dinodirect.com has been banned for lack of popularity.
Is that a first? Most of the reasons for disliking it are reasons that'd apply to dealextreme, tinydeal etc. Even the whirlpool thread that was linked in their first deal to show they were unreliable ended in the guy who was asking about the reliability of dinodirect saying he'd received everything he ordered in a similar time frame as the likes of dealextreme.
Mod — moved to Announcement/Feedback forum.
The 'popularity' measure is not so much from user comments/experience, but their votes.
http://www.ozbargain.com.au/wiki/help:deal_posting_guideline…
Reps posting deals which are constantly attracting excessive negative votes may also see the account and/or domain banned by the mods.
So as usual, the voice of OzB members rule. :)
So… is it a first? It was an honest question.
Not quite. We actually have several reps/domains currently banned for this reason.
Interesting. I suppose the likes of DX/tinydeal/COTD are saved by being popular with other users.
Good to know.
It only affects Rep posted deals. DX and COTD don't have reps posting deals on here.
tinydeal has pretty bad votes..
A few average deals and a few neg-spammed deals :\
http://www.ozbargain.com.au/deals/tinydeal.com
Thanks cwong. Will keep an eye on them. Their deals seem to be hit and miss.
If people notice a bunch of rep posted deals garnering negative or no positive votes, let us know.
Should maybe define what is considered as popular or not popular (i.e. need an average of 10% of total deals hitting 10 or 15 votes, over a post of 10 deals or some sort of vote average threshold perhaps)?
http://www.ozbargain.com.au/deals/1dealaday.com.au
I have nothing against that one, just using it as an example, a lot of deals that fluctuate between 5~10 and a few lemons as well that have some neg votes, as well as a 44 +vote post.
At the moment it's a manual process and can vary. If we spot something that has 0 or negative votes over 2 or 3 deals (e.g. it's a downward pattern) then it's up for a posting ban for a month. We review the votes on the deals to see if they are legit reasons. We are scraping the bottom of the barrel so to speak.
Cwong, I think something that's more complex as you state, is probably best if Scott programs that in an automated way. In this case, some kind of karma system which would reward good reps/sites (more than 1 post a day/2 per week) and punish bad (less than posting limits).
I've banned at least 5 or 6 so it's probably a lot more than that including other mods bans. It affects all sites and if reps are going to post non-deals (aka advertisements), then they will be banned. A temporary ban is put in place to give the rep one more chance to start posting good deals. If not the rep or the site will be banned.
Note - its really a lack of interest that determines the "popularity". ie lack of positive votes. Its not NET votes. We do have some very strong opinions by some members which is their right, but if we see some interest we tend to leave the deals alone.
Plus mods use their own judgment as well.
Also reps are warned if they are under scrutiny and are told to post only deals that appeal, if they ignore that then the hammer comes down
Fair call.
If all you get is a lot of views, the odd positive vote, and a lot of negs then there's not a lot of reason for the listings.
I cannot see the previous deal by dinodirect. Is this because it has fallen below a certain negative vote threshold or because it has been removed by mods?
If it is the latter, perhaps it would be better to keep previous posts by reps while banning future deals from them? This way, we would at least have a record of the discussion and research surrounding a particular company, as opposed to wiping it out.
illusionary, you are correct. When reps or domains are banned, the deals aren't unpublished. I'm not sure why those are all unpublished.
An example of a current ban due to negative or no positive votes, http://www.ozbargain.com.au/deals/hotelathome.com.au
It this case, there has been no other posts other than by the rep.
A couple of months ago, EBGames faced the same fate but because there were sometimes non-rep/user posts, a ban was put on the rep.
So at the end of the day, many reps/companies decide not to pursue posting on here after a ban. Then there's the case of others who come back and offer awesome deals for OzBargain members which is what we want.
Cheers, thanks for pointing that out.
Great move getting rid of dinodirect, and ill also add that the dinodirect rep did suckpuppeting on one occasion on OzBargain, and that deal was removed for this reason.
Its also been posted on the internet and deleted threads on dinodirect's website about many issues with orders not being received or customer service issues etc definitely a company to keep clear of.
Sounds to me like the system works