Comments / Feedback / Suggestions Thread 2019

Continued from the same feedback thread of 2018. This post will be used for general feedback in 2019. Please make any suggestions for new features, bugs, things you'd like to see changed or anything else. Please check this wiki page as your suggestion may already have been mentioned.

The majority of things you see, as well as policies on OzBargain were implemented based on user feedback. Please see the Site & Guideline Updates Announcement Thread to keep up to date with the changes/features that we implement as they are added.

closed Comments

    • Was this resolved?

      • It seems to be working now.

  • +1

    let me prelude with a <NotSerious tag>

    Given the prevalence of users posting incredibly drama heavy forum threads (gaining hundreds of replies) then disappearing and not providing either an update/a proper Close, should they be automatically disabled from making new forum threads until the first one has been closed off?

    :P

    example 1 and 2 (same user)
    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/474661
    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/473598

    </NotSerious>

  • Regarding Performance-Based Store Bans
    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/wiki/help:store_representative?…

    The vote average for the store's rep posts over the last 90 days is less than or equal to 1
    Should this be raised to 10 or another number?
    I feel purpose of site is to find bargains and a lot of store rep deals are still peddling junk nobody wants

    for example
    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/476156
    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/user/291991/nodes

    • for example

      5 deals over 6 months, and some with votes — it's far from "peddling junk nobody wants". It might be deals that the *majority of logged-in OzBargain users don't want", but as we only have one single new deals feed, all the newly posted deals will go there regardless whether these are the products that interest you or not.

      At +10 there won't be many deals posted by representatives. Many popular reps here also took multiple tries over months to work out what the community wants. Moreover, a bar too high would just further encourage sockpuppeting, where reps post deals without declaration.

      If you do not want to see store rep deals in the New Deals feed, you can go o settings -> deals and under "New Deals Page", check the option

      Do not show deals posted by Store Representatives on New Deals listing

      Popular Store Rep deals will still get onto the OzBargain front page.

      • hey scotty
        I just re-counted it.
        four valid deals, 7 votes in total. Highest they got was four votes and that was a one-off. and keeping in mind some people 'like' to just vote + on deals randomly, and some people are paid to do so.
        Seven votes total in six months.

        If you do not want to see store rep deals in the New Deals feed

        I actually do, but for bargains

        I do think bargain Jesus needs to do a cleansing of the Temple
        Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of dropshipped overpriced junk

    • +1

      Yeah this was something that was discussed earlier in the year, which created the new rules. Certainly something that probably needs revisiting on a yearly basis or so imo

      • Yes we ran through multiple thresholds and decided the current limit.

  • Should include a button which feeds a counter of how many people bought into a deal. Automatically upvotes too

    • I don't think we need another button to complicate the already complicated system. Someone can't be bothered to +1 won't spare another 0.2sec looking at another button.

      As for tracking what deals you personally have used, our suggestion has been trying to use the bookmark system. Deals often have multiple items, sometimes storewide, sometimes cashback over other deals — a simple "Bought" button just doesn't work.

  • +1

    Would you consider auto reposting or moving up the queue a deal that is in X days time and gets Y votes? Or maybe notify voters when the deal is then active.

    E.g. ALDI aeropress is active in 9 days and has about 100 votes. I'd assume most people interested/voted would forget about it in 9 days.

    • +1

      there is a reminder button for that on each deal page

    • We already highlight deals when they become active (they appear at the top of the front page), additionally all highlighted deals are in a user's daily newsletter (at the top). However we don't reguarly highlight ALDI deals due to limited availability.

      As payton suggests above, you can use the reminder button for deals you are interested in. You'll receive reminders on or before the start date via OzBargain newsletter (if subscribed) & site notification. You could also set the reminder the day before in the case of ALDI deals, in case you don't check OzBargain or your email newsletter in time on the day.

      • +1

        Thanks for the tips. I only check ozb via the /deals URL so don't know about the homepage or newsletter feature.

