Comments / Feedback / Suggestions Thread 2024

scotty on 04/01/2024 - 12:17
Last edited 04/01/2024 - 12:29 by 1 other user

New year — new feedback post. 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.

Similar posts in the past: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, and 2018.

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.

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Comments

      • CodeXD on 15/02/2024 - 09:10

        I don't understand, why not just block them and then you won't see what they say about you? Does it matter that they can still see your posts?

        • kerfuffle on 15/02/2024 - 09:12
          +1

          The point he's making (as am I) is that you can't block others from seeing your comments. You can only hide comments from users, and block users in private messages.

          It does matter because they spend their days seeking out your comments, and try provoke you

          • CodeXD on 15/02/2024 - 09:15

            @kerfuffle: How do they provoke you if you've already blocked them? They cannot send you messages nor can you see their post?

            • mapax on 15/02/2024 - 09:22

              @CodeXD: By existing on the site?

            • kerfuffle on 15/02/2024 - 09:44
              +1

              @CodeXD: You can still see their posts on the website. They can still see your posts and comments here. The only blocking is for private messages.

              • CodeXD on 15/02/2024 - 10:59
                +1

                @kerfuffle: Thanks for the clarification. That makes sense.

                I agree that when someone is blocked on a platform it should cut communication and visibility, including posts and comments.

            • Ghost47 on 15/02/2024 - 12:45

              @CodeXD: Because they reply to you and try to spread misinformation about you (i.e. hate speech, it’s in the guidelines) on comments you make that they disagree with (yeah, a downvote isn’t enough for them, they need to harass and troll) and they do this over and over and over for years, even when you’ve blocked them and told them so. In fact, if you tell them you’ve blocked them and then reply telling them again to stop, they actually find joy in it and say something like “Blocked me yet you still reply 😂”.

              Why should they be able to do that if I’ve blocked them? If you read my reply further down in the thread, I outline what one person did even when I blocked them.

              Yet the mods kept punishing me for standing up to myself and didn’t help me when I provided a lot of evidence of comments of this person who kept harassing me and broke the site guidelines multiple times in many of their comments towards me. If this was the workplace and I had Teams messages and emails of this behaviour you can bet that person would’ve been dealt with by HR by either putting them on leave without pay or firing them for harassment.

              If this feature is implemented it would probably be better for the users and the mods, because they won’t have to sift through years of evidence someone presents to them about how they’re being constantly harassed (not that they bothered in my case anyway). If blocking others prevents them from seeing your comments, that ends any contact and will make less work for the mods, which I’m sure they’ll enjoy.

              Although to be honest some people are so zealous they’ll probably try and browse your comments in an incognito tab or on another machine or virtual machine. As I said in my other comment bargains attract some really nasty people. I’ve never, ever experienced harassing behaviour like that on any other online forum before. For me it’s just completely inexplicable.

    • CodeXD on 22/02/2024 - 11:55

      @scotty Hi scotty didn't see you or admin reply to this one. When someone is blocked it should cut connection between the two, not only in private message.

      • Moderatorscotty on 22/02/2024 - 11:58

        Comments are public by default so you can't really compare that with private messages. You cannot block someone from seeing something that's otherwise public.

  • Ghost47 on 14/02/2024 - 19:02
    +1

    So the last time this was suggested appears to be back in 2021, but it's anonymous posting of threads as we aren't allowed to have more than one account on OzBargain.

    From what I've observed some people seem hold grudges and keep track of what others say on this website, which I think makes people uncomfortable making threads requesting advice (or should I say, advise) on OzBargain.

    You [Scotty] mentioned this the last time it was suggested:

    Maybe OzBargain is just not the place that you should post certain things that you do not wish to put your name next to it?

    Is your stance still a "no" to this Scotty? Or is the infrastructure of the website still a limitation to making this feature possible? What if you could PM an account on this website with the thread, and that account posts it? Or would that be a moderator headache?

    If anonymous threads are too complicated or could be too difficult to moderate, would allowing people to have an anonymous throwaway account (so two in total) be possible? Obviously a lot of questions that need to be problem solved.

    • Clear on 15/02/2024 - 00:12

      From what I've observed some people seem hold grudges and keep track of what others say on this website

      Report them to the mods and they'll take action.

