Transaction Manager Installed!

Mike

Active member
Staff member
Today I've installed the first version of our Transaction Manager. If you're a member of some other sites, you may be familiar with how the transaction managers work, and ours isn't much different. Just create a transaction with another member, have them confirm it, and way you go. The primary difference on our site is the fact that we have full transparency here. All other members will be able to view all the details about your transaction, except for private information such as addresses, tracking numbers, etc. In fact, other members can even comment on your transactions in the active discussion thread that will be in our transactions forum.

Please let me know if you encounter any issues with using the transaction manager, and I'll work to get them fixed as quickly as possible.

Please note, that in order to use our transaction manager to track your transactions, you will need to have your mailing address filled out in your account details.
 
Just as an FYI, I'll be making a few changes to the way the Transaction Manager works, in regards to the transaction threads, after it was brought to my attention that the threads could cause some clutter on some pages, namely the "Your threads" page (thank you to @Mechjo16 for bringing this to my attention) and possibly the "What's new" and "New posts" pages too, especially once the site is more active.

So here are the changes that will be made:
  • All the automated posts in the threads will be posted by @Sports Card Arena. That's just a user that I created on the site to handle the news feed items, but I think it will work better for the automated transaction thread posts too. This also means that all the transaction threads will be started by that user, instead of by the person who creates the transaction, therefore the threads won't show on anyone's "Your threads" page. This change will take place in the next update, which I plan on installing on the site later this week.
  • I'm going to make it so that none of those threads show up on the What's new or "New posts" pages. This change, since it doesn't require additional coding, is effective immediately.
 
Just as an FYI, the Transaction Manager has just been updated. Here are some of the changes, along with bug fixes, that were made tonight:
  • Changed the TM landing page - Now, if you're logged in, the main "Transaction" navigation link will take you to your personal transactions, rather than a full list of all transactions. Thank you to @Calsp3 for this suggestion.
  • Automated posts made by SCA user - All automated posts in the transaction threads will now be created by @Sports Card Arena, to help keep your own post/thread lists from filling up with posts you didn't actually write. I'll edit the user on all the previously created posts soon, but it will take time since it must all be done manually. Thank you to @Mechjo16 for this suggestion.
  • Print page option - There is now an option to print your own transactions while they're confirmed. Thank you to @Eliatack for this suggestion.
As always, if y'all notice anything broken, please let me know so I can work to get it fixed. If you would like to make any suggestions about the Transaction Manager, or anything else on the site, please post those in the suggestions forum.
 
For bumps, could we do a short time than 24 hr because if I were to bump right now, I would have to wait until this
time tomorrow for the thread to come to the top again which is a long time.
 
For bumps, could we do a short time than 24 hr because if I were to bump right now, I would have to wait until this
time tomorrow for the thread to come to the top again which is a long time.

The idea isn't to keep any specific individual's posts near the top of the "What's new" all the time, but to give members with threads that may have been forgotten about a chance to revive them while also keeping the quality of the thread high. Members want their content visible, but sites like this need the content on those posts to be worth reading, and especially worth indexing in the search engines. Having multiple 1-4 word posts in a row, that all say basically the same thing, doesn't help sites like this much in that regard.

Important to note that the bump tool doesn't just bump threads up on the What's new page, but also on the forum listing page. On your main topic, for example, you're still sitting on the first page. So, if someone goes to the "Baseball group break" forum, yours is definitely one that they'll see.

Also keep in mind that, for every bump on the site, that's one more person's thread moving down the list. Especially once the site is a lot busier, with a lot more active members, having a shorter bump time will be even more chaotic. On super busy sites, if they allowed bumps just every 24 hours, it could lead to hundreds of bumps per day, meaning an actual thread that's getting replied to could keep getting pushed down the list all day long by threads that might not have had a reply for multiple days.

I think it's a lot more important to be strategic with the time of the bumps, rather than the frequency of the bumps.
 
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