Bargain Leachers POLL

m0nkeycheese on 27/12/2012 - 10:58

Ok, first off I'd like to say I love the OzBargain community and the many deals I've managed to get it thanks to all the hard work of all its members. But what worries me is that there are way too many leachers, people that don't care about contributing to the community but only take. I'm talking about the people that just refresh the site waiting for someone to contribute with no intention of retuning the favour - or even commenting for that matter.

Lets look at the stats for right now

Active users: 2620
Members: 402
Guests: 2218

It's crazy right? 402 Members vs 2218 Guests! Granted some for those guests could be members checking their phone or other device without logging in, I do that sometimes but I'm sure that would be a small amount in comparison. The thing it its ALWAYS like this.

So what can we do to fix this you say? Mandatory login to see the deals.

This would achieve 2 things
1. Less leaching - You need to be a member to see a deal
2. More members - Possibly more deals/comments

The fact is if you already have a membership and already logged in your more likely to contribute as you have a nice little comment box at the bottom of every deal.

The only downside is the whole logging in thing but as long as its cookie enabled (which it currently is) it will stay logged in till you sign out.

Another option would be to have the new deals delayed by 1 hour so logged in members get the first pick!

It just gets on my nerves when you see a deal that has been OzBargained and the people that contribute miss out to leachers. What to you guys think? VOTE!

Poll Options

  • 27
    I agree, sick and tired of leachers
  • 44
    No way! Leave it how it is leachers don't bother me.
Site Discussion

Comments

  • zelda707 on 27/12/2012 - 11:16
    +15

    they don't really bother me but i do like the idea of new deals being delayed so that members have a higher chance of getting a good deal before it gets ozbargained!! :)

    • sama on 29/12/2012 - 01:59
      +5

      zelda707- Actually a small time delay for first pick is a pretty good incentive and idea. Is there any reason we can't/ shouldn't do this? It might give more people incentive to register- and eventually contribute.

      I don't mind leechers though. I joined just so I could vote and post deals, that was incentive enough for me.

      • _Bruce_ on 29/12/2012 - 10:12

        As I mentioned below, when someone sees this deal and sends the link to their parent/friend/all of social media, and those who follow the link get a 'NO DEAL FOR YOU!' page, you just lost potential contributors.

  • njninjar on 27/12/2012 - 11:39

    Whole lot of crawlers on the site too, so that would upset a lot of OzB publicity unless they are somehow whitelisted - in which case anyone with a UserAgent override could still access the site as a guest.

  • _Bruce_ on 27/12/2012 - 12:57
    +2

    I really don't like the idea of mandatory registration. Any site that does this to me had better be DAMN good before I will register. If you can use it for a while and decide to register later, this works much better.

    The delayed deals suggestion is better. But even then, the way that places like ozbargain spread is 'virally', I link a deal to a friend who follows the link and if it says 'sorry, you can't see this', they will not be coming back.

    I honestly think the best approach is as open as possible. Even if the ratio of registered users stays the same or gets worse, all those unregistered users still help to increase the user base.

    PS: Your poll doesn't allow any middle ground (ie: minor changes).

  • _Bruce_ on 27/12/2012 - 13:07
    +2

    Thinking about this a little more, if you really wanted to do something about this I think the 'solution' is to make the advertisements as annoying as possible for those who are not logged in, but still have all the content available. Half of the advertisements can say 'Create an account to remove these ads!'.

    I don't like this idea, but I think it will produce better results than the others mentioned.

    • m0nkeycheese on 27/12/2012 - 13:09

      Yeah it's an alright idea. My mission was not to annoy people but to make more of a community and thus more deals.. Which is what we are all here for right? Just don't like free loaders

  • wukachuka on 27/12/2012 - 16:17
    +2

    All that will happen is the "leechers" will make accounts then continue to just leech.
    You won't find a way to stop it that doesn't annoy more people than it helps.
    Minimum effort and all that….

  • bernsy on 27/12/2012 - 16:24

    I must be one of those leechers with accounts on OZB. ;-D

  • wartortle on 27/12/2012 - 18:34
    +3

    Yeah, if you make it mandatory to have an account I think it will do two things:

    • More people will sign up for accounts, but would probably continue not contributing.

    • People will be turned off the site due to membership requirements, and these may be people who would have over time decided to sign up and contribute.

