I've created this thread for general day-to-day comments/feedback/suggestions, because I think it's better then having to make a new thread every time you have got something little to ask/say.
Comments / Feedback / Suggestions Thread
JeffreyM on 18/03/2008 - 16:30
closed Comments
I'm not subscribed. I posted a reply on a thread and now when I check my Comments page I can see "n new". Not an important feature. Just re: a thread I replied to a few times and I just don't want to be involved in it any more. May just have to go the self ignore method.
Why users cannot edit/delete their own comments and files? At least we should be able to delete the uploaded files by ourselves.
Why users cannot edit/delete their own comments and files?
You can't edit comment if (1) it's too old — currently after 10 minutes, or (2) it has been replied to.
delete the uploaded files by ourselves
I think that one should be coming soon. On my todo list. Currently it's technical issue as the "uploaded files" are actually served on caching proxy server that's load-balanced so deleting the source file is not enough as the cached result will linger around for a day a two. Need to develop something to propagate the deletion command to the caching servers.
The Oz B iOS app (is this within the scope of this thread?) has a Top Deals section. This section lists expired deals in it.
e.g. current #1 https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B0rL1ndIYAA1azs.png
For the mobile app, I think expired deals should not be displayed.
If they are displayed, they should at least be indicated that they are expired (this one has expired but is not marked as such in the mobile app).I guess my version could be out of date…
Edit: hmmm seems like the app I have is no longer available.
Not to mention we do not have an official app. All the apps on AppStore / PlayStore are developed by 3rd party.
Would be nice to have a small envelope pop up when we get a response to a TWAM, much like we get with a PM.
Would also be nice to have an area dedicated to subscriptions, maybe under the 'My Account' button, where subscription responses are received and an envelope pops up showing new notifications. Much better than having to check emails.
And in case it was missed in a previous thread, an instant chat feature would be awesome!
Unsure if asked before, similar to how a dollar sign changes the colour of the price, could USD be set to do the same thing? Just a look thing and to separate out the price on the title :)
Hi, whats the go with not being able to post ebay group deals unless the seller is a top rated seller? Seems like a good idea on the face of it to screen dodgy ebay sellers, but also the potential to miss out on legit good deals… Would a system based off the sellers feedback score and percentage be more appropriate?? Let me know your thoughts or if I'm missing something. Cheers :)
Hi Riczter,
Your deal actually meets our eBay guidelines as even though the seller isn't a top rated seller, they do have a store domain. When submitting the deal if you enter the sellers website in the store domain box it will bypass any warnings about the deal not being allowed as it's not a top rated seller.
Our guidelines allow a non top rated seller deal to be submitted as per the exception:
An exception is where the seller already has an online store. In this case, the deal can be posted if the 'alternative store domain' (under the deal URL) is set at the time of posting.
In the case of an eBay group deal not having an online store or being a top rated seller, as it's an eBay group deal we have in the past allowed an exception to this rule. Perhaps we could edit the guidelines to state that the top rater seller or online store requirement isn't required for eBay group deals
Ah I didn't see the alternative store domain under the deal URL and thought i had to put the store in the deal URL. But thanks I understand now.
How hard would it be to 'force' posters to include the price in the title ?
Maybe a separate field, and the new post won't go up unless it's filled in.Hey effgee,
There is a warning as you probably know. If the title doesn't have a $ sign it will display:
Please correct the following problems where possible:
No price information foundHaving a mandatory field would be going the next step, if the item was free you could enter 0 or the freebie checkbox would disable the field, but I could see some issues with items that are neither free or purchased with $, example off the top of my head would be maybe a Cokerewards deal or a FlyBuys deal. I think a mandatory field would have to apply to all deals submitted in order to work?
Also, percentage deals would need to be catered for as well.
Personally I don't think price is necessary in the title.
Some variations of deals don't always have a fixed dollar value against it
Also beware that there are a lot of deals that don't have a price. A percentage discount? Free shipping? Or just freebies. At the same time the community usually points out bad deals very quickly and mods / power users would resolve those.
G'day everyone,
This might have come up before, but is there a way that I can add keywords to my account so that I get notified every time that keyword is used in a deal? For instance, I have $1000 credit to use for Virgin Australia, so I would like to receive all deals that relate specifically to Virgin, hence I would include "Virgin" in my, let's call it, "favourite deal keywords". This would mean people don't have to continually search for keywords in the hope that there is something new. I might include "Dick" because I love DSE, and so on.
