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This is UO Sonoma, dang it...not some trade board...
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That's pretty much the point. There are trade boards, and that's where trade posts are supposed to go. Many other shard forums don't allow trade posts, Sonoma is an exception. Some people object to wading through so many for-sale posts to read posts about events or discussion that's relevant to the shard.
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If folks want to see those, just send em to wherever they do that
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Well, if we're going to "Leave everything alone. The forum is fine just as it is," we're not going to be sending people anywhere. The poll option for that is the "Trade threads don't belong here" answer.
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Please do not turn this into a UO Vendors board!
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It already is. This would keep the UO Vendors posts confined to a single thread, rather than on some days taking up most of the front page on the threads listing.
Maybe we should have trade threads and not make them sticky... Put a note in the FAQ pointing to the thread(s) where people are supposed to post the for-sale junk.
Personally, I think the trade threads are starting to overwhelm the (IMHO) useful content on the forum. I've been waiting for it to blow over, but so far it's still going strong.
I personally don't want to just send people away to the trade forums, and get rid of all for-sale or looking-to-buy posts, because 1) the trade forums aren't that easy to use for anyone who's actually looking to buy something on a given shard, and 2) it makes sense to put "for sale" and "want to buy" posts in the shard's community, because most people aren't going to traipse over to the here's-everything-for-sale-on-every-shard forum just on the off chance that it will have an item they might be looking for on Sonoma... but if they see it on the Sonoma forum, where they normally read, buyer and seller both win and the community is served.
Having said all that, I haven't voted in the poll. I don't have a burning preference. I can live with a reasonably high number of "I want cash for my imaginary item" threads, if that's what people want. But I do note that people have been starting to complain, lately, and I think it's worthwhile checking in with the community to see how they believe they'd best be served.
And now for my OSI dev team impersonation: The poll is here so we can get feedback about how the community feels they'll best be served. It does not necessarily mean that the option with the most votes will be implemented.