Any way for the OP to lock their buy and sell thread ?

[f8orbust]

Having a healthy B&S section is important since it's the main driver of casual traffic to the site - which in turn benefits advertisers etc., which in turn benefits all of us who hang out here. But ... it feels like there has been less traffic on the B&S thread in the past year or so, and I reckon an increased concern over having to 'defend' one's B&S thread is a reason for this.

So, I'm wondering if there is any way to allow users to lock B&S threads they start in order to avoid them degenerating into 'opinion' pieces ? XenForo has the functionality, I just don't know if the appropriate permissions can be given to a regular user for a specific forum, or if it's only admin level and/or site wide.

Ideally then, you'd place your ad and lock the thread, moving all communication to PMs. If anyone has any serious doubts about the validity of an ad (e.g. posted by a scammer), they could easily PM the mods or start a separate thread elsewhere raising the alarm.

 

[JeffK]

A lot of the issues in the B/S come down to a single member who is over zealous in some ways. It’s probably up to the mods to determine if a warning or ban is required rather than a change to the platform permissions.

 

[darr]

The Large Format Forum locks Buy & Sell threads, which I understand why.

Generally, this community behaves respectfully and shares their opinions when solicited. However, there was an incident where someone critiqued the pricing of an item I listed unpleasantly. Other members quickly countered his arguments, supported by current auction prices for the item. His arrogance was surprising, but such things happen. I responded by sending him a PM, warning him that I would block him if it recurred. Shortly after that, the item sold on the auction site for a higher price. This experience has discouraged me from selling here in the future.

It might be beneficial to lock Buy & Sell threads and encourage private communication instead.