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

scotty on 25/12/2024 - 21:50

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.

Introduce Yourself

closed Comments

  • suchan on 26/12/2024 - 12:02

    Would you consider hiring more people in the future should the site get bigger? What's your criteria for hiring someone?

    • scotty on 26/12/2024 - 12:42
      +2

      Maybe, if there's a need & our budget allows. I am not sure that the site will get bigger though.

  • Homr on 26/12/2024 - 12:23
    +2

    Merry Xmas Scotty

    Whats the income you get from Ozb?

    What's the growth in income for Ozb? E.g. Year 1-5: 100k, Year 5-10: 150k etc

    At which point (year) did Ozbargain earn enough for you to quit your original fulltime job and allow you to focus on ozbargain fulltime?

    Any specific skills are required for you to run Ozbargain? Like Uni degree? Work related experience?

    Thanks.

    • scotty on 26/12/2024 - 13:09
      +11

      I won't go into actual numbers. Income is not always growing either — it had been quite a bit of shrinkage over the last 3 years for example.

      It's also difficult for me to spell out the "skills" to run OzBargain. There are technical skills that I've acquired over the years, and business skills that I had to pick up when running it as a company. Technical skills for example

      • full stack development skills all the way from HTML/CSS/Javascript to SQL queries and database optimisation, and everything in between.
      • architect the big picture on how all the components and micro services fit together
      • set up dev / test / production environments on Linux servers, develop deployment scripts, etc — all the operational stuff
      • problem solving when something goes wrong — analysing various logs, write test cases, etc

      I basically have to be my own project manager to convert ideas into specifications, development manager to convert specifications to code, wrap all up into a deliverable product, test, deploy, monitor and respond if anything goes wrong.

      • Homr on 26/12/2024 - 13:17

        Thanks Scotty. Did you acquire the technical skills from university or self taught?

        • scotty on 26/12/2024 - 13:26
          +6

          A bit of both. I have an engineering degree in computing, but I'm in constant lookout of new stuff. For example one of the more fun toolkits I picked up over the last 2 years is htmx that dramatically reduce the amount of Javascript we need to write.

          • Homr on 26/12/2024 - 16:36

            @scotty: ahh, so you're a computer engineer by trade.

            Thanks for taking ur time answering my questions.

          • squaredonut on 26/12/2024 - 23:48

            @scotty: What's your perspective on htmx? I've got a friend that keeps pushing it, but honestly it feels like… 2010 ASP.NET WebForms + AJAX Update Panel all over again.

            • scotty on 27/12/2024 - 06:51
              +2

              @squaredonut: I feel it's a bit of anti-React. Minimum JavaScript on the front end as most rendering is done in the backend. Most of the actions are declarative in its specific HTML attributes. Easy to integrate into whatever framework you already have. Surprisingly pleasant to code, and really cut down both the code size and development time.

  • Kiro on 26/12/2024 - 12:28

    Will you create an official merch store with hats, mugs, shirts etc?

    • scotty on 26/12/2024 - 12:48
      +11

      No.

      If I am trying to make money from the merch store, prices will be too high to be called bargains. If the prices are too low then they just become distractions for my team from doing what they need to do, i.e. running this website. I won't stop people from grabbing the OzBargain logos to do their own T-shirts or mugs though, as long as they don't claim to be official.

      • localhost on 26/12/2024 - 16:51
        +1

        You can outsource that to your kids :)

  • thisusernameistaken on 26/12/2024 - 12:39

    Given that you are stepping back, are you looking for more staff (programmers, moderators etc)?

    If so, how would one apply?

  • MITM on 26/12/2024 - 12:46

    M Xmas Scotty.
    How hard technically was starting OB or did you have an IT skill set ?
    Did you have a lightbulb moment seeing OB’s potential ?
    Referral system has been a godsend both ways - thanks.
    Enjoy your semi-retirement.

    • scotty on 26/12/2024 - 13:19
      +7

      did you have an IT skill set

      I had worked in various developer and IT architect roles for a decade before starting OzBargain. YMMV.

      lightbulb moment

      Sorry no. I just thought it might be a useful thing to have.

      Referral system

      People have started posting their own referral links and code in the comments, and sometimes fights broke out when people accused each other for spamming. So a referral system was created (an optimised over the years) to benefit OzBargain users and the original posters. You'll see that a lot of features were implemented from community feedbacks.

      • welcomeUniverseWorld on 26/12/2024 - 14:35

        A crowd fight gives OzBargain a new great functionality. That is awesome. Seriously sweet awesome

  • DingoBilly on 26/12/2024 - 12:53

    How did you decide and plan who to hand the reins over to and do you think you're ever likely to step back in if things start going wrong? Do you have some sort of long term plan and rules for them to follow or happy for them to do their own thing?

    It can be hard to find the right people, and even if they manage it well over the short term they can stuff it up over the long term.

    • scotty on 26/12/2024 - 13:11
      +15

      Do note that neil has been working full time at OzBargain for 10+ years, and almost 10 years for hamza23. We share the same value and vision for OzBargain — it's not that I am handing it to someone new who has a completely different idea.

      • cloudy on 28/12/2024 - 10:56

        How did you, Neil and Hamza meet?

        • scotty on 28/12/2024 - 11:18
          +7

          OzBargain?

  • tellhimhesdreaming on 26/12/2024 - 13:17
    +2

    Appreciate all the effort you (and the mods) have put in to keeping this site useful and community cohesive. Ozb has provided me a significant increase in quality of life and definitely helped to illuminate what value is.

