Make Trading Advice Thread More Visible (25+ support!)

[Birdy]

My suggestion: since the Trading Advice Thread is owned by staff, and will only ever be owned by staff, this to me indicates that staff recognize it as a useful tool and are willing to back it in a way that they aren't willing to back specific guides. If this is the case, my suggestion would be to make this thread more visible for newer users. Currently, it's just one thread in one forum (that relates to, but is not the forum where users go to actually trade.) And if I'm not mistaken, it's not even pinned at the top of that forum. It has now been pinned, thanks staff! So new users would need to do a little bit of digging to find it and may not find it before they start engaging in trades.

Some possible ideas might be:

1. Having a pop-up on the CS Trades forum (similar to Dec 18th pop-ups, maybe?) might go a long way. That way, from the moment they step into the trading world, there's an attempt at sharing this tool with them.

2. Another thought I have (and bare with me, it's been a very long time since I joined CS so I no longer remember what that process is like, exactly): when a user joins for the first time, is there any sort of user-guide or "welcome to CS!" guide that pops up for them? I know some sites have them, where users get a pop-up or are auto-directed to a guide which shows some initial tips and guides. And if not, is that something that could be pursued? I think exposing them to the Trade Advice Thread at this point could also be helpful.

3. Make a "Trade Help" button that could be put alongside the other main buttons at the top of the page (Home, My Stuff, Adopt, etc.) The button could lead them directly to the Trading Advice Thread.

Please share your thoughts below, especially if you have other ideas for how it could be made more visible for new players!

[Pawesome]

support! the economy of CS can be super confusing for seasoned users, let alone brand new users. honestly i could see this being implemented for everyone, not just newbies! :] it would also be super helpful for returning users who haven't been around in a few years

i often see people say that new users are responsible for educating themselves before trading, but CS can be really overwhelming for a first timer. there's so many forums, so many guides, so many links such, it would be extremely convenient for everything to just be in one place for them to look at

also, one of my frustrations is that the december 18th popup comes up AFTER you've sent the trade. i think it should be either a permanent addition as a banner, or pop up as soon as you add a december 18th pet to either side

i'd opt for a permanent banner that shows up as soon as you initiate a trade (or receive one) which would have the december 18th info and some links to the trade advice thread or a general link to the trading guides forum, etc

[duckblind]

support! i think a combo of 2 and 3 would be the best option. (:
edit: if 3 was implemented it might be more helpful to have it as a button within the actual trade screen, near the edit/cancel/accept buttons

[Pallastronomy]

Support! I think any combination of these would be helpful, but a pop-up might be a bit intrusive depending on the implementation

[neapolitan]

just want to put my support on this since i also responded in your first mention- i love all these options and i think all of them would be good to implement. i still believe that a temporary banner for newbies would be good (and maybe for users that haven't been online for a bit? say 2-3 years?) since i myself tend to get annoyed at the december 18th popup all the time. i also agree with the permanent button, and while i think it'd do well on the menu with messages/your posts etc, i can see how having it inside trades or in your trade center would be nice too! i just fear that might be a bit too hidden for users that don't trade a lot and as such wouldn't be opening the trade center or recieving trades.


i also want to restate my idea of the trading advice thread containing some description of MA/nons and how they were used historically in case a new user is to bump into those terms, since no guides will be using them anymore. i'm not asking staff to give MA/non any defined value, just some history behind it and why/how people might use it.

[Aurora Storm]

Support! In particular I think the first idea sounds relatively easy to implement, since we already have a rotating pop-up on the index page with various messages/info, and there's some for December 18th as well. I think having one permanently at the top of the trading forums is a great idea, it doesn't need to be long either - I think a simple "Looking for advice on whether a trade is fair or not? Check out [xxx]!" and linking to either the trade advice thread itself or the trading help board.

I do like the other ideas as well! As a GH it's part of my job to welcome newbies over on the Introductions board and I link several guides in my welcome posts, but of course that relies on the newbies not being COPPA'd and making an introduction post.

i also want to restate my idea of the trading advice thread containing some description of MA/nons and how they were used historically in case a new user is to bump into those terms, since no guides will be using them anymore. i'm not asking staff to give MA/non any defined value, just some history behind it and why/how people might use it.

It doesn't quite match your suggestion exactly, but as of yesterday we have updated the Trade Terminology post on the Staff Trading Guide to expand a little on the history and previous use of these terms! ^^

edit;

[snip]

also, one of my frustrations is that the december 18th popup comes up AFTER you've sent the trade. i think it should be either a permanent addition as a banner, or pop up as soon as you add a december 18th pet to either side

i'd opt for a permanent banner that shows up as soon as you initiate a trade (or receive one) which would have the december 18th info and some links to the trade advice thread or a general link to the trading guides forum, etc

I strongly agree with this as well! My guess is maybe the banner can't be triggered until it registers a Dec 18th pet in the active trade rather than the editing screen? But perhaps a solution would be to permanently include it on the page for December and January.

[Papilio Ulysses]

Support! I really like this suggestion. Part of combating scammers/ninja traders is to make it harder for them to have their offers accepted in the first place. This is especially true when a new player might not visit the forums at first (or at all).

One thing to consider is that the help given in the Trading Advice Thread often uses terms referenced from specific guides. It's possible that new players using the Trading Advice Thread for the first time wouldn't know or understand the units being used because they didn't see those guides first.