Hot Deals Poll

[olytdi]

I was just sitting here thinking about this thread, and came back to post this.. Make it "free", but only available to people who actually post and contribute here

One other thing too, is to maybe prune the forum and delete old threads for dead deals after a certain amount of time so they dont just sit around forever

This would help a lot. "Hot Deals" sort of implies to me that the deal is fleeting or at least time-limited. As such, what would be wrong with whacking anything in the thread older than 30 days daily?

I find good arguments on both sides of the issue. I find it REALLY laborious to track through the stream-of-conciousness like feel the current model has. I really get tired of three or four pages of "my sears order didn't ship, did yours?" and missing a key single post for a good deal I'm interested in.

I guess I'm coming out on the side of seperate. At least try it out.

 

[WRX/Z28]

I just don't understand the argument. Making things easier to surf through is always a benefit. If you think that resellers don't find this stuff via google search's or search's on the forum, that's silly.

The reality is that it would clean up all the chatter to just the item it's related to, and all you guys that complain about the "non-deal" talk on the forum should be clicking dedicated forum section right now.

I used this as an example before, and it works well. http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/hot-deals/

Thinking that you're hiding the deals by leaving it as one giant mess of a thread is silly...

 

[srmofo]

I prefer it the way it is.....but if it is going into its own subforum, then there needs to be some ground rules for thread titles.

I cant stand titles such as "I need help" or "whats better". A little specificity goes a long way for the use of a search tool. And it saves time, since that seems to be what everyone is complaining about the hot deals thread.

 

[Davefr]

If anyone's worried about a deluge of resellers and newbies then it's easy to:

1. Block certain forums from "guests". (make it members only)
2. Require a certain post count or history before allowing forum access.

This is done all the time but sometimes it becomes a little too restrictive.

 

[nrs2420]

Post count can be restrictive. I'm on this site daily looking at different threads but my post count doesn't show this. I'm ok with being a member for a period of time to view the deals.

 

[reson46]

Post count can be restrictive. I'm on this site daily looking at different threads but my post count doesn't show this.

Same here. I use this site constantly for research and ideas but don't frequently post. I find that most questions I have were already asked and answered at some point and can easily be found with a quick Google search. I don't feel the need to ask the question again just to increase my post count.

I like to think that I only post when I have something worth sharing.

Willy

 

[Stuey]

Stuey,

Maybe this is a crazy idea. Would it be possible to have a subforum, but take every single post and programmatically make a thread out of it featuring all of the posts? That would satisfy both groups of people, although the technical feasibility of doing that is admittedly in question. This would presuppose you could only create new posts in the subforum, which is probably more of a limitation that those that want to keep a single thread are willing to swallow. Just trying to brainstorm.

I am honestly very surprised that people subscribe to a thread with as much traffic as the Hot Deals thread. I've never used thread subscription on any forum I've visited, so there could be some options to it that make it more palatable for heavy traffic threads.

I don't know what to tell you about the people that really are just out there to buy deals in bulk and resell - I don't think you are going to stop those people no matter what you do. I guess I understand the point about making it harder for those types, but does that mean we should all punish ourselves? Tough call.

I don't think that's a possible feature without severely hacking into the forum backend coding. If it is, I've never seen it in action.

I set my control panel options to display 40 posts per page. I check my subscriptions, and then if there's new content in the Hot Deals section, I just browse through. Scrolling through 1 or 2 pages doesn't take much time at all.
Yes I might miss a deal or two, but the chatter keeps the thread more friendly. If all deals were in separate posts, there would probably be less conversation and feedback.

In the end, most contributors will adapt. The whole debate has been blown out of proportion.

 

[rsieracki]

i agree with the less chat more deals mantra but to some extent feedback is necessary... what about a 'hot deals' forum with sub forum/threads such as: SEARS, AMAZON, HOME DEPOT, LOWES, GRAINGER, ALL OTHERS (Or something similar as appropriate) each with a 'deals' and a "feedback" thread... maybe more complicated but clean it up somewhat... and curtail the whining.

i think the important thing to remember is 'a good deal is a state of mind' ...but im just as guilty of 'needing' things just because they are on sale

 

[Ryan]

It's done fellas:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=36