This wouldn't be too hard to implement, would it?
Cheers
Hi jwrathall,
We currently have the ability to create alerts for certain terms.
If you use the search box to search for the word 'Virgin' which takes you to this page you will see the 'Create Alert' link
Once you create the alert, you will then receive an email everytime that keyword is used in a deal. You can manage these alerts by going to settings > subscriptions > events
Hope that helps
Ah! Awesome! Thanks hamza :)
Do unpublished deals / targeted offers show up in the search when submitting a new deal? It just seems to me that it would prevent a lot of dupes and irrelevant posts if it did. Tagged with "[NOT ACCEPTED]" or something like that.
I don't think they do show up in the "possible duplicate" search or any other search. It would be good for them to show up. I've occasionally seen a stream of new deals published on exactly the same deal. The deal in question should never have been published for various reasons in the first place. If these unpublished deals showed up in searches then there would be less problem deals for the moderators to remove etc.
One recent example of this was the energy drink where customers in the USA could get a refund cheque or free drinks. Lots of people tried to create this as a freebie deal. The duplicates didn't stop until after there was a forum post which discussed the issue.
Something needs to be done about people ripping deals from others posts and not giving credit the original poster, the amount of times people rip deals out of my posts and others and no mention of thanks for finding it or anything. Maybe there could be a tip on how to say thanks
I done see the need. I up vote because I appreciate the person posting it. I may not have up voted the bulk post because I didn't see the deal there. Especially if we're talking dick smith, woolworths etc
I have no problem with people ripping posts from others, my problem is people need to acknowledge who found the deal originally
If the deal was found originally then it's a dupe and should be removed
I have suggestion to add, what about make it easier to copy the voucher/coupon code. like just click in the cart icon and it copy itself to the clip tray or something.
Currently when you click on the coupon it would highlight the entire code so it's just a matter of click & Ctrl-C. Those click to copy to clip board are mostly implemented in Flash which I don't wish to use.
oh thanks scotty, didn't know that. it makes it easier now. but what about a way to copy only one code if there are more than one. I just tried it in WW deal it copied all three codes. is it possible to make it only highlight the code between the comma or using specific simple for that
Yeah the coupon code field does not handle multiple code well — we should auto-detect multiple code when it's comma separated.
Any possibility of warning people/pointing them at the negative voting rules when they are violated instead of simply banning them from negative voting for 45 days after 3 occurrences? 45 days is a long time to be put in a sin bin for such a violation if the offender was not aware rather than was flagrantly abusing the rules. There are a lot of rules on the site and they tend to be buried, whereas the voting buttons are not.
With notification support added this morning, we'll probably notify the voter if his/her negative vote gets revoked (by the community or by the moderator) + links to the negative vote rules. Since your negative vote is temporarily disabled after the 3rd attempt, there should be enough notification to get people to be careful with their votes.
That's a good start. A warning before you vote via some kind of confirmation and a statement like "down voting bargains is discouraged - are you sure you've read the rules? You will be banned from voting for 45 days if your down vote is retracted 3 times in 90 days" and then a link to the rules would be much more useful. Reason: It would be very easy to down vote 3 bargains without having read the rules and end up in the situation I find myself in.
Sound like good ideas to me.
A notification of a revoked negative vote linked to rules would be good. I'm thinking we can warn the user when they make their first negative vote though, to warn them before a vote is even made:
When a user makes there first positive vote they get a warning "You are about to cast your first vote on OzBargain." with the rules of positive voting, so we could have the same for negative votes: "You are about to cast your first negative vote on OzBargain" with the rules of negative voting + warning about 3 revoked votes + link to the rules.
Or similar if not too difficult to implement.
@syousef
FYI this feature was added on the 4th of Dec after your feedback:
Add warning popup for first time negative vote so that users know that invalid and revoked negs attract a penalty of temporarily not being able to neg.
Scotty is also working on notifications when negative votes are revoked.
Appreciate it,
Thanks
This new notification system is awesome! Keep up the good work Scotty.
what does the new notification system do? I've had some subscription e-mails sent, but nothing pops up in the notification system.
