Make Crossposting in Trades less Likely

[prpldrgnfr]

Support. I pretty much quit trading because all the threads pretty much look the same with all the cross posting.

[Laugh]

I'm okay with cross-posting since it's understandable that you want to get offered what you need/want from your wants list, but I'd really like to have threads specifically list what you can and cannot trade. It needs to be more straightforward and less broad. I agree with Zzela that checking several pages shouldn't be too much of a problem. People need to learn that they can't just expect exactly what they're looking for to appear in their eyes within a couple of clicks. You need to do some digging around, sometimes you'll find what you're looking for and sometimes you don't. I have gotten multiple good deals on CB Metals/prizes just because I went through the effort of digging through. Once I had to dig back 6 pages on a CB Silver that the owner asked in trade for: 1x 2g UV, 1x 2g Shallow Water, Combination of at least 10 CB Reds/Pinks (bred a few others so I didn't include them in the IOU since I knew what they were for anyways). It was basically a steal and she asked for offers containing BSA hatchies/Hybrid hatchies. That was such a steal. Another example I remember was a CB Green Copper that I offered up 4 CB Summer hatchlings (already on hand) back when Coppers were much rarer than they were today (not saying today they're common). Yes I understand that is rare/very unusual, but because I did my digging I was awarded. And yes, I could have been turned down before, but that's to be expected with all trades, and yes I've been turned down a few times because "better offers". It was from the "Dragon Trading Thread V2 (talking about the silver)" and I believe that was the only place she posted since I didn't find it anywhere else (given at the time I at least searched through 4 pages a day in dragon trading V2, Rare, Metallic, EG, and CB Trading).

 

If I wanted something pretty I would stalk the Departures/TAELAE threads rather than AP hunt. After finishing that I'd go and check up on new trade posts to see if I can get a quick snatch on any trades. If I wanted something specifically CB/Bred you bet I would dig through a lot more than I would casually.

 

To be honest, I cross-post and will advertise wherever I can. What I generally cross-post are prizes and 2g-3g metals for things I need, which DOES work for me MOST of the time. It's not just a "post" for me. I detail each "cross-post" with what I can regarding how they can contact/encourage it, etc. Anything that I think will HELP me get a DEAL. I actually have a schedule to do this too LOL. Mondays-wednessdays are generally when I breed my metals/prizes and I just go out and post. Why do I post metals/prizes? Because those WORK. I can't get what I typically need with a 2g or even a 10g PB non-inbred white for example and my only avenue for posting the white would be in EG, Commons, and V2. With the metals I could post in the metals, EG, rare, V2, spiral(if it's a 2g). Total of 5 compared to 3 and which one do you think has more demand/want, the white or the gold? Go ahead and change the white to any other caveblocker/common and I can tell you the result will be very similiar unless if it's not from a CB spriter alt/prize, unfortunately. Not only do I cross-post because I feel it's for more exposure, but it is also in hopes that someone wandering through either one could be interested even though they didn't come in there for that kind of trade. I know I have seen trades I was interested and even offered up even though I went to said thread for something different and more expected out of the thread. The Exposure bit could be debated though. If I posted in only 1 thread wouldn't it be correct that only a specific group of people would see it? If I posted in as many, let's say 3, then wouldn't I have more exposure to different groups of people? And what if I can maintain that 1 or 2 pages for longer compared to if I only posted in 1 thread? Not everyone looks through all the threads, which means by posting in as many thread I am exposing to not only MORE people, but DIFFERENT people as well. Competition is high in trading threads and I feel it's something I have to do in order to get what I "want/need".

 

I also look for other trades that are good "investments", which would be 2g metals and low gen prizes. Because why dedicate myself to catching a CB Copper when I can trade for a 3g and breed the 4g off for either a CB Copper/2g-3g Metal that I can in return trade for a CB Copper/multiple CB Trios? That makes sense to me and I can understand when someone who just got a hold of a 2g prize tries trading for a couple of CB Metals from its offspring when they can't normally get it themselves. Having prizes/metals "dominate" the market isn't such a bad thing. It CAN open a window of opportunities that people couldn't open themselves. Are they any more selfish to those that would rather do away with prizes/metals to see more commons/lineages they want to see themselves? Note that people can trade low gen prizes/CB Metals/CB Coppers for hoards of CB Commons too.

[Prince_Xanthius]

Saynna, I am a bit confused. You start off by saying you agree with restricting what you can trade in a given thread, then list all the reasons why you want cross-posting to remain?

