[Cristiano]

I would like some feedback on whether or not you would like a forum for new product listings, in addition to SLShopper. I set up SLShopper to provide enhanced listings, but I often get feedback that people forget it is there. I've tried to integrate it more into the forums, but I am wondering if also offering a product listings forum would be a good idea, or just overkill.

[Rooke Ayres]

I don't see how anyone who has her/his products listed on SLShopper could possibly forget that it's there, so I'll assume you're talking about shoppers.

In the case of shoppers, especially newer members to SLU, I could see how they might miss it, or forget it's there. When a site such as SLU, has so many features, it's easy to miss some. I know from personal experience, that there are still a few things that I've yet to explore, and I've been here for quite a while.

I think it would be a welcome addition, especially from the seller's viewpoint. Everyone is looking thru the forums all the time, and having product listings forum would give those seeking new products, or just curious to see what's new, a quick overview of what's available. Then if they're interested, they can open the link to see the details and pictures. ( Then hopefully go off and buy it. )

XStreet used to have decent new products listing, but we know what happened to that (it suxx0rs big time now). SL still has its Classified Shopping forums. So I think adding one to SLU wouldn't be overkill.

I know I would really appreciate it if you were to give us a new products listings forum (I can use all the visibility that I can get for my items), and I think the rest of the sellers and shoppers would appreciate it also.

[Winter Ventura]

I'd personally PREFER to have a "New Products" forum. It's nothing personall.. but I think the whole SLShopper thing has been kind of a non-starter for me. Sounds great on paper, but I don't think anyone likely to buy my products uses it. It feels like spending lots of time and effort to set up an ad, with no appreciable effect on product/brand awareness or sales.

When I release a product, I pre-write some copy, which I put in a notecard. That gets sent out to my mailing list.. I take that same text and form a forum post around it. I can post that on Secondlife's forums, Duchy of Darkmere, Second Citizen, and Second Survivor.. and even (until recently) on the XStreet forums..

But on SLU, I have to go through this special process, which eats time and energy.. on a day that I'm usually all out of energy from setting up XStreet listings and vendor registries and posting to all those other places. It's no wonder that I've only been arsed to do the SLShopper thing less than half a dozen times, it's easier to skip it for now, and then I never get around to it later. With the current state of affairs, SLBuzz gets the word, my blog gets the word, Flickr gets the word, Twitter, SL, Xstreet, DoD, SC, and Second Survivor and 500-1000 people inworld all get the word. SLU gets nothing.

Yeah, I'd really like a New Products forum... and I'd use it too.

[Cristiano]

Anyone else? I am surprised this hasn't gotten much of a response.

[Winter Ventura]

Well, it seems that LL is intent on moving all the forums over to their "blogrums".. and the rules over there forbid commercial posting. They haven't (as of yet) created a "new products" announcements forum over there. It seems, if LL is going to move the main forums to that as well, it may well create a whole legion of people looking for new ways to promote their new creations.

If SLU's goal is to absorb the disaffected, huddled masses.. then as an attempt to compete for the newly-homeless forum users, I think anything that increases usability and creates more options, is probably a good thing.

I don't know what other SL based forums are out there.. but nearly all the ones I know about offer a simple way to make a "new thread" about a "new item". In fact, of the ones I know about, ONLY SLU doesn't permit this.

If you're serious about scooping up the ex users of the xstreet forums, and eventually the ex-users of the SL forums.. and any of the others that fall by the wayside as time wears on, then I'd say that creating such a forum would be a positive move. It's familiar, and it's welcoming to business owners.

Heh.. maybe you could also increase usership of SLShopper, by creating a button for new threads that said "create SLShopper Listing from this post".. and have it open the new-listing screen after posting the thread, and auto-paste the body text from the thread post into the body of the listing form.

I think the lack of response you're getting may be emblematic of the problem with SLShopper. Unless they're shop owners wanting to promote their content (like me), most average people don't care enough about new products. They're certainly not going to go hunting for a listing.. but if the occasional new product pops up where they're already looking, then a few of them will take a look.

I think some rules might be in order.. try allowing replies, but if it gets out of hand, many sites make that forum "new-post/edit only" (PLEASE DEAR GOD ALLOW EDITING). I don't know if the scripting can handle such things, but you could try making a rule that says no more than one listing per hour, or possibly no more than one per day.




p.s. ... bump

[Jeni Roussel]

I would love a new product forum. Browsing through SLU gives me lots of additions to my shopping list ranging from the ads to, most importantly, Show Your Style which is invaluable. However, I always forget about SL Shopper. So a big 'yes' from me for having a New Product Forum.

[Nephilaine Protagonist]

bumpity bump bump.

Yes please for a new products forum!

[Rooke Ayres]

Cris,

I just had an idea after looking at Nephilaine's PixelDolls collection on SLShopper.

I didn't even realize that PixelDolls was in SLShopper until I noticed the 99 Ads for it in Nephilaine's side bar...

In addition to a new products forum, would it be possible to have an editable list of SL users and their businesses? That way we can add our own entries.

And would it be possible to sort it by user or business? That would be way cool!

[Betty Barracuda]

Originally Posted by Cristiano

Anyone else? I am surprised this hasn't gotten much of a response.

Yes yes yes!

I would love to see a "Shop Thread" for each creator in the New Products forums. I think it would be a neat way of keeping posts under control and prevent posts from getting buried as fast. I was always be a little sad to see my post get buried to the second page within a few hours because someone came in and posted 50000 individual items right after me.

For example, "ZZZ Designs" creates their own thread in the new products section and each time they release something, they make a new post in their own shop thread. It would make it uber easy for people to scroll through past releases without having to search for them and give older products a little extra exposure.

Just a thought!

[Siggy]

Fuck yeah!

(I like my opinions short n sweet)

[Beebo Brink]

What Siggy said.

[Humps]

I'll definately use it yes
I often post ongoing projects and stuff in the projects/content creation sub forums but rarely the finished article as I always feel peeps might think I am touting for sales inapropriately. This would be a good follow through so that peeps who have been interested in the development of my latest prim whore creation can see the end result without me feeling weird about it (and I can legitimately tout for sales too yayyyy!)

I would also like to be more like Siggy and get to the point quickly but in my case I find that verbosity makes up for substance enough of the time to fool most people. You gotta work with what you have got after all

[eku Zhong]

me three..... about the classified... i dun mind Siggy's ramblings... helps with my insomnia

[Alice Klinger]

Ok so we have the new products forum a while now and while I like it,
it is twice the work. So... I was wondering if we can just have the SLshopper integrated in the new forum somehow, changing the listing style to the new one.
The search function for company is just awesome! The advantage of the SLshopper is the "recent ads" pics and that there are so many of them. Makes it easier to see what is new with one look, without cluttering the screen with info. I like to see just the pic and name to get an idea what is new. Another advantage is that it shows as quicklink in the forum profiles if someone has SLshopper ads placed.
Oh and can we have the big button "SLshopper" back by the other big buttons on the top of the screen? I fear otherwise SLshopper will go under if it is only reachable from profile pics or the quicklinks submenu. I was so happy while it was on the front page. Lots more clicks. Thank you for taking suggestions :-)