Scroll Notification For Accepting Trades

[Jazeki]

This thread is an adoption of Starscream's post in the thread concerning Anti-Harassment Policies on the forums.

 

This suggestion is to implement some sort of scroll-wide feature whether on the main scroll itself or on each individual dragon's pages that indicates whether it (as an egg or hatchling) or its offspring (once adult) is available for trade.

 

If scroll-wide, the feature could probably be turned on and off like the accepting aid message in the settings. If per individual dragon, it would probably be under the actions list.

 

The idea of this suggestion is to cut down on any mis-communication or unwanted communication regarding trades.

 

Thoughts?

 

 

The following is Starscream's explanation of mechanics and example of it in use:

I was thinking, scroll wide toggle in account settings. Toggle trades: On /  Off

and then you can toggle individual dragons On or Off depending on your overall preference. I thought in the actions would be idea, but another suggestion was a checkbox beside the dragon, or possibly on the view page.

 

I edited together a possible example how it could look on a view page. Sorry, I didn't do a very good job.

 

 

Additional (more detailed) trading description options can be found in Starscream's post here.

 

 

For those who are worried that the notification would be lost among the text on the page:

Starscream proposed that the status be displayed in color or bold depending on whether the user is or is not trading offspring.

 

Thoughts on the idea of gifting offspring/ dragons:

Suggestions have been made (by Olympe) for symbols that indicate whether the user accepts requests for gifts, but the general consensus seems to be that the emphasis is on trading and it is up to the user to decide after being contacted whether he or she gifts offspring. This is to combat the idea that people expect that they will be gifted.

 

 

Edited January 11, 2015 by Jazeki

[Tehya Faye]

I think this is a great idea. It's a lot easier to contact people about offspring when they invite you to do so, and some people turn off signatures so they might not see the similar form of invitation currently available to us.

[OMGitsKairi]

+1 support for this. Most of my dragons I'd gladly breed for others, but there are some whose offspring will never leave my scroll.

[Jazeki]

I'd be happy if this was implemented. I do keep lists and have policies on my profile and in my signature, but it can be helpful when I am making arrangements regarding holidays as I stop accepting requests and trades for breeding after certain dates.

[FiveSix]

I'd like this.

 

My suggestions as far as the mechanics of it are concerned:

A little Yes/Depends/No indicator, with traffic light colours and tick/?/x, next to each dragon, and for people who have a blanket policy for all their dragons a way to change all of them at once. Rather than change it through actions my suggestion would be to leave it visible (new column? or maybe next to the name) to the owner who can just click it to cycle through the indicators, because if you have 500+ dragons with variable policies would you want to go through Actions for all of them?

 

It'd save a lot of inbox clutter and fuss, both for people who are willing to breed so they wont have to clarify what they'll breed and for people who just wish everyone would stop asking

[Starscream]

I was thinking, scroll wide toggle in account settings. Toggle trades: On / Off

and then you can toggle individual dragons On or Off depending on your overall preference. I thought in the actions would be idea, but another suggestion was a checkbox beside the dragon, or possibly on the view page.

 

I edited together a possible example how it could look on a view page. Sorry, I didn't do a very good job.

 

Edited January 11, 2015 by Starscream

[Rhynn Collins]

I like this suggestion, but I'm kinda afraid a line of text would go about as noticed as the accepting/not accepting aid message...

 

If anything like this gets implemented though, I agree both a scroll-wide and a per-dragon method of turning the message on/off should be available.

[Starscream]

I like this suggestion, but I'm kinda afraid a line of text would go about as noticed as the accepting/not accepting aid message...

 

Which is a fair point.

 

But considering you can't tell who puts stuff in hatcheries, a person who pm's you for a trade essentially has to reveal themselves. Which you can, basically, just ignore them at that point.

 

I was thinking that if it's on the page right under the last bred / children or whatever I had there, it maybe more visible. Also thinking that people usually look to a view page to see what the lineage is, what generation it could be. So it has a greater chance of being seen. Yes there will be people who would deem themselves special enough to try anyway. It may go to aid in reducing uninvited PM's is people can tell what is being offered when they look.

 

It won't likely help if people are browsing a scroll and spot alt sweetling, then PM the owner without checking the status. It's not infallible an idea, but potentially a workable one.

 

edit: it is possible to have the text either red or green to indicate stop or go. I am just not gonna fight the graphics editor at 4am

Edited January 11, 2015 by Starscream

[Rhynn Collins]

I definitely agree, Starscream It'll do its part in reducing unwanted PMs, that's for sure. Just not stop them entirely.