 

You are also talking a lot about browsing for things you think you can trade forwards, or that you like the look of, not for looking for specific things. When you are doing that, you would look through all the threads anyway. When you are looking for something specific you would look in the relevant thread/s, and not have to dig so far to find it (if it is being offered) as you currently do with so much cross posting.

 

Everything you say about contact, encouraging, things that trade well etc are irrelevant to this discussion as they would not be changing with this suggestion. Nobody thinks that whites will become more valuable - but trying to find them will be easier if you don't have to dig through pages of metals, rares, and prizes. Which WILL make them easier to trade eventually because trading will become less of a mission if the threads move slower. I rarely attempt to trade anything but rares or prizes; in fact usually I rely on the gifting or lineage threads as I cannot catch rares to save my life most of the time, and the best I can breed is 4th G prize.

 

Having prizes/metals "dominate" the market isn't such a bad thing. It CAN open a window of opportunities that people couldn't open themselves.

I TOTALLY disagree. Prizes (specifically low gen) and metal dominating cut out people who cannot get them, and the people who are not that interested in them. And with current state of the threads, these people often give up in disgust as they cannot get what is being asked for, or do not want 90% of what is being offered. However, that is not the point of this suggestion per se, just a consequence of it.

Edited January 23, 2015 by Prince_Xanthius

[Fuzzbucket]

I TOTALLY disagree. Prizes (specifically low gen) and metal dominating cut out people who cannot get them, and the people who are not that interested in them. And with current state of the threads, these people often give up in disgust as they cannot get what is being asked for, or do not want 90% of what is being offered. However, that is not the point of this suggestion per se, just a consequence of it.

THIS.

 

Not the cannot get them thing - the sifting through ENDLESS prizes I actually don't want (and asking for things I cannot offer - like bloodswaps and CB golds!) to find something like a mate for my RB silver checkers. (Even an RB; not looking only for silvers. Just new blood !)

[FiveSix]

I think if some of the threads' restrictions were tightened to avoid crossposts people would be more likely to look properly through more threads, instead of sticking to threads they're strongly invested in to avoid all the repetitiveness.

 

So I think a degree of restriction will actually increase the number of potentially-interested people seeing any given trade, even if it's posted fewer times. Added bonuses would be less artificial post count inflation, less time spent by traders on organising where they've posted, less for moderators to keep track of and people seeing a wider variety of trades they might be interested in.

 

I don't currently actively keep up with any trade threads because I'm fed up of five- or six-fold crossposts. Two is fine, and would be enough if everyone stuck to it.

[Iside]

Just wanted to point out that we also have a - almost unknown - Commons trading thread.

 

https://forums.dragcave.net/index.php?showtopic=150406

[purplehaze]

I think if some of the threads' restrictions were tightened to avoid crossposts people would be more likely to look properly through more threads, instead of sticking to threads they're strongly invested in to avoid all the repetitiveness.

 

So I think a degree of restriction will actually increase the number of potentially-interested people seeing any given trade, even if it's posted fewer times. Added bonuses would be less artificial post count inflation, less time spent by traders on organising where they've posted, less for moderators to keep track of and people seeing a wider variety of trades they might be interested in.

 

I don't currently actively keep up with any trade threads because I'm fed up of five- or six-fold crossposts. Two is fine, and would be enough if everyone stuck to it.

I think this pretty much sums up my feelings on this.

 

I get really tired of sifting through the trade threads only to find the same trade offers on all of them.

 

As long as people can cross post in all those threads, they will. They feel like they must to get their trade seen. I do it myself when I have something to offer, although I do try to stagger the times of my posts, not post them in all threads at once. If the threads were more limited it would make it easier for people to find what they are looking for. And even people who are just "browsing" are likely to see more offers because they can browse through the different threads without seeing 90% of the posts repeated.

 

I think restricting what can be offered in the different threads would work better than trying to restrict cross-posting itself.

[Laugh]

Saynna, I am a bit confused. You start off by saying you agree with restricting what you can trade in a given thread, then list all the reasons why you want cross-posting to remain?

 

When did I say I wanted Cross-post to remain? I believe I said that I would like to see threads start being straightforward with what you can and cannot offer and that I don't see a problem if you can cross-post. I never said or encouraged that we should cross-post more often/for it to remain. I don't care if it does remain as it doesn't bother me since I can easily just skip it and the next "cross-post" and so on that doesn't interest me regardless or not that I've already seen it in another thread. I mean you can skip right past 10 posts in a few seconds and still get a general idea what people were offering. I'm not really fighting for cross-posting.

