A General Way to Verify Posts beyond Upvotes

Lhijupic on 23/02/2020 - 13:19
Last edited 23/02/2020 - 14:29

I have been lurking on this site for a long time so this post/rant is a long time coming. I am very thankful for the efforts by the moderators and the community. I have definitely saved money on things I needed and but definitely lost money (and accommodation space) on buying things I didn't need :/
I also get massive FOMO on missing great deals

To the point:
From memory in the past, receiving 100 upvotes on a post was a big deal - the deal was great and people were able to get it. Some deals were Brodened but deals were able to be gotten.

Over the last few years, some deals are posted and attract hundred of votes. eg Ebay deals
- however these posts receive upvotes well and truly before the deal is active
- it is only in the comments, that you read about bait and switch; product price changes. Ultimately the attached deal sometimes moot.

Sometimes we see deals that are great and the first comment is "expired"
- hundred of clickthroughs but I have no idea if any one ws actually successful

Then we get posts that attract 400+ upvotes for phone deals from a single shop (ref the one from last evening/this morning) even though only one person was able to get it
- kudos to the OP for sharing their deal in good faith
- kudos to the OP for getting a great deal
- poor OP attracting a lot of negative energy - the comments on it suck. Of course one comment states that OP was told that it was for the last in stock
- most ridiculous of all - is that this deal got some upvotes even after it was confirmed no one could get it

I feel Ozbargain has a lot of noise for me to filter these days.
- Previously it was easy to see a good deal - it had a lot of votes
- now a lot of posts have high votes (sometimes dependant on the poster) just because its a supportive thing to do
- people who criticise either are bursting the bubble and not being appreciative of the OP and being jealous OR are actually mean
- Ozbargain is getting a bad reputation esp if you read website review pages (we all assume they are companies who couldn't hack it or did not give a great deal or are banned sockpuppets). Why can't they be real first time posters who are upset with how they were treated

Conclusion:
Since we as a community just upvote a lot of things (we can't change the groupthink) upvotes mean different things to different people
Since we can't retract positive votes and make them negative
Since we would rather people post more deals (good or bad) than just when they think they have a sure fire winner
Since we sometimes take constructive feedback to just outright trolling

Suggestion:
Should there be a third method (not upvote and not downvote) that can tell me if the deal is actually possible.
- ie. a "I was able to buy this too" button [EDIT: prev I wrote "available" instead of "able"]
- ie. something to filter against

Site Discussion

Comments

  • Ughhh on 23/02/2020 - 13:28

    "I was available to buy this too" button

    Sometimes the step of buying isn't the problem, but rather having it successfully delivered (for online or click and collect). For deliveries, especially from overseas, it can take weeks/month. By the time the product arrives, most would have forgotten to vote or comment on the deal.

    • hijupic on 23/02/2020 - 13:38

      Its probable a better way but then usually the deal would have expired by then and expects people to return after they received it. Hence I thought a simple at the time option would be better.

      But your point has validity. I am sure people have been burnt before even after buying.
      Besides I think you can't even add comments after a few weeks even if a poster wanted
      eg. https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/414480
      This was a post I was particularly interested in. Amazon actually cancelled a lot of people (only 80 out of 363 received theirs) according to one of the comments
      - Not a single downvote

      Hence I left it at…"I was able to buy this too"

      • Clear on 23/02/2020 - 13:42
        +1

        Besides I think you can't even add comments after a few weeks even if a poster wanted

        Report the deal for it to be opened again and the moderators will do it.

  • ozhunter on 23/02/2020 - 13:59

    Since we can't retract positive votes and make them negative

    You can. Click the Votes tab right under the title, then click the "X" next to your vote.

    Suggestion

    How are those suggestions?

    • hijupic on 23/02/2020 - 14:26

      Yes I am aware you can take away a positive. But you can't revote
      - hence the 'and' in that sentence

      Sorry the suggestion (a single one) was the very final point. - I will take that criticism. My bad on the way I wrote my post
      - i will try and edit for clarity

  • SBOB on 23/02/2020 - 14:23
    -1

    I feel Ozbargain has a lot of noise for me to filter these days.

    Yep, forum posts especially :/

  • Downvoter on 23/02/2020 - 16:15

    Wonder why someone reported OPs post

    • gooddealmate on 23/02/2020 - 17:55

      If you click on the blue box, it tells you. It was for a duplicate.

      • robinCTS on 25/02/2020 - 14:37

        "Duplicate" is the default in the Reason dropdown. Unfortunately, too may times the reporter forgets to select the appropriate reason.

        For a while, I was confused by the number of "Duplicate" reports where there clearly were no other deals, not even expired ones, that even came close to being a duplicate. Then the penny dropped!

        Now, I always treat a duplicate report with skepticism until actually confirmed.

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