Although community assisted updates are good, there are issues to be considered. Eg. How to verify whether the info updated is correct, and not due to pranksters purposely providing wrong info, or even shop owners themselves providing wrong info to mislead people to visit their shops.
Yeah, thought about that too. Valid concerns. In the previous/current system, the person providing tip-off would have to PM the mod/volunteer, so that provides some form of accountability. Downside might be that receiving individual PMs, verifying price, and updating threads manually is quite taxing to sustain long-term.
The key is to find something that's a balance between it being easy to upkeep/manage while achieving a certain measure of accountability.
Anyway, there's a sticky in the old price guide forum with a disclaimer.
I've not seen it in a long time. Ha.
Prices quoted in the price guide forum
Hi all ClubSNAP-ers,
I'd just like to remind you guys that the prices quoted for equipment stated here (as is in any other sub-forum here on ClubSNAP)is supposed to be used as a rough guide. Please also note that prices differs shop to shop, and buyer to buyer. Neither ClubSNAP or us contributors are responsible for difference in price should the actual one differ to those stated in the guides. Please do not go to any shop and claim any item with these prices.
Thanks for reading!
Have a good day,
Lomographer
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/price-guides/568699-prices-quoted-price-guide-forum.html
This disclaimer really rocks.
But if we really want something to provide a basic level of accountability (with minimal volunteer/moderator intervention), a simple method may be to have a running thread (in CS) that supplements the form.
E.g., When a member wants to submit a price update, he/she should:
1. Share the price update via the form, members to use CS nick by default.
2. After sharing the update, make a post in that thread. Maybe something simple like "I just shared a price update".
3. So, by default, all price updates without an accompanying post are 'unverified'.
4. If a member wants to verify a particular price update on the form, the onus is on him/her to go and refer to the thread and find the accompanying post themselves.
5. This way, some responsibility is farmed out to the member checking prices for his/her reference. Afterall, he/she is the one benefiting. No need for spoon-feeding.