This (and 4 others) is a question I asked myself during the internet outage here in Asia. I'm not a frequent poster nor reader, but I have been a member since 2000. I appreciate the services and forums of Alibaba which is why I do participate. However, like any business, there are things that could/need to be improved. Here's a list of reasons why I don't use the forums more often:

1. Too much redundant information
There's nothing more annoying in my opinion, then reading and reading and rereading the same information again and again reworded in different post.

2. Not enough concise information
The few times I am looking for answers on the forum I often responses like: I agree with blah blah blah. Or, I disagree with blah, blah, blah. Or I see answers that are in no way responsive to the question being asked.

3. Too many newbies and dumb questions being asked.
When I was in grade school the teacher used to always say: ‘There is no such thing as a dumb question.’ As an adult I know that that’s a lie. My experience has taught me that smart people occasionally ask dumb questions, and that dumb people always ask dumb questions. Let me give you a couple of examples of dumb questions:
A. Has anyone done business with XYZ company before?
It’s a dumb questions because no ones experience or lack there of, should prevent you from doing your own due diligence so you KNOW for YOURSELF!
B. Can I buy Nike, Adidas, Gucci, Sony, or any other brand from China?
This a stupid question on so many levels I’m not going to waste my time even to answer. If you’re interested in buying any Brand, why not contact the brand itself?

4. Too many people relying on the same few members/moderators for information.
International Trade is the largest industry and business in the world with estimates at 1 Trillion USD per day in trade. How could any one company or small group of people answer questions consistently and efficiently on something so expansive and global?

The few times I do reply to a post or reply, I’m usually sarcastic in my response. That’s because my mother taught me as a child to give smart answers to dumb questions. ;) My mother also taught me to not talk about any problems, unless I was equally prepared to talk about the solutions to the problems.

Those are my constructive criticisms of the boards. Here are my opinions on fixing them.

1. Have the moderators/Alibaba set, enforce, and adhere to guidelines that are clearly available for all that come to the site.

I’m not saying they’re not any guidelines now I’m just saying I don’t see them. If I have to hunt for them, then it’s not readily available. If it’s not readily available you risk the same situation repeating itself over and over again. Consolidate the forums to relevant topics that people want to know about, and are willing to respond to.

2. Survey the members on topics and information they WANT and post topics in the forum about that.
Have the moderators delete post where people are not being responsive, and delete redundant topics and answers that could be found in other areas of the forums.

3. Clearly identify and state the purpose of the forum, whom the forums are for, and how best you can participate in the discussions.
I have nothing against newbie’s in the business. In fact, I love when I see new people enter the business of Intl Trade because I think it’s the greatest business in the world. However, there is a time and place for all things, and this board, at least in my opinion, is not meant for newbie’s. Someone looking to buy ‘10’ of something to sell on Ebay, or a case of something to sell at a flea market, should not be a member of the board. Look and search? Yes! Participate? No! What happens is you start dealing with people who are not on your level because they are in a different ‘type’ of business. Then there’s no growth for the members or the site itself because the seasoned traders will move on to find a forum where they can communicate with their peers, and the newbies will continue to look for resources where they can leech from until it’s dry.
This board should be for people who are seasoned in Intl Trade and looking for specific information to enhance their business. I was fortunate when I first go into this business, I had a mentor; someone who had been in the business for over 30 years. I never forgot the words he told me. “Call me Last!” In other words, I was to do all the initial work, due diligence, research, and market studies, BEFORE I called him. I would only call him after I did the initial work, and needed someone to help me get over the hump. There are too many lazy people on this forum who think that the members are their personal secretaries, and the moderators are their personal research assistants. Unfortunately, the members keep indulging them. Instead when someone is looking for basic information on Intl Trade, terms, business, etc. send them to a resource site like www.fita.org that serves as a reference site for people that are new to the business. I’ve used that site for years, and it was a great reference when I first got started in the business.

4. Compensate the moderators and reward the members that make ‘meaningful’ contributions.
Giving members the opportunity to advertise their company…. Good Ideal!
Making them achieve 100 points per week to keep it…. Bad Ideal!

All you have to do is look at any reply for any topic or question post and you will see more irrelevant replies than relevant ones. If you look into any topic, out of the 20 replies, maybe only 2-3 will actually be answer specific. The rest go something like this: I agree… good point… I disagree… all things that waste time and resource, yet people reply to ‘get’ points to keep or get their ad tag. If this trend continues, it will just be a matter of time before the forums themselves will be irrelevant.
I of course understand why Alibaba does it. More logins=more page views=more site numbers=more advertisers=higher revenues. I don’t mind that. I’m not against any company making and/or maximizing their profit. However, you would make more revenue in the long run by being more effective as a forum. Yes I know the forum itself is not your business, but it is as we call in America, ‘a value added service.’ You can increase it’s value, and thus your site, by recognizing that. Instead of making people answer needlessly to ‘get’ points, why don’t you change the number to something like 1000, 2000, or 3000 points to have a permanent ad tag after your reply. This will encourage better long term responses, and give members a status to look forward to. Something they could look at, and look back at; something they could take pride in as accomplishing.