        Will start using the reminder feature for myself.

  • Deletion of PM Messages without consent

    From an Ozbargain group DM UI Interface:

    Remove user from conversation

    Are you sure you want to remove <ozbargain user> from this conversation? <ozbargain user> will no longer be able to see new or old any messages in this conversation including his/her own, and will not be able to re-join the conversation unless you re-add him/her.

    Is it possible to remove someone from a conversation without also deleting past messages from them. I'm uncomfortable and dismayed that it may be possible for PM initiator to delete my message history without my consent and also uncomfortable that I may do the same to them.

    • I guess it's not? Hmm can this be a feature request then?

      • I found Leaving a Conversation:

        New Feature: 16 Nov 2018

        Conversation participants can now opt-out of a conversation, and conversation owners can also remove participants in a conversation.
        Removed participants can no longer view any old or new messages in the conversation, including old messages previously sent by the >participant.
        Removed participants can be re-added by conversation owners only.

        but no corresponding update on Site & Guideline Updates (Announcement Thread) - OzBargain Forums

        Was there any discussion on this update?

    • I'm confused. Where does it say that removing someone from a conversation will also delete their past messages?

      • From Leaving a Conversation:


        Removed participants can no longer view any old or new messages in the conversation, including old messages previously sent by the participant.

        Ok not delete, hide from view until thread initiator/conversation owner decides to re-add them back in (if ever). Practically the same.

        • +1

          OK. Now that we've established that removed participants can only no longer view any messages, and that the messages are not actually deleted, I fail to see the point of your original question, which seems to be about the ability of one party in a conversation being able to permanently remove the messages of another party.

          If there's any reason for you, as the party denied access to the messages to need access to them, (for example, if the other party was making racist/abusive or any other inappropriate comments) then you could simply get a moderator to look at the conversation.

          I can't think of any other reason why you would need the ability to see past messages if you are kicked out of a conversation.

          Am I missing something? Did you have a specific use case in mind?

          • +1

            @robinCTS: Thank you power user for taking my concerns seriously.

            It's more the data rights/data privacy/DRM principle of the matter: it's your data, so no ordinary user should be able to delete it or hide it from your view without you asking permission from a higher authority such as a moderator to view it again.

            However the impetus for this is the following:

            1. I have a group conversation/DM.
            2. The conversation participants have expressed a desire to be unsubscribed from further communication
            3. I accept but don't want to hide their past messages.
            4. What can I do?

            Also I'll refer this to brighter minds then me who perhaps can elaborate why I feel uncomfortable and dimayed then me - EFA privacy mailing list if that's ok?

          • @robinCTS:

            If there's any reason for you, as the party denied access to the messages to need access to them, (for example, if the other party was making racist/abusive or any other inappropriate comments) then you could simply get a moderator to look at the conversation.

            Just an FYI, moderators can not see private messages. If there are issues with someone on PM, we recommend you block them.

            • +1

              @neil:

              Just an FYI, moderators can not see private messages

              OK who's keen on testing this ?
              Chance to get things outta your chest xD

              • +2

                @payton: He didn't say Administrators 😉😉😉

                • @Clear: You probably meant developer…

                  $ mysql ozbargain_database
                  > SELECT * FROM private_message WHERE user='Clear';
                  ...
                  ...
                  

                  Oh yeah I get this kind of access.

                  • @scotty: Moderators, Administrators, and Developers?! Damn! One more piece to the puzzle.

                    (I just assumed that all Administrators were developers. Yeah, yeah, I know that an "administrator" in computer jargon is not a developer, but I thought it was just an OzBargain term used to distinguish between Moderators and non-Moderators, simplified for the non-technical user.)

                    • @robinCTS: Yes I am just trying to point out that with access to raw database, private messages can still be read. That applies not only to OzBargain though, but to most websites having private/direct message feature (unless messages are explicitly encrypted on the front end and cipher keys are never stored in the backend).