Check now.
thanks for that :)
This notification stuff is awesome! Thanks mods
Guys maybe it is my setup but when i click "mark as read" nothing happens
Firefox 33.1 on Windows 8.1 (new notifications)
I'd like an exclusions field in the new deal form or something similar. This field wouldn't be searched for site search and email alerts.
Far too many Dick Smith deals trigger search alerts for things I want because the poster includes a list of things the deal doesn't apply to.
Why was the "Music Deals" deal unpublished https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/171932. When is "Not available to Australia" a valid reason. I was about add a comment and vote for the deal. Suppose you should unpublish the hulu+ deal as an example as well. FFS it seems that because some comments from person(s) with no knowledge of how to bypass geo-blocking said it didn't work, that the deal was unpublished to detriment oz-bargainers.
rant end
Can you confirm that you used a geo-blocking service (e.g. Hola) and were able to download the music?
If yes, perhaps you could give a few short instructions? Happy to put it in the deal and republish.
Yeh. Well I just used embedded win8.1pro in a hyper-V VM with region set to US and I used a us vpn that I have.
Then i just followed the instructions on deal link.
Just note only 50 albums are available for free.So you can't just use a VPN?
@neil: I'm sure you could just use a vpn but I think the key is setting the region setting in windows to the US.
I used my actual Microsoft account for the login to the music app though.
I just use a hyperv machine so was not messing around with my everyday machine.
anyway 119 songs remaining on the download and I'm not waiting up for it, time to turn in.
I miss heaps of the good deals hidden in woolworths Coles catalogue posts. Can never find them hidden among the non deals those all encompassing posts contain.
Can the dupe rule be relaxed for gift cards? Woolies has some great gift cards 20% off this week. These deserve to headline a post as they may interest people who don't care for woolworths items. Apart from being on sale at woollies, the cards are for non woolies stores - good food, iconic, freedom, Xbox subscription, red balloon, event cinema etc. Help us who don't care for 50% off fish fingers.
Hi grasstown,
Currently our duplicate guidelines have an exception for such an occurrence:
The original deal is a list of multiple items and the item is not contained in the title of the original deal.
So our duplicate rules already allow new posts for items that are only contained in the body of other posts like you are describing.
The reason your post was unpublished is because it was already in the title of a previous post here
"20% OFF Xbox Live, FB, Iconic Gift Cards + More @ WW" so it was deemed a duplicate.
Thanks
Thanks hazma
The title was
Telstra Nokia Lumia 530 $39.50, 20% OFF Xbox Live, FB, Iconic Gift Cards + More @ WW. WED
And I missed the gift card deal in that title including city beach and good food
I find them hard to read
I really like the notification system. Although i think if you click the notifications button, imo it should automatically mark all as read. Perhaps there could be a divider from older notifications vs the new ones (or most recent)
Notifications that have not been read are highlighted, and "Mark As Read" is at the bottom of the drop down. Maybe that button should be at the top for easier access?
Yep, I vote for top. And yet again I point to Quora as the example :-P
I'm of the opinion as soon as you click the notification icon, they should all be marked as read. (And updates soon as you refresh the page).
Like Facebook?
@neil: While we are on the topic of notifications. Can the notifications show if someone +1 one of our comments, and also if they replied to a forum topic that we started? I think that would be really handy.
Keep up the good work guys :)
if someone +1 one of our comments
That would probably leads to over-notified. At the moment we don't have a mechanism to customise notification yet so will try not bringing in too many notifications. Also getting notified for replies would be useful if you want to continue the conversation. Not sure about the usefulness for getting +1.
if they replied to a forum topic that we started
Currently subscribing to post would send out emails. Again the plan would be merging the email notification and the onsite notification so people can opt to get notified on subscribed posts without getting an email. A lot of work needs to be done in the backend.
Quora (har har) has a notification that says "2 items on your XXXX" which basically combines multiple notifications into a single one.
@zzyss: Yes we do that for the comment as well (Facebook style). If you get multiple reply on the same comment, you get
zzyss and 3 others replied to your comment…
I'm not a big user of Quota but I'll take a look at their notification system. Still quite a lot to do.
Ozbargain just got a good mention on The Project!