      • Ghost47 on 15/02/2024 - 02:41

        Well that's the thing Clear, I opened three TWAM threads over the course of a year about someone who'd been harassing me for a while. Two threads had zero replies and were closed with a nice green tick. One thread had three short replies (from one mod) and was closed, again with a nice green tick. TWAM guidelines say "Abuse and personal attacks against moderators will not be tolerated and may result in your thread being unanswered and/or your account being banned" but I didn't abuse or attack the mods in any of my threads against them, why would I?

        If you'll indulge me this is what happened with the thread that actually had replies.

        In 2021, I was penalty boxed because someone and I were in an argument where they were clearly trolling/bullying me trying to get under my skin. By trolling/bullying I mean they were replying to my comments frequently; making stuff up about me, twisting my words to make false claims against me, all to just get under my skin. By that point, that behaviour had been going on for a long time — at least 2 years — and even continued on after that TWAM thread. By then we'd had multiple arguments (all started by them replying to me) and I'd been PB'd multiple times. So by then I had a lot of actual solid evidence of their behaviour towards me.

        When I opened a TWAM thread after that argument, I was met with the following (across the three replies):

        • You've written a lot so if you can condense a summary into a couple of short questions then we can answer any queries.
        • You are in the penalty box for personal attacks.
        • For privacy reasons, we can't discuss any penalties/warnings/etc. of other users. (Because I was asking why they weren't PB'd when I was.)
        • Feel free to report after you are out of the penalty box.
        • If that's the case, then they don't violate commenting guidelines. You may disagree and that's your opinion to have. Further debate is not warranted. (Relating to previous comments I flagged from the person.)

        There's a few more sentences in the replies, but in essence they had a really unhelpful, power-trippy vibe to them. And those replies were to mine, which were lengthy (like this comment), so it was like "Yeah nah, not going to read and absorb all that, just gonna pick out a couple of sentences and continue punching down on you."

        The thing is, I had to write a lot in the comments because that person had been constantly trolling/bullying and harassing me for at least two years at that point. How am I supposed to condense it all down to a few lines if I want to get my freaking point across!? In one of my replies I said "So what else do I need to do mods? I've told them to leave me alone. I've blocked them. I've been avoiding them since at least April. Yet they keep trolling my comments and I'm the one thrown in the PB for telling them they're a POS human and they're let off scot free?"

        I even provided a list of what I'd done, that I'd been avoiding and ignoring them, I blocked them etc. yet they were still following me around after I asked them to leave me alone multiple times! I replied to myself several times in the thread with links to comments they'd made about me over the years (and those were the ones that weren't unpublished, so there were actually a lot more that I couldn't link to) yet nothing was done about it! The thread was eventually closed and the person kept harassing me afterwards!

        In case I was being misunderstood completely, I even linked the Hate Speech Guidelines which clearly says "Hate speech includes spreading misinformation about a person/group with the intent to harm, create prejudice or fear." followed by evidence of comments from that person. And I linked the Trolling Guidelines followed by examples of trolling comments! And now that I look, I can see that in some cases only my comments were deleted when theirs were left up (as if the mods wanted others to see what that person had been claiming about me), whereas other times the person's comments were deleted as "Reply to deleted comment".

        I was advised I'd been PB'd because I personally attacked the person, yet the way I saw it was that I was simply trying to stand up for myself against someone who had been making claims about me, trolling me and bullying me constantly for a long time, at least two years by then (and that's what one should do; stand up to a bully, not let them run with it). I'd make a comment and this person would show up claiming stuff about me to get under my skin for their own entertainment and fun ffs. Just like how schools don't do jack shit about bullying, that's what my treatment was from the mods. And this person actually has kids, and I'm sure if someone bullied their kids they'd be outraged and want to snap the bully's neck, yet they willingly do it to others?

        So unfortunately, I don't think the mods are willing to help me for whatever reason. I must've said something the mods don't like and now they have a grudge against me. Or maybe, just like my harasser, they find joy in other people's pain. Or maybe they bought into what that person was saying about me and sided with them, because that's honestly how it felt and still feels to be honest. I don't know if others feel the same, but after that I was just like "Ok, clearly mods just don't give a damn." I'll only bother opening a TWAM if I need to remove an accidental store association or something that's easy for mods to action. I've never had anyone follow me around on a forum for years on end, harassing me and making false claims about me to get under my skin like that before that person came along. When I actually needed help, and when I asked for help, no help was given. The behaviour is just extremely bizarre to me, I just don't understand it. I even looked up the Productreview page of OzBargain because Scotty mentioned it in his comments and the comments there mention the moderation on this website as being a negative, so I'm not the only one that feels this way!

