New forum post for the new year. Please use this post to submit feedbacks and request features. Again, no guarantee that requests will be responded or implemented, and often feature requests can take months to be pushed out, when there are other issues blocking them.
Here are similar posts in the past: 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2017.
Popularity is a function of votes + recency and we think it is pointless to upvote a deal that has been posted too long ago. If you didn't upvote it when it was first posted, there's no point to vote it months later. If you are using votes as a way to keep track deals, try "bookmark".
Does anyone else with Mate NBN in Brisbane being detected as coming from overseas?
The root cause is Mate communications swapping wholesaler's from Vocus to Wireline. This is a systematic issue affecting many ozbargainer's (who maybe too busy to complain) as Mate is one of the cheapest NBN so to be proactive (and save time long term) maybe feedback to your upstream supplier of IP information.
Please see https://www.ozbargain.com.au/comment/12420742/redir :
MATE changed users from Vocus to Wireline resulting in new IP addresses. Some of the IP blocks haven't updated and their location is showing as USA.
The Ozbargain referral system has dropped the 20% off Facebook store referral now. I'm sure it was there yesterday. Anyone know why?
Please see Meta Portal Video Calling Device (10.1" 800 x 1280, 13 MP Webcam) /w Alexa $79 Shipped (Save $200 ) @ Facebook where the requests for referral codes is getting spammy.
Did Facebook have a word with OzBargain?
The store portal.facebook.com wasn't set on that deal (was only set to Facebook.com). It's now been set. I'll start removing the comments shortly.
Sure, done.
When you remove comments I think from past experience violators are notified but only with a generic use the referral system but not a direct link to the store.
Could a developer set an automated system to auto-populate your notification feedback message with a link to the store referral edit section related to the store linked to the deal linked to the comment. For example in the above to https://www.ozbargain.com.au/user/<user-id-no>/edit/referral…
The portal.facebook.com referral link only has three users :(
Anyone else keep on getting gateway errors?
Error 502 Ray ID: <redacted>• 2022-07-20 21:57:04 UTC Bad gateway
I'll post the redacted bit in TWAM forum.
I find it a bit strange that a users full comment history can be viewed. Why not implement a similar system to Whirlpool Forums (Last 120 days viewable)?
Shouldn't be a major task to implement as you'll just be filtering the info from the comments history page.
Such a system will detract profile stalkers (Yes, they exist!) and help to prevent dox attempts.
Such a system will detract profile stalkers
I mean who does that, seriously?!
…
This is open to the internet.
You'd be surprised. And as the forum reaches multiple decades things that were acceptable in the past are no longer acceptable now but you'll still be crucified as if the past was now.
The implementation of the email link to verify a login is incredibly bad. I use Ozbargain from multiple devices. Only one of them is also where I read email. Demanding that the verification link be clicked on the device that you generated it from is unnecessary, annoying and, quite frankly, stupid.
"You have used a login confirmation link that does not match the user recorded in this browser. Please try opening the link from the e-mail in the browser that you originally logged in from."
The error message is also inaccurate. The confirmation link does match the user recorded in this browser. It's just on a different device, which also is being used by the same user.
We don't know whether it's the same user if the link is clicked from a different browser. We don't want attacker trying out random confirmation links.
If you don't like the email two factor authentication, you can either turn it off (from your settings -> security page), or use a token based 2FA.
Oh, thanks! I never knew it was a setting. I'm sure I never turned that on.
I’ve read through a forum topic and changed my view about a topic. I want to change my poll vote. But it won’t let me…
Please click report on the post, we can enable changing votes if the OP did not choose that option and it's appropriate.
Not a fan of the change to notifications where clicking on empty space navigates to the deal. Was useful to be able to click on that space to mark the notification as read.
Same - and it feels like the links are no longer blue anymore like they used to be (unless my memory is failing me again.)
Think so; I also prefer those reverted.
I too liked the old notification system. Even with the Orange dot, its not that convenient. To mark a single notification as read, I would have to click on the dot after which only the dot will change its colour.
Previously, clicking in the empty blue area would remove the blue colour which would be an easy indication that the notification is read. Plus clicking in the empty area wont open the notification. Is it possible to customise it to our liking and go to the previous version by any chance?
Same here…. not a fan of the orange dot… the old notification works better on a mobile phone.
Looks like there was an update last night and another this morning? The orange bullet points are nice and stand out a lot better than the shaded deals. Very handy when you have blue light filter on or brightness low.
Nice work guys.
I wish the notifications at least had the title of the post/thread in bold again. Now it's just a long line of plain text and completely unfriendly from a UX perspective.
Feature request: Add a feature to see all the new comments since last visit.
