Comments / Feedback / Suggestions Thread 2024/2025

scotty on 04/01/2024 - 12:17
Last edited 08/01/2025 - 16:27 by 1 other user

New year — new feedback post. Please use this post to submit feedback and request features. Again, no guarantee that requests will be responded to 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.

Site Discussion

Comments

  • MS Paint on 04/01/2024 - 12:29
    +11

    In the report window have a reason option for "should be in classifieds".

    This is my most popular report and I currently select "other"

    • kerfuffle on 04/01/2024 - 12:30
      +7

      +1. While we're here, maybe an option for trolling?

      • MS Paint on 04/01/2024 - 12:31

        Reported you for trolling. Yeah that was a pain as well 😉

      • SpainKing on 05/01/2024 - 15:21
        +2

        There's good, ol' fashioned trolling done cleverly/amusingly to rile someone up and then there's the current spat of trolling from the likes of TrollBender which is just gibberish about how his dog won't eat Macca's "junks" or buy "Semsang/Epple" products

    • pegaxs on 04/01/2024 - 16:23
      +3

      Meh…. working for me…

      I would like one for "Belongs in "Is this site legit" mega thread…"

  • Maglia Nera on 04/01/2024 - 12:30
    +37

    When searching a store or product, would be great to have the ability to sort the results by
    * Old to New
    * New to old
    * Number of votes - ascending
    * Number of votes - descending
    etc

    • pformag on 05/01/2024 - 16:20
      +12

      Or the default to be New to Old, not relevants.

    • Blitzfx on 05/01/2024 - 21:32
      +5

      Also, and idk how possible it is, to sort by price in title. Would be nice to see if a re-posted deal is the cheapest it's ever been without manually reading all the search results.

      • pandaman on 06/01/2024 - 20:38
        +3

        By price would be a great feature

      • Moderatorscrimshaw on 07/01/2024 - 12:12

        We do not store prices as a separate value on the database, so the system does not even know what "price" is.

        Unfortunately this isn't possible unless we completely overhaul the db as well as redesign the deal submission form.

          • wisdomtooth on 15/01/2025 - 10:06
            +1

            @xwx: Indeed it is possible by simply picking the largest dollar value in the title (to avoid picking the postage). I've done it in a Google sheet. Sure, it won't always get it right, it'll pick the "was" price if quoted, but imperfect is better than nothing.

    • stickyfingers on 06/01/2024 - 17:19
      +2

      This is my most wanted feature by far.

      • wisdomtooth on 15/01/2025 - 10:07
        +1

        +1

        That and lifting the artificial time limits on voting up comments.

    • ronnknee on 06/01/2024 - 22:59
      +2

      Don't know why this has been missing for so long.

  • Godric on 04/01/2024 - 12:40
    +4

    When a user is creating a new forum post, the system could identify common topics such as "Recommend me a Budget PC" or "Rate my Build," and in response, dynamically insert a related template. This template would serve as a helpful guide for users, suggesting the necessary content to include in their posts.

    Additionally, it might encourage them to review recently discussed forum threads on similar subjects before submitting their own.

    • Protractor on 04/01/2024 - 15:03

      It would be better if it directed the potential new thread starter to those previous topics so the ever increasing troll threads by 'new member' about prangs,insurance,neighbours etc were reduced.
      Maybe new members can't start new threads in certain topics or until they have commented x number of times on existing threads / deals. The amount of data on 'which TV' must rival wikipedia.

    • DiscountForThee on 06/01/2024 - 13:34
      +2

      it might encourage them to review recently discussed forum threads on similar subjects before submitting their own

      Lol! First time on the internet? You could spell out an exact solution to someone's problem, pin it, make it bold, and people will still comment or create posts asking how to do something

      I love the optimism, though, and I still think that your suggestion is a really good one

  • rumblytangara on 04/01/2024 - 12:41
    +5

    Request for expansion of the Blocked Users function:

    In addition to only hiding the posts from a blocked user, can all replies to that post be hidden as well?

    Not sure if this is already implemented or not as I barely use the function, but would like to not even see threads started by users on this list as they tend to be borderline troll posts.

    I'm not a big user of this function, there's a whopping two entries on my list, but even for this number it would really reduce a lot of very senseless forum noise for me and reduce instances of my brain occasionally wanting to shut itself down.

