What is this Panjo crap

[Powling]

I'm all for sites like this doing what they can to keep the bills paid so we can all still use the site for years to come...

..but you know whats great about Panjo? No matter how many times I unsubscribe from the mailing list I still get emails. Every. Damn. Day.

[MR E30 325is]

I haven't been on the forums regularly for years, and when I came back a month or so ago the Panjo middle man was not expected, nor was it easy to use.

I too am plagued with emails daily about stuff I have no interest in. Linking CC is not happening. I have sold items on R3V in the last few weeks, but I work around Panjo and deal with the seller privately or through paypal.

I am getting the sense that this change, while it may work out in the long run, is not going to do the forum any favors. As someone who has used this site for almost a decade now, I would hate to see it lose any of its credibility/awesomeness because of something so lame. R3V has grown my passion for these cars, and even though I hardly use the place for anything E30 specific anymore, I'd still drop 50 dollars a year in a donation just to browse the Off Topic Lounge!

If the site really is costing James too much, ASK THE COMMUNITY FOR HELP! Please don't pull the 'I don't need assistance/I can handle it all on my own' card. This is a community, and there are people with thousands of posts, and even some with less than a hundred, who would happily donate to this forum just to keep the knowledge/humor/temporary break from work it offers alive.

Here's how I see it.

1) Let people come to the site for free. Just like it has always been. Ask them for nothing and allow them access to 100% of what the site now offers. This wont turn away potentially highly contributing new members who want to test the waters but dont want to pay for something they may not like/use.

2) Create a sticky thread that reminds the people that donations are the cool/fuhraze/becauseracecar/hip/RIGHT thing to do for a community that gives you what this site gives you. I am sure you would be surprised at how many people would respond positively, donating away. Have thresholds that grant donors special privileges, i.e. custom title under their username, access to an even more 'off topic lounge', etc.

I've encountered some major waffleswaffleswaffles on this forum, but I have also talked/posted with awesome people as well. Hell, I have made very close personal friends that I still keep in contact with to this day because of this site.

Change is usually a very, very good thing. But not this change. It's simply turning too many people and their potentially cool and well priced parts away.

[Matt-B]

I have noticed regional forums turning into classifieds for those reasons.

M42club, s14 etc, use to have a tiny logo below name for contributing members,
if they wanted to support.

I have monthly bills for my business, website, shipping, fabric etc, so sending like 5$ /mth for me would NOT be an issue, and id gladly do it.

I Still catch myself trying to start threads for wtb even, and then im like oh thats right...panjo

[stonea]

I Still catch myself trying to start threads for wtb even, and then im like oh thats right...panjo

I do this too, I'll go to start a WTB and then end up just posting one on R3V FB. I tried to be optimistic about Panjo, but I can't stand it. I've stopped even looking at the FS section and I used to look every day and click on every post so I didn't miss something good. I also have found my self selling stuff on CL and eBay more often and not even trying on here.

I would be more than willing to donate to R3V, I'm sure most of the community would be too. You would honestly probably make more off of donations than Panjo.

[itsonlygeorge]

Using a 3rd party service that charges for being a middle man and is a hassle just doesn't seem like a great move for r3v. I don't understand what was wrong with the classified system we were using before. Please make this panjo crap go away.

Edit: looks like the panjo site is down. Not only can I NOT signup for this stupid service, but I can't even make a post to sell parts. What a bunch of bullshit.

[Eric]

Lots of the YouTubers are using a 3rd party site called patrion. You donate $1, $5, $10 an upload to the YouTuber you support and it helps them make better content, but new equipment, get rich, etc.

I would t want to contribute per post, but a monthly contribution of a few bucks surely can't be hard to setup. That will slow us to dump stupid panjo and have a nice classified section again!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Vincent Brick]

I've tried using Panjo here and Bimmerforums, and Panjo seems to be operating some of the SoCal BMW Facebook classifieds as well, but nobody is actually buying anything and its proving to be such a waste of time that I've ceased bothering, I'm just putting everything up on Ebay. Ebay sucks, but not as bad as Panjo and at least the stuff sells. With the classified now one less reason for me to be here I find I'm not coming to the site as often. I wonder if there has been any change in site traffic since the Panjo implementation... and I also wonder if the site management is now locked into some contract with this Panjo group which is why the overwhelming distaste for it among site members has not really been addressed.