When I subscribe to a post, the first new comment triggers an email, but I can't find any good way to see all comments since I last visited the page. This is mostly a problem in popular deals but also overnight or if you don't check for a few days. It kinda compels us to be quick to load the link or refresh the page to minimise the chance of missing other comments.
Instead, if there was some optional highlighting that would show new comments since the last page load (similar to grey highlight for OP and yellow highlight for my own comments), that would solve the problem. Another solution would be to be able to sort comments in reverse date, newest first. Maybe also include the parent comment for context. But that could be confusing and messy.
I couldn't find this mentioned elsewhere. I searched this thread for 'subscribe' and searched the site for 'subscribe miss comment'. So apologies if this is a dupe.
New comments already have "new" labeled next to them. You can also use the arrows at the bottom of the page to navigate through all the new comments as they are scattered through different sub-threads.
I hadn't noticed it before, sorry. The marker survives a page reload, so is it time-based, or since-last-visit?
It's time-based. Your last-read time for the post gets reset a few minutes after you last load the page.
Not sure if this was a site update or I accidentally changed an option, but the unread notifications is now a dot rather than the whole noti being darker.
Any way to change back?
How about renaming the "Introduce Yourself" forum to simply "AMA", and the introduce yourself bit could just be merged into one forum post under "everything else" or something
Let's face it, the only people introducing themselves these days are spammers/sockpuppets, and doesn't serve much of a purpose otherwise.
Just look at how many AMA's are on just the first page
Hi,
I have a request for a live action UI feature, it would be cool if there was some way to indicate the new items when you switch back to the live action tab. A dummy row in the table that appears whenever the first new item gets added when the tab is hidden, and then gets removed whenever the tab is hidden.
Or alternately a style that gets applied to new items with a very slow colour fade (30s or so) when you switch back to the tab (but I think the row would be easier).
We are already showing the number of missed items in the title of the browser tab, when the Live Action tab is not in the active state. So you just want to have temporary visual indicator of new items when switched back to become the active tab?
Yes, precisely. When I click back and it says [32] or something I cant count that far without getting lost and my memory is too bad to remember what I've already seen. :D.
If its too much trouble I can probably finally learn how greasemonkey works.
Actually you don't even need a new row. Could just add a class with a different border style on the bottom. Don't know why I didn't think of that first : /
Hi team,
I think it’ll be a good idea to highlight the prices in the notification just like the main posts.
Thanks
With the changed notifications, when a report is resolved, I can't click on "If you need to discuss the issue further, please click here." to talk with a moderator.
Also, could you change the post title in notifications to a different colour/font or to italics?
Previously a notification contains HTML that can have multiple links, including an extra link that let you create a TWAM, but new notification front-end only allows plain text + one link, as browser notification / mobile notification does not allow multiple links either. We do get reduced number of TWAMs though, which is a bonus for the mods :)
I'll encourage users to use existing TWAM posts rather than creating new ones every time you are not happy with the resolution.
We do get reduced number of TWAMs though, which is a bonus for the mods :)
Haha, I thought so.
I'll encourage users to use existing TWAM posts
Maybe change the notification phrase from "please click here" to "please use the Talk with a Moderator forum" or something like that?
Another issue I've partially noticed before.
Arrow buttons for navigating comments do not work when you:
The workaround is to select another type of comment first, but this cannot be done if there is only one type.
If there's no new comments in a post, then there's no list of comments to navigate through, hence the arrows don't work. What's the expected behaviour here?
There are a few types of comments you can navigate through (new, OP's, mods', neg voters' and your own comments). The preference is saved when you change the settings so upon opening a new node page, the navigate to would be default to the previous selection. However not all types are available in all nodes (and sometimes there's none). So change to the first option when the previous option isn't available?
If there's no new comments in a post, then there's no list of comments to navigate through
There can be. Try opening a post with no new comments but containing your own comments in a new tab/window. You can't navigate between your comments.
So change to the first option when the previous option isn't available?
Yes, that would fix this. Just need to make sure it doesn't break things when there's no option.
What if you keep the current behaviour but change the drop-down list to radio buttons? That would reduce the number of clicks needed and ensure the selected type is kept across different posts even when the count becomes zero.
With a lot of comments suggesting we should have one page that shows a list of all new movies added to each different subscription service each month, from this post maybe we should?
That's just background noise to the generally well-received posts
It only seems like a majority when it's on a post for a movie/tv show which isn't popular
It takes 3 clicks to hide [SUBS] deals forever (instructions at the bottom of any subs post), less time than writing a comment. So as not to infringe on those who still want to see them.
