Almost everyday, i hit up on this website, ever since my friend told me about it almost a year ago. As i regularly read through the comments on various, i've noticed more and more new members - if i had to guess, i'd say the total number of members has more than tripled since early this year.
I welcome our new members, but i am worried that in the same period of time, there has not been a corresponding rise in the number of "decent" deals posted.
And not only is there a reduction of contribution:leech ratio lately, the OZB etiquette of POS voting seems to have completely lost its grounds….
Take the clivepeeters Ipod deal - 3500 clicks, i'd say at least 500 purchases, probably more, had resulted in 80 positive votes??????
WTF?
May i correctly assume, that the 420+ ppl who purchased an ipod through that deal, and yet did not vote + on the deal, are the very same who do not contribute anything to OZB's repertoire of oz bargains?
Anyone who has posted before, would presumably understand the importance of using the voting system to thank the poster, and to help inform other members. Anyone who has posted before, and has taken up that ipod deal, would have voted POS and perhaps left a nice message for the poster in the ensuing discussion forum.
Does this mean then, that more than 80% of the members on this forum, have never contributed, and have no interest in giving credit to those who have helped them so?
I was lucky enough to purchase one in time, before the deal was pulled early due to overwhelming (read OZB) response. For all those who have contributed to ozb before and wanted that ipod, and yet missed out on the deal, i feel for you. My disdain is at those who never post, and yet never thank.
What do you think? How should we discourage leeching behaviour, and ensure the quality deals that ozbargainers have had the privilege to experience so far? Should we make the website more exclusive?
- Make deals with 10+ votes or more viewable only by members.
- Charge either $5 for membership, or require some sort of bargain contribution, or friend invitation to join.
- Somehow reward those who contribute.
- Somehow warn/ban leeches.
Not sure that this is really a concerning problem, but I do have to notice that a lot of people who post to the Find me a bargain thread never express any thanks or even mention if they've been able to find something, and I'm guessing its that same kind of attitude.
You also have to remember the possible 'viral' power of some deals. A stand-out iPod deal is the kind of thing that a lot of people might pass on to their friends, who in turn would forward to their friends and so forth.
I guess the underlying issue is more of a lack of courtesy, or online courtesy if that makes sense. In real life you can easily gauge if the person asking for help is interested in what you're saying and whether they'll then take that away and try it out, but if you go to Yahoo Answers I think a lot of people who try to give helpful advice often get no feedback or indication as to whether the person has even read what they wrote.