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Policy Make "The Bazaar" its own site for more forums, more security. Or keep it here? (1 Viewer)

Should we explore making The Bazaar its own site, with more security & features?


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Redbot

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We're kicking around the idea of splitting this forum, The Bazaar, off onto its own site.
Your username, password, feedback, post history, verification, and everything would be retained.

What you'd gain is a quality mobile interface, more security (there's a lot we want to do to limit accounts and block scammers, but can't in fear of inconveniencing the average MQ2 user), a staff dedicated to online goods trading, more forums for trades with each EQ server getting attention, and if all goes well, other game's RMT covered with the same level of care and attention we give EQ. Prices for verification will stay the same (if not decrease) and there will never be required fees.

What you'd lose is being here on RedGuides.

As always, we're putting the community first and won't move forward unless this is a popular idea. What do you think?
 
I'm afraid you would lose the traffic from those coming to this site already, therefore making the Bazaar less effective at actually selling stuff. There are plenty of sites out there already dedicated to third party gaming transactions, however this forum seems to do well because of the high traffic to Redguides.

I don't see additional forums for trades being a good thing either, a majority of the trades here revolve around the "hot" and active server at the time - which right now - is Agnarr. Before, it was Phinigel. Beyond that, the scope of sales is much smaller for all the other servers.

Bottom line for me, more traffic and more people looking at what's for sale all in one place is more effective for the average trader than the benefits you would get from breaking it off. Bazaar Verification is in place for a reason and is effective at staving off scammers; I don't see how making a new forum will stop scammers from existing, it's an age old problem.

My vote is No.
 
How would we trade redcents if it was another site?

I could forsee Redcents becoming kind of a universal curreny across games, just like "forum gold" did at D2JSP.
 
I like the one-forum design as well, and wouldn't sacrifice that.

The "more forums" idea would be voted on per forum. For example, I have people now asking for a "verified users" forum, which I don't think I'll add on RedGuides, as we have enough forums as is.
[MENTION=226778]Proxy[/MENTION] Good question on Redcents, I don't know! But we could try to keep them synced between sites.

Before we put much time into thinking about details, we wanted to see if people would use a new site, if our security and organization is attracting you here, or if it's really just the RedGuides name that brings the crowd, or the crowd that brings the crowd.

The Bazaar has blown up beyond anyone's expectations, and it feels weird being on a site that isn't intended to be RMT-centric. There is some friction from the MQ2 community that's against RMT.
 
If you sync red cents, and you are not rebranding the site, I'm in, and think increased security would be awesome for those legit buyers/sellers out there.

But keep the redguides brand going.

RedBazaar or something
 
Branding would be the same, I registered a couple "red" sites just in-case, community would vote on the name.

Every account created on RG would sync with the bazaar Red site, and vice versa.
 
There won't be any big changes if it stays on RG. Consider it feature complete.

If you want new features, vote for a new site.
 
I only come to RG for my information and trades. I've had terrible experiences elsewhere. I'd rather keep it here for ease of access. I restrict my activity to verified members, and do not have any drama ^_~. I learned my lesson once being scammed, was happy I was able to get my money back via my bank.
 
I'll vote for making the Bazaar its own site.

Games that have approved full-RMT are few and far between, so I'm not holding my breath for Daybreak to get behind that aspect. I'm not anti-RMT, but as long as RMT is on RedGuides it keeps RedGuides from being "legit" too. I know a lot of us would love to show off what we can do with MQ2/Kiss/plugins and link to our work in RedGuides, but that just isn't an option while it is an RMT site. I can't even "like" RedGuides on Facebook..

EQmule pulled off a nice "deal" with Daybreak by having MacroQuest2 legit on Live, as long as you're at the keyboard. That it can be used without the threat of an insta-ban is amazing. MQ2 is really an asset to EQ, just for much much programming it can teach while playing a fun game. I'd love to see RedGuides considered a resource by all the EQ community, not just those that are willing to step over into grey hat territory.
 
I don't think half of the people voting no understand that it wouldn't be that big of a change it would only be an improvement.

I think the option for increased security is always something that needs to be considered.

In fact if there are limitations to what were going to get here security wise...then I don't think this is a poll-able thing...I think it is a necessity.
 
i would vote yes if there was some over-zealous linking from RG to the new site. the only concern i have is potential loss in traffic, however this is weighed against the potential increase in traffic due to increased trading features like security etc. hard to say really, will wait for more information.
 
Genius

I've worked in ecommerce for over 15 years, and most recently in luxury retail with a very specific customer base. I don't know the details of what redbot and co has in store but I can say from experience creating a unique environment specifically tailored to trading will have a great chance at increasing engagement from any interested party. As a seller you should be very excited that your platform will see increased traffic and functionality. With proper seo and enough push from this site it should create the right environment for growth. As a buyer you'll have (what sounds like) multiple new tools to enhance your search and be able to buy from more than just 1 game (blasphemy I know, but I've heard some people play other games besides eq).

Having another site to go to isn't a barrier, we visit how many sites a day? Come on. Separating MQ2 is the right move, they have nothing to do with each other and like a few have said actually creates a stigma around MQ2 use as RMT botters. I would guess purely based off feedback scores that I've seen most of the MQ2 community doesn't even use the bazaar very frequently. That tells me two sets of customers are viewing this site with two totally different intentions. Why not cater to both and create environments to foster a better experience for that customer? It's just good business

Also having a responsive site will absolutely increase transactions, there is no arguing that mobile converts. Did I hear live chat? :dance:

I'm getting ahead of myself...I'm excited :toot:
 
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I don't think half of the people voting no understand that it wouldn't be that big of a change it would only be an improvement.