        It just makes me feel sad, honestly. And I'm not saying I'm a saint either, I can admit I sent a rude PM to that person once, again standing up for myself and telling them to (profanity) off and guess what, I was PB'd for it. Fair enough, I do something bad, I get PB'd. But they do something horrible for months and years on end, and they are let off? I try to do the right thing; I try to give advice on the forums, I post a deal when I see one, sometimes I add a goofy reply to a thread, I've never followed anyone around for months online being a dick to them trying to get under their skin and cause them mental anguish for my own entertainment… but when someone harasses me, follows me around constantly, makes shit up about me constantly for years on end, trolls me, bullies me, I'm the one who's (profanity) PB'd and seemingly, nothing ever happens to them? And that's after I've done what I can by ignoring, avoiding and blocking them FFS. I would've even created a new account completely to avoid that person, but I probably would've been picked up as a sockpuppet and honestly, I can imagine they would've tried to profile me eventually by my comments anyway!

        So that is why I ask for this feature, and because as kerfuffle mentioned in the previous comment, there is no way to hide your comments from others even if you wish to.

        If you read all that, thanks. I apologise it was lengthy but it's been on my chest for a while now. I would downvote your comment because I seriously disagree with it, but I'd feel bad about it. I'm glad the mods seem to help you since you're recommending them, but they don't help everyone from my (and other people's) experience. Some people on OzBargain are a protected species for whatever reason, I suspect they're friendly with the mods and the mods favour them, it's the only explanation I can come up with. And I guarantee you, that person will read this comment and have a really good hearty laugh about it, they will revel in the fact they've caused mental anguish to another person in a state that is thousands of kilometres away from them (likely due to a political view they have of others from Victoria — a lot of people think Victorians are socialists) and they will give themselves a big pat on the back. That's how some people are, they actually find joy in other people's misery, troubles, pain etc. The term is schadenfreude.

        Bargains attract some really nasty people :(

        • 7hours 44min ago on 02/03/2024 - 21:25
          -2

          Didn't read any of that. Delete your account and start again, problem solved.
          I wish I had as much time as you to worry about such trivial things.

    • Moderatorscotty on 15/02/2024 - 15:45

      Is your stance still a "no" to this Scotty? Or is the infrastructure of the website still a limitation to making this feature possible?

      It's still a no. Nothing to do with the infrastructure of the website, but simply we do not wish to have anonymous posting — everyone should be responsible to what has been posted.

      If you have already blocked & ignored the person, then why is that person's "stalking" still concerning you? Besides, your use of "stalking" is really subjective, and the mods do not agree with your assessment. I have also gone through all your past TWAMs and I can understand why the mods would not want to touch those cases.

      • Ghost47 on 15/02/2024 - 18:17

        It's still a no. Nothing to do with the infrastructure of the website, but simply we do not wish to have anonymous posting — everyone should be responsible to what has been posted.

        Fair enough.

        If you have already blocked & ignored the person, then why is that person's "stalking" still concerning you?

        Ok, my definition of stalking is wrong. My concern is, despite me doing everything I could (i.e. ignoring > requesting them to leave me alone multiple times > blocking them), they kept replying to me, making false claims about me and baiting me into argument repeatedly for over two years. Please consider if that was happening to you or a mod (on another website), would it be acceptable?

        I have also gone through all your past TWAMs and I can understand why the mods would not want to touch those cases.

        That saddens me Scotty. I thought the guidelines on Hate Speech and Trolling were clear. Objectively, if someone follows someone else around on the forums, replies to them frequently making false claims about them (i.e. "intent to create prejudice against that person") and tries to bait them into argument constantly (i.e. "intended to incite controversy or conflict or cause annoyance or offence"), I just don't see how those don't fit the guidelines and aren't warranted for punishment, and I certainly don't understand why I was punished for breaking guidelines when someone else who was clearly breaking them repeatedly was not.

        I obviously can't change your opinion on it all and it's fine — you're the boss — but it's clear others have the same concerns regarding moderation. And I get it, you want to defend your team, but everyone makes mistakes including me.

