[AMA] scotty here. OzBargain has recently turned 18. Ask me anything

Merry Christmas! Landed in Kingsford Smith this morning, after spending almost 3 weeks with family in Hong Kong and Taiwan. I did my first AMA in 2015 and a follow up in 2019. OzBargain has turned 18 in November and due to request, ask me (almost) everything, again. Sorry about this delayed AMA, and I'll try to answer them in the next couple of days.

Rules:

  • Ask in top-level comments, otherwise I might miss your questions.
  • Vote up good questions and vote down bad ones.
  • Please check comments for similar questions. I won't answer the same questions twice.
  • I also won't reply to your question if I do not think it's worthwhile to answer. For example "why did you start OzBargain?" that has been asked a zillion times before.
  • Do not ask about new features or issues. Use this post instead,
  • Do not ask about moderation decisions. Use TWAM

To get started, I'm opening some cans of worms

#1

OzBargain has been sponsoring many meetups over the years, but personally I found going to one quite draining. I have only been to one meetup this year (Ippudo @ Chatswood). I guess it's just a personality thing, as I have to force myself to get to those events to meet the users. Don't get me wrong — I am more than happy to chat with other ozbargainers (although sometimes found myself obligated to get the conversations flowing). But yeah, it is just tiring.

Used to go to conventions at those marketing companies as OzBargain often get invited. Way too much "energy" in those events that make my head spins, so now days I'll have to make up excuses to skip. Sometimes it's just plain "sorry, I'm too old for that".

#2

Not joking when I said that I am getting old, but I am actually in the process of retiring from OzBargain. Yes it has been 18 years seeing many ups and downs that consumed a big part of my life. My time spent on OzBargain has also been spread thin over things that I'm not really interested in. Again, felt a bit tired, so I decided to step down a little bit.

No, I am not leaving OzBargain (yet). You'll just see less of scotty as the face here. I'll still code and try to make sure the infrastructure stays up especially during busy time of the year, but neil and hamza23 are stepping up to look after the daily operation of OzBargain.

#3

Another reason for semi-retirement is being able to spend more time with family especially my ageing parents. Like 30% of all residents here, I wasn't born in Australia — my family immigrated here from Taiwan when I was in year 8. My dad wasn't born in Taiwan either, but was part of the exiles from China when he was 2 years old. Parents are now retired in Queensland with gradually reduced mobility so I'll need to think about how to best assist them.

closed Comments

  • +20

    Pancakes or waffles?

    • +36

      Such a philosophical first question really puts me on the spot. After much internal discussions I think the answer is tentatively pancakes.

      • -4

        either back this up with a cost analysis demonstrating pancakes are a better bargain or gtfo

  • +5

    Are you a bit of a shopaholic yourself?

    • +25

      Not really. In this poll early this year, I labelled myself as "cheap" — I don't really spend on things, and are usually finding cheap alternatives in Kmart, AliExpress or Facebook Marketplace first.

      • Even when considering yourself " cheap" is there anything or things you dont mind splurging on?

        • +4

          I've commented elsewhere in this post that we do pay for our kids' school fees & university fees, up front. I don't think I can be the kind of person who doesn't mind splurging on things — even if I spend, there's usually a long internal dialogue somewhere debating whether to spend or not. Sometimes that's how I missed out on bargains :(

    • +59

      I gathered that "impending Chinese invasion of Taiwan" is only a speculation.

      However like most Taiwanese and many mainland Chinese people, I hope that any conflict can be resolved peacefully. Chinese invasion of Taiwan will also bring much larger global impact than Russia's invasion of Ukraine, due to how the two economies intertwine and how the whole world depend on those two. Let's hope the nation leaders will focus on their citizens' welfare rather than personal ambitions.

        • +10

          Do note that China has publicly declared their intentions towards Taiwan for the last 70 years. Taiwan is also very different from Hong Kong — UK gave HK back to China in 1997 and many Hong Kongers were happy about it initially.

          • +4

            @scotty: I remember watching the Hong Kong handover live on TV back when it happened. Hong Kong was only ever a lease and a completely different situation to the Taiwan scenario.

            many Hong Kongers were happy about it initially.

            Well it did take china 2.5 decades to unravel the "one country, two systems" policy.