In addition, limit the time a reply could be posted to a question (30 days is good), and allow the members to vote on who THEY feel gave the best reply and award them bonus points. This allows for new and fresh questions and ideals to be articulated. Allowing moderators or the questioner solely to give bonus points is not very effective. Most people are biased and have built in prejudices about one thing or another (countries, people, race, religion, intelligence, etc). A consensus is just that. The majority agree that this is the best reply. When a consensus agrees on something, it is most likely best for the community at whole.

In terms of compensation, I gave a thorough reply to that already in the topic of the question asked about compensation for moderators. If you want to encourage more people to want to be moderators, offer a token compensation. When you do that, you can begin to set standards to qualify members to be a moderator. eg. Only people that have achieved a point value of 3000+ can apply to be a moderator, or something along those lines.

Those are my opinions and suggestions. Replies are open to any member, however I’m particularly interested to see what the moderators and a representative from Alibaba have to say about these opinions.

Regards,
James
WDC Intl Inc

Replying to [Obiwill]: IM a moderator in 3 forums and will give you my reply point by point.

1. Information may be redundant but then some forums have hundreds of pages. Its like asking a teacher to teach one class and never teach another one because all students that come later should have already known the answer. But yes seeing the same question on the same page 3 times is out of hand as well Alibaba has enabled a keyword key phrase search in each forum.

2. Many irrelavent posts are deleted and it has never been acceptable to just say I agree or disagree with out adding some point to the thread. As all moderators are volunteers its impossible to read every single post and every single response.

3. There are no stupid questions unless the person asking the question is looking for a stupid response. More and more new entrapaneurs are starting out in trade and college and books sure do not teach it all. Finding the information to confirm new trade partners is not easy if you have never done so, which is something else not covered in college material.

4. For myself I draw on 25 years of experience in world trade in answering questions. As an agent I have had to deal with all aspects of trade deals. If you dont know the answer yourself as it relates to a particular product you can surely point them in the right direction. The group of moderators deal with entirely different products and as we add more moderators so expands that knowledge into various markets.

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1. Clearly upon scaninf the first page you would easily find the rules to the boards even in so much as the moderators posting specifc guidelines themselves on each board.

2. Moderators can and do move posts to the appropriate forums. Surveys are posted by moderators as well as Alibaba for enhanced topics and opening up more forums.

3. Just like the forum that this is posted in it clearly states at the top of every page in every Forum what the topic relates to. If you take the journey from home page > resources > trade forums, here too every forum is explained in detail and the forum moderators introduced as well as a post relavent to what can be found in that forum. Newbies as you state it in my opinnion have been enticed here more by word of mouth than advertising. Its a place where they can get solid answers even if its not what they want to hear. Alibaba serves three purposes 1.) B2B marketing 2.0 forums allow for the open exchange of perspectives among experienced business people. 3.) The opportunity for the "Newbie" to learn from other members experiences.

4. Once again Moderators are volunteers. Promotions have been done based on meaningful contributions as late as Q4 06. In order for a member to keep their signature promotion running they need to post 10 topics or answer 50 questions in a week. Will it or can it be abused sure. But 99.9% of those members using it are members of the board that do contribute greatly to each and every forum. As for "value added" If they can learn here, get answers to their questions they will be more apt to purchase from those members advertising here. The initial moderators were chosen by Alibaba and recently they have been elected by the forum users.

This doesn't address every point raised as some were redundant.

Best regards,
Ranger

Replying to [Ranger]:

Ranger,

Thanks for your reply and thoughts. I've enjoyed reading some of your post in the past. Just a couple of quick things to say.

No teacher would expect to teach one cl *, and then never teach it again to the next group of students. However, most competent teachers devise their lesson plan once and teach that same lesson plan to students over and over again. In other words, a teacher would only make one post, and then instruct the current and future students to that post.