I think the option for increased security is always something that needs to be considered.

In fact if there are limitations to what were going to get here security wise...then I don't think this is a poll-able thing...I think it is a necessity.

One feature would be pushing users through a soft-verification process upon signup. I can't do that here.

But like others have said, that's all pointless if nobody would use a different domain.
 
i would vote yes if there was some over-zealous linking from RG to the new site. the only concern i have is potential loss in traffic, however this is weighed against the potential increase in traffic due to increased trading features like security etc. hard to say really, will wait for more information.

I think we've maxed out what we can get from EQ traffic, so I understand why sellers would be cautious. They want stability, and they have a great thing going here: no fees, lots of eyeballs :)

But yes, there'd be over-zealous linking, as any drop in traffic would be a total project failure. "The Bazaar" forum would remain with 301s for old links to retain seller's SEO, and a constantly updated RSS feed of new posts from the "red bazaar" site. You could basically browse here, but if you want to buy you'd be forwarded to the new site.

The big goal would be to take what we have here and (slowly, carefully) expand it to other games, so your verification/redcents would be useful if you ever left EQ. The real question is this: have we (everyone who has contributed ideas and effort to the bazaar) made something unique that we could apply to other games, or is the bazaar's success just a product of it being part of the established Redguides community?
 
This is the best place to buy/sell/trade for EQ1 period. Playerauctions is old tired and expensive.

Eventually someone is going to come up with a better system. Why shouldn't it be redguides?
 
This is the best place to buy/sell/trade for EQ1 period. Playerauctions is old tired and expensive.

Eventually someone is going to come up with a better system. Why shouldn't it be redguides?

I second that. Having an up2date standalone website will get popular, PA is a living example.
 
There is some friction from the MQ2 community that's against RMT.
Exactly why we need this.
Take it from someone that's eaten an insane ban wave from someone from RG that was against RMT.

I don't think half of the people voting no understand that it wouldn't be that big of a change it would only be an improvement.

I think the option for increased security is always something that needs to be considered.

100000000% agree, It seems a lot of the no votes don't understand that this is an addition and an improvement.
 
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Here's the thing with the Bazaar (and for some reason I've been thinking about this a lot lately).

When I'm not looking to buy anything, seeing all the Bazaar stuff in my unread posts is annoying. HOWEVER, when I am looking to buy stuff that is awesome.

I also feel like RG gets a good amount of traffic due to and because of Bazaar --- and vice versa.

How many of us have bought something from the Bazaar that we wern't necessarily looking for, but saw a good deal pop up and hopped on it
 
If its a matter of views and traffic cant the "new offers" or something feed be scrolled here in some way?
Seems that's what most people are concerned about.

Or even have it be its own domain with links here and vise versa?
I mean top bar having "Bazaar" isn't people having to reach very far to see it and itd still be very much so connected to the main site. They can verify on sign up to the bazaar feature and boom - access granted
 
I think tailoring the experience to a more secure/safe way to trade... Is worth it.
There were also some valid points about this being an MQ2 site, and the other site being RMT...

I like the idea of a verification process on sign up... [MENTION=5114]Redbot[/MENTION] do you see people's feedback score transferring to the new site?
 
I think tailoring the experience to a more secure/safe way to trade... Is worth it.
There were also some valid points about this being an MQ2 site, and the other site being RMT...

I like the idea of a verification process on sign up... [MENTION=5114]Redbot[/MENTION] do you see people's feedback score transferring to the new site?

He did say this: "Your username, password, feedback, post history, verification, and everything would be retained."

I feel like as long as everything is retained then there is no reason to increase security and change things up a bit. The bazaar could be way, way better than it is right now. A simple verification to stop these scammers that give each other a few feedback then try to cash out with an account theft or something, would be excellent. The scammers are obviously making a decent bit of money otherwise they wouldn't keep at it.
 
I'm a casual visitor to RG. Getting more and more into the game even after being on EQ since it's birth. I'd be in-favor of making RG Bazar it's own website. The growth potential is very high. The security measures would help to increase the trading capabilities, or so it seems to me. I really don't think there would be any disadvantages under the terms as I understand them right now. Is there a FAQ on this anywhere yet?

Thanks to everyone for giving freely their opinions :)
Maha
 
There was a discussion before about turning "The Black Market" into potentially a "Red Verified Only" subforum for trading.


I think that would be a better idea than creating a full new site personally and likely easier and quicker to implement.
 
It would be nice to have some sort of authentication required for viewing someones feedback etc not a unregistered user being able to see everything. It could help prevent time stamping deals etc by daybreak. So requiring a login and password even to view for sale listings would be nice.
 
It would be nice to have some sort of authentication required for viewing someones feedback etc not a unregistered user being able to see everything. It could help prevent time stamping deals etc by daybreak. So requiring a login and password even to view for sale listings would be nice.

This!!! So much THIS!!!!!
 
I tried to make the bazaar a sub forum with required rights before and went to rebot about it but only 10 or so people were intrested , this is something that we need to protect our long term members here and to make the new members earn it , the idea of safety is biggest key here what is the easiest way to provide max security for sellers and buyers.


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My only concern is that, at the moment, Redguides is sort of my "one stop shop" for all my EQ needs. I can check out what people have for sale, check out new MQ2 plugins and macros, get help with my own macros and learn, find new spots to level, etc. all in one place. I would vote yes, if Redguides kept the link to the Bazaar and the Bazaar had links back to Redguides, so I could continue to use it in that way.
 
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