            • @Bruceflix: That’s not strictly true. The British had perpetual ownership of Hong Kong itself. The new territories were on a lease. Decolonisation was in vogue then, and there were some questions about the practicality of a border between HK and the new territories.

            • +4

              @Bruceflix:

              it did take china 2.5 decades to unravel the "one country, two systems" policy

              I think it took a sharper turn over the last 6-7 years. Even back in 2008 during the Beijing Olympics, Hong Kong in general were happy to be part of the "motherland". But we all know what happened when XJP took over. Gradually HK felt like just another Chinese city and lost its sheen. Mandarin was spoken everywhere now when I went there 3 weeks ago — not just from the mainland tourists, but also from many new migrants. Friends I've talked to are generally grim about the future.

              Well, that's the new reality.

        • +2

          They didn’t annex Hong Kong the English lease ran out after 99 years. Then it took decades further Chiba to unravel the last minute “democracy” that the UK put in place forHong Kong. I suspect if the situation was reversed the UK would’ve imposed their political system on Hong Hong a lot more quickly.

          Taiwan is not recognised as a sovereign nation by the UN.

          • -4

            @try2bhelpful: HK'ers have been hoodwinked, they always thought they were superior to mainland chinese but the fact is, Chinese got it better than HKers.
            1 visit to HK will tell you everything you need to know.

          • +11

            @try2bhelpful:

            Taiwan is not recognised as a sovereign nation by the UN.

            Republic of China (government that currently rules Taiwan) is actually a founding member of UN in 1945. It was succeeded by People's Republic of China in 1971 however, it does not mean ROC ceases to exist (despite many in China believe). Besides, the idea of country exists before the establishment of UN. Many countries also have pseudo embassy in Taiwan and vice versa.

      • +3

        I too hope the Taiwan situation can be resolved peacefully. A China-Taiwan war would result in a global conflict that would severely affect everyone on Earth, including everyone reading this forum.

      • Very well said, better than the official spoeken person.

      • -3

        '"impending Chinese invasion of Taiwan" is only a speculation'

        yes - my experience is that Taiwanese people have been 'technically at war' with China since at least 1950 - so today's threats are treated as 'just another day'

        thanks to Joe Biden stating the US would defend Taiwan against an invasion by China, I seriously doubt that Xi would risk his cojones anytime soon when battle-tested US forces could bomb the shite out of China in a minute, and repeated tests of China's fancy new war machines have shown up weaknesses and failures.

        Xi avoids that risk and gains much more kudos using instead Sun Tsu's Art of War 'When you are weak, appear strong' - China appears really strong at the moment … ;-)

    • +6

      Watching MSM garbage and believing China will invade Taiwan in 2024 LMAO

      • -7

        They have a couple of days left ,
        GOOoooooooooo China!
        I think their wuhan freezer defrost cycle screwed with the schedule.
        Can only assume changed plans to take the rich iron ore&coalfields of the South Pacific first or maybe just extend the 90 dash line to the South Pole.

        • Your tinfoil hat is restricting your brain

          • -4

            @TightAl: I understand,
            but in a Race to rule the world numbers matter,
            so it’s actually India that will win .
            Back on track and it’s not that far from reality.
            They’re just mining leases and real estate.
            Answer me this ; since Mr Friendly KevinRudd was in office ; how many bases has the P.R.C. established in Antartica ?
            If your answer was 3 bases that would be correct.
            Also they have stopped ratifying the Antarctican Protection Treaty that stops mining exploration , commercial fishing etc.
            but it’s ok , go put your head back in the sand, fingers in your ears and repeat
            nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnot happeningnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.

            • +1

              @beach bum: Why does it matter? No single country gets a claim to Antartica.
              How many bases does USA have around the world?

              Loosen up the tinfoil a bit.

              • -2

                @TightAl: Why does anything matter then?
                Q.What do you know about diplomacy?
                A.Ask a Ukrainian , Georgian , Hong Kongr ,Taiwanese , Tibetan , Indian , Nepalese , North Korean , Japanese , Philippineo , Vietnamese , even the Russki’s are scared of what their big neighbour to the east might do.
                They are already diverting water from India , Lake Baikal is a stone’s throw from Beijing and an awfully long way from Moscow.
                What does the USA have to do with the point of contention.
                Open your eyes.

