The "Is This Quote Fair" Board

Doozergirl

EDIT 29/1/19 - I'm trying again and have put a post with a poll on it on the In My Home Board.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5957262/poll-do-you-think-is-this-quote-fair-board-is-helpful-as-a-sub-board

The board is a sub-board of the "In My Home (including DIY)" board.

It is rarely ever used and the threads on there don't get as many replies as they would if they were in the main 'In My Home" board. The people that do reply are almost always regulars from the "In My Home" board, but none of us go into the Quote board very often as the average is certainly less than one post a day. From the main board you only see if there has been a post today, so conversation is stilted unless you purposely go in there to look - mainly a thankless task.

There have been posts recently that have been getting plenty of answers in the "In My Home' section that have been moved in good faith by board guides to the Quote board, only to die a sudden death. It has been commented on by several regulars.

If you actually look at the board, the posts with the most answers were moved from elsewhere!

I genuinely don't feel that there is a need for the Quote board at all and feel that it could very easily be merged into the main board. It's a bit silly that you can discuss potential costs on the main board, but if you have a price already you have to post what is essentially the same conversation elsewhere!




..That's my key point, but while I'm on it, there are many posts in the House Buying etc. board that have everything to do with building and nothing to do with house buying that are not moved and often receive dud advice from well-meaning people who only seem to know what they've learned on the House Buying board. I often post that threads are on the wrong board, but those don't get moved. There is some cross-over with survey results etc. which muddies the water, but some are quite obviously in the wrong place.

I wonder if the "In My Home (including DIY)" board is correctly titled. We do have DIY threads on there, but often it does surround quite major building work that people often seem to think belongs best in House Buying. I've been here an awfully long time and have worked in building for all of that time, but it took me years to work out what the 'In My Home' board actually was. I know that there are threads in House Buying that would really benefit from input from those in the construction industry that usually live "In My Home'. Perhaps some reference to building work in the board title would help threads start in the right place and also guide in people who want to talk about their quotes? :A

martinsurrey

I agree 100%.

I frequent all 3 boards.

"Is This Quote Fair" sub forum is all but useless.

removing it and allowing all quote based questions in the main "In My Home" forum would be far better.

The problem is that commenting on a quote takes a fair bit of back and forth with the OP to get the right info and right person to see it, hiding them in a dark corner of the forum makes it a chore for the people with the skills to help to find the threads.

I check the "In My Home" section maybe 5-10 times per day, but the "Is This Quote Fair" subsection once every few days.

System

Couldn't agree more, the "is this quote fair" area, I think the thread starters forget about most of the time!! it's not really that well used or necessary imo.
And re-titling the in my home board is also a good suggestion, most of the threads are about local authority consents and builders rather than diy

LandyAndy

Another vote for merging the two boards. It makes no sense to have a separate, and little used, board for just one tiny subset of questions.

Former_MSE_Andrea

Thanks everyone, we'll take a look and have a think about this.

SuzieSue

I agree. I keep forgetting to look at the Quote sub-board.

Doozergirl

I'm just going to drag this up again because the Is This Quote fair board is still underused and whilst the board guide is well meaning, they don't frequent either board in terms of posting, it seems they see a thread title and move it.

It would be nice if maybe they just left it where it is as it's less work for them, even. There's one this morning that only had one reply on the main board, why would it get more on a much, much quieter sub board?

No two building projects are the same so it's not really helpful to scroll through previous posts as there's no real comparison to be made. People are genuinely better off posting in a board where other people (consumers) are actually going to see it and share their own recent experiences of similar things rather than leaving it us regulars to go in there, days after a post has been made.

Fire_Fox

This thread, also in Site Feedback, links in.

silvercar

DoozerGirl wrote:

.... but while I'm on it, there are many posts in the House Buying etc. board that have everything to do with building and nothing to do with house buying that are not moved and often receive dud advice from well-meaning people who only seem to know what they've learned on the House Buying board. I often post that threads are on the wrong board, but those don't get moved. There is some cross-over with survey results etc. which muddies the water, but some are quite obviously in the wrong place.

Feel free to PM me if I don't see a thread that needs moving.