Need feedback for new Classifieds system: Forumosafieds.com

I just noticed a problem with the forumosafieds notifications when using a gmail account: as all notifications are sent out with the same title “Reply to your posting” by admin, all these messages go into the same “conversation” or whatever it’s called in gmail. Sometimes a bit confusing if you have quite a few responses and maybe even several ads going at the same time …

[quote=“ironlady”]I guess the McDonald’s in Taiwan don’t stock them. :smiley:

“Situations wanted” is the American classifieds heading for people posting looking for jobs. You know, stuff like “Canadian English teacher, 27, experienced, seeking a full-time job paying at least 80K per month.” Or whatever.[/quote]
Thank you for pointing this out, IL, At the moment, “Situations wanted” would go in the Forumosans For Hire forum

This is a good point. Maybe we can put the Ad ID number in the subject line so that gmail will treat responses to different ads as separate conversations. But I don’t know how long this will take for me to change :blush:

I just used the Forumosafieds for the first time to place an ad, and read this entire thread, and here’s my thoughts.

It seems good overall. Two great improvements that have been mentioned would be to not require a second log-in, and to have the Forumosafieds come up in a general ‘new posts’ search. You mentioned that both of these may be possible. I hope so, and think that it should be a priority.

With more integration, the ability to PM and allow notification by PM would be great.

A little glitch: With the housing ads, you are allowed one main photo and two others. The main photo shows very small on the frontpage. When you go to the details page there is a large photo at the top, and the two smaller extra photos which you can click to enlarge. Unfortunately the photo at the top is one of the extras, not the main photo (which I’m sure that it’s supposed to be).

The other classifieds: I guess this is already the plan, but now that the forumosafieds are up and running, it would be best to get rid of the Classified Forums (btw I like the way the Forumosafieds are integrated into the Forum page at the top, in the same format as the regular forums). Forumosans for Hire and Volunteering could be new Forumosafieds categories. Language Exchange should be an option under Personals (which I belive should completely replace the pay-to-use Forumosa Friends). Where Can I Find/Miscellaneous should be split, with WCIF becoming a discussion forum, and Miscellaneous Classifieds beign a new Forumosafieds category. Events is the tricky one. I’m not quite sure how this should be handled. Perhaps the front page of the Forums should go Forumosfieds then Events with subcategories Calendar and Events Forum (or even split into two - Forumosa Events and Other Events).

Brian

Just another coupel fo tiny things.

Expiration: I notice the ds expire after 30 days. I wonder if there is a renewal system and any notification of imminent expiration. It can take a lot of effort to make an ad, and it would be good if they can be renewed.

Housing Classifieds: The heding ‘Rent’ would be better changed to ‘Monthly Rent’. Newbies might not realise rent is always monthly. It isn’t so in some other countries.

Brian

That’s a good idea. Thanks.

[url=Re-arranging Forums - #4 by GooseEgg re-arranging the forums here:[/url]Re-arranging Forums - #4 by GooseEgg

Expiration notices go out 5 days prior. This can be changed

Good point. Thanks

I couldn’t see ‘date posted’ for job ads. That’s a helpful feature.

The ‘number of replies’ function is very helpful to jobseekers, in that it may indicate that as #237 in the list you probably won’t get to interview. On the other hand it may discourage qualified applicants, thus lessening the value to advertisers of the ad.

The ‘show private fields’ box is good, but it’s not immediately obvious which are the private fields.

Hit the ‘reply to ad’ button at the bottom and your email goes to the person posting the ad. This may be different from the contact details you enter for that specific ad. (I post ads on behalf of schools quite often.)

There’s no way to attach a CV when you reply to a job ad. I know several teachers who keep their CV stored in their online email accounts, which enables them to forward them as required. A lot of internet cafes prevent downloads of files, but you can’t cut and paste your details into your email without downloading. How about an automatic link to your forumosans.com profile instead??? :wink:

I never look at them anymore. I usually use the new posts function but now they don’t show up there anymore. I just never think to go looking for it.

I hope this hasn’t been posted before as well, but there are no dates listed in the housing section.

I see creation dates in the listings, and there are days of expiration in the ads themselves.

Which dates are you looking for?

I see creation dates in the listings, and there are days of expiration in the ads themselves.

Which dates are you looking for?[/quote]Recent posts on this thread prompted me to go back to the F/fieds for a look. Glad to see it doing well, with plenty of ads. Great stuff.

I guess what Yangdemei might like to see is dates of creation in the ads themselves. I also think that would be a useful addition if/when you get time.

I click new to see the recent posts. Along the edge are ads and links. None of the links work and the ads seem to be really old.

Uh, not everyone in Taiwan is a 外師 … is this some ominous sign of the impending englishteacherification of Forumosa?

The little ads at the bottom and sides on the forums are always the same ads. And ads don’t get deleted when they expire.

I see creation dates in the listings, and there are days of expiration in the ads themselves.

Which dates are you looking for?[/quote]

The only ads that have the creation dates are the housing available ads.

Would it be possible to put the creation date in all of the other categories?

I see creation dates in the listings, and there are days of expiration in the ads themselves.

Which dates are you looking for?[/quote]

The only ads that have the creation dates are the housing available ads.

Would it be possible to put the creation date in all of the other categories?[/quote]
Yes, this is possible - although the listings pages tend to get crowded having so many columns there. Do you really think it is valuable to have a Creation Date column for ALL types of ads?

Different types of ads have different “key” information in their respective listings pages. Which should we sacrifice to make room for Creation Date? Also, the recent postings page lists days to expiration - isn’t this useful enough

Please do not take my line of questioning the wrong way - the software is flexible enough to a degree that we can make a number of changes at your request. My main issue is to make sure that what changes we DO make will leave the pages better than before without sacrificing too much.

Help me understand what the complete solution will be - I am always interested to know how to make the websites more usable

g.

With jobs ads it is very helpful to know how old the vacancy is. Ditto with a lot of things, I would have thought.

[quote=“Goose Egg”]Yes, this is possible - although the listings pages tend to get crowded having so many columns there. Do you really think it is valuable to have a Creation Date column for ALL types of ads?

Different types of ads have different “key” information in their respective listings pages. Which should we sacrifice to make room for Creation Date? Also, the recent postings page lists days to expiration - isn’t this useful enough

Please do not take my line of questioning the wrong way - the software is flexible enough to a degree that we can make a number of changes at your request. My main issue is to make sure that what changes we DO make will leave the pages better than before without sacrificing too much.

Help me understand what the complete solution will be - I am always interested to know how to make the websites more usable

g.[/quote]

If your concern is the space issue, why not replace the “views” column with a “date posted” column? Afterall, how many views an ad has recieved has very little relevance to what the ad is about. This information can still be retained on the actual ad page.

Days till expiration is really more useful if you are the owner of the ad. If not, then I have to look at how many days are left, then think about when this ad was posted. But this process can be eliminated if the date of creation is on there.

It’s also nice to know when the ad was posted without having to click on it.

Mmm…but no response/change? Does none of what I say above make sense?

Also, some of the links to forumosafieds on the bottom left of the regular Forumosa page do not work properly. Namely, the Jobs group of links.

Jobs → leads to a blank page so it doesn’t work at all
Teaching → leads to the Forumosafieds index instead of the teaching jobs.
Agencies → leads to the Forumosafieds index instead of the agencies.
Other Jobs → leads to the Forumosafieds index instead of the other jobs.
Universities → leads to the Forumosafieds index instead of the university jobs.