                      • +1

                        @scotty: +1 upvote

                      • -3

                        @scotty: You're an owner of a business which has taken a long time to build up and would be a pain in the ass to rebuild again from scratch.

                        I trust that you would respect our privacy.

                        Having said that if there was a large sum of money involved (over a $1,000) then I'd probably use something end to end encrypted like WhatsApp.

                        • @brisdaz: So 3 negs but no comment? What am I doing wrong?

                          If you think I have misplaced trust or blind trust or that I'm an OzBargain fan boi nothing is further from the truth.

                  • @scotty: There are many things you wish you never saw and my chat history would be one of them ;)

            • +1

              @neil: Thanks. I should have written "moderator/administrator". I keep forgetting there's a distinction. (Administrators can see private messages, of course. Right?)

              Just read Private Messaging → Blocking Users. I presume where it says

              Keep in mind that if someone is harassing you via PM, please report to a moderator.

              that the moderator would need to contact an administrator to action the report, as the moderator wouldn't be able to see the messages.


              There also seems to be a disparity between opting out of / being removed from a single conversation, and being blocked.

              Being blocked is "stronger" as no new conversations can be started between the two users, but the blocked user is still able to see all messages in existing conversations, including new ones.

              Being removed from a conversation is "weaker" as it may be voluntary and new conversations can be started, yet the removed user can no longer view any old or new messages in the conversation, including old messages previously sent by the user.

              For consistency's sake, access to the messages should either be allowed (my preference) / not allowed similarly in both cases.

              • @robinCTS:

                that the moderator would need to contact an administrator to action the report, as the moderator wouldn't be able to see the messages.

                Not quite, we don't want to see people's PMs. We see enough shitposting publicly. :)

                We can however note down reports in case we receive other reports, however our advice will always be block the user.

                BTW, I'm not ignoring the other PM questions, I'm probably not the right person to answer those.

  • Subscription to forums

    Is it possible to subscribe to forums for new topics? I missed DAE Feel The Classified Posting Guidelines Are Too Restrictive? by two weeks because I didn't. I have a vague recollection of RSS feeds?

    • Subscription to forums - temporary workaround:

      Solved my own problem. For everyone's future reference:

      1. In the forum you want to subscribe to click on the magnifying glass next to the text box with the words: "search this forum"
      2. A search page with the search term: "category:<xx>" where xx represents the internal representation of the forum opens up. Example search page
      3. Click create alert.
      4. Every time a new topic is created you should get alerted.

      It's a temporary workaround as there is a maximum limit of 10? 20? search alerts. If you subscribe to many sub-forums then this would be easily used up.

  • +1

    Your Posts finder

    In the bottom right hand corner there is a gadget to quickly jump to Moderators, New and Original Posters. Can one please be added for Your Posts?

    Is this something that can be done in Userscript?

    • Good suggestion. This has now been implemented.

  • Moderated comments - access by moderators and moderatee

    When a comment is moderated it is deleted or vanished from public view.

    Is it possible to get the content again to re-edit to fit within the rules? Sometimes members may post comprehensive detailed posts which takes a long time to get right but due to technicalities get moderated zealously when a simple edit would make the post acceptable.

    • get moderated zealously when a simple edit would make the post acceptable.

      Zealously? Removal of a whole comment would involve a personal attack, bullying others, inappropriate comments, posting people's personal information etc. Sorry, if a comment falls into any of those categories then we have very little sympathy for that toxic behaviour and wouldn't be welcome on OzBargain.

      If it's a useful comment we will usually edit out any issue with it. Anyone can simply contact us and we can reinstate the comment with any changes. Many times it's the system that zealously automatically removes comments if it contains a referral/affiliate link.

      • Thanks for the quick detailed reply Neil.

        Sorry for the melodramatic comment. I'm still upset.

        Moderation reason associated with lost "comprehensive" (not my words but a fellow ozbargainer) +2 votes -1 vote comment.

        I've posted here because with Whirlpool I think moderatee can see their moderated comments.