  • Dollar General on 04/01/2024 - 12:45
    +23

    Forums should default to “asking for a friend” to save time for 99% of posters

  • Drakesy on 04/01/2024 - 12:45
    +10

    Allowance to downvote deals without comments
    Kharma scores for users/powerusers
    Allowance to vote on comments/comment after 30 days or after the deal is expired (if it turns out to be spam etc).
    Tighter spam post restrictions (downvote ratio), currently is very lenient.
    Search should be by default new-old Deals and i think the algorithm needs updating (i've had keywords completely miss duplicate deals before posting).

    Overall keep up the good work.

    • pegaxs on 04/01/2024 - 16:34
      +11

      Allowance to downvote deals without comments

      I think this is fair. There should be no requirement to have to make a comment to downvote. It seems lopsided that people can upvote a deal without comment, but not downvote.

      Downvoting a legitimately bad deal is often not done because some people in the community fear that if they dont like a product, service, manufacturer that they are forced to put their name to it, and then comes the "neg" police to chastise these users and shame them for negging ("iF YoUsE DoNt LiKe iT, WhY aRe YoUsE eVeN iN HeRe!!" or "iF iT's NoT fOr YoUsE, WhY aRe YoUsE VoTiNg!!1!")

      I think, and I have said it before, a "fairer" system would be, that if you want to vote AT ALL, you have to comment on the post AND your positive vote can be removed in EXACTLY the same way as the negative vote does. 8 comment downvotes and you deal upvote is removed. This would balance the system out from the upvoting trolls that invade threads just to upvote something they care nothing about and to neg down negative comments to get the downvotes removed.

      • SpainKing on 05/01/2024 - 15:27
        +21

        I dunno, the site has enough negativity with free reign in the forums. I like the system of people having to be accountable for their negs and share their problem with the product/retailer so it can be deemed appropriate or not, otherwise people will just start negging deals they don't like.

        I also like that I can upvote without commenting because nearly all my upvotes are things I've bought so it's easy to see where/when I bought it. I do see how the system is lopsided but I've come to like it

        • raisinberry777 on 06/01/2024 - 11:52
          +1

          Agree - as a long time user here I appreciate that negs require comments, and if anything, it encourages me to read them to see what the neg is in relation to.

          • WatchNerd on 06/01/2024 - 11:59

            @raisinberry777: That's not what Pegaxs said though, read the whole comment.

            • raisinberry777 on 06/01/2024 - 18:06

              @WatchNerd: It's a response to SpainKing. I agree that negs should require accountability. I also agree that positive votes should not require it. I'm not agreeing with Pegaxs's where all votes require comment - I feel like that will lower the quality of comments generally.

        • ItsMeAgro on 15/01/2025 - 10:03

          A better solution to the problem would be for negs to be commonplace and not so taboo.

          Currently each one is treated like a vicious attack on the poor innocent hardworking volunteer poster, instead of a simple expression of "thanks, but $50 for a plastic iphone case is not actually a bargain, even though your bot army seems to think so, so this is literally the only way I can warn the 95% of my fellow OzBargainers who don't read comments that something is wrong here".

          It would take time for the attitude to change, but the mods could at least change the voting guidelines to more explicitly encourage negative votes. Right now the focus in the voting guidelines is all the reasons you shouldn't neg, an explicit statement like "NEGATIVE VOTES ARE A CRITICISM OF THE DEAL, NOT THE INDIVIDUAL, AND ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED WHEN THEY MEET THE APPROPRIATE CRITERIA, SUCH AS WHEN THE DEAL IS NOT AN ACTUAL BARGAIN" might help.

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

          Negs aren't a failure of the system, they are an important part of it's health, like antibodies. Just look at how much more toxic Twitter is than OzBargain, or even Reddit.

      • slimpickings on 06/01/2024 - 02:06

        Let's take it to the next level: you have to comment why you're up/downvoting comments as well as deals. This will increase engagement and lead to 1000+ comment threads. Scotty will rake in cash as advertisers take note of this and start a bidding war, which he'll mostly spend on increased server costs as every interaction is now read-write instead of mostly read only.

        We could increase engagement further by showing a single deal on the homepage and forcing all visitors to vote and comment before they are allowed to see the next, but that might be a little silly

        • wisdomtooth on 15/01/2025 - 13:53

          you have to comment why you're up/downvoting comments as well as deals.

          I can't tell if you're being sarcastic, given the rest of the text, but… YES! Absolutely. The drive-by anonymous negging is incredibly cowardly. When I'm negged, I want to hear why I'm wrong. If I don't, how can I learn and change my mind?

