Forum Moderators: open
A lot of members seem to have questions in relation to acquiring or disposing of internet businesses and there doesn't seem to be one best place on WW for them to do that.
My point is about the wider coverage of the questions and discussions relating to sales of not just domains but established sites, too and established "non-site" internet businesses. (Still without the mention of specifics like URLs)
There is an instant "trouble source" when it comes to selling websites: There's a growing army of people selling insta-websites, template assembled "looks good but has little substance websites for sale". A forum dedicated to the sale of websites would likely soon deteriorate into a sales spam-o-rama, or at least a lot of effort would have to go into filtering out the wheat from the chaff. There would be far more chaff than wheat, based upon my observations of activity in forums that offer sections dealing with "websites for sale".
So, basically what I'm saying is "nix the idea of selling specific sites or anything even close to that". If we allowed "even close" you know what would appear: "I have a website about . . . "
The core considerations of buying a business remain fairly constant, so perhaps a central repository of past threads about buying and selling a business would be a good start?
Such a "sub-library" might fit best in Professional Webmaster Business Issues? Ecommerce? Other?
Take me up on this suggestion: Root around in the existing forum libraries for any threads dealing with buying/selling websites/online businesses/e-com sites and post up some links - here - to what you find.
Maybe some others will help in the search.
Perhaps, starting with those links - which the Admins may compile to a central library - we can identify related issues that have not been addressed and see if we can get some new threads (about those issues) running?
Just an idea.
Ball's in your court . . . :)
I can't speak for any other mod so please understand that this is a very preliminary discussion. IF you were to labor to assemble threads about buying/selling ebusinesses I'm certain someone would make a home for them. Maybe even the domain guy would do it. :-P
Such a "sub-library" might fit best in Professional Webmaster Business Issues? Ecommerce? Other?
The anywhere but...? OK :)
Assuming my first proposition is true, how much detail "is enough" to edge the conversation into an inference that the poster is trolling for buyers?
I don't quite know how it might work, a forum that is a bit more focused on the business of buying and selling websites. I think it becomes a magnet for promotion, but as the Domain Forum demonstrates, it's possible to limit the promo/spam - it just takes some effort.
I haven't given your idea much thought and I'm just 1 voice amongst many. Other voices need to be heard from. Personally, I'm a fan of experimentation crafted around a set of rules designed to deter both direct and indirect promtions. Many people, however, don't care or just ignore rules intended to restrict promotion. I'm afraid that in the realm of "websites for buy/sell" we would find many more such people attempting to game the system. Not saying it can't be handled. Not sure anyone would care to take on the task of supervising such an experiment.
Somehow, I think the issue would need to be narrowed down to minimize the need for intervention. That's why I'm inclined to think the better approach is to work on the library of existing threads (your job, thank you very much :) and to direct conversations about such issues to one forum. Might work in the domain forum, but I tend towards whacking posts that bear any semblence of business self-interest promotion versus "I've come here to share an experience or insight and to educate others".
Do you foresee people dropping in to promote their websites for sale if we created such a forum?
How would you deal it?
Do you foresee people dropping in to promote their websites for sale if we created such a forum?
Not any more frequently than the people who currently drop in to share with us links to their latest mes*thelioma site. Do people drop in to Site Design [webmasterworld.com] to promote their webdesign businesses or Webmaster hardware [webmasterworld.com] to sell PCs?
In the business of buying and selling sites there are arguably a lot more legitimate questions than in the buying and selling of domains. WW is a good place to discuss those questions and issues. If I have to predict the level of maturity and TOS compliance we're likely to see: it's bound to be higher than that displayed in some of the other forums around here, including but not limited to forum89.