        Anyway, it's fairly obvious I've been in a deep hole with you and the mods for a while now. I'm just asking that you and the mods remove any bias from your decision making (obviously you don't need to, I have no right to tell you what to do, I'm simply asking). Sorry about the trouble.

  • ExPrinceHairy on 22/02/2024 - 09:30

    Archiving private message conversations - has this been brought up as a suggestion? A quick search didn't reveal anything, but I could be wrong.

    • Moderatorscotty on 22/02/2024 - 09:59

      What do you mean by "archiving"? You can already create multiple folders and move the conversations to those folders.

      • ExPrinceHairy on 22/02/2024 - 11:54

        Oh yes, that will satisfy my query. Thanks!

  • liquornoodlescabbage on 22/02/2024 - 12:22

    Would there be a way to ban deals with coupon codes or just the coupon codes themselves if they match a referral code already in the OzBargain referral system? Twice now I've personally seen and reported Superloop referral codes being posted as deals, they get taken down quick enough but still get clicks. Mods are always great but it's still sad to see people exploiting the 10-15 minutes it can take to get things taken down.

    • Moderatorhamza23 on 22/02/2024 - 12:26

      if they match a referral code already in the OzBargain referral system

      In both cases, the referral codes weren't in the referral system. Likely those new users don't even know the referral system exists, or they probably wouldn't bother posting it as a deal.

      What we do instead, is ban new users post for particular domains, that have a history of referral spam. We have set this for Superloop now.

  • follow on 22/02/2024 - 23:03
    -3

    deals that say "+ delivery" is vague. The delivery fee can make it not a deal
    can there be a template for in the description for delivery fee to all capital cities?
    i understand that posters may not want to go checkout 8 times but maybe it can get setup for anyone to input that info.
    then if it is incorrect, then a power user or mod can be notified to change it

    • CodeXD on 22/02/2024 - 23:18

      If you read through the comments most of the time users already add it in.

      • follow on 22/02/2024 - 23:56

        have to wade through a lot irrelevant info though

    • zzyss on 23/02/2024 - 10:32
      +1

      I totally get where you're coming from, and sure, this might work for the occasional popular deal, but relying on goodwill from many users means it'll absolutely be ignored for the greater majority of deals where people won't be arsed (why make other users do work for someone else's post?) and the exact same problem remains.

      Plus it relies on people doing this quickly enough before the post gets views, which there's no guarantee of. And if most people won't see it 'coz they're seeing the post before the info gets added, then we've lost the point again.

      • follow on 23/02/2024 - 13:45

        maybe create a badge for doing so enough times?
        people already comment it occasionally, it doesn't take much effort to enter it in a table.

  • HamBoi69 on 23/02/2024 - 09:03

    Unsure if it has been suggested before, but similar to the way the "Long Running/Re-Post" tag appears next to those deals, would it be possible to implement a Green "Back-in-stock/ at price" tag for deals when highlighted or in general on the front page?

    It might be handy for those who wanted to utilise the deal, but it was OOS, but now back in stock.

  • 7hours 44min ago on 02/03/2024 - 21:26
    -1

    Please consider changing the font for the coupons as the O looks like a 0!

    • mapax on 02/03/2024 - 21:35

      Maybe it’s your device? The coupon codes on my device have the 0 as skinny with a diagonal line and the O is fat without a line

      • 7hours 44min ago on 03/03/2024 - 14:15

        I'll pay more attention but I go between iOS, Android and desktop and always notice it.
        https://files.ozbargain.com.au/upload/152548/110894/img_0704…
        The O here seems to be the same width as the 0.
        I use Brave or Firefox on all devices if that makes a difference.

        • CodeXD on 03/03/2024 - 15:02
          +1

          There is a very clear line through the 0

          • 7hours 44min ago on 03/03/2024 - 20:50

            @CodeXD: I can see that! When you look at an O without the 0 near it as a reference, it could appear as a 0 without a line since it's the same shape. Usually an O is wider than a 0 without a line.

    • CodeXD on 02/03/2024 - 21:42

      If you single click/tap on the code, it auto copies for you

  • a1k on 06/03/2024 - 09:15
    +1

    Is there a way to hide posts from the feed that have been tagged as "Long Running" or "Repost"?

    • Moderatorscotty on 06/03/2024 - 09:19

      from the feed

      RSS feed? No. There's no customisations available for the RSS feed.

