Going Rate threads and 'tree fiddy'

Sounds great to me.

Tree-fiddy was funny when I first saw it, only because I had previously seen the South Park episode. I roll my eyes every time I see it now.

I try not to even look into pricing threads but I will make it a point to flag them now. I did not realize any pricing threads were ever closed or removed. I thought the people were just heckled until they left.

curapa said:

I did not realize any pricing threads were ever closed or removed. I thought the people were just heckled until they left.

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x2

Guilty as charged....

Thanks Mac... It's funny but I don't think people realize how unfriendly the site comes off when people constantly post answers like this.

I agree and I am as guiltiy as anyone. I know you have to have a certain # of post before you can post pics what about like 15 post before you can start a thread? That may keep the one post price seekers at bay.

I think one of the best responses for pricing questions is a polite redirection to
http://www.contractortalk.com/f16/pricing-estimating-success-27899/

wyoming 1 said:

I agree and I am as guiltiy as anyone. I know you have to have a certain # of post before you can post pics what about like 15 post before you can start a thread? That may keep the one post price seekers at bay.

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Great Idea,....... GIVE before you TAKE!

maybe the minimum should be tree-fiddy


sorry could not stop myself

BuiltByMAC said:

Whaddya say guys...ya feelin' like the joke's a bit old now?

How about hitting the Red Exclamation button instead and we'll make the thread disappear?

We mods will do our level best to keep out the riff raff and non-contractors but we need your help to catch the threads early. Having 20 dif. responses w/ nothing more than variations of 'tree-fiddy' isn't doing a lot for the professionalism of the forum.

Mac

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Maybe you guys should take care of the posts from the get-go.
No one likes being asked what do I charge, what is the going rate BS.
Why do we need to police it for you guys. It's normally a bunch of HO's trying to shoot some fish in a barrell.

Maybe I will take a pro-active route and start telling them how much it really is.

Between this and craigs list, there is a lot of pissing and moaning.

CookeCarpentry said:

x2

Guilty as charged....

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Me too. Yeah it's getting old.

When I spot them, I usually ask politely for them to fill out their profile and do an intro etc. I'm sure the mods get tired of typing that over and over and over and over.

Most times they get right on it and appreciate the "clue in". If they are brand new, they usually simply don't know and mean no offense.

WarnerConstInc. said:

Maybe you guys should take care of the posts from the get-go.
No one likes being asked what do I charge, what is the going rate BS.
Why do we need to police it for you guys. It's normally a bunch of HO's trying to shoot some fish in a barrell.

Maybe I will take a pro-active route and start telling them how much it really is.

Between this and craigs list, there is a lot of pissing and moaning.

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A valid point is brought up here by Warner.

Maybe more mods need to be added or a way better protocol for signing up to post (no saying your info has to be public, you could have the choice of public or not), but there should be some sort of verification process.

It's like a double edged sword, the forum wants more members, but wouldn't stricter standards (either through policing threads or sign up) cut down on the amount of new members?

CookeCarpentry said:

Maybe more mods need to be added

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But isn't that what Mac is asking? If anyone reads a "how much" thread, instead of typing tree fiddy, just click the read "alert" icon and you've just moderated.

I don't think he's asking for all of us to do anything extra. If you happen to already be looking at one of these threads, just click the icon. :thumbup:

Besides, I like being a mini gmod!

angus242 said:

But isn't that what Mac is asking? If anyone reads a "how much" thread, instead of typing tree fiddy, just click the read "alert" icon and you've just moderated.

I don't think he's asking for all of us to do anything extra. If you happen to already be looking at one of these threads, just click the icon. :thumbup:

Besides, I like being a mini gmod!

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LMAO:laughing::laughing::laughing:

WarnerConstInc. said:

Maybe you guys should take care of the posts from the get-go.
No one likes being asked what do I charge, what is the going rate BS.
Why do we need to police it for you guys. It's normally a bunch of HO's trying to shoot some fish in a barrell.

Maybe I will take a pro-active route and start telling them how much it really is.

Between this and craigs list, there is a lot of pissing and moaning.

Click to expand...

CookeCarpentry said:

A valid point is brought up here by Warner.

Maybe more mods need to be added or a way better protocol for signing up to post (no saying your info has to be public, you could have the choice of public or not), but there should be some sort of verification process.

It's like a double edged sword, the forum wants more members, but wouldn't stricter standards (either through policing threads or sign up) cut down on the amount of new members?

Click to expand...