That's the second time I've seen The Project base a story on a news.com.au article and use many of the same examples. I'm sure there have been many many more examples of The Project creating stories based on articles from news.com.au
suggestion: revoked votes are marked on the deal page (next to the username - where the green/red square would normally be if you vote pos/neg)
The drop down menus at the top sometimes don't work for me (Firefox). Has anyone else complained about this? I still see the annoying grey vertical bars against comments etc after login which suggests I'm in limbo.
Also can't vote so it seems I'm neither logged in nor out.
Suggestion - Competition start date… might be a nice feature for putting them up when they're known/seen, rather than waiting a day or 2 and forgetting! Sure it's only those 1% of times, but shouldn't be too difficult should it, with code already in the deals for that?
Not sure if this has been mentioned before, although I've tried to do a quick search of the forums. Is there any chance that listings could be standardised to use AUD rather than a foreign currency? With our dollar sliding against key currencies it's hard to do apples and apples comparisons compared to previous listings. I don't know if I'm the only one who sees, for example, a high volume SSD listed from Amazon and thinking it's pretty cheap and then after doing a conversion you realise it's not quite what you thought it was.
I really think having the AUD value provided with each listing would really add value to the information being provided.
Wouldn't this cause tonnes of problems with changes in exchange rate?
Also, I am not sure whether it applies to Australia but some banks I know offer better exchange rate to certain members, so what exchange rate should the thing be based on?
I'd want to see USD or something emphasised so that we know that it's not AUD, but I don't think it's going to be easy for the site to have 1 currency. Though that being said, I believe that deals should have some sort of indication i.e. Amazon Currency Converter, to show that it's a deal even in AUD inside the post.
Just my 2 cents.
That's why I suggest standardising something, eg conversion will use XE currency converter on the day of listing OR use the AUD value if the site provides one. People will get different exchange rates depending on how they do their banking/which payment method they choose, but without an AUD value sometimes I have an extremely vague understanding of how much something will cost.
The current titled listing is all I had in mind:
Seagate 6TB 3.5" Drive - $207.99 USD from Amazon (~$260 AUD)But that in itself is vague, unless you state what exchange rate you have used, which in my opinion the title of the deal is too small of a margin for. Also, because it changes so often, some prices might use outdated value, some people might use different exchange rate as a mistake/use the one that is applicable for them. I think your idea is amazing, but I think it opens up so much room for errors and mistakes.
Also if Ozbargain were to provide an exchange rate, how should it be updated or how should it be calculated? If Ozbargain, by accident, provides wrong info and people buy things based on it, it's gonna open another can of worms.
Though this being said, I think highlighting USD would be really good, since that would remind people that it's not AUD.
I personally think they should post what you said inside the post where it can be explained better and in detail.
I'm not saying provide a live exchange rate, but a ballpark AUD value would greatly assist.
It changes so often, there could be a errors in prices because of people basing their deals on different prices.
Also if Ozbargain were to provide an exchange rate, how should it be updated or how should it be calculated? So these is a problem with what to base it on.
Also if Ozbargain, by accident, provides wrong information or information changes drastically in short time and people buy things based on Ozbargain's exchange rate, it's gonna open another can of worms.
I personally think since it can open up to so many errors, the person who wants to buy should do the calculation.
Also I think the details of approximation should be left inside the post since it takes fair bit of explanation.
It would be nice if they highlight USD or show it differently so that people don't mistakingly take USD for AUD.
Also, people who post these things do not have any obligations on making it accessible. Everyone is sharing their information in my person opinion, so in these areas where there is individual differences, I personally think the person who's interested in these should invest their time to do some calculations.
I believe you're over-thinking it.
@bxpressiv: :P Meh. Perhaps, but then again, I personally think USD already shows enough information.
Personally I'd rather go to google, get exchange rate and calculate it by myself or check the post for further information. Rather than relying on some arbitury exchange rate that probably is outdated. Might not even be a bargain with those rates.
Though as I said, an emphasise on USD or something like what they do with prices would be nice.
Cool, do me a favor and post up your conversions? :)
@bxpressiv: :P When I post deals by Amazon, I always post the conversions inside the post. Since it gets messy with shipping and everything.
Also, it's simple, plug in the number thing. I simply don't understand why we need a thing that will always be off because it cannot be updated constantly and everyone gets different rate.
As far as I am concerned checking prices to make sure that it is a bargain is the posters' job, but everything else should be the buyers' responsibility. I personally think that it should almost be a requirement for them to post some form of conversion in one way in the post to show that it was a bargain at that time, but putting it on the title can get messy, as I mentioned.