    Based on my experience I was a 'leacher' for some time, then decided to sign up and add comments, and eventually post a few deals that I thought were worthwhile. Having the site open to everyone encourages people to check it out and, hopefully, eventually contribute.

    That being said, I do like the delay on deals. A goood system could be that maybe guests can only see deals on thr front page. Considering they don't read comments or vote, it's reasonable that they can't see the new and upcoming deals.

  • scotty on 28/12/2012 - 10:28
    +7

    I think many here are annoyed but the "leechers", but even more would hate a website that has mandatory registration. Yeah I totally dislike sites such as OzSale, BrandExclusive or those group buy sites that won't let you see the deal until you register.

    There are already quite a few benefits to be a member. There are actually less ads and you have option to disable ads if you want (although most real leechers would be using AdBlocker anyway). Seeing all the hidden comments (ie those trolling comments that got into oblivion)? Earning Badges (although some might wish to be able to convert badges to RealWorld goods)? Guests also get the cached version of the website — we do that to improve website performance, but the side-effect is that guests are likely looking at stale version of the web page (up to 5 minutes on the front page, up to 30 minutes on other pages).

    • m0nkeycheese on 28/12/2012 - 10:30

      Good to know.. Didn't know a lot of that. Cheers

    • _Bruce_ on 28/12/2012 - 10:54

      You missed one that always annoys me (more than any of those) when not logged in, timestamps become to the nearest day. I assume this is done because of the caching issue and '5 min ago' might actually be 35 minutes?

      • scotty on 28/12/2012 - 11:36

        Yeah that's correct. For guests due to caching, we generate the timestamp rather than the time difference.

    • sama on 29/12/2012 - 01:55
      +4

      Getting to read the troll posts is one of the many perks of being an Ozbargainer.

  • scotty on 28/12/2012 - 11:53
    +3

    I've just done some queries against our database. I guess I am trying to lookup the relationship between "registered user" and "contributor". At this point in time:

    • Total number of members (including banned & disabled): 67,897

    For the last 30 days:

    I'm surprised to see that 1/2 of members logged in have posted at least one comment — which might be why they chose to log in in the first place. Only 11% posted at least one deal, which again is understandable as good deals are hard to come by.

    However majority of that almost 68k registered members have not logged in. Maybe to them lurking (or leeching) is good enough. While there are many who created an account and chose not to log in anymore, there are even more visitors who never even bothered to register.

    The pattern is not too much different from the old Digg though, where content is contributed by only a small group of members. The goal I guess, is to turn something like Digg to something like Reddit.

    • m0nkeycheese on 28/12/2012 - 12:01

      Thanks for the stats put things into perspective. The real purpose of this thread was to try and think of a way to make a better community ie more members rather than alienating people by forcing them to login. Cheers for your hard work getting all that info :D

    • Tnetennba on 28/12/2012 - 22:55

      Just as long as you don't do a digg and destroy the website, all will be swell :P

    • Davo1111 on 29/01/2013 - 15:22

      That's actually rather impressive stats tbh.

  • cookie2 on 28/12/2012 - 18:41
    +1

    I like your idea about logging in and you see the current deals,whereas there is a delay for others. it deff would encourage meembers without turning people away from the website. maybe being able to see the main screen but not able to go into the specific deal until logged in would be good as well.

  • [Deactivated] on 29/12/2012 - 04:53
    +1

    I just checked this thread to see if there was anything in it for me.

  • aerona on 29/12/2012 - 05:08

    What would be better is bargains with +10 votes can only be seen by members. So some deals are visible to the public and others will have a +36 (positive votes) with a note saying sign up to see this incredible bargain.

    • [Deactivated] on 29/12/2012 - 05:17
      +1

      My understanding is those not logged in only get the affiliate link (if there is one) - you don't really want to set too high a hurdle that discourages participation.

      Requiring a login might also interfere with web crawlers (i think) … and having OB deals googleable as they are now is not such a bad thing.

    • ProspectiveDarkness on 29/12/2012 - 10:18
      +2

      IMO this would be detrimental to the amount of traffic OzBargain receives. Part of the allure of the site, is that it's simple and useful, whether you're a member or not. Sure, these people could just register accounts, but there's a fair chance they could also leave, and not come back (or merely subscribe to the Twitter or Facebook feeds). People don't particularly enjoy being forced into things, and it would seem like a ploy by OzBargain to grow the user base (as in greedily motivated).