      However for the front-page deals, you can go to your edit / deals page, scroll down to the bottom to the "General" section, and uncheck the option "Show reposted long-running deals". Click on "Save Preference" afterwards and you won't see reposted long running deals on the front page.

      • zzyss on 06/03/2024 - 09:30
        +1

        FWIW, if the tag information is present in the feed structure somewhere/somehow, you can use a service like https://siftrss.com/ to create your own customised feed that excludes the posts that match the pattern you specify.

        If not, then I suppose it'd be an ask to have the tags added to the feed?

      • a1k on 06/03/2024 - 09:38

        Thanks, I was thinking of the front-page, so that's exactly what I needed.
        EDIT: After unchecking that setting, the "REPOST" deals are gone, but I still see the deals that are "LONG RUNNING".

    • spackbace on 06/03/2024 - 13:43

      Just worth noting, repost deals generally don't last long on the feed, and long-running could mean a new deal which has been marked as long-running, but could still be deal-worthy

  • wisdomtooth on 08/03/2024 - 19:10

    Marking notifications as read while filtering for comment notifications, marks all notifications as read instead of just the comment ones. It'd be nice — and clearer — if only comments were marked as read.

  • shaneb on 09/03/2024 - 19:14

    A suggestion for the comp submissions. I often come across comps which are open to Australia & NZ. Could an "Australia + New Zealand" option be added to the "Open to" eligibility. The second option if easier would be adding NZ as a state in the "Selected States" option. World wide seems a slight exaggeration for ANZ.

    • Moderatorneil on 04/04/2024 - 12:02

      OK, there is now an option to select Australia & New Zealand in the Open to:

      • shaneb on 04/04/2024 - 12:05

        Thanks very much. I saw it this morning.

  • Gdsamp on 10/03/2024 - 22:45

    hwhen did negative voting cap increase to 10?

  • Scrooge McDeal on 15/03/2024 - 17:56

    Unsure if it's been suggested before. Is it possible when we submit a deal to be another column for price or delivery costs, that would be still be visible on the page? The reason is sometimes not all information can fit on title. I think this could also save some time of mods for title fixing or trying fit everything on title.

  • typhoonadventure on 16/03/2024 - 17:47

    Can we get a seperate category in games for physical, digital/subscription.

    There are often great deals on hardware and physical games, but the section keeps being flooded by digital store fronts, features of subscriptions (gamepass) or worse key resellers / vpn bypasses for foreign stores.

  • brendanm on 18/04/2024 - 18:35

    Can we go back to not being able to delete posts after 15 minutes (or whatever it was), or if someone has replied to it? I don't think the ability to delete posts has added anything, and just means that people can just post whatever they like, as if it gets a negative reaction they can just delete it.

    • pegaxs on 20/04/2024 - 16:59

      Wouldn't really matter. I think it was changed to this system because it takes a load off the mods and power users from getting 1,000 requests a day for "can you please delete my comment".

      If you are worried about a conversation with someone being deleted by them, just block quote it so it will always be there.

      Yeah, well, you'se are wrong… My Mustang goes over 4,000rpm…

      • brendanm on 20/04/2024 - 17:09

        They can just have a blanket ban on deleting comments, then mods wouldn't have to be hassles. I'm not worries about it, I just think it was better to be able to see people say stupid things, and there be some accountability for what's said.

    • Jimothy Wongingtons on 30/04/2024 - 16:13

      i would like to see this implemented too

  • CodeXD on 23/04/2024 - 14:13

    Since consistently getting logged out, I've noticed that there are actually Affiliation Links on OzBargain where ozb will get a commission.

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/wiki/help:affiliate_links

    Is there a way to see those links as registered user? I rarely go through cashrewards/shopback except for large purchases (since its a hassle to use incognito browser with no adblock etc) so happy to go through ozb for small ones (note that I will still have adblocker on so hit or miss whether ozb will get the referral)

  • luckylittle on 23/04/2024 - 18:20

    Please add more real-time notification services! Currently, only Telegram is supported. There are many good ones, like:
    * https://pushover.net/
    * https://gotify.net/
    * https://www.lunasea.app/
    * https://ntfy.sh/
    * https://github.com/Notifiarr/notifiarr
    * https://github.com/containrrr/shoutrrr

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