This SUBS post with +374 votes was the third most popular deal in the past 7 days. The vote average for all [SUBS] posts is actually higher than that of other posts, some of the most popular recent posts include:
+543 Votes [SUBS] Spider-Man: No Way Home Added to Amazon Prime Video & Binge
+582 Votes [SUBS] "No Time to Die" Added to Amazon Prime Video
+537 Votes [SUBS] James Bond 007 Collection Added to Amazon Prime Video
Is it really about how many positive votes you can get though?
What if ozbargain tried allowing adult content, gambling content, freeware, duplicate deals and more? Why can't people who don't want that just hide it?
Sometimes there is more to it then does the community give it positive votes.
My opinion on it are that these deals should be posted for special occasions that are not related to their normal business practice, maybe Netflix/Disney etc release a movie earlier then planned, maybe a planned theater only release is released to Disney on the same day, etc. Otherwise people are just announcing normal business decisions and we are essentially their marketing tool.
Why does it matter? Because Ozbargain is about bargains and its a slippery slope when it becomes "OzInformation"
Is it really about how many positive votes you can get though?
Yes. Some top posters care big time about votes and vote averages. Not wanting to share anything that'll get below a certain number. As for me it's not the votes that count.
Those who complain do not take this perspective into account. Some of us do 'roaming' subscriptions for short periods with different streaming, to catch up with content. Where possible, we like to time it (for best bargain value) when there is content we especially want to watch. The argument advanced by the complaining crowd is that since it is already included with the subscription, it is not a deal. That clearly assumes an existing subscriber's bias point of view. What about the ones looking to roam - timing the sign up when it includes content we especially want to watch- is of course a deal. And these posts can inform of possibly interesting upcoming content.
You are saying that because of your situation you want additional information to help you utilise your subscription. That doesn't make that information a "bargain"
There are great lists of what is coming to Netflix/Disney etc next month that will tell you everything you need, why would you avoid that in the hopes that an ozbargain member posts one of the movies coming to your subscription service? Ozbargain has missed so many good movies/TV Shows that someone like yourself should know and would know if you followed a "coming to" list.
@samfisher5986: Whether it is a bargain or not is subjective from one's viewpoint. It is a bargain to the segment I described - looking to roam for short periods. You call it not a bargain - because you are already taking the perspective of an existing subscriber. This site tries to cater to the largest pool of members looking for bargains. So it does not follow that you are a more worthy bargain hunter than the segment I describe. Especially since you can turn off seeing such posts so easily.
@bluesky: @bluesky @samfisher5986 Please continue this discussion in the Subscription Services Site Discussion Forum.
Thanks. There is no more I wish to say.
Something is wrong with this revision. Most items are displaying (No history) instead of the content. And I added the expiry date after that but it's not showing up in the history.
Could it be an internal coding error on the system side?
It’s showing the stuff that are needed to see from a user perspective but only happens when you go compare revision history
I did notice it too on some of the deals posted when a mod/power user edited the post
That might be the case. Data other than title& content are serialised when stored as past revisions — they might have not been stored properly.
I'll have a look
This is prolly a long shot of asking but when I post cashback deals with multiple retailers and to make things simpler for the mods, is there a way to add an action to let the deal poster to add the Related Stores by themselves?
The implications of allowing that for all users creates issues with the UI in submission, restricting what stores can be selected, users selecting multiple or wrong stores creating more manual work for staff. It's not a functionality we will be adding at this time.
No worries, thanks for getting back to me. I guess I'll keep on doing what I normally do and let the mods add the related stores later on :)
Can we maybe look to offer camelx3 and Keepa comparisons in Amazon posts?
Camels seem to be unreliable lately
Keepa doesn't do Amazon AU. I think those price trackers are powered by Amazon Marketplace API which only works when there's affiliate sales. Maybe Camelx3 & Keepa can't get enough affiliate sales to keep the tracking running.
Tracking price history of some specific items isn't hard. The difficulty comes from tracking all possible items.
The site is popular as ever. I think we should get more than 5 negative votes per day. There is a lot of moderation to be done by the community.
I, for one, never understood the breaks on negative voting. I understand the intention is to "prevent infighting," but I don't think these breaks ever achieved that. What they do do is prevent the community from improving the quality of listed deals. The preclusion from voting on comments older than 30 days I understand even less. Whenever I'm in the market for an item, I search here first to read what people have to say about it—the brands, models, etc—as this community attracts some real experts (or absolute fanatics!) on specific niches. Invariably, I'm looking at posts and comments months and years old, and often want to vote up legendarily helpful comments, but no: can't.
The 1-day popular deals list is pretty much my OB homepage. I'd love to hide the tags and categories I'm not interested in from it too, though. Is that possible?
Precisely, @onetwothreefour, I am asking for that option for the Popular Deals page too.