  • -3

    When will you be changing your profile picture?

    • +2

      No idea. Troubled by my current profile picture?

      • +32

        When you finally retire it should show an empty transporter room as you've been beamed up.

        • Scotty would never use a transporter! scotty might, but Scotty, no.

  • +6

    Hi Scotty,

    1. Do you rate Taiwan kfc and maccas? I used to go once a year or so but haven’t been in 5 or so years. 100% hitting them up again as first order of business when/if I have time to go back.

    2. What watch do you wear these days?

    3. Have you ever had a paranormal type encounter you couldn’t explain?

    4. In the 18 years there’s been heaps of members who have come and gone - is there any one particular member/s that stand out and make you think wow I wonder where they are now?

    • +7
      1. KFC & Maccas in TW do have items from region-specific menu but I've not tried those. Personally I do prefer the Taiwanese fried chicken over KFC (either Kentucky or Korean).
      2. Garmin FR645 that was given by a supplier in early 2019. Might need a new one in the next year or two.
      3. I might have encountered many things that I cannot explain, but I usually blamed it on my own lack of knowledge or experience.
      • I assume you mean the big chicken fillet or Taiwan chicken bites but if not, I thought T.k.k was pretty good too as a Taiwan take on ‘traditional’ fried chicken

        • +7

          Taiwanese big chicken fillet Numba One!

    • +1

      KFC Taiwan shits on Australia's KFC.

  • +2

    Did you buy amazfit balance yet..

    • +1

      Not yet…

  • +5

    Respect your decisions with OzBargain management and family balance. Hope all is well Scott!

    1. What’s the best running shoe in the market?

    2. What’s your best ever price error deal?

    • +28
      1. Every person's foot and running styles are different so I don't think there's a right answer. I do mostly long slow miles these days so I do tend to look for cushioning daily trainers under $100 (yeah, price is also important). Currently adidas Duramo Speed with Lightstrike foam has a 1/2 price sale, and at $75 it seems to be a good buy.

      2. I don't do price error deals. Again, there are many different types of ozbargainers, and I'm in the camp of being sympathetic towards the store that made the error, so I don't really partake in price error deals.

  • +1

    Which Star Trek is your most favourite and why?

    • +8

      I actually quite like the reboot and (probably unpopular opinion) Simon Pegg as the new Scotty.

  • +1

    I found going to one quite draining

    I don’t doubt this at all

  • +1

    but personally I found going to one quite draining.

    I feel like my OzMeetup antics contribute to this 😂

    While it's sad to know that we'll see less of you it's understandable and having the dream team running the show will be good.

  • +1

    How come autocorrect didn't make the S in your username uppercase?

    Technically it should be ScottY and I think it's time you change it.

    • +2

      Maybe it's deliberate 🤷 as it looks more humble and simple.

  • +1

    With event costs increasing each year and Scotty taking a step back/attending fewer meetups, would there still be an interest from Ozbargain in continuing sponsoring birthday meetups? If so, what adjustments would you like to see for events to remain sustainable and below budget?

    • +59

      My personal issue is related to the budget but it's not because it's too expensive — I just feel quite disconnected from how some ozbargainers spent the money.

      I'm a cheap person and for my own birthday this year, my family spent less than $20pp at a local burger joint. When I told my daughter that we've just spent almost $50k on OzBargain meetups, she wasn't all that pleased, saying that we could have bought a second car, as we have 3 drivers + 1 learner sharing one car at the moment in my house. Will I buy a new car instead? Maybe not, because the Mrs and I are both just too cheap. So I do feel that I'm somehow living in a different world than many ozbargainers.

      The second issue is whether these meetups are serving their purposes. I'll discuss more about future meetups in the meetup thread.

      • I just feel quite disconnected from how some ozbargainers spent the money.

        Such a relief hearing that! Same here. Having been here (on and off) for 16+ of those 18 years, it's been outright disheartening seeing this community evolve from one of real thrifters and true bargain hunters to brand name chasers and those who chant "you get what you pay for" (what's a bargain then?!).

        Is that also a factor in retiring from the site?

