Trading messages not being used

[FreddyCenobite]

I personally get why this would be frustrating, but in my rules I said I'm not forcing someone to put a message. I only say it's mandatory with suggestions for fairly obvious reasonings (aka I'm not a mind reader).

I've become aware (mostly due to people's signatures) that social anxiety is a thing, even when online. I myself just say the same message every time I send offers; "I hope this is okay. If not, I get it." I say this not to be generic or repetitive, that's just my mindset. If you don't like my offer, it sucks, but okay. If you say it's okay, that's okay, too. I almost never send open offers though unless it's offsite trades. I always send an offer I know the person was asking for. Even then, they still sometimes cancel.

Another thing is I can definitely see newer users being intimidated with older users. I remember when I was a younger user (not on CS) and another, much older user talked to me, I wouldn't talk back because, frankly, I was scared of them. You don't wanna look like an idiot to an older user, even if you literally joined five minutes ago. I know this was when I was a literal kid (again, not on CS) and, while I'm not saying this is still a thing, I can see it being a thing. Not many older users (2012 and older) are still kicking it in the forums. I almost exclusively stay in trades areas with occasional comments elsewhere, so I know I see more like 2017 and younger. If being intimidated by account age is a thing, you sure as stuffing won't talk to me if you had the chance to talk to, say, someone from 2020. And this doesn't factor in people who come off as intimidating. I know I can sound like a massive jerk, even when I'm not!

I know this is an annoying thing, even I used to be annoyed with it, but it's not exclusively from laziness. There's so many factors that could play into this that I just stopped caring, basically. Consider it a bit of a water under the bridge kind of thing.

[Space Cadet Marz]

No one owes you a message. Is it nice when someone explains why they didn't like a trade? Sure, but it isn't required. Some people don't speak English, or don't speak it well enough to feel comfortable explaining. Others have social anxiety. I'm sure some people get so swamped with trades that they just don't have time to write one.
Just assume they weren't interested and move on. It happens.

[Ebony Stardust]

No support. Trade messages are not mandatory, and it's not disrespectful to not send one under most circumstances; it's completely the choice of the other party.

[Serial designation N]

No one really owes anyone a message,I’ve seen users mention anxiety,but not wanting to send a message on a website doesn’t necessarily need to be attributed to anxiety as a way to validate not sending a message , I believe any reason is valid even if someone just doesn’t feel like it.

As for the idea of having a menu of chat options or mandatory messages,I’d have to say no support as I can see this backfiring. If I had to include a message every time I received a scam attempt or other kind of unsavory trade as an example , I’d be pretty stressed out. Having a drop down would also force adoption/quitting center forum owners to respond to every single trade which would make it far more labor inducing than it should be.

[Darkcloud!]

As for the idea of having a menu of chat options or mandatory messages,I’d have to say no support as I can see this backfiring. If I had to include a message every time I received a scam attempt or other kind of unsavory trade as an example , I’d be pretty stressed out. Having a drop down would also force adoption/quitting center forum owners to respond to every single trade which would make it far more labor inducing than it should be.

Most adoption centers already take the step of adding a "thank you!" back, at least in my experience. I don't think there would be issues with quitting accounts: the discussion is around manually canceled trades- they are either accepting a trade, or it auto-cancels bc someone else got the pets.

I didn't mention this, but there is already an option on a trade page to block someone. Doing this auto-declines the trade. If a person feels that the trade they received is a scam or bad faith trade, they can block the person and the auto-decline could send as a "No thank you." with no need for the person to enter anything.

I think even if it is not mandatory, I would like to see the option of a small menu of pre-written responses for editing/ canceling much like COPPAs have as it would encourage more communication between players.

[off the hook]

i can understand the frustration of not getting a message in a trade. however, as the original post cites canceled trades, i think it's a bit unreasonable to ask for this to be implemented. it may be seen as rude to you for someone to not leave a message, but as others said, there's so many reasons as to why. someone may have a lot of trades and end up canceling them to mitigate how overwhelming it is. someone could have social anxiety and not know what to say so they don't say anything. someone could be busy with work, school, etc. and not have the energy to type up any sort of message. someone might just not want to leave a message. all of these are valid reasons to not leave a message. just as you decide to type one for whatever reason, you can also decide to not leave one for any reason.

also, if someone was interested in working out a trade, i'd assume they'd send the trade back as a suggestion. i've done that before- i'll get a trade, not be thrilled with it, and then try to work it out through the suggestion feature. if someone declines a trade, i personally see that as a "no, i'm not interested in trading with you" and move on.

i only support this suggestion if it'd only apply to trade suggestions. i think those are the only case where a message should be necessary. the only issue is that i'm not sure what the preset messages for coppa players should be, as you want them to be general enough to see usage but not too vague/broad as to where they don't help. however, if the suggestion demands trade messages as mandatory no matter what you choose to do, i'm against this.

[-wingsofwasp-]

maybe instead of forcing messages (as others have said, social anxiety and other factors can make this really straining on some players), there could be an optional dropdown for reasons to decline a trade?

something like:

optional: leave a message explaining why you cancelled:

optional: leave a reason you declined

> this trade wasn't fair to me.

> I want to use these pets elsewhere.

> I changed my mind.

> I no longer need your pets.

> (etc)

scrolling through the thread it looks like similar things have already been suggested, but the point would be that it would be optional. it could also be a checkbox if you wanted to select multiple reasons!