I have literally 1000's of contacts in the Intl Trade community, and I've yet to meet or hear of any that went to college for it in the western half of the world. It goes without saying that college doesn't teach you everything, however, college is suppose to provide the foundation of your learning your profession. I don't believe that Alibaba or the forums purpose was to serve the needs of the newbies. If it is, as you say, please provide a link for me so that I could understand better their purpose because it's not in their 'about' section. Alibaba's ecommerce statement goes to serve the professional trading community. By professional, I mean learned. Of course in any forum,business,industry there will always be newbies that go to learn and use the service. I don't have a problem with that. I have a problem when someone comes to Alibaba and expects them to provide all their education. In a nutshell, this is how I learned the business:

1. Researched it on the internet, library, and in my college business school.
2. Purchased books, cd's, and attended conferences on getting into the import/export business (Do you remember Cossman?)
3. FLEW to China, attended the Canton Fair, networked with other foreigners and Chinese business people (men and woman ;) ) , chatted up people who were actively in the business. visited factories and wholesale markets.
4. Found a mentor whom I could trust and respected their acumen
5. Picked my industry of expertise and started my business

In other words I didn't wake up Monday morning, hear about how somebody made millions from Ebay buying products from China, stumbled onto Alibaba, asked a bunch of questions, and started my business the next day after receiving answers.

Now I guarantee you if you talk to foreigners (in this sense, I mean anyone not from China) who have been in the business for more than 5 years, all have been through a similar process. No experienced person in Intl Trade would come to this forum or any other Intl Trade portal and ask to buy 5 PS3's, or 1 case of Sony Ipods. They deal in icoterms: FOB's, CIF's, LC's, WT's, and 40'HQ's.

Google International Trade and/or Import/Export business and you will literally come up with millions of links FOR newbies, on how to get in to and what you need to know about the import/export business. Our own government (I see your from USA) Department Of Commerce has probably the worlds greatest and most expansive database on the import/export industry. I lived on that site for 2 years studying different facets of trade not just with the US, but for many other countries as well.

Replying to [Obiwill]:
Intl Trade is one of the most dangerous businesses in the word for a newbie to enter. They could easily lose their shirt on the first deal, and crash and burn before they even get started.

I have NO college education in the biz and I didn't try to circumvent the BDP (Business Development Process). I worked hard and smart to understand the business FIRST!

I don't clearly see the forum rules, regulations or anything else when I enter the forum. Perhaps it's a web browser issue, or login issue, or as a moderator you see things different. If I go to Alibaba home page, I have to click the resources tab to find the forum. Once in the forum I see the topics of the day and a search field. No posting rules or forum rules. I use IE 7.0 However, when I enter the forums through 'My Alibaba', I can see the entire list of forums to enter into, and I can choose the one I want. Still, even when I log into one of your moderated forums (Sales and Marketing) I see your 'rules' 3/4 down the page, not on top of the forum.

Lastly when I click on the link for 'About Alibaba', no where there will you find the mentions of forums or newbies. It clearly states that it's an ecommerce hub to serve the needs of the International and domestic (China) trade community. This is why I referred to the forums as a 'valued added' service. Perhaps as a moderator you lay privy to information that members don't have.

If you can, please provide the pathway for me to access the forum rules which you say our clearly displayed on the front page.

Thanks for your reply, and thanks for your contributions to make this forum better.

Regards,
James
WDC Intl Inc

Replying to [Obiwill]: I feel that you should apply for Donald Trump's "The Apprentice" or take his test to see if you may even qualify. Maybe even read his Book, "The Art Of the Deal." You certainly will learn more tha you profess to know. In total, in my humble opinion (and everyone has one), your just a small fish in a Big Pond. When your name appears in Forbes Top 500, give advice that makes sense.

Is that a Dumb Statement? Well, maybe. But everyone never knows everything and I personally may ask dumb questions for a reason. "Cite Trump's reasoning, in the Book". Dumb is a great negotiating skill one learns through listening then acting upon.

These Forums are just fine....they are for everyone to ask questions, vent frustrations, learn and yes ask questions that seem Dumb to you, but then again, not everyone is as smart as you.

More intelligent? YES, I think so. Now this is a TRUE STATEMENT.

Replying to [GREG12750]:

hmmm...judging by the rancor in your reply I must have hit the hammer on the nail and/or your a newbie. You shouldn;t be so sensative. What did Trump say about having thick skin in Business???

It doesn't take intellect nor common sense to make suggestions for improvements. Since you quote Trump, you should reread the book and find the passage where he talks about contructive critcism as being the building block for business. Only a fool would think that something can't be improved upon.

Do you know if my company is listed in Forbes 1000?

'It is better to be thought a fool, then to open your mouth and remove all doubt.'

Replying to [Obiwill]: Please Remove all doubt

Replying to [GREG12750]:
Removed!

Replying to [Obiwill]:I come from China ,I quite want to become your friend.

Replying to [Business in China]:are you come from China ?my English is poor ,will you be my teater.

Replying to [GREG12750]:WELL SAID.