glitch

For my very first swap I spent hours and hours preparing what I thought to be a FANTASTIC package, only to receive nothing in return.

I came back for more, though. The good outweighs the bad.

Is it possible we could have libel/slander issues with this? My way of dealing with this is to only join swaps where I have little to lose. Would be bummed if I sent out 3/4 inch of flat goodies and got zilch, so didn't join the flat goodies swaps. If I send out 30 collage images and get zilch, I can cope.

why are there three of these? what instances of verbal abuse have there been?

To be honest I'm increasingly becoming frustrated by all the baddies.We cannot go on here though and start listing names.That would be unfair and wrong.If you want to gripe about Swap-bot and ask people to list names then you need to start a yahoo group.Those that want to know or who hostess alot can then add names and addresses.Swap-bot is not the right place to do it.

An even better way to do this would be to make rules.These are the ones I'm adding to all my swaps.

EDITED

Unfortunately do to the amount of so sends from Newbies i feel i have to add this.I cannot continue to make up swaps for those who donot send their items.It gets really expensive especially if it's a dollar amount swap.

I donot want to sound mean or harsh.Swap-bot is suppose to be a fun place to swap not get cheated.More and more are signing up getting their swaps and then deleting their profile.Worse yet some even leave a 1 when they know they received their item and then delete their profiles.

I have had this happen alot lately as swap-bot becomes more popular.No-one in the future will be allowed to sign up for my swaps if they are a Newbie unless they will be receiving at least 3 swap ratings before i assign partners.Most of my swaps are set for a month to two months ahead of time.The only exception to this will be the following.

At least 3 people you have sent your swaps to that have received their item and can vouch for you.

For those with just one 1 rating please sign up.For those with more then 1 no send you will need to contact me or i will remove you.

Sorry if this sounds mean or harsh but I'm getting increasingly frustrated with those who just don't care about or respect others.I think more hostesses will start doing this as well.

By actually making it harder to sign up and get to play it will decrease this problem.This is something that every hostess should do.If you just give names that wont do it.They can sign up again using a different name or PO box ect.So we all need to make a stand not name names which really wont get us anywhere.

On the verbal abuse.I have been called a sociopath because i asked very nicely why i received the 1 rating.She told me she forgot about my emails and just left it anyway.So of course i was upset you would be to.Sorry but that doesn't make me a sociopath.There are also good reasons why some people may have been given a 1 by mistake.Maybe they didn't receive it yet.

I mean give them time to send it to you.If you don't receive it then email them before you leave a 1 rating.It's not like the 1 rating option goes away.If you don't receive a response to your message then of course leave them a 1..Your most likely saving some one else as well of being disappointed.

One of my swappers received a 1 rating and she has proof she sent.Then the person who left deleted their profile without sending their swap.So whose the baddie here.Don't always believe what you read.So thats another thing when you send use Delivery Confirmation.If you send over seas use the large customs form.Thats your proof you sent and it will allow you to play if you receive a 1 rating that wasn't fair.

Well thats my big 2 cents worth.

Joyce

I agree, there are tons of baddies out there as well as good swappers. It would not be right to start a list though without an explanation. My daughter sends out great packages and rarely gets one in return. She has even had the HOST of a swap flake on her. Because of this she is dropping out. She has been given bad ratings for swaps she sent. She also has absolutely no rating whatsoever on several swaps that she put a lot of time and effort into. No emails, etc.... So where do you start? If you are going to take the time to host a swap, then you can have some control over it. Now you can weed out the potential baddies before YOU hit the assign partner button. This will not totally eliminate the baddies but it sure helps. Remember, everyone has a story. One such story is a great swapper on my daughter's swap who is currently in a coma. Needless to say she will not finish her swap and there will be dissapointed people. In cases like these, maybe the swap host can assign angels to make up for no sends. I know I have offered to do this and my daughter has sent out several. There are all kinds of ways to make this work! So many good people out there to make up for the bad. Well I am off of my high horse. Did not mean to get carried away. Swap bot is wonderful and have met so may great people. Hope it is here for a long time. Jeaneen