 

You are also talking a lot about browsing for things you think you can trade forwards, or that you like the look of, not for looking for specific things. When you are doing that, you would look through all the threads anyway. When you are looking for something specific you would look in the relevant thread/s, and not have to dig so far to find it (if it is being offered) as you currently do with so much cross posting.

 

The browsing part for "trading forward" is actually one of the minor points I'm making, not one of the main. Just because I talk a lot about it does not mean it is a major part of what I mean. For example I can write just a few or even just one and that itself is the main point. And as I said just because we have threads that are more likely to find something you're looking for does not mean it will be in that thread. It could be in another thread that would be less relevant to it compared to a thread that is more relevant for it. That is why I had the CB Silver as well as its price that I could "afford" it at that "many" others could. If you were looking for a CB Silver wouldn't you think it's more likely that you can find one in the Rare or Mettallic thread? Well that one wasn't and was only posted in the Dragon Trading V2 thread. Again, something you wouldn't have found because "I only look a 2-3 pages into specific threads". <-- My example of that CB Silver shows that because you weren't looking hard enough that you missed out on an opportunity. As far as me looking for something that I want it's mainly for things for my lineage projects or CBs to help build into my "independent" lineage projects. With me looking through I'm also finding things that I'd like to make an offer on since it's something I wasn't quite looking for, but now after seeing what it is (could be common/metal/prize, but most of the time if it's something I want to continue it'll be a common/uncommon) I will offer up on it. As I feel this needs more emphasis... again even if the original intent was to look for something more specific at the time. This way I'm not disappointed if I don't find something I needed/wanted at the time. This is a benefit of just looking through and paying at least "some" attention.

 

Everything you say about contact, encouraging, things that trade well etc are irrelevant to this discussion as they would not be changing with this suggestion. Nobody thinks that whites will become more valuable - but trying to find them will be easier if you don't have to dig through pages of metals, rares, and prizes. Which WILL make them easier to trade eventually because trading will become less of a mission if the threads move slower. I rarely attempt to trade anything but rares or prizes; in fact usually I rely on the gifting or lineage threads as I cannot catch rares to save my life most of the time, and the best I can breed is 4th G prize.

 

They are not irrelevant at all. They are there to tell you what you can do to start getting the things you want just because you cannot "See" it being offered up. And I don't believe I said that it would be changing within the suggestion either. I also did not say whites, or any other common would be "more" valuable with threads becoming more specific. And I also am not saying or denying that it wouldn't be any easier if threads were more specific. And if you're going to tell me "Well I wasn't trying to say you were saying that" then I will say, "Well that was irrelevant to the thread discussion then." As far as the catching rares, you generally don't need to catch rares for commons/uncommons (same with CBs). I would suspect they're asking for rares if they're offering a rare in return which is normal. If they are asking for a rare for an uncommon/common that is 2g or up then I'm afraid you're looking at the wrong threads.

 

I TOTALLY disagree. Prizes (specifically low gen) and metal dominating cut out people who cannot get them, and the people who are not that interested in them. And with current state of the threads, these people often give up in disgust as they cannot get what is being asked for, or do not want 90% of what is being offered. However, that is not the point of this suggestion per se, just a consequence of it.

 

Sure they cut them out because arguably not many can catch CB Coppers/CB Golds/CB Silvers/even CB Trios, but once that person who can't catch those has one of these prizes (and same can be applied to metals to a certain degree) all they have to do is breed and ask for something they can't normally catch themselves. THIS is what I meant when it's not necessarily a bad thing if prizes/metals dominate because they are BREEDABLE and seen "valuable" that people will offer a CB Trio/Metal for what it does reflect in price. This becomes "Yay! I can breed something next week for that CB Trio that I normally cannot catch myself! " Again, it does open an opportunity. After that they are free to do what they want, gift, keep trading for cb trios/etc.

 

 

And as Iside pointed out, there is a Commons thread that you can look into/post in if you're truly fed up with metals/prizes being "EVERYWHERE". Needs saying again, I'm fine with cross-posting, not really fighting for it and encouraging it, just giving some explanations. I can see BOTH sides of the arguments and see where each is coming from and discuss from there. I'm not entirely on one side, yet my belief is strong. I am OKAY with cross-posting. I would PREFER threads being more straightforward with what you can and cannot offer because I am NOT DENYING that by doing so it reduces the amount of time you put into looking into for trades, which doesn't take too long at all considering the "urge" or "desire" for something in specific.