  • 1 week edit time for forum posts or deals - still valid?

    I found this 2010 post - Recent Code Change - Negative Votes, Deals/Comments Editing Timeout, etc - OzBargain Forums where it said

    Deals/Comments Editing Timeout

    Moderators found some people are still going back to their old posts and edit them, which might already become irrelevant. So we are now putting time out on deals and comments editing.

    1. You can't edit a deal or a forum topic after 1 week. This is actually quite a long period of time to let the thread starter modifying the first post when the status of the deal updates.

    2. You can't edit a comment after 1 hour. Post a new comment if you want to put some amendment.

    A quick search - ozbargain "1 week" edit - Google Search - revealed no up to date information. NOthing in forum or wiki as google searches everything.

    Is this still up to date?

    • This is important as I have Free Indoor Climbing: THE NORTH FACE Global Climbing Day - Saturday 2019/08/24 - OzBargain to edit which has some crowdsourcing variable content in it - namely a table of links to gyms around Australia that need updating.

      The edit tab has gone so it seems to be correct - 1 week edit time for forum posts/deals.

      Glad I found this out now rather then on the day! Anyone please update the wiki.

      • You can request to edit a previous locked post. Just click on report on your post, or TWAM.

    • 14 days. However, moderators can change to unlimited time editing or no editing at all manually. Maybe we'll add it to the FAQ.

  • +2

    Should L plate tag be applied to a member's first forum post as well?
    given that first post by newly joined members tend to be controversial

  • +1

    Just a suggestion that if a deal post goes to crap, a store rep can't just expire it out for no reason without repercussions.

    Example:
    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/comment/7617156/redir

    You get negative comments which you can't respond to because you can't compose an argument or can't justify your actions, so you just simply hope the deal goes away and people don't notice.

    It's dishonest.

    • Have responded to comments in that thread.

  • ProductReview and Ozbargain

    I was going to point out the irony of having Ozbargain tacitly endorse ProductReview whilst having a 3.0/5.0 rating (93 reviews) by integrating ProductReview reviews in the Ozbargain site. "Trust ProductReview" OzBargain tacitly says; "OzBargain is bad" ProductReview says; "Don't trust ProductReview" Ozbargain then says.

    When did Ozbargain stop integrating ProductReview? Was this why?

    • When did Ozbargain stop integrating ProductReview? Was this why?

      We still integrate ProductReview.

      • Oh it's still integrated in stores but I looked at a few common products and it doesn't seem to be integrated there anymore.

        Also it appears to be down now. Clicking on ProductReview ratings gives a blank white page.

        • When we set up products, we add ProductReview reviews. However if at addition there isn't a PR page then it doesn't get added.

          Clicking on ProductReview ratings gives a blank white page.

          That seems to be a bug. Will have a look to see what the issue is there.

        • We contacted ProductReview and they've fixed up the issue.

      • But no comment on the main irony or hmmm H word?

        Don't get me wrong I'm a 9+ year community of Ozbargain but no-one or nothing is perfect.

  • Formatting multiple tags correctly - Who wants a reporter badge?

    Inspired by [Announcement] New Front Page Algorithm➡Robin's comment

    So if one was feeling community spirited and there is intrinsic enjoyment then it would be possible for anyone to create an RSS filter(example RSS filter) on the Ozbargain RSS new deals feed(Does this contain all new deals including 0 votes ones?) that filters for titles containing "[" and "\" and report it using the Report button with Title/Description topic.

    This is until Moocher or Scotty has time to automate this but this is probably low priority for them and that's what delegation to power users and general users is for.

    It'd also help to get the Reporter badge - Submitted 25 or more reports to the moderators in a community minded and non-spammy way.

    Would creating a new topic that power user's could subscribe to be a more efficient workflow of correcting of formatting of multiple tags correctly?

    • Ultimately it is the moderator's role to make sure among other tasks, that titles in all posts are formatted correctly.

      • Very diplomatic Neil.

