 3, 2, 1...*

Kidding, kidding. I agree, anyone with rudimentary critical-thinking skills can spot scammers. Right?