Secret Sightings Section idea

[griffin]

I think some people are miss-interpreting this idea. It is NOT a complete restriction of the sightings section. The sightings section would remain public, forever.
This proposal is to create a sub-section off the sightings section, to temporarily house a single figure that is, or assessed to be, limited and in high demand. After the demand has ended, or the item is no longer limited, the topic could then be moved into the regular section for guests to then find the locations of the excess/unwanted items.
Then the people (like Lint and Robzy) can start posting their sensitive sightings again, and junior members & guests can still see and/or use the regular sightings section as they normally would.
It isn't restricting or preventing people - it sounds like it would actually increase usage of the sightings section, based on the comments of people who won't post sightings because of how public and open the regular section is.

How did people know they were out Wednesday? Sure, some undoubtedly rang. But some of this info wasn't really told to everyone from what I hear.

It was all shared on here though: exactly when they'd be out, and when the store had received them.

TC wasn't in the catalogue either.

That could be possible (especially since we are the most active toy-collector fansite in this country according to ratings sites), because we've had two news topics for the MP toys, plus 5 active states sightings topics, two review topics and even a discussion topic. The global fansites just have a handful of sightings posts, and a couple news postings that link back to our site.
I still think most of the limited stock ended up going to members here though, as sightings and acquisitions postings account for most (and in some places, all) of the quantity quoted in each TRU store.
Since we haven't seen OP & TC appearing on ebay (just one appearing at a fair, which could have been imported from America), it's fair to say that our constant sightings inundation has helped our members get first crack at most of the figures.
If we saw a heap of them appearing on ebay, then this selective concept would be more vital to the members here. At this stage, it is just a discussion... so don't anyone panic just yet, or get worked up over the comments being thrown around.

Sure I want to help everyone get one. But there's guys I know here who missed out. They're active participating members. I'd rather my info help them first.

This is the other side of the coin... I don't want members being deterred from posting sightings (like Robzy mentioned) on the assumption that their efforts are being used by people who don't even contribute here (or don't intend to, as a returning of the favour), over those who do.
If more people started feeling this way, members looking for certain items might not know about a specific location, and miss them before some parent or kid grabs it.
(again, that might sound elitist, but if a kid or parent is buying it at random, they'd be better off with any other random mass-released figure (nor would they care about what they are missing), and leave the rarer figure for a collector who will keep it and look after it)

They'd still know an item was out, as it'd be in the headers or what-have-you.

They just wouldn't see exact details.

That would be the idea, if this ever happened. The single item (not everything) would still be news, still be tweeted, still be on the header, still have a toy review topic, still be talked about on the global fansites, and even still be reported by members in the regular sightings section (it wouldn't be prohibited)... we would just have a rarely used subsection that would have the bulk of the locations by the more active members (Rank 5 and above) and any reservations or hidden items in the store, who are doing all the leg-work going around to all these stores, noting the details (prices and quantities) and taking the time to log in here and dictate it for the rest of us.
We as a community that aims to help out each other, should be rewarding this time and effort, and those who are doing all this work, or else, what's the point having a handful of members doing all the work for everyone else including non-members.

Edit: Har. I see there's mention of it being for those above rank 5, so I wouldn't be able to see it. So as someone who would be left out, I still don't have a problem with it. All my prior statements still stand.

That was just someone's assumption.
If this ever happened, it would include Rank 5, as that is the status of someone who is proactive here, and interacts frequently enough to benefit and earn access to information that some people already don't feel comfortable posting in the public sightings section.

And FYI - Rank 5 isn't hard to obtain either, as people who have at least 100 posts within their first 4-6 months earn it (most active members rack up 100 posts in a month, because it is easy to do if you are a dedicated or enthusiastic collector). Since scalpers could earn Rank 3 by posting up an introduction (it's an easy requirement for that rank), it wouldn't be much of a restriction to have it easy to access within a day of joining here.
(Rank 2 and 4 are not local fan rankings, so are leap-frogged by actual local fans - Rank 1 (registered or inactive), 3 (proven fan) and 5 (active fan) are all that applies here)

Agree with this - helping out mates
Is this for all states?

To expand on the first paragraph above, the proposed attached sub-section to the public sightings section would require Rank 5 or higher to access it, and would just have a single topic in it for the specific figure that is limited. Anyone from anywhere could post in it, to keep it small and clean, either with a sighting or with a reservation/hidden location, or even if they bought a spare to share with the first nearest person (if they wanted).
After the demand has died down, or the item is refreshed enough to not be fought over, it could then be moved into the public sightings section.