I say that it should be done in post because as I said, rates are different for people so in post, you can describe what rate you have used and how you've calculated it.
I don't know if I'm the only one who sees, for example, a high volume SSD listed from Amazon and thinking it's pretty cheap and then after doing a conversion you realise it's not quite what you thought it was.
I personally don't mind USD-only, simply because people will get different rates based on how they pay.
I think that if I'm considering buying an item from overseas, I should find out myself the rates that my bank will charge me, and not depend on someone else's quoted rates. Imagine if someone thinks the quoted XE rates is what they'll pay, then their bank charges them 3% more. They'll then come here and suggest that figures should be in USD instead. :)
So why would it matter if everyone is getting different rates off the USD value why would it matter if there was also an approximate AUD value, because people will get different rates off that. I'm not saying exclude the payment currency I am saying provide an approximate AUD value as well. Most people already do it.
SO they're not responsible if someone provides an approximate conversion?
Without a conversion context is lost, to say something is $XUSD cheaper than the last time may be true but it could actually be $XAUD more expensive. Having a rough conversion would better inform decisions.
SO they're not responsible if someone provides an approximate conversion?
Yes, by definition. If the individual pushes the responsibility for conversion to someone else, then they're not responsible for it.
Without a conversion context is lost,
I don't find it too difficult to convert it myself, based on my bank's rates, which I should know.
to say something is $XUSD cheaper than the last time may be true but it could actually be $XAUD more expensive.
Why does that matter? Prices from the past are in the past. And with the plunging AUD, you'll probably never get things as cheap as you could have in the past anyway.
@eug:
It's best practice to list the original currency and the Australian dollar conversion. I can recall an incident where an Amazon deal had been posted for let's say $300 AUD. A couple of weeks later another user posts the same deal with a converted currency of let's say $270 AUD. The price of the item never changed in US dollars. As above, the conversion also depends on what method payment you use as well as currency fluctuations.
I've added the suggestion to the Amazon posting guidelines that pop up when someone puts in an Amazon link to the Deal submission.
The price of the item never changed in US dollars.
OK, that's a good reason. Unfortunately it looks like those days are over for us. :(
Feedback: Have found the alert function useful. Looking for a drill, so used the alert of the word "drill". Emails came through, bought a drill. 10/10 would alert again.
Could we have the notifications work so that once you click on one it is marked as read? Not 100% sure, but for me it seems to persist until I click "Mark as read"…
When clicking on the notification, for example 'hamza23 replied to your comment', if you click on the bolded part (in this case 'your comment') it should both take you straight to the comment and also mark it as read, scotty is still doing some bug testing so it might not be 100% on mobile. Let us know how you go.
is it possible to add an option for the user to delete the uploaded files that he/she doesn't want?
thanks Hamza, didnt notice that comment :)
@msmhw Just to follow up, scotty added the ability to delete user files a couple of days ago.
Thanks!
Yeah thanks to hamza for the update. The file deletion has been implemented. Hover your file and you'll see a rubbish bin icon which would let you delete that file you've uploaded. Due to the files are served via caching-proxy, the actual deletion would take time to propagate so up to 10 minutes before the cache entries are removed.
@scotty: Regarding deleting files: Could something be done on the mobile site as mobile users can't hover over to delete. Maybe a standalone button?
@scotty: It's okay for me, I tried it on the mobile website last night. You just have to tap the image and it brings up the 2 buttons (post as deal and delete). Hopefully you see that too Food
@hamza23: It's probably a windows phone problem then- when I click on the image, it just opens the image
@Food: Ah I see.
On my BlackBerry running both the mobile and full website 1 click shows the buttons (a share icon and a trash can icon, in the top right of the image thumbnail), then 2 clicks open the image.
sorry if already mentioned, or if there's a way of doing it already (either in ozbargain or through browser), but is there any way to change it so that when you click on deals/links to external sites then it opens up in a new tab on chrome?
i know you can right click and choose open in new tab, but i think it would make more sense to have this as default for the site, and would be especially useful when comparing deals, looking at deals while also keeping an eye on comments etc.
Next to "Comments" heading (between OP and the comments) there should be a button called "Unsubscribe".