 

A stoplight might work, though I'm haing trouble picturing something that still looks good

[Starscream]

I was proposing the text be in colour

 

Trading: Trading Offspring

Trading: Not Trading Offspring

 

As an example.

 

edit: But that would depend on what TJ sees the site to be.

Edited January 11, 2015 by Starscream

[FiveSix]

Bolding the text if it says no and leaving it normal if it says yes would be one way - makes it harder to miss if its important even for people who can't distinguish red and green (because I imagine red and green will both disappear into the background somewhat for anyone with red green colourblindness).

[Starscream]

Bolding the text if it says no and leaving it normal if it says yes would be one way - makes it harder to miss if its important even for people who can't distinguish red and green (because I imagine red and green will both disappear into the background somewhat for anyone with red green colourblindness).

Oh, yes, that is a fair point. Although my understanding from people who have red green is that it appears black. Bolding works as well.

[Jazeki]

I went ahead and updated the first post to include the example and the possible concern of the trade status being lost in the text.

[olympe]

I think this might actually help. (And, btw, nice lineage, Starscream! Especially the 2nd kid. ) Maybe we could even get another column on the scroll page that indicates whether we'd be willing to trade or gift offspring. A single symbol might work under a "Willing to give away offspring" header:

A red X for no.

A yellow (orange?) O for "trading only"

A green check mark for yes.

 

In any case, I think the "trading only" option should be added. Because some people might be willing to trade away their eggs, but not gift them.

[LibbyLishly]

This is a good idea. Sometimes I look up dragons whose offspring I'm interested in, and if the owner has no info in their signature or profile, I PM them - and often they come back with "No, sorry, not trading" and then I feel bad for bothering them. This would be a great feature all around. You'd still have people who would PM to ask if you'd make an exception, but those people could be blocked and reported.

Edited January 11, 2015 by LibbyLishly

[cyradis4]

I think it needs to be left at trade / not trade. There are some people who, if they see "will gift", will demand said gift. Better to avoid that and make everyone assume they'll have to trade until told otherwise.

 

I like the idea of a scroll-wide toggle, then having to go to each dragon's action page to change it for that one dragon.

 

I don't like the list of all dragons and checkboxes. I have.... 5,000+ dragons. Some have twice that many. That's a lot of dragons to go through to find a few dozen that are different from the rest.

 

Also, maybe the default could be: Unknown, so until someone set yes / no, it wouldn't force them to be one or the other.

 

Cheers!

C4.

[Starscream]

Unknown or Not Trading, that is an aspect I am unsure of. For me, myself, I'd prefer to have it automatically at Not Trading to start, then I can flick it over. But in my situation, I know of the switch

 

A new user may not be aware of the toggle and be confused why no one has asked concerning trades.

 

In regards to a giftng toggle: No.

 

My reasoning for the no is that people can still breed gifts as they want without changing status. my concern would be the same as cyradis4 as people would expect gifts from them, and that decision should be strictly the user.

 

The Toggle is really only there to advertise willingness to take a trade, so people can see that they can ask with out beings, such as myself, having a small meltdown.

 

Maybe a few trading notices:

Just ideas

 

Trading offspring

Limited offspring trading (maybe for listers, maybe for those who have a life-mate only)

Not Trading offspring

 

Or alternate wording for scroll wide toggle.

 

Trading

No Trades

Unknown Status

New User Unknown Status

 

Other suggestions if selected from a drop down list. or possible scroll wide toggle.

 

Trading offspring PM Forum

Limited offspring trading PM Forum

Not Trading offspring PM Forum

 

Trading offspring PM IRC

Limited offspring trading PM IRC

Not Trading offspring PM IRC

 

And my wording sucks epically (and along with missing my home keys frequently)

(argh something to indicate they have neither a irc or DC Forums account.) On the flipside a 4th set with PM Both IRC and Forums might be suitable as well.

Trading offspring

Limited offspring trading

Not Trading offspring

 

 

Much of the above is complicated, perhaps more so than it needs be. The more complicated something can become, the easier it can break. We kinda saw that when the solstice wings were shifted to day/night. All manner of fun happened.

But for simplicity: (I feel offspring addition would make it clear to some people that the eggs are for trade not the dragon - because some people may think they can trade adults...) If it is this basic then it could be applied to still growing eggs/hatchlings to allow as an indicator when you get something good. (such as CB metals, or Neglecteds).

Trading

Not Trading

Unknown (default)

 

It won't, as I stated before, stop trading queries, people probably will still ask "you gonna trade offspring anytime soon?" At which I start getting cheeky drop down ideas in my mind... I'll spare you all the dark humour.

 

in the case of libylishy's "block and report them" if they want an exception. Probably the sane way would be to block. You probably could get away with not reporting. I think if they try to bypass that by getting their friends to PM you, then up the case to report.

