Re: I hate to say it....
...but I have converted to the "other" site.
If you believe there are only two Diablo sites, your search-fu is weak. However, glossing over that error ...
1) This site is so terribly SLOW!!!! ... Get rid of the slow loading ads and upgrade your servers. This speed is not acceptable for any website.
Firstly the ads pay the bills. You know the adage "no such thing as a free lunch"? Those ads are paying for your lunch. Some members appreciate the hard work put in by the Admins and make a voluntary monetary contribution to this site. Those
Pals are rewarded with various Perks - including removal of banners.
You state that this forum is worthwhile ["I'll certainly continue visiting this site for the content updates "] and the ads are a problem. Contribute to the site you have found so valuable over the years. The site wins with funding and you win with less ads. Good deal for $2.50/month and less for a yearly sub.
2) Far more active users.
I would rather have quality over quantity. If it's too good to be true it probably is. So that guy offering a shed load of cheap stuff probably botted it. Maybe that doesn't bother you; I wouldn't touch him with a 10ft barge pole; that's always been a major part of the draw of this site for me. We don't like cheats.
They have warn meters and mediators, significantly decreasing the risk of being scammed. Most people have given me payment before I even traded the item.
Well all those green people aren't decorative; I see you noticed that in a later post. So let me say this; I suspect we - and I mean Moderators - intervene faster and sooner than many sites. We don't do a three wise monkey impression; if we smell something unpleasant we use our one-application-kills-the-smell Banaerosol. Not available in the shops.
You don't see most of what the Mods do because we do it quietly and in private. There are relatively few scams here because we don't sit around waiting for a scam.
Hmm, you'd expect a moderator to have a bit more class. With people like you, who needs a better site to leave. You can just insult them all away.
Might want to check rule 9 of the
diii.net rules.
The rules said:
9. Thou Shalt Accept the Admin's Decisions.
We [DIII.Net and its mods/admins] reserve the right to ban [temporarily or permanently] or place on Probation [limit privileges] any member of DIII.Net without warning. We reserve the right to edit, move or remove any post made on DIII.Net without warning or explanation. We reserve the right to edit any portion of a member profile without warning. You will accept all this gladly and with open arms because we do it with love
If you want to disagree, it's generally considered good form to do so via PM in private.
Perhaps you could focus your business model on providing a high quality service that people are willing to pay for. Use your imagination a bit here and it won't take you long to come up with viable alternatives.
Speaking as a long term member here, I thought the excellent user knowledge, courteous members, outstanding quality of updates from Elly and the team which stems from a great relationship with Blizzard, the rules of the site and trade forum quality which are worth paying for. I'm saddened you feel that it isn't even worth $2.50/month of your money.
Increase the speed of your site. You know it, I know it, and anyone in their right mind knows they aren't going to sit there waiting five seconds per page when there's hundreds of items to browse. This isn't rocket science. Speed should be your first concern.
In a previous post you mentioned that this site does not have a large number of users and yet here you say there's hundreds of items to browse. Seems a tad contradictory to me.
Speed isn't everything. Personally I would rather wait a little longer for a page to load knowing the content was informative, innovative and accurate than see any old piece of rubbish appear faster than a politician can pull a sound bite in front of a TV camera.
Develop an item locator so I don't have to wade through neverending iso/ft lists of which 98% of the items are charsi.
We have one, it's called the
search function. You can also search within Google but limiting to this site. I find that very effective.
Develop some method to "bin" through items. e.g. an auction for a specific item could have several bin offers (e.g. trading soj, bins are 6 x 7smfcs, 2 x low ll bul-kathos, ber and jah, etc).
I believe the Realms call those 'closeable offers'? That is the choice of the poster not of the site.
These are but a few ideas to set yourself apart from the competition.
We are already apart from the competition.
- Broad player base
- Generally the most courteous group of posters I have ever seen
- Unparallelled game knowledge
- Frequent updates
- Constantly updated site
- Wiki
- Excellent guides
- Virus checked file hosting
- Active forums for D1, D2, D3, Realms, Single Player, Teaming (SP and Realms), Trade Forums, Hardcore, other games, Off topic etc
What is untrue about my statement in any way? ... So now tell me ONE THING I have said that is untruthful or embellished. Just one...
Your tone. Frankly your post reads to me as "yeah I'll use your site but I won't pay anything for it, just lose the ads and change it so I like it better".
I'm sure that wasn't your intent but it does seem somewhat arrogant. Not to mention advertising for another site.
You know the success of that site is also quite the testament to the power of currency. Sure, you can make currency out of in game items like we did back in 1.09 with sojs, 7smfcs and 100pscs; but the harsh reality is that kind of trading system is substandard in the face of a currency system.
Why? It's the post count argument. I have x currency, I have x post count, I have x HRs, I have x chars I am therefore better than you. Wrong.
The SPF Trade Forum doesn't have set values any more than the Realms. It's never been needed and if you think about it, having a currency such as you favour stifles trade.
An item is worth what someone is willing to pay at the time. I wouldn't pay much for a Pally Combat of Vita because I dislike Pallys. I would break out my stashes for a nice crafted ammy. Compare that to those who play the Flavour of the Month pallys. They'd Charsi my ammy but keep the combat. A set value of each item is not fair to all. Especially not to the newer trader who might get a lucky craft.
Gorny, I don't care WHY your site is slow, I only care that it is. I'm a consumer and you're trying to sell me a product (advertisements) with substandard performance.
No you have that backwards. We aren't trying to SELL you anything. If you pop into Walmart for a curry sauce they are trying to sell you items.
We are trying to be the best forum, with the most accurate information and we hope members recognize that and contribute to the site. In reward for that contribution they get some perks and we get to keep running.
As a side note, you're a mod, and you should act with a certain amount of restraint when responding to customers.
You aren't a customer. This is a private forum and you are an invited guest. Check the rules to which I linked earlier. We've already established that you won't even make a small contribution to the site running costs in return for some very nice perks.
I live in a gray area on this topic. I support player to player rmt, but despise bots and any form of cheating. Some people claim rmt is cheating,
RMT is contrary to Blizzards ToS/EuLA. So while you don't think it's cheating, they do. So not only do you wish us to change this site to your convenience, you want Blizzard to alter their game also?
In the end, though, for trading I will go to the place with the best selection and the best prices. I would far prefer that would be without botting, but the game is now what it is. If Blizzard wanted to stop botting they would, but they don't care.
And the threads of "I got banned for x" after every clean up are figments of my imagination. I suspect not.
Even without botting the "other site" would still be vastly superior simply because of speed and a common currency.
Then go there.
I don't mean to be rude but I do honestly believe you are not being realistic. Your whole set of posts are "do this for me"; not one "I could do this" even if "this" is a little money, or a guide, or a helpful post. Just a stream of "I'm going else where they're better than you until you fix this and no I'm not contributing".