I think the problem is easy. Close the sightings thread and leave it open to members only. That will minimise scalpers. It won't stop them entirely, but it at least gives the members a fighting chance.

Nope, won't do that. We have enough restricted sections for members only, and 99% of the toys released here aren't limited enough to warrant having a closed/elitist/xenophobic look to our community.
The majority of the people wanting the rarer figures are active members or higher, so this could help the majority of people get that toy, or even report a sighting of that toy (as some refuse to risk a public posting). It also acts as an incentive to gain an active interactive status here by newer fans, or those who didn't previously have an intention to contribute here.

Suggestion: How about if anyone finds a hard-to-find toy, reserve them all and then post the sighting location and reservation name.

That would be difficult to do in most cases or stores... especially in large quantities.
A better way around that might be for me to approach the head-office of stores like TRU, to see if there can't be some sort of pre-ordering arrangement done for registered (and maybe active) members of our community, which would guarantee sales for them, and provides the figures to those here who want them.
It might also prompt them to bring in more stock, to prevent the need for a restricted sub-section in the first place. (which some people don't like)

I don't agree with this at all

I joined this forum because a google search led me to the sightings thread which led me to an acquisition win.

At first when I was very active in retail toy hunting I felt that the sightings thread should be restricted to members only but I now realise that it is arguably one of the biggest reasons why people would join this forum in the first place.

If someone new comes along and plans to be an interactive member to give back to the community they have benefited from as a guest or newbie, they won't be discriminated against, because they will still have access to 99% of the sightings as a guest or basic member (rank 4 or less), and will know broad details of what, where, when and how much.
None of that will be secret... and as mentioned above, there would still be sightings posted in the regular/public section, by those who are lower ranks, and even those of higher ranks that choose to (because it won't be prohibited).
This is just an idea to improve the chances of obtaining something that is so limited, it shouldn't go to people who are just reselling it (which does still occur here, just not as much as in America), or to those who don't even know that it is a rare/premium figure (kids or parents who aren't even collectors, but are just buying a random toy).

If I didn't care about what others here think, or how it would affect them, I wouldn't have put this up for comments & discussion first to fine-tune the idea. I'd just implement something and ignore the complaints.

I honestly am beginning to think scalpers don't thrive in Australia anyway given the following factors:
-US prices are far better than AU ones, importing is cheaper than retail
-If scalpers are purely motivated by profit, it is a lot of effort to put in (keeping updated with exclusives, prices and sightings) for a, comparatively, little gain.
-We beat them to it, every single time. Either by forming syndicates or simply by pure dedication to the hunt. We are our own worst enemy and are growing in number.

That's true, we don't have a significant scalper problem in this country (you can't find BotShot chase figures in American stores, but aren't a problem here)... but we've had enough of a greed element with the odd past figure being snapped up and ebayed for a massive markup, to warrant looking into a way of making it harder for those people who have no interest in ever joining here or contributing back to this community.
You joined because of what we offered, and then gave back... I'm only suggesting that we target the people who don't have that same ethical standard.

If understand that many of us are frustrated by recent events but if you are truly concerned that you or other members will miss out on a toy then DON'T POST IN THE SIGHTINGS THREAD. I'm sure many of us do this already, myself included.

So instead of trying to create a system that encourages members to post all of their sightings (with a temporary two-tier system), it is being suggested by at least a couple senior members (who don't post sightings of rarer items), that we just don't post them at all. That's more of a problem, because no one sees your info. At least this proposal lets people know about what you've seen, and it's the majority of the traffic here too.

That's more discriminating than the temporary hiding of a particular figure's postings, which you're against... and goes against the point of having a community or sightings section.

But to restrict sightings from the public? That is elitism of the highest level. You are basically saying that you deserve these products more than other members (and non-members) and you want to be able to obtain a toy by refreshing a page on webpage that most other people can't see and then make a phone call.

So instead of most of the people seeing your sightings in a temporary hidden sub-section, no one sees it (since you and others don't risk posting in the public section). That's a lot more elitist than this proposal, that eventually aims to have the info available to everyone.

To be clear, I think the proposition (which isn't a new one) is for ultra rare and low production items only. I'm pretty sure the intention would still be to have general access sightings threads for 99% of the TFs sold.

Exactly. The ultimate goal is to not need the temporary sub-section at all (by trying to open up dialogue with the Stores to gain pre-orders or encourage an increase in stock numbers to cover the demand), but failing that, we need to prevent people here from not wanting to post sightings... and need to prioritise getting toys to people who will keep them and look after them.