Trade rules: Your opinion

[Frankina]

I believe trade rules are necessary, but I prefer only a couple
which are clear, easy to read and sensible.

I dislike silly scenarios/stories people create with their talking pets -
I don't think it's relevant to trading, and should stay in the creative forums.
Same thing goes with gifs and codewords. Not needed, in my opinion.

[*JACKAL*]

-Snip-
Rule 3: The codeword is apple.
Rule 5: Ignore Rule 3 - the codeword is banana.
Rule 7: If you really read my rules, the real codeword is swordfish. -Snip-

Gosh yes, I forgot about the multi code word rules, how annoying? I probably forgot about them because as soon as I see one code word, I'm gone from that profile, but yes what Atwood said is so totally true. The only time I will put a code word in is when I'm going for a really hard trade.

9 times out of 10 though, if it's something like a current month litter swap or a similar simple trade, the only rule I look for is the "I only trade doubles" then that's it.

To be honest, rules are all the same really.

Trade fair
Date
Rarity
Species
Doubles

So I tend not to read rules unless, like I say, it's a hard trade eg VR for VR or something.

[I♫dream♪in♬harmonies]

I love reading everyone's opinions on these topics- thank you all for posting ^.^'
There were a couple things I wanted to say my opinion on (feel free to argue if you'd like cx)
1. Length. I like short rules- who doesn't? I just want to trade with the person >.< It sort of annoys me if they say 'Trade fair!' because if you need to be told that... um.
2. Gifs, pictures etc. I don't have any problem with people putting pictures of their dreamies and things like that- actually, I rather like occasionally gifting a minor dreamie because I just happened to see it in their trade rules. I like a couple of gifs or stamps that I can view or ignore, but when they're like 200wr820948203948209 pixels and I can't scroll past them for ages, it's annoying. I also dislike it when they hide codewords in between these, which brings me to..
3. Codewords. I think Atwood makes a wonderful point about human memory spans-I don't really mind people wanting to be sure that any rules are followed, but if their rules are 'NFT means NFT' and 'Trade fair', they're sorta pointless. It's also very annoying when they have like 2903840392 hidden codewords. (atwood also discussed this.)
4. Stories. A short story doesn't bother me, but putting your Shima and BMD and Raven and Tiger dog on the page does. I've been on the site for 6 months, okay? I'm not up to the lists yet, and I don't need your 6 years on the site rubbing in my nose.
5. I FOE IF YOU DONT TYPE MY CODEWORD I WILL BLOCK AND FOE AND REPORT YOU SERIOUSLY READ THEM!!!!!!!! Seriously. Is it necessary to scream (virtually, obviously) that you will be foeing someone who has an average short term memory spam and can't remember your thirty seven rules? Also, you can't report someone for forgetting a rule or a codeword. I mean really- mods, correct me if I'm wrong, but... seriously? It's crazy, if you ask me AND, it makes me afraid to trade with them because I don't want to be reported for accidentally forgetting their three hundredth code word. So adios.
6. "I only trade list pets. I don't want any omgsc-rares floating around my trades! How horrible!" Look, for newish players like myself you're basically blocking yourself off from trading with you. You're just not being social and it make the site less fun.
7. Locked groups. Okay, seriously? To anyone who didn't know: When you're in one of your groups, click 'Change trade settings for this group' (or something to that effect.) if you don't want anyone trading for that pet, click 'NO ONE CAN MAKE OFFERS ON THESE PETS'. You don't need to put your sorbet hoard in an unlocked group labeled 'NEEEEEEEEEEEEEFT OFFER AND I REPORT' just to show off. -.-

Sorry if anything here doesn't make sense, I was playing with my rats while typing so things may have jumped around a bit cx

[*JACKAL*]

I so agree with Everything you said here!

[Lady_Lycana]

Personally I think crosswords are kinda stupid. I dont have one and I dont trade with people who have one.

As far as trades rules go, I have seen a lot of rude and strict rules. My rules are easy going

[Guest]

I think rules should be exactly that - RULES. No gifs of frolicking pandas, no pictures of favorite boybands, no novel length stories or "You walk into..." enactments. There are other places for stuff like that.

Just keep it short, simple and to the point.

[Lady_Lycana]

I think rules should be exactly that - RULES. No gifs of frolicking pandas, no pictures of favorite boybands, no novel length stories or "You walk into..." enactments. There are other places for stuff like that.

Just keep it short, simple and to the point.

I agree. It gets quite annoying. Thats all I see lately and it makes me not want to trade anymore.

Some people have really long or alot of trade rules and wonder why they dont get any trades. I shorten them and edit them every once in a while to make them clearer for user who cant read well or have a hard time.

[I♫dream♪in♬harmonies]

Honestly, my rules don't even have rules anymore- I use them as a place to keep art that I've gotten/traded for in and display it (with the owner's consent, of course.) They're a little sloppy, but it's pretty easy to get the idea that I don't really have rules :3


Also: Not terribly related, but does it drive anyone else crazy that people literally have to put messages in their sigs/interests/trade rules begging the mods not to ban them, simply because them have the same computer as someone else or have a friend that uses their computer sometimes? It's insane. I mean, I get that it would be unfair for people to have multiple accounts, but this is a litle out of hand

[tawnypelt3]

6. I only trade list pets. I don't want any omgsc-rares floating around my trades! How horrible! Look, for newish players like myself you're basically blocking yourself off from trading with you. You're just not being social and it make the site less fun.

Horrible? Really. It is everyone's choice to decide what kind of pets they put up for trade. If they don't want to trade anything below rare or whatever, that is their right. It is wrong for you to judge people on that. And newsflash, they don't have to be "social." It's not their problem if you're disappointed with their trade rules. They are not obligated to make the site "fun" for you. They owe you nothing. If you don't have any pets that meet the criteria for trading with them, then that's not their fault and too bad for you.

[Syn]

6. I only trade list pets. I don't want any omgsc-rares floating around my trades! How horrible! Look, for newish players like myself you're basically blocking yourself off from trading with you. You're just not being social and it make the site less fun.

Horrible? Really. It is everyone's choice to decide what kind of pets they put up for trade. If they don't want to trade anything below rare or whatever, that is their right. It is wrong for you to judge people on that. And newsflash, they don't have to be "social." It's not their problem if you're disappointed with their trade rules. They are not obligated to make the site "fun" for you. They owe you nothing. If you don't have any pets that meet the criteria for trading with them, then that's not their fault and too bad for you.

No need for the harsh tone. While you're right and we're under no obligation to make this place 'fun' for anyone you're wrong about being 'social'. This is a social site. It has forums, you have to interact to get the pets you want, and a bitter attitude isn't going to gain you anything. Newbies are unsure of themselves and if you'd rather not trade with them, that's fine. If you only want rare pets, that's fine too. But I guess you really don't want monthly swaps from those newbies, they sure won't offer you any. They're not going to offer pets for hoards or collections you've missed if you're intimidating them out of it.

The long and short of it is it's all in how you word things. You can politely tell folks that you normally only swap for rare and very rare pets, that you're not very interested in common pets. Or you can not and hope that 'older' players who can cater to your tastes choose to do so. It comes back to what I said earlier about difficult and easy to trade people, you're more likely to get trades if you appear that you're easier to deal with.