No need to further discuss, I agree.
But one more remark: Although this is a computer game, we are real life people sitting in front of the Computer. So, real life is very much present here. People behave a little different because of the anonymity, but still, real humans of flesh and blood with everything they have to offer, good and bad.
And not every trade is for simple things like crates, where no one is interested in discussing prices anyway, you know... (no offense)

I am the shoe store owner (my trade), and I should decide how I treat my customers. Outpost is not the store here, just the landlord from whom shop owners rent space. So I see no contradiction here. If I treat my customers like s**t and block everyone, I soon will have no more business.
Sharks don't want the discussions as it is, because they cannot truly hide them. Everyone else confident in their prices should not feel the need to delete anything. That could even build trust, they could argue against that comment and defend their price for everyone to see. If their argument makes more sense, customers will be able to detect sharks in other trades that delete their price comments.

They (ppl breaking rules) in fact are being let off as it is. At least that's what I think I observed. And I disagree with you, I think most people will understand what a warning means, those that don't, could get banned for 1 week after the 3rd strike or so, instead of a day or two like it is now.

In "real life" we have that too. Before you do prison time (ban) you get warnings, fines, probation and such. Why shouldn't a little more fine grained arsenal of punishment not work here too?
And it is proven, that harsh punishments will not prevent the truly unconvinceables from committing crimes (breaking rules). (but I am not going into the death penalty discussion here)

Well, I didn't start the shoe store analogy, an admin did... and why wouldn't that apply here?
Why not make it so that people you block can't post in your trades? There, problem solved.

Trade owners can just hide that comment and then report if it gets out of hand because the one that commented does not let go and opens new comments.
And I don't get your logic on the warning system. Why would that lead to more complaints? In my opinion it could even have the opposite effect. The fact of the matter is, you don't seem to get banned for (mild) 1st offenses right away... if you knew you are being watched, that might stop you in your tracks. The ones that don't get it / can't help it, will always be there, warning system or not.

And giving trade owners more control over their own trade, like really deleting posts and banning ppl from their trades, would make life so much more easier for admins / mods. I feel no pity in that regard... "they" created that environment and seem to not wanting to do anything about it.

I would actually like to know what is allowed and what is not. If I am interested in a Shoe a store sells, will the shop owner ban me from entering the store just because I try to bargain / negotiate about the designated price? No! If I get rude in doing so, maybe. If I insult him, definitely.

And if I go into my local store and tell them that the store next door sells the same item for less (I actually do that), he is usually very keen on pleasing me.
I've never had it happen that the store owner complained about me trying or even threatened me to ban me from the store. Worst case, he might just say, sorry, I can't compete with that price. And then that's it.
The only reason I suspect people don't want prices discussed in their trades is, because they are sharks and want to buy from inexperienced traders for a dime on the dollar or the other way around. Should Outpost really provide safe haven to / protect those people?

The fact that there is no way for people to know when a report has been made about them and how their reports are handled, leaves this constant "fear" of getting banned. Either for crossing a line you have no way of knowing where it actually is or because you complain too much (abuse the report system).

I would also very much appreciate if there was a warning system before you get banned, at least for minor offenses like "commenting on price" or "spam" or even insults, provided you didn't clearly cross the line.

I have been called names (not too offensive, but still) and reported it, nothing happened...
If the person would've gotten a warning, he then knows that he's dangerously close to the line. Same thing with commenting on prices.

And what about those that use the report system to threaten other users? I consider phrases like "Do not comment on the prices set. If you do, you will be reported" as such threats.
I reported some of those too, but nothing happened. Without feedback of my reports, how am I supposed to know if reporting such threats if futile (because this kind of threatening is allowed) or if I should continue to report, because you have some internal "warning" system where you will ban if the complaints about that issue persist.

All in all, Outpost needs a weaker form of punishment like a warning before using the ban punishment. Also there needs to be feedback for reports made, even if it's just accepted / rejected.

Maybe that was on a non-vanilla premium server with a mod? like those saigns or skial server (not that I would know if they actually have that feature)

if you can't follow them, then you don't deserve to use the site

It saddens me to see you only took the time to read the "hatred" parts here and burst out like that instead of taking the time to address some of the issues (I) pointed out.
And pricing was not the real issue, as I understand it.

@samhudson The green / blue dots do help, but would even more so if you could filter by them.

And I really would like some feedback on my reports. A simple accepted / rejected would suffice in most cases. I constantly fear to be banned myself because I have no way of knowing if my reports are substantial. I see so many re-listings and bumping without buying or selling anything, I really don't know if I should report all of them or risk getting banned myself.

But I probably should have made my critisism / suggestions in my own thread. I guess this was not the right place, as I can't sign the initial statement.

^^ both pricing guides have their issues. The voting on bptf actually does not really work in all cases. I had my price suggestion closed despite >100 votes and 75% acceptance and seen other suggestions being accepted in no time with no real evidence (using offers, not completed trades as "evidence") in no time. Especially painful for the new semi-rare collector items! Now they will be listed with a way to high price (originating from the first hype) and trading will come to a stop - just look at the u. Vita, SoaS and Volcano...

I have to agree with some of the points you make. The auto-bumping of inactive trades is a major pain in the ass. The first few pages in a search are "spammed" with donors, either out of stock or routinely offline - as in really offline or maybe an online status but afk or idling. I myself are already regarding someone without a special status as superior. If they've just bumped their trade, you know they are online and you get quick responses regularly. Especially painful for commodities like Keys. I've seen some being closed for bumping without selling, but it is not mentioned in the rules. I also dislike, that you get no feedback for your reports.
And those trades where people just sit on their stuff for ages until some desperate moron comes along to overpay, is really annoying too. All they do is list age old offers (that are very likely not valid anymore) as C/O until said moron makes a overpay offer.

This site took over some other sites business because it was innovative, now it seems development and improvement has come to a stop. There is another site (we prob. all know which) that addresses most of the issues you talk about (although it too has problems: with searching it seems). Unfortunately the user base is far less for now. But maybe the trading community will move on, maybe not.

And what is really bugging me of late: How does the hiding of posts work - or rather why is it the way it is? Some hidden reply-posts reappear all of a sudden, if the trade-owner hides the main post. And why can't I hide my post once the trade is closed or the owner hides the main post? It should be either full transparency - no posts can be hidden (as in inaccessible) - or full control - I can delete (make inaccessible) what I have written. I just don't get it!