      • zzyss on 15/01/2025 - 13:19

        I was going to say, what about instead of a comment, you have to specify a reason from a list, similar to when you report a post? But then I realised that a lot of the reasons end up being things that should be reported instead and are already listed in the Report reasons (e.g. sockpuppeting).

        But anyway, maybe we could come up with a community-decided list of common reasons, e.g.

        • Not a bargain (but then this needs elaborating why not)
        • Cheaper elsewhere (but then this should have a comment to say where)

        … and we kinda just end up with the existing comment requirement.

        Having reason-free negs is just plain unhelpful, because OzBargain doesn't have any kind of algorithm that affects which posts are displayed (sort of like how "downvotes" work in Quora). All a neg without comment does is to signal that people should ignore a post, but without giving understanding of why.

    • Buyer0fBargains on 05/01/2024 - 21:14
      +3

      I’d love the post 30 day option for comments because I usually search the site for questions about a product before I make a post of my own and usually there is already most of an answer in a comment or thread, but it’s older than 30days so I can’t ask one tiny follow up question. I have to create a new post and hope the right people see it, which feels like I’m clogging up OzBargain with posts that didn’t need to be posts.

      • wisdomtooth on 15/01/2025 - 13:57

        I wanted to like your comment, but it's past 30 days, so…

        Seriously, I've been asking this for years — and I've been here for a lot of them — and still can't understand why would devs take the trouble to add this logic, when the easiest thing to do was to simply let users like and reply to whichever posts and comments they'd like to.

      • Moderatorhamza23 on 15/01/2025 - 14:14

        FYI. We can reopen comments on any old post if the comments are closed, just click the report link.

        In answer to the above.

        The reason we closed off comments on old deal posts was due to SEO spam that targets older deal posts that are no longer actively checked by the community, thus no reports most of the time and the spam remains on the site. Long running deals are exempt from comments being closed (if you do spot one, let us know so we can fix it).

        • wisdomtooth on 15/01/2025 - 14:21
          +1

          Thanks, @hamza23. Sounds like a lot of work… for both devs and mods! Is this theoretical, or have you experienced it? I've never seen SEO spam here in the 16 years I've been an OzBargainer (like what, "Elon Musk is about to drop some crypto or other"?).

          What about not being able to vote on older comments? Is that also bc of SEO spam? Or just blatant ageism? ;D

          • Moderatorhamza23 on 15/01/2025 - 14:30

            @wisdomtooth: It's pretty normal for any forum to have spammers that target certain keywords and if you have threads from years ago open then they can more easily do that, often undetected and things can get out of control. I can't determine or declare which % of spammers are SEO targeting or something else, but it happens. We have spammers join OzBargain every day in multiple numbers.

            In regards to voting. We have stats, badges, awards etc. that are based on vote numbers and there needs to be a certain amount of time when the voting comes to an end. Our general belief is that voting should be based on user feeling at that time. It also makes it easier for us to manage in terms of catching and proactively stopping sockpuppeting, to not allow someone to + vote all the deals for their associated store, going years back.

  • mapax on 04/01/2024 - 12:50
    +4

    Can we get a badge labeled “Pearl Clutcher”? When someone makes unjustified reports that exceed 20 they can receive that badge.

    • lachhelix on 04/01/2024 - 13:06

      Reported op for private selling

    • Protractor on 04/01/2024 - 15:05

      Nice necklace.

  • freefall101 on 04/01/2024 - 13:02
    +2

    Anytime someone uses Prime Video, Netflix, Apple TV etc in the title there's a warning to make sure they include the [SUB] tag. There is usually a pile of "this isn't a deal!" posts before a moderator adds the tag, it's really hard to navigate any actual discussion on the content itself.

    A template for multiple item deals would also be great. It's always hit or miss on where the links go to when there are multiple items.

    I also wish searching from the main page would default to searching for unexpired deals, but I can see why it searches everything.

  • brendanm on 04/01/2024 - 13:02
    +22

    Can we vote on forum posts, so many lately that need downvoting.

    • payton on 04/01/2024 - 13:26

      Votes (good or bad) would only fuel the trolls who make stupid forum posts. atm you can set all their posts to be hidden, which is what they deserve.

      • rumblytangara on 04/01/2024 - 15:54

        Votes (good or bad) would only fuel the trolls who make stupid forum posts.

        Unless it operated in such a way that threads could be downvoted into oblivion and then automatically hidden. That might serve to stop some of the more blatant troll threads.

        atm you can set all their posts to be hidden, which is what they deserve.

        So entire threads get hidden if the poster is on an individual blacklist? That's good because I have only just started using this and haven't confirmed how it works yet.