 

 

 

 

[AnanoKimi]

The thing is... many eggs alreay fall into many categories. A 2g Gold with the code SorRy Falls as a Rare, A metal, An EG, and an odd/cool code. This means it fits in all availale categories. Tring to restrict trades like you hope would make things confusing.

 

Why can't I post my 2G Gold in the Rare/Metal thread, cool code thread, and the EG thread? It fits criteria doesnt it?

 

That said, yes becoming a tad more specific in certain threads may help lower the clutter but there is no way you an ask people to only post their trade in one thread when their trade could possibly fit in 2 or more. Many people have already stated that not everyone is looking everywhere and maybe my 2G Gold with the code SorRy might not trade as a EG or a Metallic/Rare, but someone might be interested in it for its code. I hit the jackpot in 1 out of 3 threads. This is what people mean by exposure. You can't guess or be psychic and know that your egg will trade perfectly in this thread, It might trade better in another in which it meets the criteria as well. This is why cross posting exists.

 

There is no way of saying "Oh you have a 2G gold with the code SorRy? You can only post in either EG, Metallic/rares, or cool codes, not all three." Its not possible. That egg fits the criteria of all three and as such should be allowed to appear in all three because again, it might not trade as a metallic, might not trade as an EG, but it might trade as a cool code. I have no way of foreseeing which one so I have to throw it in all three and hope someone in one of those threads is interested.

[Vhale]

I think if some of the threads' restrictions were tightened to avoid crossposts people would be more likely to look properly through more threads, instead of sticking to threads they're strongly invested in to avoid all the repetitiveness.

 

So I think a degree of restriction will actually increase the number of potentially-interested people seeing any given trade, even if it's posted fewer times. Added bonuses would be less artificial post count inflation, less time spent by traders on organising where they've posted, less for moderators to keep track of and people seeing a wider variety of trades they might be interested in.

 

I don't currently actively keep up with any trade threads because I'm fed up of five- or six-fold crossposts. Two is fine, and would be enough if everyone stuck to it.

Not in my case. I generally want two things. CBs or bred 2gs. I've found the best shot of my getting this is cross posting at varying times in the rare, eg and metallic threads. The general trading thread almost always gets me nothing but offers that have nothing to do with my want post. What I need is viewers that have spare rares on their scroll, unbred, and an empty egg slot that are willing to take a shot at breeding an egg. Not people that already have an egg to trade. None of the threads really fulfill that need, the EG used to but it got restricted. As such, I usually try to gather a small selection that fits various threads. None of my prizes are low-gen, I don't like trading for dragons just for currency, I trade for them for lineages. I'm finding the Lineage Breeding thread a bit more helpful towards that regard as well.

 

Other than that, I think people are being obtuse about my post. As obviously, if the threads were more restricted, they could not be posted in more than one thread and would have to be separated.

 

Of course, as people can't rulify what I put in my sig, I will use that for exposure.

[Fuzzbucket]

The thing is... many eggs alreay fall into many categories. A 2g Gold with the code SorRy Falls as a Rare, A metal, An EG, and an odd/cool code. This means it fits in all availale categories. Tring to restrict trades like you hope would make things confusing.

 

Why can't I post my 2G Gold in the Rare/Metal thread, cool code thread, and the EG thread? It fits criteria doesnt it?

No - not for EG. EG metals MUST be at least 3rd gen. The rationale is that ALL lineages have to start with 2g eggs, so they aren't exclusively suited to that thread.

[AnanoKimi]

No - not for EG. EG metals MUST be at least 3rd gen. The rationale is that ALL lineages have to start with 2g eggs, so they aren't exclusively suited to that thread.

Touche. That egg still falls into 2 categories. an if it was 5th gen gold with a neat code then thats three. Thing is you cant restrict a trade to one thread when the trade can fit in multiple areas and meet those thread's criteria.

[Fuzzbucket]

Touche. That egg still falls into 2 categories. an if it was 5th gen gold with a neat code then thats three. Thing is you cant restrict a trade to one thread when the trade can fit in multiple areas and meet those thread's criteria.

Oh I'd agree. But at the moment there are cases where an egg is posted in about 7 threads at once, and it does make it hard to find anything... I don't know what the answer is, I admit.

[Wahya]

I don't like this idea at all, personally.

 

And as far as your third point goes, there are lots of threads that technically up post count without a good reason, so I don't think that's a valid drawback of trading threads.

