Changes to new classifieds section:
Improved Search
Now when you search for an ad, you have the capability to select just certain brands, so a Leica user now can filter for only ads that the OP has categorized as Leica.
If you think that additional brands are required, please let me know and I will ad popular ones.
You also have the ability for searching the whole text and title of ads for any phrase you wish.
Search criteria include poster, price range and country. So if you want to only look at, say Guy Mancuso's ads it is easy to do. Country is a little rough since I didn't have the forethought to restrict choices, so be warned, you may need to try different spellings. Fixing this is on my to-do list.
Ad Ratings
We have added the ability to comment on ads sort of indirectly. Moderation of comments placed on ads has been a real problem for us in the past. Folks got hurt feelings, the price police were a common issue, and in general it detracted from the message contained in the ad itself. Now, you can express your opinion about an ad by clicking on the rating stars located above each ad. The ad will display the average of all ratings received.
So if you think that it is a really good deal, go ahead and click five stars, and if you think that it is terrible click one. If nobody has rated an ad it will have no stars displayed.
User Ad Editing
We have added the capability of editing your ads without the use of the edit key. We have not yet styled this page to match the rest of the site since I thought it best to provide the capability quickly due to user feedback. You must be logged on through the forum to be able to edit your ad.
RSS Feeds
RSS feeds are enabled, so if you have any RSS reader you can keep a constant tab on what is happening in the classifieds section. Some readers even offer on-screen alerts so you can get spammed all day long LOL
I hope that these changes will improve the user experience.
thanks
-bob