  • -3

    Do you like KFC?

  • +54

    Is JV a real person or bot?

    • Wow - such a quiet after 43 upvotes has made me thinking.

      • Interested to know what you are thinking. Is JV a real person or bot?

        • What is JV? I think I missed the whole show somewhere

        • +7

          JV is not a real person or a bot, JV is a lifestyle

        • As per my calculation - JV is Either You or Someone Very close to you.

        • +2

          JV is a force of nature

  • +1

    Hey I am from Taiwan too. Which city/district were you born?

    • +9

      Taichung, but grew up in Tainan. Due to the education system in the 80's I can't even speak Taiwanese/Hokkien, so most people don't believe that I'm from the south part of Taiwan.

      • +3

        Visited Taichung a few weeks back, thanks to the Qantas points earned from CC deals posted on Ozbargain. Highlight was definitely going out to Sun Moon Lake for a day and just cycling and eating good food. Lovely place and I hope you get to visit often?

        • +5

          Yeah. Rented the e-bikes for the family to ride around last week. Great weather too on the day, and was surprised at how many international visitors were there. I tried to visit TW every few years.

      • That got me curious and I tried googling, but couldn't really find much about it. What was it like back then?

        • +2

          Mandarin was compulsory and heavily promoted in primary schools and students might get penalised for speaking Hokkien at school.

          • +1

            @scotty: during the Japanese occupation around 1895-1945 Taiwanese learned to speak Japanese in Primary School.

  • +3

    Have you passed your need for a bargain onto your kids, or do they find that cringe
    ?

    • +49

      They usually head straight to the sale or markdown section when they enter into a shop. They cringle when they heard that their friends paid full price.

      • +3

        LMAO that's me right me now. Me and my friends hanged out in Sydney. One of my friends bought some board game in a specialist game store for $50 when it was $25 non-discounted price. Made me cringe a lot. Teased the hell out of him afterwards.

  • +2
    1. What do you think was the best deal you have gotten from Ozbargain?
    2. What deal you regret most?
  • Do you play video games?

    • +10

      Currently trying to find time to finish Shadow of the Erdtree.

  • +1

    Hi Scotty
    Thanks for the amazing site!
    My questions,

    • Following the Honey scandal, do you feel that Honey and similar extensions have cost Ozbargain considerable revenue? Could you put an estimate to it?

    • Is the reason for disallowing links to aliexpress in comments a way to protect your own amazon affiliate links in products that could be sourced cheaper on Aliexpress?

    • +17

      You can find our affiliate link policy here — we had that since 2010. Basically we only serve affiliate links (generated from submitted links) to visitors not logged into OzBargain. So, back to your questions

      • Every other affiliate is potentially taking revenue away from OzBargain — Honey, cashback sites, price comparison sites, etc. On the other hand, other publishers can also complain about OzBargain taking away their revenue. We have multiple instances where cashback sites claiming OzBargain took the commission, even though logged in users here should never see an affiliate link. I won't estimate the "revenue loss", but I'll just say that the current model of last-click attribution sucks. To a point that we actively do not wish to partake in many merchants' affiliate program, and do not wish to rely on affiliate revenue as our main source of income.

      • AliExpress links are definitely allowed. It's the affiliate links or referral links that aren't allowed. Some links you copied from other websites might contain affiliate tracking ID. For AliExpress, we are banning links that have aff_fcid or aff_trace_key in query parameters.

  • +12
    1. What's your home office setup like?
    2. Are you a Mac, Windows or Linux guy?
    • +22

      I'm a Linux + Windows guy. Current work set up:

      • ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 1 (i5-8300H, 32GB, 512GB)
      • LG 34UM88C-P 34" QHD monitor
      • Dell UltraSharp 1905FP 19" monitor (yes, I still use a monitor that's almost 20 years old)
      • Keychron K8
      • Razer Viper Mini
      • ThinkCentre M73 Tiny (i5-4570T, 16GB, 512GB) running dev and testing VMs.
      • Vi or EMACS?

        • +1

          Who uses emacs still?