[RainDear]

Oh I'd agree. But at the moment there are cases where an egg is posted in about 7 threads at once, and it does make it hard to find anything... I don't know what the answer is, I admit.

Perhaps the answer is staggering cross posting. It certainly works better to post in one thread, then wait 3 hours or longer to post in another thread, etc. This way you do have a better chance of getting a different audience for your subsequent posts. In my experience posting in all possible threads at once is detrimental to your cause, because the same people who are already not interested in your offering are just seeing it multiple times, rather than different audiences seeing it once. I just don't know if rules to encourage staggering would be workable, any more than rules to prevent cross posting would be. If a trade fills the criteria of several threads how can you tell someone they can't try each suitable thread?

[AnanoKimi]

Oh I'd agree. But at the moment there are cases where an egg is posted in about 7 threads at once, and it does make it hard to find anything... I don't know what the answer is, I admit.

The only other option is tag based trading. Let me give you an example.

 

I used to play on PokeFarm. It, like all pokemon sites, had a trading system. It allowed you to offer what you hade for something similar if not exactly to what you wanted. Some people did trade on the forums to make their more exact wants but over all we had a separate area that offered you the ability to trade.

 

Now if you wanted to search for a trade, all you had to do (like in GTS) was select the name of the desired pokemon from a drop down, select he level range from another drop down, and finally select if female, or male. This narrowed dramatically your choices and able to quickly browse through the hundreds if not thousands of trade available.

 

If a Fansite or TJ himself could implement some sort of trading system like this where users can select between seeking eggs or hatchlings, it would take a load off the forums and relieve some of that clustermess of posts.

 

A drop down would prompt you to select egg or hatchling.

if you select egg then a drop down of what breed would appear and time range (4D or more/4D or less)

 

If you select hatchling a series of drop downs would appear:

S1 or S2

Male, female, ungendered

breed

time (4D or more/4D or less)

 

and users could post up the general info. It would look like:

 

Have: | Want: | Note: Albino is 2G Thuweed. Want CB Black | Link: http://dragcave.net/teleport/randomcodehere (This link is bogus and just there as an example)

 

The link would obviously take you to the teleport of that trade for users to offer. It would mimic EATW bout would be site based if possible with a more sophisticated search. This way people looking for specific trades only have to select a drop down of breed names, whether they want an egg or hatchling, gender, stage, etc and look for exactly what they want. The forums would be left for more specific trading or for example Holiday IOU trading or more specific trades and projects.

[Imzadi]

I just don't know if rules to encourage staggering would be workable, any more than rules to prevent cross posting would be. If a trade fills the criteria of several threads how can you tell someone they can't try each suitable thread?

As it stands now, you can't. Each thread has its own mods who go through the posts at intervals. They can report anything that isn't allowed to a forum mod for editing, but no more. And they have no power (for want of a better word atm...I need more caffeine) to do anything in other threads, much less the time to sift through all of them.

[pinkgothic]

I'm curious about something: Does anyone feel the Rare Trading Centre is really necessary?

 

I mean, I adore the place, since like most people I often am looking for a rare when I'm trading, but the kicker is, I'm usually looking for a specific rare and not for any rare. In other words, I could also browse the cave born or metallic threads for those. (Though, like I said in my previous post, I think 2G alts might be difficult to find in the backlog of the evengen thread - I mean, they're already the thing I would say is most difficult to find in the RTC, and that's probably the best place to look.)

 

I do want to say that the metallics the RTC accepts are generation-restricted for a reason, but that's because if you don't, you flood out all the non-metallics with metallics. I don't see much of a problem with them flooding out other metallics - which is to say I think the metallic trading centre is a decent place to forage in even if you're looking for rare metallics.

 

I'm sure there are other people with an emotional involvement in that thread. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

[ZzelaBusya]

Just wanted to point out that we also have a - almost unknown - Commons trading thread.

 

https://forums.dragcave.net/index.php?showtopic=150406

I've always been in favour of a Common trading thread so that common dragons can have their place, too, without being mixed with stuff that's more sought after.

However, I think that the thread in question has one big problem, which makes it less popular:

Only commons can be requested.

 

I mean, if I post a Mint and want a Balloon for it, it's one thing.... But if, for example, I have 5 CB Black hatchies, I may very well hope to get a Paper hatchie for them, and it sucks that I cannot post my Blacks there because of the restrictions. Just a random example.

