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Originally Posted by Fries-With-That
I have just been reading the threads in relation to items people are trying to give away.
It must be very frustrating to offer someone something for free, and then for that person not to show up at the appointed time.
I notice on sites where people sell things there is a feedback section where people can offer their opinion on any particular member they deal with.
I personally think it would be a good idea if as members we had the same facility, the feedback would only be available for viewing to existing members Members would then be able to see if the person offering to take something off their hands was a persistant time waster and deal with them accordingly.
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Hi Fries-With-That,
Thanks for your comments and analysis. A feedback section has been requested before but we decided not to run with the idea for the following reasons:
(1) Both Givers AND Takers can sometimes be what you term "time-wasters" (your post suggests that it is primarily Takers). The latter's frustration with the former led JumbleTown Admin to introduce an Admin Archive section (invisible to Members) to counter the effect of late or non-respondents. You will also notice that we sometimes lock/close threads that have not been updated or responded to by Givers. Givers should respond (hopefully within three days) but there are many reasons why this may not be possible -- computer/internet trouble, variable access to a computer, personal reasons etc.
With regard to Takers "time-wasting" (not responding/not collecting etc.): Overall, this is not a big problem (look at all the items marked "Taken"). One must remember that the Giving and Taking process may appear quite straightforward but there are umpteen reasons why it could be delayed or even fall through. JumbleTown's PM and Public Forum system facilitate the process but we haven't come up with a "fix" for that most puzzling of things, namely, Human Nature. (Don't worry, we're working on it!)
Setting up a section where JumbleTowners post comments about the "performance" of their fellow JumbleTowners seems sensible (and is technically very easy to do), but it smacks somewhat of "Name and Shame" syndrome. Obviously a Rogues' Gallery would be offset by one that indicated JumbleTowners who responded quickly and collected items in a jiffy, but do we really need to be praised publicly for our good manners and/or alacrity?
Having said that, JumbleTown Admin's main reason for not providing a Feedback/Response section is that people might be too quick to pass judgement and post up some feedback about a fellow JumbleTowner. A simple example: I'm due to collect an item from you at a certain time. I can't make it because of an emergency/tragedy of some sort. So I don't collect, and you post up a comment about me in the feedback section. I respond to you later outlining the reason for my non-arrival (family-death, accident, no money for bus/taxi/van etc). How do you feel about your comments in the feedback section now? Not too good! Now, I'm not being melodramatic here -- emails and PMs to JumbleTown Admin and some posts on the Public Forum have made us aware of such cases/situations.
Finally, I realise that most time-wasting occurs because people forget to call or lose interest, but these folk are a small minority. JumbleTown Admin is willing to tolerate (and cajole) them, and we hope that JumbleTown Members will do likewise.
Regards
Chris P
(Admin)