The AstroMart FORUMS - What I like and HATE!

Here is your chance to get your wishes addressed

The Anacortes Web TEAM is starting changes on AstroMart feel and functions today. They are finishing up the www.BuyTelescopes.Com site this week and are ready to tackle AstroMart.

The changes will start not be huge but are to improve the experience of MEMBERS use of AstroMart.

I like

a)
b)
c)

I hate
a)
b)
c)
d)

Fill in the blanks please!
Thank you
AstroMart LLC

I hate having the announcements in the misc listings, makes it hard to browse that listing, please make an separate announcements listing.
Everything else works great!

Make "Delete Ad" hide the ad instead of nuking it from existence. This way if you have a reference to an ad that's been deleted you can still see it (to, for example, go back and verify what was actually stated in an ad). Of course for this to work really well the ads would need versioning so that the ads couldn't simply be edited to blank before deletion to hide what was said.

I like:

a) The ability to sort threads many ways in the Display Format pulldown menu.

b) The overall simple format of the forums.

I dislike:

a) The inability to display attached photos directly in a post window. Only linked web photos are displayed in the post.

b) That clicking on the forum subgroups takes you to the top of the main forum list instead of the subgroup. It's extra annoying if you are starting near the bottom, such as "Sports", which also, by the way, has the wrong subgroup "COMMENTARY" instead of "Other Groups". If you are in "Sports" and click on it's subgroup "COMMENTARY" you end up at the top of the forums list.

c) Would prefer that older forum messages stay visible longer. Tech info is most helpful if it stays around for years. If I'm looking in "Losmandy" to see how someone solved a guiding issue, and it only shows 90 days, I will to go to another forum to find the answer.

I like

a) Being able to search years of past transactions to determine fair market value for an item.
b) Transparency, knowing who I am dealing with, and the comfort that comes from my past dealings with a community that is trustworthy.
c) A rating system to reinforce great behavior.
d) The bonus material in the newly added "Members" tab.

I hate

a) The 90 day limit on the posts in the Forums. It would be nice to allow the user to choose a longer time period.
b) Hammer-Time with Herb-a-Thor!!!! 8O

Attached Image:

There are none

For auctions:
I would like to see payment and shipping information listed ( like that listed in classifieds) so I know what forms of payment are accepted and who pays shipping for an item being auctioned AND if there is a handling or crating charge involved in the sale?

What I like:

Pretty much everything.....

What I don't like:

As mentioned by a couple already....the 90 day limit on reading messages. I have a feeling that would be a hard one to address. I am guessing but I believe that function is also tied to the 90 day limit on ad listings and might be hard to separate. If I am not mistaken the search function searches the entire history in both ads and messages but you can only list the last 90 days (or less) unless you use the search function in both ads and messages?

I like:

a) Most of it works ok

b) Good search capability and old ads with photos. Good for researching old telescope equipment.


I hate:

a) The way my web browser (IE8) freezes for 12.6 seconds while the Facebook "Like" thing at the upper
right loads. No one has ever clicked on the "Like" thing even once all these months its been on there
for most of the pages. The "Like" rating is 0 for most of them. Yet it causes a 12.6 sec delay every time
I load a page with it. Can't we just assume no one will ever click the "Like" thing and take it
off the pages? Maybe leave it on the home page if you really need it somewhere.

b) If you navigate to "account menu" then "unused ratings" and then click on one
of the ads to remind yourself what it was, you are stuck there on the ad. It displays the
ad, but the browser "back" button won't function. You have to start over at the top menu
to get back to where you can leave the rating.

c) If you go to give someone a rating and click "cancel" nothing happens. OK, OK I guess
I could just close the page instead.

Don't change much!

I like almost everything... the layout, ease of navigation, appearance, forum and ad structure, account options, search functions, and on and on...

I'd really have to spend some time trying to find things to improve. And there''s no need to change (for the sake of change) things, if it's not an improvement.

If it ain't broke... don't fix it!

My two cents, adjusted for inflation.

Linton