            • @bargaino: Ahh.. In our place, I pushed for vi. And it became a thing. Honestly, much quicker with vim

              • +1

                @welcomeUniverseWorld: Sorry to learn that you guys are working on Wyse terminals with serial connections whole day, and had to exchange productivity with a tiny bit of speed. /s

                • +1

                  @scotty: Haha, not quite like that! We use Google Cloud Platform, and most of our VMs and cloud workstations come with vi, as expected.

                  When we implemented GCP across the department, there were some requests for Emacs. However, as the manager, I made a decision(after discussing with my team :p) not to include Emacs in the setup. Instead, we provided vi, alongside tools like Spyder, CodeOSS, Python, and other languages etc. For more advanced tasks, we included Jupyter as well.

                  Coming from a front-end development background myself, I saw adding Emacs as opening a Pandora’s box—one we wouldn’t be able to support effectively in the long run. I personally use Intellij + Sublime for my personal work . It has been several years now, and everyone has adapted to the solution. People are happy, and things run smoothly! :)

        • +5

          Been using vim pretty much exclusively since '97, after migrating from EMACS. I've also tried neovim a few times this year but felt it's a bit too heavy for me.

          • +1

            @scotty: When you work with different platforms vi is the ultimate tool. Especially on HP-UX where command line are vi commands :)

      • +3

        Are you still using the rug I got you?

        • +6

          Oh yeah. Not in summer though.

      • I’m still using a dell 24” from the same year (2405FPW)

  • -5

    Why do you allow the classifieds section on the site?

  • +11

    With ever increasing population, what are your plans to keep the site sustainable and scalable with only 3 of you operating it for 24x7 coverage?
    I am a frequent site visitor and would hate for it to be shutdown in foreseeable future.
    I don't think there is such a strong bargain community in any other country and I am proud to be a member here.

    • +27

      We have more than 3, and all current moderators are full time paid staff. We'll try to keep it running as long as I can pay all the staff.

      • +2

        Thank you. Happy to pay any membership fees if it ever comes to that.

        • +65

          I do hope that ozbargain will never get to a point where we need to ask our users to pay membership fees. I think the constant begging for subscription or Patreon support can really ruin a site.

          OzBargain Premium on the other hand…

          • @scotty: Ozbargain Premium for more features, no ads, etc.

            How about getting paid from AI scrapping people's posts and comments? Do many AI scrap posts and comments for free at the moment?

            Possible deals something similar like Google as the default search engine in Firefox (hundreds million $) and Safari browsers (billion $)? Company's sponsorships other than ads maybe?

            • +16

              @neoleo: I've been hesitant to take on direct sponsorship from companies. In fact I don't want any direct partnership with any company because we don't want to feel obligated to promote their products. That's why we are on 100% programmatic for the display ads — I have no idea whose ads are showing and who are paying. Even with affiliate partners I have to explicitly state that we won't do any promotion on their behalf.

              • @scotty: How about companies sponsor Ozb 5k, 10k, half marathon meetup? So, meetup is not only about food. Companies can put their brands and products on T-shirt, cap, wristband, bottle, food packaging, and prizes such as running shoes, fitness tracker, etc.

                The location could be around Olympic Park or other locations.

                This is just a suggestion.

                • +12

                  @neoleo: We do have companies sponsoring prizes in meetup events. However I need to emphasis that those sponsorships are always between the companies and the meetup organisers, NOT with OzBargain itself. We just don't want to be at the receiving end of sponsorship so won't have any obligation.

                  • -1

                    @scotty: You mean I could have gotten Bunnings to sponsor the Wheelbarrow races.
                    This opens up a whole new world.

          • @scotty: How could we support the site more, apart from my constant refreshing of deals? Should I click on some adds when not logged in?

            • +12

              @cloudy: The ads these days are mainly paid on verified impressions rather than clicks, so there's no need to click on them (which would only skew the data). Telling your friends about OzBargain is in fact the best way to support us.

              • -4

                @scotty: How about ads click farm by using a lot of cheap phones or with users participations. Maybe create a page where any interested users can open the page to participate in click farm in their free time (using bots). Users can stop anytime they want by closing the "clickfarm" page.

                Just an idea :P

                • +1

                  @neoleo: I don't think scamming advertisers is the OzB way…

  • +5

    What was the best offer you received to buy ozbargain? And why didn’t you take it?

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