I just was going through some of them as I am seeing a lot of shifting from my normal companies and want a broader assortment. Within just the A's I am finding that 2 of the first 3 are domains that are now gone...does anyone know if someone is cleaning up the company? Or archiving them?

This is definitely something that needs to be done! If you find any companies that are gone, please post their names in this thread.

Thank you!

A Top Shop

A Step Above Evaluations

It would be great to have a second list of companies that are no longer operating. There are some companies that aren't on the official list. I don't want to miss any so I'm checking every one out that I come across. Most of them do seem to be out of business or acquired by someone else.

Check Up Marketing

Freeman Group

Franchise Compliance

An idea: can we have give "stars" to a company and the average stars could appear next to the name? That might be too much for a forum so I was just curious...

We probably could give stars, but we don't all agree on the number of stars a company deserves. Some companies I would award a 5 star are companies that others see as 3. My one-stars (the ones I haven't deactivated myself from, just in case, but don't take shops from) are 5-stars to others. The Mystery Shopping Magazine has done a good job of assigning a "grade" for companies based on shopper comments here on the forum.

It's supposed to show the average, kind of like a yelp for MSC.

Ah, Linda, you remind me of me, since I love coming up with ideas, when I have no clue as to how much work they involve. (smile)

I think you have a great idea. PM Jacob and see what he has to say about it.

(heart)

LindaM Wrote:
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> It's supposed to show the average, kind of like a
> yelp for MSC.


Or like the customer ratings for stuff on Amazon. Everyone's votes will average things out, the more votes the better.

If Jacob was *really* ambitious, there could be a page for each MSC, with a brief overview paragraph about it, (perhaps with some specifics like contact information and pay schedule) then it's star rating, and a place for people to leave reviews. Just like Amazon.

I would think that since the magazine already has an overview for a bunch of the companies, that it wouldn't be too hard to put those overviews all in one place and link them to the main list. That would be really helpful.

I thought someone was going to go through and start cleaning up the official list...i went through today and found myself clicking several that were noted as done in this thread that are leading to invalid domains.

Instead of complaints, how about you volunteer to do this?

Hey, I volunteered several times to do it, quite a while ago, and got completely ignored. (This remark does not constitute volunteering--my mood has changed.)

Um, excuse me Ishmael, but I am confident that you weren't "ignored"; most likely you weren't "bothered" because, since you volunteered, it was thought you were extremely busy cleaning up the list.

I can only speak for myself, but, I admit, I've been wondering, "How much longer before Ismael finally finishes updating the list??"

(heart)

(Edited to add smileys to denote kidding)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/03/2014 10:29AM by stilllearning.

stilllearning Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Um, excuse me Ishmael, but I am confident that you
> weren't "ignored"; most likely you weren't
> "bothered" because, since you volunteered, it was
> thought you were extremely busy cleaning up the
> list.
>
> I can only speak for myself, but, I admit, I've
> been wondering, "How much longer before Ismael
> finally finishes updating the list??"
>
> (heart)

"It was thought" ???? Who exactly thought that Ismael was extremely busy cleaning up the list? Certainly not me.

Someone would really need editing or moderator capabilities to be able to update the list properly. It's nice to know that Ismael was willing to volunteer, and I thought it was a pretty generous offer, but I would not expect her to be working on the updates unless she was contacted by Jacob or a moderator and given the capability to do the work. I can only speak for myself, also, but, I admit, I think it sounds like she and the issue of updating were ignored.

To clarify, AM, I was kidding with Ishmael, who I feel I know well enough (in a forum-knowing sort of way) to kid around with her. For the very reasons you cited, I too certainly did not think "Ishmael was extremely busy cleaning up the list".

(heart)

Jeeze. Someone's 'humor' and 'teasing' detector must be in the shop. Even I could see it was just teasing, without even having to read the clarification. I mean, she *coulda* put a '' in there or something... but that's no reason to go getting all snappy about it. Criminently!

That said, it *would* be nice if someone was able to get the list cleaned up, and maybe even improved, slightly. It sounds like at least kind of a big job, though. In the meanwhile, remember ~ Google is your friend. (:


AustinMom Wrote:
---------------------------------------------------
> stilllearning Wrote:
> -------------------------------------------------
> > Um, excuse me Ishmael, but I am
> > confident that you weren't "ignored";
> > most likely you weren't "bothered"
> > because, since you volunteered, it was
> > thought you were extremely busy
> > cleaning up the list.
> >
> > I can only speak for myself, but, I admit,
> > I've been wondering, "How much longer
> > before Ismael finally finishes updating
> > the list??"
> >
> > (heart)
>
> "It was thought" ???? Who exactly thought that
> Ismael was extremely busy cleaning up the list?
> Certainly not me.
>
> Someone would really need editing or moderator
> capabilities to be able to update the list
> properly. It's nice to know that Ismael was
> willing to volunteer, and I thought it was a
> pretty generous offer, but I would not expect her
> to be working on the updates unless she was
> contacted by Jacob or a moderator and given the
> capability to do the work. I can only speak for
> myself, also, but, I admit, I think it sounds like
> she and the issue of updating were ignored.

Nobody got "snappy" - I simply didn't see the humor. I'm glad stilllearning explained it, because I now understand it was her idea of humor, although I still don't see any humor. And it does still appear to me that Ishmael made a generous offer to the forum and was ignored.

Sorry if that seems "snappy." And Storm, your comment that my opinion is "snappy" is pretty offensive! It's my opinion. Can stilllearning tease and express opinions but when someone else expresses an opinion, it is "snappy?"

I started working on the list today. Now, the listings will say when a company is no longer in business. It's a start.

Aha, I did forget the smiley, so, in that light, I can see how it could be interpreted that I was being crazy mean to Ishmael, who I adore.

Ishmael, I apologize if that is also how you read it!

(heart)

AustinMom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> although I still don't see any humor.

That's actually a little sad.


> And Storm, your comment that
> my opinion is "snappy" is pretty
> offensive!

Really? Holy Moses ~ "snappy" doesn't even make the needle on my "offend-O-meter" wiggle.


> Can stilllearning tease and express
> opinions but when someone else
> expresses an opinion, it is "snappy?"

Absolutely not. I've always been one of the biggest proponents of free speech here and anywhere, and have taken that side here more than once. It's not merely the expression of an opinion that makes it "snappy". Hell, sometimes "snappy" is even appropriate.


Anyways... I'm glad to see *someone* is finally working on that list! (:

So, I guess I feel flattered. I'm dour and humorless, to the point of making you sad, but I'm snappy, which appears to be approprate and good. Thanks for explaining it to me. I'll check with you more often for analysis since I value your opinion so much.

I think I remember, back when cleaning up the MSC list was discussed in the past, there was some discussion about divvying up the list into bite-sized chunks, like five or ten MSCs each, and seeking volunteers to go through the mini-lists. Since it's an important resource for so many of us, perhaps we could offer to help Jacob. I'm up for it; anyone else?

(heart)

Oh my... this is the first time I have seen anyone get defensive on this page for no reason. I thought the whole conversation was lighthearted till I got to the middle of the thread! Yikes!

stillearning, I'd love to help!

Wonderful! I just sent you a PM.

(heart)

Can we clean up the actual companies instead of the list?

BG, you are so funny!

(heart)

I know.