OH MY GOODNESS!!! MY FACE IS RED!!!!! the above post was by ME not JESSIE. I forgot my daughter was signed in. I logged her out and logged in under my name. A THOUSAND appologies to her. The fault is all mine not her. She is the one sho gets burned all the time, My other daughter Fairykiss is the angel who sends out swaps to the ones burnt. BOTH ARE FABULOUS SWAPPERS!!!!!! (sorry jess)

Jeaneen

I fear that this swap is going to be removed soon. As much as it would be a great idea for there to be a system to weed out the bad swappers I think this is not the way to go about it. I would hate for a person to get on here and start slamming my name over something that was not in my control. I have 1 ratings on my profile, but there are also tons of 5's and a few hearts to boot. I feel that I take time and make every swap "worth it" and cannot help if it gets lost in the mail or damaged or even get a partner that rates low because it didn't meet her personal standards. I have seen it go as far as a person rated everyone a 1 just so they would send more things out. Another point: what is to stop a person to make another account? I myself have 2 (but am honest about it) but there are some out there that start one, burn several people, start another. The only way to stop is to watch for the name and address. Keep a journal or log of your own. I have done this now for many months and caught about 3 people at that game.

I think all and all this is the start of a good idea, but there needs to be a bit more thought into it.

P.S. Jessie is my sister and sends out amazing things only to get nothing in return. I wouldn't say nothing, people have rated her several 1's because of things like letters getting lost in a blizzard. And what my mother mentioned in the post before, it did cause her to quit. I tried to talk her out of it because this place is great as long as everyone plays fair.

I totally agree with the sentiments expressed here. Bad swappers suck and ruin it for the rest of us. Please don't drop out though b/c of a few bad apples. If the hosts of the swaps can follow up and remove the baddies I think that would be very helpful. I won't be joining anymore swaps that allow newbies or people with bad ratings to protect myself :-(

If all hosts/hostesses of swaps don't allow newbies, how will they ever become non-newbies. I'm a newbie but I've sent out 17 swaps. I still have no ratings because of the long time between end of sigh up and mailing date.

Perhaps there should be some things set up just for newbies so they get a chance to earn ratings. Nothing too expensive or anything but at least a few swaps to weed out the flakes.I can understand how people would be really bummed to get stiffed.

I also think the host needs to take the time to read profiles of swappers and keep track of the bad ones...then e-mail them and tell them they are getting the boot unless they e-mail back with a really good explaination for bad ratings or proof to contradict.

I am already keeping a small notebook with all my swap partners, addresses and my comments. I hope it will serve me well when someday I am able to host a swap (if I ever get rated!)

I appriciate everyone's comments (I didn't realize there were so many a-holes up to no good) because it will give us all more ideas on how to have better control and host an awesome swap in the future.

I've set up a yahoogroup for those of us who host swaps here. That will allow for discussion of possible ways to cut down on the problem of no-sends and to share info as is necessary. If you're interested, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SwapbotHosts/

Karen

PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE ANY MORE COMMENTS

SWAP-BOT IS GLITCHING AND WILL NOT ALLOW ME TO DELETE

I CAN'T BELEIVE WHAT PEOPLE HAVE POSTED HERE

NOW LEAVE THIS ALONE AND GO TO YOUR LITTLE PLACE OF SWAP HAPPINESS

AND BY THE WAY, I HAVE RULES; I CHECK PROFILES; I BAN PEOPLE

AND STILL I HAVE NOT JUST BEEN BURNED BUT VERBALLY ABUSED BY SOME VERY MEAN PEOPLE HERE ON SWAP-BOT

I WAS TRYING TO FIND A WAY TO FEEL SAFE HERE, BUT EVEN THESE COMMENTS FEEL INTRUSIVE TO ME, AS IF I DON'T KNOW HOW TO TRY AND WEED OUT THE BAD FOLKS

PLEASE

I'VE BEEN ON SWAP BOT FOR A VERY LONG TIME, BUT NOW I'M DONE WITH IT

THANKS FOR ALL THE INSENSITIVE REMARKS

If you didn't want people to comment then why did you make this swap.Surely you didn't think people would stay quiet.I also don't think anyones comments are directed at you.These are peoples personal views and experiences.Perhaps you need to stop making it about you.We have opinions and views and they are just as important as yours.

