TameBay site changes: Comments and site features
24/01/2012 at 09:25
AuctionBytes, (now known as EcommerceBytes but still referred to by many as AuctionBytes) have just announced a new comments policy. In order to comment on the site you’ll now need to register with AB Verify to confirm your email address and have a unique name by which to comment.
To comment on AuctionBytes in the future you’ll have to log in, but you’ll be able to change your password, opt in to receive email notifications of comments added to threads of interest and also upload an avatar to identify yourself.
We’ll be making some changes to TameBay over the next few months, but we’ve currently no plans to make users log in to comment on the site and we already support avatars. If you want an image (either a picture of yourself or a logo) next to your name when you comment you simply need to register at gravatar.com and comment using the same email address in the future.
Do you think logging in to make a comment is a good idea? Also are there any other features you’d like to see changed or added to TameBay? What parts of the site do you use most and which pages do you visit most frequently? Do you follow TameBay using email or RSS feeds (did you know you can subscribe from the bottom of the right hand column on the home page?).
If there are features you’d like to see added to TameBay now’s the time to shout. No promises that we’ll be able to add everything that you might want but we’ll certainly look at all suggestions.
gb says
9:54 am on 24/01/2012
Commenting anonymously has it’s merits. Maybe it encourages a more robust and honest debate. On the other hand maybe it can increase rambling and rudeness. Many moons ago I trolled Whirly via the comments (only once) but now I much prefer to do that on twitter to his face.
I like the “introducing” features about solutions for , I’d like to see more of those.
Dave Skirrow says
10:56 am on 24/01/2012
Tamebay seems to have proper conversation and worthwhile comments.
Auctionbytes seems to be just a load of bitter comments from ex or failing sellers who think that eBay and Paypal will be out of business in the near future. Personally, I think they should have switched comments off entirely! And yes, I understand that’s quite drastic on a blog, but in their case they have great content but awful comments
Tamebay, just keep doing it right…
Gary says
11:01 am on 24/01/2012
The decision about having to register and log in before posting comments is pretty much down to how much moderation work is or has been required.
Forums do like to boast about how many registered members they have as this can influence advertisers but when it boils down to it only a small percentage are active. Many visitors are lurkers who do not wish to admit that they visit for one reason or another but they do help to get the hit count up.
Not so sure how important all this is for blogger type sites?
One BIG advantage of having “registered members” is that you can negotiate deals with service suppliers for the membership. And this can create a snowball effect membership wise if a very good deal comes along.
Maybe there should be a mobile / tablet ecommerce section as this is where everyone and their dog claim we are heading. Features on OS and Android apps that may be useful for eBay and Amazon sellers (and buyers?) could be useful. I often look at apps and think “how this going to be useful to me?”
Google is another area. There is clearly a master marketing plan that can be developed around the whole of the google offer but aside from google base and adwords it has so far eluded me!
So more on marketing may also be useful.
Hereford United fan says
2:27 pm on 24/01/2012
I would like to be able to click on a posters name and see all the post that they have made.
I would use this most on my own comments as often I will post something and then check back in a few days to see if anyone has responded but forget where I posted.
Keep up the good work.
Chris Dawson says
5:07 pm on January 24th, 2012
I like the idea, but that’s a tricky one. There’s nothing to link addresses and some people use more than one email address to comment which makes it impossible to achieve without log-ins
Peter says
6:18 pm on 24/01/2012
AuctionBytes, (now known as EcommerceBytes )
Sorry but who are they in the UK?
You don’t need to copy them.
Dan Wilson says
6:19 pm on 24/01/2012
Thanks for all the suggestions and thoughts you’re sending. We’ve got a little list. (They’ve got a little list.)
board_surfer says
11:51 pm on 24/01/2012
“We’ve got a little list.”
Should we don our lifejackets???
Chris says
12:31 am on January 25th, 2012
Only if a Italian is driving and in that eventuality I would suggest getting in the Life-boats as well.
Richard says
6:25 am on 25/01/2012
Well — you would lose my comments for one if you went to a system where you had to log in to post.
I think you would lose a lot more people and viewpoints than you are expecting.
whirly says
7:08 am on 25/01/2012
Email alerts when new comments are added to a specific post would be nice.
Christopher Rose says
10:48 am on 25/01/2012
As a part time comments editor for a fairly high traffic site for over five years, I have some experience in this area.
My opinion is that requiring people to log in to post a comment is a really bad idea.
The only reason I can think of for doing it is either to harvest data or the site owners are too lazy or cheap to manage their comments space properly.
It should be entirely optional, although I would allow signed in commenters a wider range of content that they could include in a comment.
DBL says
8:12 pm on 25/01/2012
I’d like to see the Forum opened up a little more, these are especially useful for people who need help with certain areas of eCommerce. You have to log in for that anyway but wouldn’t think logging on to the main site a good idea. You already have a comments policy should you need to use it.
Don’t change it, it’s wonderful, just enhance it’s current features
Dan Wilson says
3:39 pm on January 27th, 2012
The thing with the forum is a TON of trash and spam every day and only a few genuine posts from real life people. It’s a tricky call to make, really.
st georges dragon says
8:05 am on 26/01/2012
the content of the site is the main thing
if you have interesting well wrote and current blog comments the rest will take of itself , I know the site needs to be productive, though these rash of meet the company type articals are boring
Dan Wilson says
3:37 pm on 27/01/2012
Dragon,
Thanks for that. It’s tricky with the Meet the Company posts but some folk do find them useful. Although I tend to err to your viewpoint. ;o)
dw
St Georges Dragon says
4:36 pm on 27/01/2012
I would love this site to take on more of watchdog fight for the little bloke sort of role,highlighting the faults and flaws of online selling, a sort of tripadvisor for ebay/amazon/royalmail