 

I think trading commons for uncommons/rares can be reasonable enough depending on the case, and a lot of people try to trade a bunch of common dragons for one item of a higher rarity, but they cannot post in that Common Trading thread because such trades are not allowed. So that thread is left only for Common:Common trades.

 

If those limitations are removed and the only requirement is a common "have" only, I think that thread will become more attractive to people and will partly solve the problem of commons getting too little exposure in comparison to rares. I understand that it may cause trades like "Have: CB Mint | Want: CB Gold", but on the other hand not many people seem to do that so I don't think it would be an issue.

Just my thoughts, though.

 

On the other hand, I think it's a bit strange so many people complain about rares/uncommons getting most attention, for the simple reason that, you know, most people seem to want THOSE and not commons, so why wouldn't they?

I still think that commons deserve a nicely functioning section of their own, though. But I do NOT think that it should limit people with rares from posting in any threads that allow them!

Edited January 23, 2015 by ZzelaBusya

[rubyshoes]

I've always been in favour of a Common trading thread so that common dragons can have their place, too, without being mixed with stuff that's more sought after.

However, I think that the thread in question has one big problem, which makes it less popular:

Only commons can be requested.

 

You might want to consider PMing and asking the mod of the thread - ruby eyes - if it could be changed to asking for anything but that the "haves" part remains as is i.e. only common "haves". I don't have a problem with that thread being modified to allow asking for whatever the member wants as a want.

[cyradis4]

I agree re the Common Trading thread. I think the want: common only needs to be removed, and that'll help a lot.

 

Cheers!

C4.

[whitebaron]

I agree re the Common Trading thread. I think the want: common only needs to be removed, and that'll help a lot.

 

Cheers!

C4.

dito. though people should be reminded that:

have: cb balloon want: cb silver is not a really solid trade to post in the first place.

 

 

as for crossposting: why do people feel they get buried or not enough attention without? i posted my last few trades only in the metallic trade center, and I always got a lot of offers, pretty fast. my last 6 silvers were traded within like 16 hours. Yes, some offers i had to decline because people can't read, but still... all that without cluttering the forum with duplicates.

 

 

[RainDear]

The only other option is tag based trading. Let me give you an example.

 

I used to play on PokeFarm. It, like all pokemon sites, had a trading system. It allowed you to offer what you hade for something similar if not exactly to what you wanted. Some people did trade on the forums to make their more exact wants but over all we had a separate area that offered you the ability to trade.

 

Now if you wanted to search for a trade, all you had to do (like in GTS) was select the name of the desired pokemon from a drop down, select he level range from another drop down, and finally select if female, or male. This narrowed dramatically your choices and able to quickly browse through the hundreds if not thousands of trade available.

 

If a Fansite or TJ himself could implement some sort of trading system like this where users can select between seeking eggs or hatchlings, it would take a load off the forums and relieve some of that clustermess of posts.

 

A drop down would prompt you to select egg or hatchling.

if you select egg then a drop down of what breed would appear and time range (4D or more/4D or less)

 

If you select hatchling a series of drop downs would appear:

S1 or S2

Male, female, ungendered

breed

time (4D or more/4D or less)

 

and users could post up the general info. It would look like:

 

Have: | Want: | Note: Albino is 2G Thuweed. Want CB Black | Link: http://dragcave.net/teleport/randomcodehere (This link is bogus and just there as an example)

 

The link would obviously take you to the teleport of that trade for users to offer. It would mimic EATW bout would be site based if possible with a more sophisticated search. This way people looking for specific trades only have to select a drop down of breed names, whether they want an egg or hatchling, gender, stage, etc and look for exactly what they want. The forums would be left for more specific trading or for example Holiday IOU trading or more specific trades and projects.

If there were any way to search for specific offerings, a lot of trade posts wouldn't have to be made at all, because it would be possible to find what you are looking for and see if you have any ability to pay the asked rate for it. It is daunting to say the least to have to comb 6 or more pages of all applicable threads while hoping not to over look the specific offerings which might interest you.

[FiveSix]

There is always the search tool, which I've occasionally made successful use of. I wonder if perhaps we could get some keywords into common usage to 'tag' trades with where the obvious search term for it (e.g. '2G', 'GW') is too short for the search input or referred to in lots of different ways.

[AnanoKimi]

There is always the search tool, which I've occasionally made successful use of. I wonder if perhaps we could get some keywords into common usage to 'tag' trades with where the obvious search term for it (e.g. '2G', 'GW') is too short for the search input or referred to in lots of different ways.

If we could use certain terminology in trades and different when writing normal posts, it might make all that wading easier.