Just a thought... I have swapped on other sites and everyone is required to have functioning and uptodate links to sites like flickr,a blog site etc. That weeds out the fly-by-nites and gives more info about them.

I don't know what's going on, but it doesn't sound good or feel good!

check us out! http://www.flickr.com/groups/whole-lotta-swappa/

Girls, There are bad and good swapers. I think we have to understand some people live in different countries, so it takes longer to a package to be delivered, and it's not the person's fault!!! Sometimes things also get lost. It's rare, but it happens. But there are some people, like a french girl that took me in a swap, and she never sent anything to anyone. Her ratings are all one, so I think in cases like this, is the person that is a bad swaper and people should banish them from swaps. Newbies have to start somewhere. Let's give them a chance! And let's be fair in our judgements!!

purplemorgan: I'm sorry that you feel that some of these comments are insensitive remarks, I'm sure that was not the intention of the group that left feedback. I think that this was a pandora's box and if you didn't mention it chances are it would have been done by someone else in the future. I think that we all need to look at the above comments as a way to fix the very large problem at hand without losing our perspective on the matter, let alone being insensitive. We have all made mistakes and sometimes that will reflect in our ratings or our comments and to express emotions in a simple comment box is damn near impossible. I know that I didn't mean to sound bitter or angry in anything that I said above, and I too would like to receive things back for what I spend time and money on as well as see everyone else get things for what they did.

I still think that actions need to be taken and this had the potential to be a great idea. Please don't give up here because of a couple of nasty jerks out there. I'm sorry you had to be on the short end of hateful emails and I'm sure that none of this was directed to you. I think a better action might be to address this to the admin and maybe get something done (like maybe only one signup per address or make this a "pay site" through a small donation??) Just keep going because I think it's what needs to be done.

One thing that would help tremendously in getting rid of bad swappers and swappers who create multiple accounts only to get swaps and send nothing in return, would be a system that would allow the Swap-Bot admins to ban people via their IP address. This way, if someone continued to delete their profile after receiving alot of bad ratings, they would not be allowed to create another one. These type of systems are in use in many places that I frequent such as blogs and messageboards. I've contacted Swap-Bot about this, so only time will tell if it can be applied at this site.

Another good idea, like someone else mentioned, is for 'newbies' to give a few referances before joining a swap ( such as a LONG standing blog, myspace or ebay account ) which would show if they are a credible person or not. It would also be a good idea to see profiles that are filled out completely here at Swap-Bot and not just ones that say a few words under each topic. Seeing profiles like those make you a bit leary when someone doesn't really take much time to fill out a profile that could be a wealth of information to a partner in any swaps that they might participate in.

That is just my two cents on the issue.

I HAVE ASKED PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE NO MORE COMMENTS!!!

FUNKYCHICKEN, I DID NOT ASK FOR COMMENTS DEBATING THE PROS AND CONS OF THIS ISSUE. I SET UP WHAT WAS GOING TO WORK FOR ME, AND THEN YOU TOOK OVER AND MADE IT INTO A BAD THING AND ALL THESE OTHER COMMENTS HAVE TAKEN OVER SOMETHING I TRIED TO SET UP FOR THOSE OF US INTERESTED.

IF WHAT I PROPOSED DIDN'T WORK FOR YOU, YOU WERE FREE TO GO DO SOMETHING ELSE, BUT NOT FREE TO DEBATE THE MERITS OF WHAT I TRIED TO DO TO MAKE SWAP-BOT SAFER FOR SOME OF US.

FOR THE LAST TIME---NO NO NO NO NO MORE COMMENTS!