Proposal - Classified section
 

I posted this elsewhere. William suggested posting it here.

Ever consider a classified section. I'd love to list my time share for rent on FT. Time shares are great places for family vacations and usually much cheaper than hotels. There are just a handful of reputable sites to rent through.

Classified can be a real value for members. Limit it to those in good standing with a year membership and over 100 posts to keep junk down.

Also, of course, no ads for items not proerly saleable.

I think there are enough places on the internet to buy/sell things as it is.

Not so in my view. The Internet is a dark and dangerous place. FT is a friendly community -- for the most part.

I've been here over three years and have over 1400 posts. If I tell you I have a condo in Cancun for rent, you are likely more at ease dealing with me then if you find the listing on Craigslist. I too might be more comfortable dealing with you.

Classifieds don't force you to shop. So there being here will not hurt you. But it would help me and others.

I know that there are boards that specialize in time shares or in cameras, etc. But I have not made the investment there to build recognition and trust that I have here.

So please rethink and join me in asking for a classified area.

Thanks.

Maybe a classified thread could be opened in CommunityBuzz, similar to the existing hire a flyertalker thread?

Speaking as a Cbuzz mod, and not as a TB member, there is a thread in Cbuzz for 'hire a service' where you can post details about your business, so it's not a hop skip and a jump away from that:
http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthrea...=195422&page=1

Problem I can see is that if we did go down that route, we wouldn't be able to keep out the 1 post posters trying to see things, so a thread could be not that good.

Someone else suggested this several months ago, and, while on the surface, it seems like a good idea, as I would love to rent from a known entity rather than from random advertisers on the net, I would have to disagree unless highly restricted.

Because of the demographics of the average user of FT, IMHO, we'd be prime "targets" and we'd get people registering for no other reason than to use the classifieds. I would support it if we used even more restrictive access than
coupon connection (which had the problem with CC users only). Something like the 180 posts/180 days of Omni comes to mind.

That said, there are plenty of regulars here who own units and it's not a secret. Contacting a long timer privately might yield good results. ;) [and no, I'm not one of them, but I know of several]

I don't have any idea who they are and doubt that many people here know that I own two prime time share weeks in Cancun over Christmas and New Years. That is why a classified or similar area would help.

I agree that we only want active FTers. I'd put a high message count requirement (excluding Omni if the software can) plus 18 or more months of membership.