Hey everyone, We've been kicking around some ideas here for the site lately (in addition to regular improvements we can make functionality-wise). Let me know your thoughts.
Swapping of LPs: I know I've got a collection of old vinyl, does anyone else? One's you'd like to swap? I'm not sure how the USPS would treat them, may be too fragile.
Recipe swap: I know there are sites that have recipes already, but would people be interested in a recipe section? Its not really a "title", but thought I'd throw it out there. Obviously recipes wouldn't get you points or anything. You would just post your recipes and you can look at what others have posted.
Third party shipping insurance: I'm not sure if its possible, but would anyone be interested in a 3rd party insurance option that would hopefully be cheaper than USPS? If so, I guess the requestor should pay for that.
Not sure on the swapping of vinyl. I have some that I could part with, but, the last time I mailed any, it was slightly difficult. Best way to secure is inbetween 2 pieces of firm cardboard and then place in a padded mailer or a box and mark fragile.
The recipe swap might be better facilitated by simply creating a forum here on the message boards.
I have never had any dealings with 3rd party insurance but it would be interesting to look at some info.
Thanks for the brainstorming and the overall maintenance of the site
I'd love to trade records! I have a huge collection of them that I could weed through. There's just something soothing about the sound of the needle travleing through the grooves.
I also agree that it's harder to ship them. Pizza boxes are the best way that I've found, you can often buy them unused from a pizza place. After that, we can re-use boxes as we trade records back and forth.
As for the other two ideas, recipes might be fun to share, I'd probably not do the shipping thing for now. But maybe sometime.
swapping lps is a good idea, but we would have to be careful re: the condition of the lp. I'm a record collector and I think that people that aren't wouldn't know what a record in mint or very good condition should look like. Grading lps is trickier than grading cds. With cds if the cd plays it is good enough to post, but with lps the situation is different. I would order from other record collectors that have recently personally listened to the lps they are posting but not someone who hasn't listened to her/his records in 20 years. Having said that, if we could find some grading criteria, I think it would be a great idea. Keep up the good work, Kip aka karasu
Id definately go for the recipe swapping for I am an avid cook...the other favorite past time of mine..lol. And i think it would open new avenues on trying new things. As for the lp swapping...i agree that would be pretty tricky...especially like earlier statement on the condition.
Finally, for the 3rd party insurance, Ive never had to deal with that either but also like a previous member stated...wouldnt object to some more info and be a bit more knowlegable before making a decision.
Hi Dan - I think there's an LP swapping market for sure, so why not add a category that allows for both LPs and cassette music tapes as many people here have expressed a desire to trade cassette tapes.
How great is it that we are part of a website whose designers actually care about the users' input on new features? Thanks for offering us the chance to speak up, Dan.
Now, having said that, I must confess I'm not at all crazy about the recipe swap section. Don't get me wrong--I absolutely love cooking and willingly spend as many points as requested for the good cookbooks on here. It's just that this is a book, movie, and music swap club and adding something as different as a recipe exchange seems like losing sight of the original intent. There are plenty of great recipe swap sites out there and someone previous in this thread even mentioned how simple it would be to just add a forum topic for it.
I'd much rather see your limited availability spent incorporating some of the features we have pined for elsewhere in the forums--ability for a sender to see the mail messages they have sent, allowing the condition notes to show for senders once someone requests their items, the ability for both sender and receiver to see tracking info, blacklist options (allowing traders to keep a list of others they don't want to trade with), adding an audio cassette section, etc. -- Brian
This message has been edited. Last edited by: frogmore,
Posts: 195 | Location: Louisville, KY | Registered: 14 March 2006
For my part, I agree with you Brian, though I don't see any harm in adding recipe swap category if it would make TT come up in more search engines, and if TT users would actually use it.
I have no plans to use it, but ya never know.
And, since this is Dan's free site, if he want to put a kangaroo swapping category in, then we'll all hop to it and do so gladly.
I think that these all are great ideas. I am very interested in the recipe swapping! I can post some common dishes from Holland for you all to try! My husband does most of the cooking here - I'm such a lucky girl! Back when I lived in the states my dinner consisted of either a english muffin with peanut butter or a frozen dinner! The Dutch don't have frozen dinners here and I'm not that great of a cook so if my husband wants something other than pizza, he cooks!
LP swap - maybe. I agree it would be harder to grade. I have a lot form my grandmother's estate, but know nothing about them and have no way to test playing them.
Hmmm... LP and Insurance, I probably wouldn't use. I think the blacklist thing is a good idea. I really like the recipe idea. It'd be neat if we could have our own recipes attached to our profile and then favourites from others, so then TTers can look at everyone's best and favourites...
On another note... Thanks so much Dan (and Maggie) for being active in coming up with new ideas and additions to the site-- It's certainly become one of my favourites.
“Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. Love still stands when all else has fallen.”
Posts: 752 | Location: Connecticut | Registered: 02 July 2006
I also have no idea what the third party insurance is, so can offer no opinion there.
The Recipe Swap might be interesting since we have folks from all over the world.
The LP swap....... I do not have any to offer, but with the grading of them being such a tricky thing .... casual listeners vs. collectors .... you may have a lot of disappointing trades if you are a collector. Maybe there would be a way to specify a section for "Collector's Quality LP's Only" and another simply for LP's and then the individuals could email and get more specific information to see if it fits in their expectations of condition.
And, Dan...PLEASE consider adding the condition of our posted item to show on our requests page after someone requests an item. This would benefit everyone from many disappointing experiences. I had a recent trade that I am sure I listed dvd and artwork only... NO case. But was told differently. I have no way to verify. But we worked it out, so no big deal. But it would be nice to know in fact that I'm not that forgetful or crazy ...yet !
I like the idea of recipes as a TT forum. There are a lot of sites out there I'd go to first but I would browse to see what people are posting on a TT recipe forum.
