Proposed Subscription Changes

Could do with a bit more info, for example, what's a secure auction? The FAQ mentions private auctions but not secure ones.

Can auction close reminders and daily reports be turned off/on at will.

Though I think people will be unhappy that the limit for free accounts has dropped even lower.

Did you send an email out to all users inviting their feedback?

Secure Auctions are a fully designed but not yet implemented feature. We designed it around the time we started recording people's feedback rates, and wanted to wait until people started improving their feedback rates before putting it in the system. Now we're waiting for another small feature to be added before we turn it on, but it's definitely coming as a security feature to help thwart fraudulent bidders.

Auction Close Reminders wouldn't need to be turned off, since if you want a reminder you have to set it on each individual auction. It's a new feature we're adding to encourage power bidders to become members, and can send the reminders directly to their phones via SMS. Daily Reports are not yet implemented, but we do already have the ability to enable/disable them in the current My Account - Prefs area. It would just basically be a recap of what a user is selling and/or bidding on every day.

People may indeed be unhappy. However the cost is less and many people have been complaining (esp the fursuit makers) that the cost should be spread-around more to everyone. This is why we've posted this proposal several weeks in advance of lifting a finger to make any subscription changes - we want feedback from the users.

And no, we didn't send out a feedback invitation to users yet, because we don't have the new Message Center setup yet where users can better control their ability to choose to be a part of that whole loop. We're adding features that allow folks who WANT to be involved in steering the site and providing their thoughts an option to choose to accept or reject those kinds of messages from cluttering their inbox. We're planning to make that new system our highest priority right now in order to better communicate with users on exactly the TYPES of messages they want to be getting through an opt-in/opt-out system and having the choice of WHICH way they get contacted for such messages.

So yeah, so far it's mostly been crickets here and in our FA journal. =/

That doesn't explain what they are but okay.

And if someone changed their mind/found something else they want to track instead? Not everyone buys multiple commissions daily/weekly.

Why not post it to fursuitlounge or artists_beware? That would net you a lot of feedback since you seem hesitant to ask your userbase directly for feedback. You're getting crickets because not everyone watches the livejournal or your Furbuy FA.

LJ Watchers: 140
FA Watchers: 119

You'd think that out of around 200 people that SOMEONE would have some feedback.

As for posting on fursuitlounge or A_B, or even fursuitauctions - those are not appropriate places to post questions about FurBuy according to their community rules about off-topic posts. Further, not everyone on those communities uses FurBuy, so it's not appropriate to 'bother' them.

Oh, sorry, I guess I didn't explain Secure Auctions. It's basically a system that allows Sellers to restrict who can bid on their auctions using a number of factors from their feedback rate to their Rating to how new their account is to whether or not an account has been reviewed by admin staff. Fraudulent accounts (trolls, shill bidders, etc.) often fit into one or more of those profiles, and preventing them from bidding without improving or securing their status on the site can protect sellers who are worried about fraudulent bids.

Well first you've got to account for people who have abandoned their accounts, then there's the ones who only check them occasionally, then there's the ones that get a lot of messages and probably missed it in the flood, plus I doubt it's 200 since some people probably watch both.

So really that number shrinks dramatically if factors are taken into account.

I'd suggest asking the A_B mods, it would fall under advice posts most likely and those are allowed, and since the recent complaints about furbuy were posted on fursuit lounge, I can see no reason why you asked for feedback on proposed new changes to it wouldn't be acceptable. I actually wonder if many of your excuses "folks complained", "it's off topic", "it's inappropriate" are really to avoid having to communicate since it causes you so many issues and you often it seems end up frustrated.

Hmm okay, though I wonder if that may penalise otherwise decent people simply because they have no feedback.

Well, you realize making a change so quickly after will cause more drama, so I place my feedback in the form of thoughtful questions.

1) Did you sit down with the sales numbers of FurBuy in front of you this time?

2) Did you calculate how much you want/need people to pay based on a target audience?

From what I've seen so far, the previous rule modification was based on the amount of people who went over a specific limit.

3) What are you trying to accomplish?