Anyone trade less because of the new trade forum?

Sorry man, I didn't start keeping track of dickbags until recently so I have no hard evidence, only my instinct and memory.

I may be in the minority but when I am vague about what I'd like it's because I'm relatively new to the craft beer scene (at least the high end / rarer stuff) and don't really know exactly what I want until it's offered. I usually will put out a few specific wants and then say I'll entertain other should wants or offers. I don't really know a functional way to differentiate this from "auction" style posts so maybe it's useless posting this but I just thought I'd throw that out there...

So if someone offers you exactly what you want you tell them "well let me see if someone will offer more"? If so, yeah TO ME that is an auction. I am not saying YOU are guilty of that and many people around here don't care but my personal opinion is that stuff defines someone I do not care to trade with because it makes me think they will do that every time. I prefer to establish repeat partners for the most part and that kind of stuff isn't what partnerships are built on. Again, just my opinion, man.

I see what you're saying and I agree. I'm not sure how you can really combat / spot that though other than someone saying that directly. For example, a past trading partner posted an ISO recently that got a lot of responses. I BM'd him and he ended up trading with me as I was a past trading partner but there were a lot of other responses. Those who offered what he wanted might feel like someone else offered more, etc. Also, if you put up an offer and get a lot of interest all at once why wouldn't you take the best offer? To me, there's a ton of gray area that makes it impossible to correctly define / enforce.

To the last point I think that's spot on. People have been very generous to me in my short time here and I try my best to return it. I regularly let past trading partners know special stuff I've been able to pick up. They don't always want it bad enough to trade for volume ( again, if someone is willing to give me something I want to try that's hard to get I'll probably trade volume with them over someone I've traded with that isn't willing to give that up) but I'll keep a few bottles around to send as extras during the next trade if they show any interest.

tl;dr- I think I agree with you in principle but it seems futile to try to enforce rules regarding it on a forum...

All good points, sure. But see there is a difference. My trading partners and I don't "trade" really.....it is more of "hey I know that guy will like this" so I put it aside and when a box is full I ship it away without knowing any specific things I will get in return. I have a few of those and I promise once you get to that point you will better understand the subtle differences of which you speak. Of course they cannot all ever be policed or caught in the forums, but that doesn't mean we should abandon all measures of trying to somewhat control it.

quoting both because what MordorMongo is posting is EXACTLY how to differentiate between "i don't know what i want," and "auction."

as with a lot of "what do i do? how could this possibly work??" trading questions, the answer is that you don't live or die by One Big Trade. find good trading partners with smaller trades, especially cool "more experienced" guys/gals that live in distro-areas that have stuff you can't get and want (or go to breweries that you like). start trading with them, then when you happen to pick up the next BA founders release or something, PM your partners and say "i have X, any interest? send what you think i should want," or "what do you think i should want?" etc.

if you don't know what you want, you really shouldn't be trading your beer on the "open market" to begin with. unless it's locals-for-locals.

What I meant was there's no way pragmatic way to differentiate between someone intentionally trying to max their value on the trade forums and just saying they're open to other offers. Unless someone wants to go out and make a "exploitative trader list" I don't really see a way to police that (and that seems like a subjective shit show...).
When I said because I'm new I don't really know what I want I meant that I appreciate offers of other good beers since I haven't seen / researched a lot of them. Putting up a trade for DL, darkness, or other stouts I should want isn't really something that should be prohibited in my opinion.

Anyway, I agree with you as well regarding successful trading models. I've come across some great beers I probably never would have tried on the advice of past trading partners.

I was planning on watching the debates but then I stumbled across this proverbial treasure trove.

Blah blah blah, I know the most about beer, you all are dumb, I am right.

The only reason people cry about this is because of perceived loss of a perceived value. Drink your valuable beer and shut up.