I like the Pin’s tight moderation. Keeps the place focused and serious.
But one thing I’m unsure about is moderation in the price drops forum. Occasionally mods want conversations in these threads to return to a discussion of “price drops” only (to pick a random quote from a mod in one thread: “Please avoid superfluous comment and stick to price drops only”).
Often the types of “comment” in these threads is about comparable properties nearby, the type of neighbourhood it is, the condition of the house or perhaps how this particular property relates to the wider market.
Now it strikes me all these matters are on-topic and germane to any price drops. After all, what could be more relevant to the pricing of a property than the fact there’s a halting site next door, or the fact you can get the same property for less around the corner, or the fact it needs new windows when a competitor property doesn’t?
There are also the Rules & Posting Guidelines in the “Rules & Posting Guidelines” forum: viewforum.php?f=25
There is also the part here in the “Welcome - Please read before posting” thread: viewtopic.php?f=25&t=1045
That includes this:
So generally, that would suggest to me (though I’m open to correction), that if a moderator/admin gives advice/a guideline that it’d be a good idea to follow it.
Not a mod, but I commented before about the fairly personal and vile nature of some comments about a few houses a while back. I think the policy should be if you would not say it to the sellers face, then don’t say it here, because more than likely they will notice the pin is one of the top results for a search on their gaff and drop in for a look.
Which of the following is not a helpful or reasonable comment?
“I think your house is overvalued because…”
a) It does not match the location, square footage, state of decor
b) Your daughters bedroom looks like a disney themed bordello
c) There are comparable houses for 100k less
How dare you old bean… that’s my own personal relaxation chamber
Where is a 40 year old man supposed to get peace and quiet these days
On Topic… while it’s tempting to discuss and comment on an area in the price drops forum… it would be best to just keep this area as a log for price drops and avoid discussions there. Now if it were possible that a parallel thread be created in the buy rent sell forum it would mean the price drops is left alone as a reservoir of price drop info and folk can discuss the property n area in the Buy Sell Rent thread. Alternatively, just alter the price drop section so it’s purely a log… maybe just have it linking to a google speadsheet doc where people can log the price drop info and make it easier to access for statistical analysis also.
Look at it this way, people googling their address are liable to find the price drop forum discussing their area or even their house so it’s best not to put anything overly contentious in there.
Yes, a lot of perception of the quality of an area is down to subjectivity too. Anyone thinking of buying a house can make up their own minds about whether an area is ‘dodgy’ or not to their eye.
The only comments about area that I would consider appropriate are ones that discuss facilities in the area e.g. public transport links, schools, shops, roads and so on. That might be fair enough, no?
The rest can be decided by the buyer just like they can decide whether they like the décor or not.
The price drop forums are useless as a log of property prices any more, given that there are better ways of tracking it nowadays (irishpropertywatch, treesdontgrowtothesky, property bee, among others).
I believe they are now more suited to an actual discussion of specific property price drops, the factors around the drop(s), comparisons to others in the area, etc.
That doesn’t mean that it needs to be a free for all, the moderation can still be tight.
I don’t use the pin anymore to find out price drops, I would go to propertywatch or treesdontgrowtothesky for that too, I like it that there is a point of view from users on different areas, comparisons, local info etc. which in my view (we are buyers) key to our purchase, after all its a big decision and you have to factor in everything. And as such has been a very useful tool. When we put our property on the market it would be great to go on to the pin to see what people think good or bad, and have the opportunity to alter things. There is a bit of banter too.
This is precisely how I see it. I also agree that there is potential for a free for all, so I would very specifically ban, for example, comments about decor which has practically zero influence on a house price. Any house in the country could be totally redecorated for a tiny fraction of the selling price, so it is not relevant. There may be other types of comment that are unhelpful/unwanted, but I suspect the Pin’s existing guidelines would take care of most of those (glee, unsubstantiated gossip etc.)
Id say that the +1’s are votes for the idea. And thats development of sorts.
The proposal is along the lines of
Allowed
the factors around the drop(s),
comparisons to others in the area, etc.
Condition of the house
how this particular property relates to the wider market.
Disallowed examples
a) It does not match the location, square footage, state of decor
b) Your daughters bedroom looks like a disney themed bordello
c) There are comparable houses for 100k less
Well, it’s a case that if there is nothing further to consider than +1s, the moderators and admins can take the posts into consideration.
This isn’t a popularity contest. No rules will change just because a bunch of users request it. So, a thread full of +1s will just result in a thread with +1s diluting the content.
So far as I can see, 2 price drop forum moderators have posted here and may or may not use the contributions to help affect their judgement in the future.
I can’t give a definition for “development” but needless to say a ton more of +1 posts will only lead to the development of users who check this thread only seeing a bunch of +1 posts. If that is all that’s left, I’d be inclined to lock this thread and save a bunch of users a heap of time.