        No comment on whether it's a good way to get reporter's badge or whether it would effectively reduce your workload to concentrate on other more pressing priorities? Nor comment on the last sentence about efficiency?

      • Sorry forgot about this post - 12/07/2017 - 11:17:

        Neil wrote on 12/07/2017 - 15:08:

        Brisdaz wrote on 12/07/2017 - 15:08

        Is there a way to notify 15 power users instead of wasting time of moderators with the report button for title description edits? Ideally certain reports should show up as notifications for power users?

        I guess they subscribe to this thread?

        No, please use report and use it as many times as you need.

  • Dokuwiki - Manage Subscriptions - View all?

    I've been browsing Ozbargain for many years now but I still don't know how to view all my wiki subscriptions. Dokuwiki manage subscriptions - Google Search reveals only Doku2wiki docs - Manage Subscriptions which isn't Ozbargain relevant, nor does looking at Ozbargain help - Editing and contributing to the Wiki.

    By making it easier to manage subscriptions the Ozbargain community is better protected from vandals and there is less need for moderators and power users to do moderation themselves reducing their workload to free up time for more pressing priorities.

  • Criteria for stores to be added?

    What's the criteria for stores/businesses to be added to the Ozbargain system?

    This store/business has been added without any competitions, forum posts or deals. However similiar stores/business such as 1, 2, 3… etc haven't been added despite 2 being a more then 10 years older business then this store/business

    • Stores don't just get "added".

    • As above, they get created automatically when someone posts a deal, competition or tags a forum post. There are other times that stores are created when adding additional display stores to a deal, a mod creates one to put moderation notes, a user accidentally links to a store and then it's later changed to another store, we add a store to our referral system etc.

      Not sure how Urbanclimb was created.

  • Add Forum reminders like deal and competition reminders

    With the rise of Insufficient Quantity Deals threads (see Aldi, Ebay, Costco and Everything else) there is a need for reminders for forum posts.

    How easy would it be to implement forum reminders like competition and deal reminders? Please do so.


    PS I've read through OzBargain Feature - Deal Reminder

  • -4

    Negative needs to be unlimited and limits instead placed on voting up a deal.

    What goes up must come down but atm on Ozbargain deals go up and up and away quickly lose sight of the 'grounded reality' that negatively brings to show what is and isn't actually a good deal…

  • +1

    I've gotta say, here is a reason why a vote average of +1 to not get a store banned is crap imo.

    You don't even need to check the New Deals section, just keep an eye on that members vote page!

    I know we've had members over the years who have done the same and it's just annoying to see when you know that it's just helping store reps to keep posting crappy deals.

    A deal could just be average, barely worth any votes and if they got none, they get performance banned and know to come back with a better quality deal.

    So imo it's either raise the vote average to +3 or so, or limit the number of pos votes a member can cast per hour or per day

  • Help out Ozbargain and Facebook - connect ozbargain.com.au to Ozbargain FB page

    1. Go to this Facebook post
    2. Click on the bottom right of the post the circle with the letter i in the centre that has tooltip show more information about this link
    3. Click Review Page suggestions
    4. Click next to Ozbargain selection the button Select

    FB Context button - Learn More

    Facebook's context button is designed to provide more background and information on the publishers and links that appear in News Feed so people can decide for themselves what to read, trust and share.

    The context button appears alongside links shared in News Feed. When clicked, the button opens a card showing the publisher's Wikipedia entry, related links, information about how many times the link has been shared on Facebook and where it has been shared, if available.

    If we cannot find a Wikipedia entry, then we will not show the Wikipedia module.

    • Appreciate that, but Facebook's system is just awful. The fact that a site that has been around for 13 years and a Facebook page that has been around for 11 years with 40k followers is still coming as questionable says a lot. We've tried numerous times to get verified but failed so if anyone has ideas like these happy to try them out.

      • Could get a grey one, but a blue one can't be requested

        • Don't have a Page Verification link in the first link and Scotty tried the 2nd one I think last year.