        • payton on 05/01/2024 - 00:31
          +2

          So entire threads get hidden if the poster is on an individual blacklist? That's good because I have only just started using this and haven't confirmed how it works yet.

          Yes, won't show up in list of threads. @hamza23 Not sure if blocking user on forum will also block their deals from being shown.
          Mostly not a problem since low effort forum posters don't post much/any noteworthy deals.

    • ItsMeAgro on 15/01/2025 - 10:10

      Can we vote on forum posts

      This would be such a huge improvement to the daily life of regular OzBargainers.

      I have to block OzBargain on all my devices, restricting to 2 minutes every hour, so that I don't find myself reading/commenting utterly worthless clickbait/troll/ragebait threads too much.

      Community votes would make it easy for the algorithm to tell the difference between an interesting/useful forum thread and timewasting trolling, and stop promoting the latter to the front page.

  • DustyAfternoon on 04/01/2024 - 13:06
    +15

    Add a real estate forum. Right now those topics get split between Finance and Home and Garden.

    • whyisave on 06/01/2024 - 20:51
      +1

      Real Estate is essentially Finance and Home and Gardens !

  • Axelstrife on 04/01/2024 - 13:12
    +2

    Add insufficient Quantity Deals to the deals menu as shown here https://ibb.co/v37V824 and default it to open the last page where the latest are posted.

    • Axelstrife on 10/01/2024 - 16:11

      That's disappointing considering it's such a simple thing. The post gets hidden every year under god knows how many pages of forum posts that im sure lots dont even know of it's existance.

  • jakepods on 04/01/2024 - 13:15
    +1

    a live chat!

    • Drakesy on 04/01/2024 - 13:18
      +1

      An Ozbargain discord, now that would be unhinged.

      • WatchNerd on 04/01/2024 - 13:24

        There already is a weekly one, top right of the screen on the forums main page. I guess the problem is you can't see it on a mobile unless changing to desktop mode.

        • scotty on 04/01/2024 - 13:33
          +3

          Click on menu, and then Forums → Random Discussions (3rd row right hand side).

  • barge-in hunter on 04/01/2024 - 13:22
    +5

    New category for pulling down a deal: suspected fraud

    They seem to be categorised as “banned site” atm, which doesn’t let people who clicked through and bought from the site that they need to take security precautions/contact their bank

  • pharkurnell on 04/01/2024 - 13:25
    +36

    I reckon things are pretty damn fine for a site that offers so much and is free.

    • WatchNerd on 04/01/2024 - 13:43
      +2

      Thread closed.

  • ihfree on 04/01/2024 - 14:12
    +8

    Suggestions:

    • It would be nice to have a flag to indicate that a comment has been edited. I've seen a user edit their comment three or four times

    • On mobile, preventing the comment box from jumping when advertising changes.

    • mapax on 04/01/2024 - 14:15
      +1

      when advertising changes

      Why don’t you just go to settings and turn ads off?

      • ihfree on 04/01/2024 - 14:17
        +1

        Never noticed that was an option, thanks!

        • MS Paint on 04/01/2024 - 16:51
          +8

          You've been putting up with ads for 16 years?

          I think you have single handedly created the most revenue for scotty. That deserves a new special badge.

          • ihfree on 05/01/2024 - 17:08

            @MS Paint: Yes and no. I've still got ad-blockers with a plan to add a DNS based one into the mix at some point.

      • AustriaBargain on 06/01/2024 - 17:51

        Or just get an adblocker. The internet with ads is total garbage. When I open links in Facebook mobile browser it's just a million ads.

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 04/01/2024 - 14:36
    +6

    I didn’t get a reply in the 2023 suggestions thread, so I will ask again in hopes of a reply, can we have Ability to set tags on users for future reference that are individualised (as in only you can see them).

    Eg tag a user as super knowledgeable about xyz.
    Tag someone as a mega fan of xyz

    Basically reddit RES tag functionality… but for ozbargain and stored server side? As opposed to res which was all (iirc) locally stored

    • ItsMeAgro on 15/01/2025 - 10:13

      This would help a lot.

      Skip straight to the comments by the experts.

  • Protractor on 04/01/2024 - 15:17

    An option to vote/report new member first forum posts to provide feedback of the 'scenario' they raise, back to the forum (on existing thread) eg UPDATE
    . If the thread gets enough down votes/reports, seeking update/feedback, the thread owners account is effectively paused until feedback is provided.