      Also, as evidenced by scotty above, people won't necessarily contribute once they've made accounts. They might be more likely to, if the opportunity is right in front of them, but still.

  • berger on 29/12/2012 - 15:59

    Hmmmmmmm

    How many deals are posted by 1st timers, they have no interest in logging in, registering.. Until the day they see something good. ..

    Delaying deals would really shit me too, there is times my iPad/iPhone logs me out from ozb, and I may not log back in for 3-4 days, until I need to comment.

    'forcing' more to register is silly, the forums have a good buzz at the moment and not too many knob jockeys.

    I feel the site is very good at the moment. Not too busy, not too quiet.

    There is advertising for people who don't log in, which covers costs of the website..

    Oh, an idea… Monthly prize for top rated users(the star system) or the +- voted to comments. That's one I'd like to see, if not a prize, but to see how good someone's contribution to the site actually is.

    • _Bruce_ on 30/12/2012 - 13:02
      +3

      Oh, an idea… Monthly prize for top rated users(the star system) or the +- voted to comments. That's one I'd like to see, if not a prize, but to see how good someone's contribution to the site actually is.

      Please no. No, no, no, no. Do not need that.

    • seanbaussie on 20/01/2013 - 16:19
      +1

      In the good old days there was a monthly prize for popular posts or the like, I just threw out a surround sound system I won ?4 years ago for this post: http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/7153 - when 31 +'s was a lot!!
      But then there were worries about tax or the law or something so they canned the prizes. But I liked it - gave a bit more incentive to post.

      Another idea would be 'members only' posts by reps of companies who already regularly post, either a higher discount or a giveaway or something like that - would obviously take some work by the mods who are actually probably pretty happy with as many people visiting as possible!

    • Davo1111 on 29/01/2013 - 15:26
      +1

      Monthly prize for top rated users(the star system) or the +- voted to comments.

      I'm not sure that's a good idea tbh. People getting prizes would be those who make novelty accounts, or say witty things which don't actually add to the deal

      When i was a mod, i regularly made it into the top comments list. Mainly because i commented on almost every deal. By the shotgun approach i accumulated positive votes, didn't necessarily add anything though

    • scotty on 29/01/2013 - 17:47

      We've actually been running quite a few competitions lately giving out pizza, vouchers, gift cards, T-shirts, etc and @neil is in charge of those — feel free to give some ideas!

  • cwongtech on 19/01/2013 - 21:03
    +2

    How about if you have an x amount of good badges (relatively easy to get) you get access to the "Badger's Community", where fellow Badgers can choose to share small deals with the active community of OzBargain (it's not that hard to get a badge)

  • unity1 on 21/01/2013 - 11:24
    -4

    Introduce a yearly membership fee, say $10, I'd pay this for member benefits

    • cwongtech on 21/01/2013 - 11:52

      Members are what make this website work.. now you want to charge the crucial component of OzB? O_O
      IIRC Most of the server's remuneration comes from ads.

      • unity1 on 21/01/2013 - 12:07

        I said for member benefits. Every organisation that has a paid membership the members receive extra privileges. What those extra privileges would be for ozbargain I don't know but I'm just saying.

        Members benefit here when they purchase something in the way of a saving. Why not give back to the community that helps you achieve these savings. You can't expect everything free in life.

        And how about those that post affiliate links. They are happy to accept money from referrals but don't see the need to give back to the site that brings them the referrals in the first place.

        • cwongtech on 21/01/2013 - 12:46

          Members benefit here when they purchase something in the way of a saving. Why not give back to the community that helps you achieve these savings. You can't expect everything free in life.

          vistorsofozbargain benefit here. Not just members.
          I'd suggest a donate button, but Scotty has already said his ads are enough to keep the server + 2 full time staff. Giving back to the community is already in the form of sharing deals..? Not sure why you want people to pay. I can see where you're coming from with 200 deal posts, but not sure what you're trying to get out of being recognized more

          And how about those that post affiliate links. They are happy to accept money from referrals but don't see the need to give back to the site that brings them the referrals in the first place.

          Dude they found a good deal, there's a reason why the main link cannot contain affiliate links. It doesnt matter to the person who takes advantage to the affil link or not

        • unity1 on 21/01/2013 - 12:59

          Yes if they found the deal themselves. I've noticed some deals are taken from the HotUKDeals site (which I have done myself) and then they put their hands out for money when they have merely taken a deal from one site and posted it on another site.

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