 

As I said earlier in this post, having it set to not trading does not mean the owner can't offer to trade an egg on a trade thread. It just means they wish to do it on their terms and not get PM's They can also gift this way too. It acts as a guideline in regards to how open they are with their offers.

 

And one more thought.

Having scroll name on/off would depend who you can cater to if you have trading on. IN my current case I have it off, but if I had that above example set to trading, people who know me, or have obtained a link from me through the forums/irc for my scroll should automatically know who to contact.

 

I hazza lots of thoughts, I just don't always articulate them good

[Fuzzbucket]

My brain hurts already. So I wouldn't use this. At All.

[olympe]

In regards to a giftng toggle: No.

 

My reasoning for the no is that people can still breed gifts as they want without changing status. my concern would be the same as cyradis4 as people would expect gifts from them, and that decision should be strictly the user.

I guess you're right, that's something I didn't consider.

 

I also think that a scroll-wide toggle would be preferable, if you can switch the setting on single dragons. Some people (for example) might be willing to trade everything but the offspring of their CB prizes or everything but hollies.

 

For simplicity's sake, keep "not trading" as a default. People should be able to see this on their own scroll and be able to change it. Maybe also an indicator on the top of the first scroll page to the general setting (This user does not accept trade offers. / This user does accept trade offers. / This user accepts trade offers for the offspring of some of their dragons.) might help, too.

Edited January 11, 2015 by olympe

[Starscream]

I was thinking both scroll wide and dragon individual, because scroll wide, yeah - I don't trade. But an individual pair or two, I do accept trades for - turning it on for them, would be preferable.

[cyradis4]

The problem with defaulting to "no" is getting the word out, both to newbies and to older users who don't use the forums. Which is why I'd prefer an "unknown" or "not set" status.

 

Cheers!

C4.

[Starscream]

The problem with defaulting to "no" is getting the word out, both to newbies and to older users who don't use the forums. Which is why I'd prefer an "unknown" or "not set" status.

 

Cheers!

C4.

I am getting a little confused. getting the word out in which manner?

 

That it can be changed

Or that they can trade with users?

 

if its the latter, unless you have (official) forum account or IRC access, ability to trade with a user outside of those mediums basically goes null, unless another site is involved.

[Syphoneira]

I can see that this would be useful for a number of people, but I'd hope we'd have a chance to opt out entirely.

 

Personally, I feel that my scroll is what I raise dragons on, and I don't want to add in 'trading centre' as a basic function, whether turned on or off.

 

At this point, trading is an important part of the site, but it's optional, and people tend to trade at different rates, and for different things.

 

If it's not a major part of their playing experience, and they already feel that trade values are overtaking personal valuation of the actual dragons in a manner they'd just as soon not have emblazoned on their scroll, this may feel rather like an intrusion of values they find regrettably close to those of the stock market, rather than those of the pet-collecting family site they joined,

 

I'd very much prefer to keep my personal trading status limited to specific dragons offered in the trade threads or my sig/avatar or whatever, rather than as something integral to my personal Cave, although I do realize that some people are having trading brought to their scrolls whether they want it there or not and simply want a means to make it clear as to whether they will or will not trade growing dragons.

 

But (probably in part because I don't have a lot of super-valuable dragons that people want bred and ask about continually,) I'd really rather not have an option only of either turning my scroll into a shopping mall, or of having people think that they can't ask me to breed at all.

[Obscure_Trash]

I'm not sure this really makes sense to add unless something like the proposed in-cave marketplace is added. More sense would be perhaps some kind of scroll/individual notepad you can share with others on your scroll. To trade with someone, they already have to have some way to contact you (and therefore a possibility to know such info ahead of time) and such a note doesn't mean people aren't still going to contact you, so yeah.

 

Really meh on the idea, at least by itself. I completely agree with Syphoneira, as well on these excellent points:

 

Personally, I feel that my scroll is what I raise dragons on, and I don't want to add in 'trading centre' as a basic function, whether turned on or off.

 

At this point, trading is an important part of the site, but it's optional, and people tend to trade at different rates, and for different things.

 

I'd very much prefer to keep my personal trading status limited to specific dragons offered in the trade threads or my sig/avatar or whatever, rather than as something integral to my personal Cave, although I do realize that some people are having trading brought to their scrolls whether they want it there or not and simply want a means to make it clear as to whether they will or will not trade growing dragons.

 

But (probably in part because I don't have a lot of super-valuable dragons that people want bred and ask about continually,) I'd really rather not have an option only of either turning my scroll into a shopping mall, or of having people think that they can't ask me to breed at all.