[Suggestion] Hide BST's from public view when closed

Not sure if this suggestion was shared before, but I guess when a BST is closed; it might mean that the seller is no longer offering his/her services.

Get to the point...Meerakat

Of course. What if when a BST is closed, it is automatically hidden from the public eye. The BST can only be viewed by the seller himself. If he/she decides to reopen the BST, then it would automatically be visible to the public view.

I want to know the benefits!

Sure. Somehow, some users tend to stumble across old BST's that are closed and are no longer active, but the seller's services remain active outside BHW. However, the issue here is that even if a seller's BST is closed, the seller still probably gets traffic.

Hiding the BST from public view until it is re-opened might prevent several issues like above from taking place.

Edit - 1

The issues with my original suggestion so far:

1. Some opinions were that it will reduce ad impression as the pages may continue to gain traffic.

2. SE related issues

The above four members have made some valuable suggestions which I think makes sense. Maybe...

1. If the BST is closed, hide all the external links in the whole thread or just the seller's post or hide the seller's contact info. Mentioned by @proxygo and @HeleneOnWheels.

2. When visiting an inactive BST which is closed, just like thebotmaker mentioned there should be a warning.

3. Display a warning at the top of the post saying the reason of why this specific BST is closed. Mentioned by @BbHhWwVM

-Meerakat

Meerakat said:

Hiding the BST from public view until it is re-opened might prevent several issues like above from taking place.

Click to expand...

Why is it an issue if old BSTs get some negligible amount of traffic?
Doesn't seem to be a sorting/UX issue, because the locked threads don't get bumped.

Soucha said:

Why is it an issue if old BSTs get some negligible amount of traffic?
Doesn't seem to be a sorting/UX issue, because the locked threads don't get bumped.

Click to expand...

It has nothing to do with sorting/UX issue.

See it as this scenario, a seller that was banned but his BST is closed yet still left open. Do you think the banned seller who was probably banned for his lack of services / requirements should get the traffic again?

What if a user just reads the first page, contacts the seller even though he is banned, and is dissatisfied with his services. Does the user open shit-list for the banned seller again? You see where I am going.

Although there could be several reasons such as:

• The seller is probably not offering the services anymore BUT his website is still up: A random user comes across his thread and decides to still pay for the service provided the order is an automated process.
• The seller doesn't decide to renew his/her BST and it closes: Sure, the BST would still be up. But, what exactly is a buy/sell/thread meant for? You are using BHW as a platform to attract visitors only by paying a yearly subscription of $30, but when you stop paying it; should you still avail its services without paying?

You are right locked threads can't be bumped, but have you noticed? They still appear in BHW's search results even if the thread is locked.

Meerakat said:

What if a user just reads the first page, contacts the seller even though he is banned, and is dissatisfied with his services.

Click to expand...

Of all the sellers here, if someone chooses to contact a banned member and purchases from them off the forum, they need to have their head checked.

There’s a reason they were banned, if you purchase from them and are “dissatisfied” you can’t possibly hold the forum accountable for your lack of exercised common sense.

Meerakat said:

It has nothing to do with sorting/UX issue.

See it as this scenario, a seller that was banned but his BST is closed yet still left open. Do you think the banned seller who was probably banned for his lack of services / requirements should get the traffic again?

What if a user just reads the first page, contacts the seller even though he is banned, and is dissatisfied with his services. Does the user open shit-list for the banned seller again? You see where I am going.

Although there could be several reasons such as:

• The seller is probably not offering the services anymore BUT his website is still up: A random user comes across his thread and decides to still pay for the service provided the order is an automated process.
• The seller doesn't decide to renew his/her BST and it closes: Sure, the BST would still be up. But, what exactly is a buy/sell/thread meant for? You are using BHW as a platform to attract visitors only by paying a yearly subscription of $30, but when you stop paying it; should you still avail its services without paying?

Click to expand...

The Meerakat has a point imoa.

Technically you are probably right but the chances of it mattering are so slim it's probably not worth anyone's bother to change.

A closed BST will be getting nominal traffic at best and an even smaller percentage of sellers will be banned.

The trade off is also maybe a BST has useful discussion which a buyer wants later on but the seller just no longer sells that product or service. They lose access to that thread for little to no real benefit.

DD will never do this, as hidden BSTs are not inexable by Google so less $$$$.

