Thread Sticky Countdown & Limit

[TechBanana]

Situation:
I'm interested in purchasing a sticky for my thread. I head on over the the 'Create Ad' page but upon selecting the forum section my thread is in, a message shows up saying that there are no available slots.
"We are sorry, currently there are no slots available in this forum. However, you can still create an Ad, but it will be added to the queue once approved. There are 1 pending Ads."

Issue:
I have no idea when a sticky slot will be available (some have even hogged a slot for several months). If I purchase a slot now to be added to the queue, by the time one is available I might no longer need the sticky, or in some cases I might not want the sticky. For example if I choose to temporarily close down my services or if I already have a lot of orders and am not able to take on even more requests (which is the desired effect of having a sticky on your thread).

Solution:
Have a countdown timer of how many days/weeks are left in the current stickies, so I can get a basic idea when my a new sticky will be available.

Issue part 2:
The countdown isn't able to predict whether or not the users who currently own a sticky will renew it or not, they could just keep renewing it and renewing it. My proposal is to set a limit on how long a user can rent a sticky slot for. I think 3-6 months is fair. Just so other businesses can have a chance to get their thread advertised as well. An alternate solution (that will probably get a lot of hate for) is to not allow the user to renew their sticky. However long they initially purchased the sticky for will be how long it will last. Then in, say, a week or two they can purchase one again. (There isn't really a perfect solution to this problem)

If you have any ideas on how to improve on this suggestion (or if you have a better solution), feel free to comment it and I'll add it to the thread & credit you

 

[Ajdin]

Have a countdown timer of how many days/weeks are left in the current stickies, so I can get a basic idea when my a new sticky will be available.

That's impossible because people can extend their ads anytime. These estimates would be inaccurate.

 

[TechBanana]

That's impossible because people can extend their ads anytime. These estimates would be inaccurate.

Yes I addressed that in "Issue part 2"

At the end I wrote "There isn't really a perfect solution to this problem", but my proposed solutions will still be an improvement from what we have now.
I thought of two, either set a limit on how many times they can renew (and have a message notifying/warning the user that it is a possibility the sticky will last longer than what the countdown says). Or disable renewing which will solve the "countdown not accurate" problem altogether (but as I mentioned I feel some users might not be in favor of that. Specifically the users who have had their threads stickied for months)

 

[Ajdin]

Yes I addressed that in "Issue part 2"

At the end I wrote "There isn't really a perfect solution to this problem", but my proposed solutions will still be an improvement from what we have now.
I thought of two, either set a limit on how many times they can renew (and have a message notifying/warning the user that it is a possibility the sticky will last longer than what the countdown says). Or disable renewing which will solve the "countdown not accurate" problem altogether (but as I mentioned I feel some users might not be in favor of that. Specifically the users who have had their threads stickied for months)

You want to limit already paying advertisers for the sake of possible paying advertisers. I don't think that's such a good idea.

 

[TechBanana]

You want to limit already paying advertisers for the sake of possible paying advertisers. I don't think that's such a good idea.

I have an idea for a system that disables a user being able to renew their sticky once there's another user that purchased a sticky, but still thinking it out. Am trying to determine which thread's sticky renewal to disable since there are several stickied threads (whether it be based on which was purchased first, has lasted the longest, etc, am trying to find a balance). But then again not sure if it's worth the time developing it, maybe something to consider in the future.

 

[Ajdin]

Ajdin probably would've closed this suggestion already if he was still owner lmao..

Probably but only because I've already thought about a few solutions directly with the addon developer and some other large forum owners who use the addon. We couldn't come up with anything that is better than what we have now.

The current handling of the queue is probably the best way of doing it.

 

[Mick]

Probably but only because I've already thought about a few solutions directly with the addon developer and some other large forum owners who use the addon. We couldn't come up with anything that is better than what we have now.

The current handling of the queue is probably the best way of doing it.

Thanks Bosny.

Denied.

Thanks for making the suggestion!