[iXguido]

Made a listing and uploaded the pictures in a certain order and then panjo just went and mixed them all up. Such a hassle

[c0rbin9]

This sucks. r3v effectively removing their classifieds section has made it much more difficult to buy used E30 parts since what was the largest marketplace is now dead.

[2mAn]

You can always dig up an old FS ad, edit and reuse it. BOOM!

[roguetoaster]

This sucks. r3v effectively removing their classifieds section has made it much more difficult to buy used E30 parts since what was the largest marketplace is now dead.

Panjo is not ideal, and seems to be mainly used in a way that circumvents the "protections" that they offer in any case.

Don't forget that some of us will continue to sell parts in non-Panjo threads, so you can always patronize those, or do as 2mAn said, and reuse an old thread. Of course this means that all of the noobs are doomed to use Panjo forever.

[James Crivellone]

I have a meeting with Panjo on Friday to discuss integrations and how things are going, everything said has been documented and read by myself and taken into consideration.

To be honest I am surprised by the complete hatred for Panjo, in testing I found it easy to use and had no issues with its function, as did others I had conduct basic testing.

I'm certainly open to options, but consider this, with the old method I was bombarded daily by users complaining about transactions gone bad, he said, she said etc, and with Panjo now I have people calling me a sellout who does not give two shits about the community.

So, in the sake of transparency, I'm looking for a middle ground here and discussing options with Panjo and members.

And for the record, no contract has been signed (this has been asked quite a bit) and as for the lack of responses? I've been working 16 hour days for the past several months and priorities need to take precedence over r3v

[James Crivellone]

You just ruined this site. Hope you put some bucks in your pocket.

Nope, have accepted zero from Panjo as we are in testing.

I've heard that same line thousands of times, if I change something, if I don't change something.

The joys of being human

[James Crivellone]

I'm all for sites like this doing what they can to keep the bills paid so we can all still use the site for years to come...

..but you know whats great about Panjo? No matter how many times I unsubscribe from the mailing list I still get emails. Every. Damn. Day.

I've noticed this as well, and is being discussed

[James Crivellone]

I haven't been on the forums regularly for years, and when I came back a month or so ago the Panjo middle man was not expected, nor was it easy to use.

I too am plagued with emails daily about stuff I have no interest in. Linking CC is not happening. I have sold items on R3V in the last few weeks, but I work around Panjo and deal with the seller privately or through paypal.

I am getting the sense that this change, while it may work out in the long run, is not going to do the forum any favors. As someone who has used this site for almost a decade now, I would hate to see it lose any of its credibility/awesomeness because of something so lame. R3V has grown my passion for these cars, and even though I hardly use the place for anything E30 specific anymore, I'd still drop 50 dollars a year in a donation just to browse the Off Topic Lounge!

If the site really is costing James too much, ASK THE COMMUNITY FOR HELP! Please don't pull the 'I don't need assistance/I can handle it all on my own' card. This is a community, and there are people with thousands of posts, and even some with less than a hundred, who would happily donate to this forum just to keep the knowledge/humor/temporary break from work it offers alive.

Here's how I see it.

1) Let people come to the site for free. Just like it has always been. Ask them for nothing and allow them access to 100% of what the site now offers. This wont turn away potentially highly contributing new members who want to test the waters but dont want to pay for something they may not like/use.

2) Create a sticky thread that reminds the people that donations are the cool/fuhraze/becauseracecar/hip/RIGHT thing to do for a community that gives you what this site gives you. I am sure you would be surprised at how many people would respond positively, donating away. Have thresholds that grant donors special privileges, i.e. custom title under their username, access to an even more 'off topic lounge', etc.

I've encountered some major waffleswaffleswaffles on this forum, but I have also talked/posted with awesome people as well. Hell, I have made very close personal friends that I still keep in contact with to this day because of this site.

Change is usually a very, very good thing. But not this change. It's simply turning too many people and their potentially cool and well priced parts away.

Thank you for the detailed train of thought, I agree with you on many levels and have been putting some thought into all the feedback received.