comments/questions/ suggestions for Agon


While i think that Agon does a very good job overall, i've got a few questions and comments for them that i think might improve some things and make the members / users of the forums happier at the same time. If others agree / disagree with these points or have other comments/suggestions to make, please chime in either way. I'm sure that Agon doesn't mind finding out what is on our mind once in a while : )

1) The subject line should be removed when responding to a thread. Too many people still think that you can see what is entered into this section. As such, they input makes, models, various comments there and then expound upon that info in the main text area. Only problem is, most of us have no idea what they are talking about since we can't see what they entered into the subject line and they don't make mention of that info again in the body of the main text.

2) Personally, i would like to see a link from Agon to Vgon ( Videogon ) on the home page and vice-versa. Not only would this make it easy to go from site to site, it might encourage / enlighten more Agon members that visit a site that they might not know exists and vice-versa.

3) Is there a specific reason that our feedback from Agon is not being carried over to Vgon? Since many people that use Agon will probably end up using Vgon, this would make life a lot simpler. When attempting to purchase something that is listed on Vgon, most of the time, the seller has no feedback listed for them due to Vgon being so new. As such, i typically have to jump back over onto Agon to see if this person is a member there and what their feedback is like. This shouldn't be necessary as good / bad audio feedback is the same as good / bad video feedback. If anything, i think that audiophiles are more "anal" / take better care of their gear / have higher standards than videophiles. Can we do something to tie the member feedback from both sites together?

4) Is there some way to alter the "maintenance schedule" that Agon goes through every night? This slows down the system drastically. Moving maintenance time a few hours further into the night ( like 2 or 3 AM CST rather than 12 AM CST ) would probably effect fewer people and still get the job done.

5) I rarely bother stopping by the dispute resolution forum because it seems like a waste of time. That is, we never know what came out of the whole ordeal. Contributing points of view to such a forum is kind of like talking to a brick wall. That is, you don't know if you're doing any good as you never get a response.

6) Keep up the good work. If this is all that there is to whine about, you know that we are all basically happy here : ) Sean
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sean
Perhaps Audiogon could put some kind of logo next to those posters who are in the business. Recently I got into a bit of flack with a dealer whom had previously and most graciously offered me an audition on a pair of speakers he knew quite well were out of my price range, just to offer me the opportunity and pleasure. Obviously, I had no personal axe to grind with him, yet some how my suggestion to indicate his profession was taken by more than one individual as an afront to him. A simple designation could have avoided that situation and the lenghty wording that would otherwise be approrpriate.
I have a cure against unposted threads here.
You should just understand the machine that very often makes mistakes and it's a machine that makes a moderation at Audiogon. Some of the "not sure if" threads may go to the human moderator I'd assume. If you feel that your thread contains nothing but relevance even if it's contraversal you can try to submit it once again.
Frogman: Hmmm... I think i know what brought that suggestion up. Believe me, i let Agon know what i thought about that one first-hand. Sean
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A few more ideas for an already good place:

1) Interconnect area should be searchable for XLR vs single ended. Add a length search field, too. Its horrible trying to find XLR cables in a sea of single ended madness.

2) Add a search field for length of speaker cables and power cords.

3) Add a direct link with specific "Learn" areas, including blue book and reviews.

4) Prohibit the use of text in the price field of classifieds. The $CALL$ stuff dealers use is irritating when placing items in the used area. Let them use text in the dealer areas.

5) Allow people to search by "New", "Used", or "Demo".
Good thread!

My suggestion concerns the abrupt deletion of threads that Audiogon deems controversial or inappropriate. I am assuming that these are the reasons, since there is usually no explanation given. It would be nice, and respecfull of the posters, if Audiogon would give a brief explanation of the reason(s) that the thread was cancelled. Audiogon clearly has the right to make the decision, but what is inappropriate to one person, may not be to someone else.

Regards.
I would love a way to search for gear (by type) based on a price range; $1-$499, $500-$999, etc.

That's about it for me.

Regards,
would like a end of thread button made available at the top of the longer older threads to prevent having to scroll through many pages to see the latest postings
That's a good point about Photogon, but quite honestly, i DO think that audio and video blend together a LOT more than audio and camera's. While one could say that the camera's are what people use to make the video's that blend with audio, that would be kind of stretching it. Besides all of that, what kind of a geek would be into BOTH audio AND camera's ??? : ) Sean
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PS... I can hear the Howitzer's firing from Texas towards Chicago as i type thi... : )
Sean,
What'd'u think of Photogon's feedback transfer?
Photogon was built even before v-gon.
I guess if feedback is being transfered from A-gon to V-gon it should be transfered to Ph-gon. On the other hand, there are members who only use photogon or only use audiogon or only use videogon. Not realy likely the member with bad feedback somewhere between those three domains will register with same nick or profile. He/she'll be different for sure. Implementing a profile transfer to all three at one shot during the member registration will make no sence IMHO.

In general I'd say that this e-hangout place is great. There are some minor improvements need to be made:
Somehow if you change the subject line as you've mentioned should be either removed or displayed in case if it's editable; Feedback system should be for a particular transaction and as far my knowlege of business analysis goes, it's a large project.

I've only once been at photogon but now I'm in search of good inexpencive optical video camera and probably I should visit videogon...