The thing I fear personally more than anything else here is creating animosity. Most people have valid opinions and when I regulate their opinions, things get very dicey on my end. You don't know how many people have PM'd me or said nasty things to me because I edited their post. I'm not heartless and it makes me wonder if I did the right thing sometimes. I try my best not to step on toes.

Nathan has set up a very relaxed atmosphere here. He gave 5 or 6 basic rules to go by in loose translation. I can't speak for him, but I feel his intent is to try to welcome everyone as much as possible without being total pricks about things. You set up too many rules and it just becomes obnoxious.

Do I want your help? Yeah, I do, and I appreciate it alot. I pressed the red button before I was a mod when I found something that was offensive or thought it shouldn't be there. I didn't really know where it went, but it goes to an area where the mods can view it and I get an email notification that sends right to my iPhone. I get every single one of them. I stop during the day, while I'm working, take a look and see how bad it is. Most of the time it is justified and we take care of it as quick as the iPhone carrier can help out with.

If you guys don't want to press the red button, that's your choice. There's no rules that state that it's implied you should. If you do, great, we appreciate it and we are grateful. If you don't, I don't look down my nose at anyone because of it. It's a free world and I go about my business. I don't judge based on whether you press the red button or not.

I don't think there's one mod here that sits in front of the desk waiting for someone to post just to see if their content is OK. That's where we ask for your help. If you are there, and we aren't, and the content is questionable, please, do everyone here in this community a favor by hitting the button. It takes one or two seconds, max.

The "tree fiddy" responses IMO have run it's course. The horse is dead and buried. I honestly chuckled for awhile when I first saw it. It's just old and to be honest, I think the people who get told that are quite offended by the response wondering why this site is allowed to reply like that. It's a call that us mods have not really discussed until recently and Mac took the bull by the horns.

What would this site be without the community? And participation in the community? It would be a dead site. I am grateful to be a part of the largest construction forum on the internet and to interact with some of the greatest construction people in the US, Canada, and all the other participating countries. And to be asked to help behind the scenes is an honor, a true honor. I help as much as I can.

Framerman,
Thanks to you and the other mods for volunteering for this pretty thankless job. I know it must be tough making the call in some cases, and in other cases it's pretty obvious.

You guys really are appreciated. And to you cynics who might take this as kissing a##, I'm not. What would I have to gain by kissing a## here? Sorry I had to type the previous two sentences, but I see how some of you react sometimes.

I just appreciate that this site is not being neglected in any way as far as content allowed, and that there is some recourse for every member if a thread becomes out of line.

Thanks guys!

There would be no tree-fidy comments, if people were smart enough to realize that people on the internet can't tell you how much to charge. Most of them are people that are pissed because they think they got ripped off.

If you have been in this buisness any amount of time, you should be able to break something down, figure your materials and go through the steps in your mind on how long something is going to take. From those few simple calculations, knowing what it costs you to do buisness and knowing what kind of profit you want/need to make, you can add all parts together and get your number.

It pisses me off when someone justs asks, how much does it cost to replace a switch cover.
Figure it out, I did.
I enjoy the technical side, knowing I can help alert someone for s certain thing to prepare for.
Other than that, I am not your mommy or a hand holder.

Well i dont know how many % of people stay on this forum after the Tree-fiddy posts but if i had had my thread shut down then i would have moved on to another forum. I am now on 1000+ posts and have lernt a lot and feel as if i have been help to others. Just shutting down the how much threads is a bad idea i think. Perhaps you could have an automated response for every thread that has the key words how much in it. Just a nice massage saying the forum is for pro's helping pro's and threads of that nature are band unless you have post count of 100+ or something along them lines.

With the amount of technology around today can't we just do this.....Any post that has a variation of the words "how much" or "going rate" will automatically be locked and the poster will the receive a Trojan and then a blue screen of death?

Not the blue screen of death!!!

WarnerConstInc. said:

There would be no tree-fidy comments, if people were smart enough to realize that people on the internet can't tell you how much to charge. Most of them are people that are pissed because they think they got ripped off.

If you have been in this buisness any amount of time, you should be able to break something down, figure your materials and go through the steps in your mind on how long something is going to take. From those few simple calculations, knowing what it costs you to do buisness and knowing what kind of profit you want/need to make, you can add all parts together and get your number.

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I do not think anyone disagrees with you.

These days I find the reply "tree-fidy" just as annoying as the pricing questions.

I will be happy to flag any pricing questions as soon as I see them from now on so I do not have to see "tree-fidy" anymore.