Hey guys. Recently, I have noticed the #collaboration:asset-marketplace just getting messy and quite unappealing. Below I have listed the problems and I hope these resolutions I cam up with might get implemented.
Problem 1 - Unnecessary Commenting
The 1st problem is people commenting for no reason. For example, people would just comment “Looks great will keep you in mind” I believe the user is making the thread quite messy and potential buyers may then end up scrolling through 30 replies to see if their question had already been asked.
Problem 2 - Bidding
I believe that there should be a bidding system for buyers. Users end up battling over each other in the thread and bump the thread up and make it look really messy.
Resolutions:
Problem 1 - I believe in problem 1 we should be able to flag these as off-topic without us getting moderation action for false flagging. This should clear up the threads.
Problem 2 - I believe there should be some sort of bidding system (maybe like Ebay) which would keep the thread nice and clean. This would also allow users who do not have a fixed price in mind to easily set a minimum and see where it goes. It would likely prevent unnecessary bumping. This should clear up the threads.
Something else I’ve noticed that really, really bugs me is the number of replies in Marketplace leaving feedback. People keep replying with suggestions on how to make the build or design look better when they have no interest in purchasing it, they just want a reason to post.
Knowing that the marketplace is becoming unappealing and not so useful for many people, there is no way to implement such a system without custom engineering from Discourse.
How would a user who does not expect the bidding to skyrocket, bid something they do not have, and the whole cycle repeating once again? Every time someone bids, the thread is going to be bumped regardless because of interaction with the thread.
The only solution really in mind is to give heavier sanctions as it has the least drawbacks, and sounds the most reasonable.
If we could add a “blacklisted phrase filter”, that’d be nice as it’d automatically not allow the post to be made.
Bidding seems kind of necessary, but also unstable in the long run.
Yeah, people end up being tired over the constant flood of messages in the thread, and the original poster jacks up the bid sometimes due to a Discord interaction or something similar after someone bids again.
However, how would a bidding function work? If it’s anything like eBay where people just keep adding on bids, what happens when someone bids too high of an amount? eBay has an unpaid item policy and I’d anticipate something similar happening. The incentive is money - what happens if there are “fake bids” by the seller to jack up the price in a bidding war? Will the payment form be only ROBUX? USD?
It’s a realistic solution that comes with more problems after solving others.
How a bid would work is like a temporary deposit. I would create a flow diagram (which I’ll do tommorow) there is you the buyer, roblox the middle man and the seller. When you bid, you are depositing your robux which roblox would hold. If no one else out bids the buyer then roblox would release the funds to the seller. Similar to pending sales.
I don’t necessarily think that PM needs heavier moderation. Just like sny other category, flagging exists to help you combat clutter from threads. Ensure they you’re making use of it.
Problem 1 can be solved by flagging such posts as spam. You will not get docked for false flagging, just do it. There is already a PSA about not doing this kind of thing which looks to have been forgotten, ignored or skimmed over. Responses not contributing directly to discussion can be flagged.
Problem 2 is not a real problem. Its a niche case where the seller would like to get the best price for their item with other users competing to get the asset by offering more. It is up to the seller how they wish to sell their thread so long as it falls under allowed practices for selling (conformity with the ToS) and doesn’t bloat threads. You can invite interested buyers to a group DM (not Discord) by using the invite option. If you run out of space, separate the groups and invite the highest runners of each group DM to another final group DM.