Forum request: recommendations of contractors

[Misty]

Here's an idea we can use.

How about a forum listing companies that we have used and whether or not we feel they offer good service. For example: how many people come up asking (on yahoo): who all has swimming pools, who did you use, yada yada.

So maybe a forum titled builder recommendations (or something to that effect). Have sub forums under that for the big things like swimming pools, concrete and patio, electricians, and some misc. Inside that there would be threads for recommendation requests. Then people can start threads for individual contractors (catch: you can't recommend yourself if you are a contractor, but could pm info if that were the case). Also, people could post pics of the job in question. Here's my swimming pool!

This would be an interactive way to get a bigger picture of who you choose. 4 out of 5 people may have had a good experience with "John Q Pools" but maybe that 5th person had trouble. Those could all be put in there.

These would remain there for people to search. And the sub-forums for the big things would alert people to go digging rather than submitting a new request all the time. If I saw a sub-forum titled "swimming pool companies" I'd look there first rather than cluttering the board with a new request.

I think this would be an excellent addition to Eastvaleresidents.com. After all, what are some of the major things people use the yahoo group for?

I'm just using swimming pools as my whipping boy here. There are dozens of these kind of requests for all kinds of companies (concrete, media niches, granite counters, patio covers).

[lupe]

That will come when a review add-on is selected. I've asked mike for one that is similar to the reviews on amazon or e-pinions so users can comment as well as give a rating. For now, we're just using the Marketplace for businesses to list themselves. If you've used any of those that have listed themselves, you can go in and rate that business by using the thread rating system. It's not completely accurate though if a business gives themselves 5-stars.

And if you're looking for something, you should post in the "goods & services" sub-forum there.

for now, that's what there is until the essential stuff is done and there is TIME to add extras. Unfortunately, Mike will keep making time if everyone keeps asking for stuff. We have our daughters' birthdays, their parades, the Geekwalkers cancer walk, and the Picnic to focus on. There are only so many hours...

[Mike]

Good idea Misty. Lupe pretty much said it. I am reviewing a very cool amazon.com type of review/rating sytem for businesses and services for Eastvale that we can use here in this forum. But there are a few considerations I need to think of, here are a few:

Are we keeping this forum on the current server?
That remains to be seen. If one person gets a page not found, that is too many for me. As traffic grows, we'll see how the server does under different stress loads. I am not geting the review software and changing servers. Too much work.

Time
I am finally able to relax a bit. I'll give out a forum status maybe today, but time is the big thing. The review system I am speaking about will more than likely come after Picnic in the Park.

[mike_d]

Mike, is the page not found still an issue? Seems what ever you did last week has fixed my problems so far.

[Mike]

It pops up from time to time. I am making a Forum update post now and will keep everyone up to date on a few things, including that.

[Misty]

Yes, I was going to bring that up, but I have assumed Mike was tinkering with things when I get the page not found thing, so I haven't said anything yet.

But I get it a few times each day. Usually, one reload will bring the page back, but there are those moments.

[Mike]

Yeah. I know it is a very infrequent thing, but have been quietly addressing it through our host. I am, however, not so quiet about it with them. I stay logged into the board most of the day and am well aware of this.

[Karie S.]

For now, we're just using the Marketplace for businesses to list themselves. If you've used any of those that have listed themselves, you can go in and rate that business by using the thread rating system. .

Looks like the threads in marketplace are closed though, and you can't rate closed threads. I tried for My Butler :(

[mike_d]

I was thinking the same thing Karie, Coral at My Butler has been great! Mike, maybe if the threads weren't locked people could add their own comments to each individual thread? Or would that be going into the other idea you had for people to rate places they've been to (not own)