        • Enter a publicly listed phone number for your business, your country and language.

          That's where I stopped.

          Our Facebook Page is linked in the footer of every page on OzBargain so as far as we are concerned, our Facebook page is official.

      • To be fair the reason it doesn't show the domain has been there for 11 years is not Facebook's fault but a decision by the Australian Whois governing authority to not show domain creation date. It's information that Facebook can't easily access like with dot com domains.

  • Hi I have set my front page minimum vote setting to 4 to weed out some deal post emails. However I can see that deals with many more votes are not being sent. Such as this one: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/477178 (25 votes)

    Any suggestions?

    • Front page emails are actually not triggered by your front page minimum vote setting. It's only triggered once when it reaches the default number of votes, i.e. 30 at the moment.

      • Thanks for the quick reply! Any plans to change it to a customisable value? I used to receive every single deal post, which was quick became excessive! But 30 is too low as many recent deals seem to be acted on without votes.

        • The problem would be that subscription event would be triggered at every vote value, as it's possible that people would be setting their front page minimum at any vote value. That would be hugely inefficient. Moreover, with your very low setting of +3 on front page — you'll be getting way too many emails.

          • @scotty: I was subscribed to every deal so that was a very high volume. I did set it to 10 votes but changed it down at 4 as I thought that was the problem. Is there any other way of overcoming this? If I subscribe to every deal and filter on my inbox I'll miss deals that rise above 10 votes. If I only subscribe to front page deals I'll miss deals that go above 10 but not above 30.

  • What are these "$#8230;" continuation characters I started seeing in the deal list summary view?

    Saw them on Chrome, Firefox & IE on PC & mobile. Are they supposed to be ellipses ("…")?

    • Typo in the code that got into the database, which has now been fixed.

  • Support Copy and paste or Drag and drop into File Uploader

    I suggested for CashRewards receipt up loader:

    Let us copy and paste or drag and drop into the file upload box like with Google Photos, Imggur and others.

    This also applies to the OzBargain file uploader.

  • -5

    How about letting people neg a deal without the bullshit requirement of making a comment first, which if you are going against the angry mob that is ozbargain users, will just get negged into oblivion and then automatically remove your neg on the deal?
    The upvote/downvote system on here is the most broken one i have ever seen.
    If this was a game review website, every game would score a minimum of 9.9/10 very bloody time, its just stupid.

    • context :P

      eh it happens, majority don't agree with what your view may be at that particular point. Members can still opt to see negged comments, and bring it back to positive.
      ozbargain is still organised miles better than Whirlpoo, and the discussion for the most part remains factual and intelligent, without being drenched in socialist bedstain.

      Over at WP, the comments are full of wishful idealism, while at ozB they are grounded in what's realistic and doable. If I'm gonna read something, I don't want to read wishy washy general bullshit.

      One more slap at WP is that any dissenting opinion there gets wiped as 'trolling/offtopic', even though the poster was 100% civil and non-inflammatory - ie someone worth listening to.

      • +2

        Comment 1
        Comment 2

        Both of those had a neg vote attached, so of course they would've been voted down lol

        • Ooooo nice find

  • Banned Items should mention something about stores who have threatened legal action or something?

    This post was marked as "Banned Site", and no one except the reporter would know exactly why. Or should the reason for deletion be "Requested by Company"?

    • Sorry, forgot to add that takedown to the takedown thread. Have now updated all the links, etc.

    • Sorry I left the wrong link when unpublishing and it has since been fixed up (thanks Neil).

      • All good :)

  • Feedback
    The new huge filter box that automatically opens on the competitions page is REALLY annoying

    • It's collapsed by default on the all comps page, and expanded by default on not entered only if you have saved settings, but we can make it collapsed by default too.

      • This has been updated to be collapsed by default.

  • Merged from Can We Get a Dark Mode Scotty?

    My eyes are killing me searching for bargains at 3am

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