I know categories can be hidden (or underweighed) in front page personalisation screen, but could we have an option to hide it altogether given on the category page, as we do with tags. I find it pretty convenient to, when scanning the deals on my front page, to just click the ones that don't interest me, look at the tag outside my interests and check the options to hide it.
Post your request on the feedback thread if you feel the need for everyone to know
In addition to making it easier to recognise the item (for someone not familiar with it, e.g. "oh, I see, it's a CPU fan"), it would save click for those either wanting to see other similar deals (for comparison sake, perhaps), or wanting to hide them all.
Can you use Talk with a Mod for your separate requests instead of posting them publicly?
Why? Is this not a change that would affect all users? Perhaps some oppose it; perhaps others would like that too. Perhaps yet others have better ideas on how to implement it. This way @scotty can gauge users' interest, and prioritise accordingly. Do you have a problem with open discussion? Why comment on a thread that doesn't interest you?
This. Three topics on the same thing … As for why? It's a public forum. Your posts just clog up the forums when they're all basically asking for the same thing.
Edit: And clearly, the mods agree as the other two posts have been merged into this one. Thanks for the neg @wisdomtooth!
No, they don't. I simply misplaced it (thanks, @scotty; I had forgotten this is where requests should go). The requests are still public, separate and distinct, though (hence the neg, @kerfuffle).
I can't find the thread, but I thought someone had raised the lack of clarity around the following:
Send me notifications for:
new comments
new replies
What do each of these do? If there is no intention to change the options, can there be mouse-over help or something? At least this way, the options are explained at the point of subscription.
If I am subscribing to a thread, I want to be notified of all new posts to that thread.
Cheers!
The comment notification part is undergoing a revamp at the moment. A new update is coming and we'll make an announcement + explanation soon.
Is there an easy why to find out how many posters and/or unique posters there are in a forum topic or deal?
When a store is perma-banned, is there a point to not banning the store rep?
For example (temp ban only due to posting spam post)
Store rep can still post for other store(s) as long as it isn't from Amazon and complies with our Deal Posting Guidelines
ie. if they have a direct site, etc.
I should add another reason is so that reps can still continue to provide support on older deals via comments or PMs. By banning them, it removes those abilities.
Both points make sense cheers 🙂
The ‘click here’ when you report a post and get a notification that it’s been resolved doesn’t actually have anywhere to click here to discuss further with a mod. Clicking at the click here only either marks the notification as unread or takes you to the post you reported on. Checked it wasn't me by checking the same notification on Chrome on my phone, Safari on my iPad, and Firefox on my desktop.
Yes "click here" didn't with anymore as we have changed the way notification works. We should rework on the template & provide an alternate way for users to raise a TWAM.
Does anyone have an issue while browsing on their phone the site going into this loop? As in, i click on a deal and it loads the page, but then if i go back it'll try and reload the deal page and then eventually time out
Seems to happen quite often on my ios device
What iOS / Safari version? We had some special code for Safari that forces a reload when Back is pressed & the page is loaded from cache. Maybe Safari has changed something in the latest version?
I’m on ios16, but it was happening on the last IOS I was on 15.6
It would be great to filter search results by votes.
I often use the website to get a good idea on what product is popular when I’m looking to purchase something or to get an idea on what is considered a good price and being able to restrict the search to only show posts with xx votes would help narrow down the search quickly.
A similar feature request was made back in 2012 to sort by votes but was never implemented as far as I can tell. This would be much more useful IMO.
For targeted deals, can we have [Targeted] tag in the title (either manually entered by users or automatically added when displaying deals)? There are many cases when it's difficult to tell if a deal is targeted or not without clicking into it. For example, if a targeted deal is in the future or expired, only "in x days" or "expired" banner can be seen.
On the listing pages we are only showing one title tag due to limited horizontal space, and I think the expiry status is more important than whether a deal is targeted. There might be some enhancement in the future, but for now, we won't show multiple title tags on deal listing pages.
I think the expiry status is more important than whether a deal is targeted.
I agree, but on store pages, the deals are already grouped into active, upcoming, long running and expired deals. So maybe you could show [Targeted] tag/banner on the new store pages. :)
What determines if active deals in deal pages are displayed in grid or list format? Is it the number of deals and/or set for each store? Could you allow the user to choose?
On store pages, it's the number of deals. However the store page will go through a revamp soon so we are likely going to drop grid layout soon and have dedicated pages for active / long running deals if there are too many (in case of marketplaces like Amazon or eBay).
we are likely going to drop grid layout
That's good to hear. I prefer the list layout.
The word "deal" is not in bold in notifications for subscribed products.
This was fixed last month, thanks for letting us know.
For Long Running Deals I can't upvote a deal if it's more then 180 days ago. Has there been in-depth discussion about this limit?