As far as I'm aware the structure of the OzBargain website has been pretty static for a while. But things have sort of evolved around it. I see subscriptions and game codes/giveaways coming up a lot- and let's not forget the constant "OzRRP" quips. I think there are some pretty valid arguments for why each should/shouldn't be a deal.
Game codes/giveaways
- A lot of these don't have any monetary value. There's no real savings to be had here. They help improve your game status in some way, but you don't really save anything.
- However, they're still a freebie. Maybe it's a people who like games/don't like games sort of thing, but it's still an item that has some intrinsic value that you otherwise wouldn't have. Sure, the game creator in a way sets the real world value of that item, but it's probably not right to consider it valueless. Especially in a lot of situations it saves time, and time is money. Whether that time is well spent is up for debate.
Subscriptions
- Each month we get the Playstation Plus and Xbox games added to the site. These are certainly great freebies which saves you money on buying the actual games…
- Wait, or are they freebies? I mean, we pay a subscription. If the fact that we get 24 games a year for one subscription price is a bargain… well that's probably the bargain, not the monthly games.
- When Netflix adds good value options and its posted there's a bit of controversy around that too. But really, it's the same sort of thing. Subscription you pay for has new goods that would otherwise cost money.
RRP items
- Items which are hard to get going up for pre-order or coming into stock are useful community announcements. Given these items are often very pricey on the open market, savings can be had by grabbing stock when they arrive.
- But surely OzBargain isn't a stock tracking website? When posted at RRP there's no real savings to be had here, just some avoidance of scalpers. Sure savings are made compared to the open market, but is there really a bargain there?
At this point I think it's worth remembering the OzBargain tagline.
Deals, Coupons, Vouchers, Discounts and Freebies
By that definition, you could argue all of the above stay, or go. I think you could make an argument for them being one of the above, or for them being none of the above.
Overall, I think part of the problem is that the OzBargain website isn't structured particularly well to deal with how markets (for lack of a better word) have evolved. A lot of this stuff should maybe go to the forums, but you can't underestimate how much people want internet points. If your option is a short forum discussion or lots of upvotes with medals for making it a bargain, then of course people will favour making it a bargain and let the mods move it to a forum post if they feel it's appropriate.
I'm not proposing a great solution here, but I'm proposing it's worth thinking about a restructure of the website. Maybe there needs to be better tags to let people filter out the sort of stuff they don't care about. Maybe there needs to be clearer mention of what should and shouldn't be on the deals page. Maybe something like subscriptions should each just get a monthly post in forums with all the new content listed. Maybe there should be more tabs for types of deals. Maybe forum posts should get upvotes and medals too? Maybe one solution can deal with all three of these points. Maybe each point needs addressing in a different way.
What does everyone think? Because I don't see these sort of problems (depending on your viewpoint) going away, and there'll be continued discussion about why these sorts of deals should/shouldn't stay. And I think they're valid. And I think the OzBargain rules stating that once a post gets enough upvotes it stays isn't necessarily the best way to deal with it.
wouldn't this be more suitable for a gaming forum or group on social media?