  • neo on 04/01/2024 - 15:27
    +3

    Product tags in deal posts; make it easier/mandatory/enforce better somehow!

    It makes searching later on much easier to find previous deals.

    • Moderatorhamza23 on 04/01/2024 - 15:32

      All deals should have product tags (assuming a product tag exists). If they are not added by OP or a power user, moderators (editors) will eventually add them after some days. Every node is reviewed.

      If you find an old one (posted more than 5 days ago) which you think is missing, please report it.

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 04/01/2024 - 16:09
    +2

    Can we get more badges to earn too

    • Protractor on 04/01/2024 - 16:24
      +4

      Like a most badges badge?

      • Jimothy Wongingtons on 04/01/2024 - 16:26
        +1

        I guess if we’re going to give jv another badge then sure

  • Protractor on 04/01/2024 - 16:25
    -4

    Report a post if it is verbatim copy /paste from elsewhere?

    • Protractor on 04/01/2024 - 17:44
      -2

      ^

      So obviously the Reddit lurkers took offence and negged the idea of calling out their duplication habits of dropping the word for word sloth here..
      LOL

      • smpantsonfire on 05/01/2024 - 11:09
        +3

        Or people who don’t use Reddit would like to see the discussion as well?

        • kerfuffle on 05/01/2024 - 11:12
          +4

          I think the point he was trying to make is that people often copy and paste the exact same post into multiple discussion forums, usually seeking confirmation bias.

          • smpantsonfire on 05/01/2024 - 21:50

            @kerfuffle: Maybe we can run a poll on whether the Ozb users, use Reddit.

            I see multiple posts between the 2, but there are people I know, who don’t use both.

        • Protractor on 05/01/2024 - 12:12
          -1

          It's trolling 101

    • ItsMeAgro on 15/01/2025 - 10:15

      This is a useful way to fight spam.

      I don't see us actually missing out on any real content with a simple "Duplicate of post here_____" report category.

  • pegaxs on 04/01/2024 - 16:39
    +35

    Can we please get some more comment downvotes in 24 hours? Not a lot more, but at least like 10? Maybe even tie it to a ranking system of some sort. New users get 5, experienced users get 10, long term and older accounts get 15. You mess up and end in the penalty box, you get none on your return for X amount of weeks.

    There was a point where 5 was enough because there was fewer users and only a few posts and replies a day. Now that there are 400 posts a day and 90% of these are by cookers with an axe to grind, 5 just doesn't cut it any more. I'm not saying we should have unlimited, but now that the site is much bigger and there are more posts, more users and more replies, it needs to be updated.

    • HamBoi69 on 04/01/2024 - 18:09
      +4

      For that you need OzBargain Premium.

      • Jimothy Wongingtons on 04/01/2024 - 19:26
        +3

        I think we can all agree pegaxs should already have complimentary honorary Ozbargain Platinum plus membership with the coveted monthly serialised jv-in-various-everyday-situations (such as bbq jv, surfing jv, smoko break jv) bobblehead series add-on.

      • pegaxs on 22/01/2024 - 21:23
        +1

        Wow… Thank you for that. :D I only saw this in the December user wrap up announcements.

        Would upvote you if I could.

        Thanks team.

  • sam-1966 on 04/01/2024 - 18:19

    I have no idea if this is possible - but I'd love to be able to 'see' if a certain someone posts a new topic.

    I'd love to be able to see anytime that Pam/Screensaver posts a new topic!

    • mapax on 04/01/2024 - 18:28
      +8

      Click on their username, when the window pops up click on their name again, click on subscribe.

      • sam-1966 on 04/01/2024 - 18:28
        +1

        Ooh - thank you!

        Just so entertaining!

        • neo on 04/01/2024 - 21:34
          +1

          It's Pam isn't it? lol

  • rumblytangara on 05/01/2024 - 10:14
    +15

    New users should not be able to start threads until a certain amount of time + real forum activity has passed. Too many new L accounts posting up obvious troll threads then disappearing.

    • neo on 05/01/2024 - 11:24
      +1

      Not sure why you got downvoted, it's a fact!

      • rumblytangara on 05/01/2024 - 12:07
        +3

        Don't know, don't care. Downvotes just happen :)

        But there do seem to be a good number of long-inactive accounts that get reactivated for a first troll post. So age of account wouldn't be enough to filter them out.

        • Randolph Duke on 05/01/2024 - 12:09
          +1

          But the emergency service vehicles on the busy city street I live on are very noisy - won’t someone think of my sleeping new born child?

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