Surely a lot of people find SMF not by a search for
Scrap Metal Forum, but from doing a web search on a particular subject, much as myself, using a few keywords ( amazing what a few keywords can do ), and clicking into a thread on the site, never having seen the main page, or had thoughts of staying longer than it took to locate the answers they were looking for. My search, for example, didn't even seem to be related to scrap metal, I basically knew what to do with it, but in the few weeks since coming here, "basically" has certainly taken on a whole new meaning.
My search was for a computer board buyer, and the thread my search had brought me to read like an infomercial on steroids (keyword.keyword.keyword). Since becoming better acquainted with some of the people here, I don't think he intentionally made it so, but have wondered if it couldn't have been encouraged, by the someone who stood to greatly benefit from such a post, and it's resulting thread. I wasn't interested in joining a forum at the time, but in finding a buyer of computer boards, and in a google search for this, the same buyer has two near identical threads on two separate forums, which consistently show at the top of web searches for the keywords relating to it. I couldn't, however, get a response from emails to this "company", and signed up merely to post a question as to why?
I didn't come through the front page, I didn't read all the details, I merely sought to ask a question on the subject of this thread. I was encouraged to see the list of buyers registered with SMF, although I had no idea what they meant by that, or where this list might be found. I was also asked to post an introduction, but i had already unknowingly passed that link too, and had no idea where it was either. Too many times, sad to say, the best place to hide something is right in front of me. I began to find my way around, and there is a lot to find here, which I certainly do appreciate, but it isn't easy to catch it all at first glance, there is a LOT to find here, and it takes some time, even if one is experienced to some degree with websites and learning your way around. I still had to ask some questions, and kind of pity some people I've seen, who asked a question that maybe didn't make a lot of sense to everyone, and seen them being ridiculed for it, when possibly a better approach could have been a simple "it's right over there".
I try taking this approach when someone is looking for a buyer to tell them where it is located, "main page, second category", or to introduce themselves " main page near the bottom", because I know it's easily bypassed or overlooked, and it isn't always obvious to the untrained eye, but yet, is just as easy to say/type, and is much more helpful than some of the answers they will receive at times.
You could kind of relate it to a person who has never been in a walmart before (as if that's possible ; ), although they've been by the place a hundred times, but now they need a qt of oil, and ask the greeter where it might be found. The greeter says in their grumpiest voice, "automotive" mumbling incoherently as he walks away, or just says "look! look, look, look", leaving the guy to wander aimlessly through the groceries, pet supplies, clothing department, pharmacy, garden center, toys, kitchen utensils, electronics, where he might get a glimpse if he looks the right direction, between a sign saying restroom, and another saying "new low price", of one saying "automotive". How much harder would it really have been for the greeter to merely pointed to the far corner and said, it's right back there in the corner
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Originally Posted by myekem
P & M Recycling - Specializing in E-Waste Recycling. 
, and apparently, while i was busy writing, skippy came in and posted during my absence lol
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