Nope, not a good idea. There is a ton of value in being able to read through even a banned member's closed BST thread...

Meerakat said:

See it as this scenario, a seller that was banned but his BST is closed yet still left open. Do you think the banned seller who was probably banned for his lack of services / requirements should get the traffic again?

Click to expand...

Honestly, I can't really imagine anybody purchasing from a banned member.
Why would they ever do that?

Personally, I would think that keeping a banned member's old (and locked) thread would likely do the opposite of what you're suggesting.
I don't think they would get sales, rather, I think it would serve as a warning when other people look for that username.
For example, if they are selling under that name elsewhere.
That leaves a very visible footprint so people know not to use that seller.
If you remove it, you are actually removing the proof.

Additionally, at scale, BHW likely gets traffic from these searches, when users google their services, after finding them elsewhere.
Why would they want to delete all those pages of content?

I actually think your suggestion is bad for everybody involved.
But that's just my opinion.

As a fairly new BHW member and frequent buyer of services, I think BSTs of banned users should be hidden OR better yet the posts with their ad/contact info removed, so people won't get scammed. Someone I bought from got banned while I had an order pending. The order was fulfilled, so I was not scammed per se, but so far the pages have not been indexed and the service has not done what it was purported to do, so I wouldn't want to see anyone else buy from them.

DD has a business to run. Why would he cut off the arm that makes him money?

the 1 downside of this is, if a service is banned for scamming
thread is locked but there adds . links within the sales thread remain.
ide at least ban remove any out bound links to there products within it.

SpezzNacci said:

DD has a business to run. Why would he cut off the arm that makes him money?

Click to expand...

This would mean less ad reach / impressions for paying users.
Maybe an alternative could be to 'suggest' more active BST's in the section, and some automatic reminder that the member is banned so they are purchasing at their own liability.

This suggestion is decent, but I would add small modification.


Many suggestions are not perfect at their start, I had a couple of edits for almost every of mine.

Here it is:

Leave BST public, Leave entire BST as it is but add this at the top so it becomes very clear:

Festinger said:

DD will never do this, as hidden BSTs are not inexable by Google so less $$$$.

Click to expand...

Deleted and archived content hurts the SEO + if it is an old thread it would really hurt the SEO.

In fact, staff is not allowed to delete older content due to that in part.

HeleneOnWheels said:

As a fairly new BHW member and frequent buyer of services, I think BSTs of banned users should be hidden OR better yet the posts with their ad/contact info removed, so people won't get scammed. Someone I bought from got banned while I had an order pending. The order was fulfilled, so I was not scammed per se, but so far the pages have not been indexed and the service has not done what it was purported to do, so I wouldn't want to see anyone else buy from them.

Click to expand...

proxygo said:

the 1 downside of this is, if a service is banned for scamming
thread is locked but there adds . links within the sales thread remain.
ide at least ban remove any out bound links to there products within it.

Click to expand...

thebotmaker said:

This would mean less ad reach / impressions for paying users.
Maybe an alternative could be to 'suggest' more active BST's in the section, and some automatic reminder that the member is banned so they are purchasing at their own liability.

Click to expand...

BbHhWwVM said:

This suggestion is decent, but I would add small modification.


Many suggestions are not perfect at their start, I had a couple of edits for almost every of mine.

Here it is:

Leave BST public, Leave entire BST as it is but add this at the top so it becomes very clear:

THIS BST IS CLOSED REASON

Edit: this probably is the case, but not with every single BST I believe. (it is important to cover all banned users BST's)​

Click to expand...

The issues with my original suggestion so far:

1. Some opinions were that it will reduce ad impression as the pages may continue to gain traffic.

2. SE related issues

The above four members have made some valuable suggestions which I think makes sense. Maybe...

1. If the BST is closed, hide all the external links in the whole thread or just the seller's post or hide the seller's contact info. Mentioned by proxygo and heleneonwheels.

2. When visiting an inactive BST which is closed, just like thebotmaker mentioned there should be a warning.

3. Display a warning at the top of the post saying the reason of why this specific BST is closed. Mentioned by BbHhWwVM

Aren't the "buy links" removed from such threads?

In addition to what BTB said, it messes up post counts/likes of members.
There are only a few instances mods are allowed to delete a thread (love-babuji for example).

Retaining banned members' threads allow members to read through them and find patterns.

This was already suggested by some member and discussed.