    Given you have described yourself as cheap a few times in this AMA, is there any area of your life or hobbies that you just pay the bill without questioning it?

    • scotty on 26/12/2024 - 17:28
      +14

      Paid my uni-aged daughter's university fee, in full, upfront. My parents did that when I was in uni so I don't want my kids to finish uni with debts either. Although 30 years ago it was only $1,500 per semester, and you got 25% discount when paying upfront. You get bugger all these days.

  • Lastchancetosee on 26/12/2024 - 13:19
    +5

    No questions, but many thanks Scotty for the site and community you've built.

    They call us the sandwich generation - aging parents and semi-dependent children - but I consider it a privilege to have a close and caring family.

    All the best with stepping back to spend more time with the family. I moved to a four-day week last year and it's been life changing, especially as Mum has had some major health issues.

  • LuckyLuke on 26/12/2024 - 15:23
    +3

    Hey Scotty, I wanted do a shout out - your donations to charity are really commendable - thank you for your service.

    But on a similar but unrelated topic, are you a Christian?

    • scotty on 26/12/2024 - 17:30
      +20

      Became a Christian in my last year of high school. These days I'm mainly working with international students on uni campus, especially those from China.

      • LuckyLuke on 27/12/2024 - 21:35

        Praise God. It sounds like you are a talented tent maker.

  • neosin on 26/12/2024 - 16:01
    -2

    Scotty, I've been a member for almost 18 years (thank you and the community), I was wondering what you think of adding tags to people's names eg (name)(newbie) or (name)(vet) or (name)(OG) based on x factors

    It would help to easier identify a lot of fake and new troll accounts in both comments and classified sections…

    I know you can click into someones profile and just check age but yeh, a lot sites implement this "honour/badge" system and it works well

    • Gervais fanboy on 26/12/2024 - 16:18
      -2

      There could be a tag for the newly joined, anything more extensive would turn it into almost some sort of a class system.
      Anyways, use this https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/824416 to post your suggestions.

    • whyisave on 26/12/2024 - 16:57
      +1

      OG accounts can be hacked, and used by bots for subversion influence or gift card scam sales.

      Not opposing your idea, but just saying that online reputations are status symbols too.

  • kool on 26/12/2024 - 16:32
    +2

    Hi Scotty, i must admit i am a longterm sucker here. Started using it probably around 2008, almost everyday.

    For how long did you run Ozbargain as a sole admin/moderator?

    Best wishes Scotty.

    • scotty on 26/12/2024 - 17:31
      +7

      Moocher was my first employee in mid 2011 — so almost 5 years as a sole admin?

      • Crownie on 27/12/2024 - 11:27

        Wild to think that in 2011 I was unemployed and looking for a meaningful career change. It could've been Neil and me running your operations from Melbourne.

        • scotty on 27/12/2024 - 11:50
          +5

          I won't say anything about personality, tech skillset, culture fit, etc — most people who think they can work at OzBargain are kidding themselves.

          And if you do have a time machine to rewind back to 2011, shouldn't you be buying Bitcoins instead? I would :)

          • welcomeUniverseWorld on 27/12/2024 - 14:50

            @scotty: I thought you think Bitcoin is nonproductive ;)

            • scotty on 27/12/2024 - 14:56
              +3

              @welcomeUniverseWorld: Yes it's nonproductive so the 2011 me didn't bother to get some. However if that 2011 me knows that it would hit $100k per coin 13 years later, I'll get bucket load even if I thought it was junk.

              • kool on 27/12/2024 - 18:25
                +1

                @scotty: Yeah still remember the bitcoin April fool gimmick :)

              • welcomeUniverseWorld on 27/12/2024 - 19:02
                +1

                @scotty: Yeep. Same here, mate. Same here. I would cash out everything from everywhere including credit cards. And just live as frugal life as I can for next decade retiring my 10 generation blood line forever. It is one of a kind.

  • Unorthodox on 26/12/2024 - 16:42

    Cheers to you and the team

    1) Did you ever get any extra info on the reason or perps from the DDOS attacks earlier this year?

    2) Have you ever had to personally intervene or override a ban decision etc as the owner of the site?

    • scotty on 26/12/2024 - 18:17
      +3

      1) No. We did not receive any warning nor did we spend too much time investigating the source. We just treat it as kids spending pocket money on those rent-a-DDoS site, and then moved on when they aren't effective.

      2) Sure. I think we all need to realise that moderators are human too and everyone makes mistake — often due to lack of time or information. I've done wrong moderation as well in the past that got corrected by other mods.

  • SupeNintendoChalmers on 26/12/2024 - 17:21
    +3

    I don't have a question, just a sincere thanks for all you, Neil and the team have done to grow this community.

  • Hangryuman on 26/12/2024 - 17:33
    +1

    Thanks Scotty for creating one of the websites I read almost every day and have benefited from with your bargain finds - Love Your Work !

  • hellobargain21 on 26/12/2024 - 18:14

    Is there a realistic number that you would sell ozbargain for? (Assuming you are wanting to exit completely and not care about the vision of it anymore)

    • scotty on 26/12/2024 - 18:36
      +5

      The realistic number would be EBITDA x some magic multiple. I don't know the EBITDA because I don't know when I really want to exit. I have no idea about that multiple either, as different source gives different number.

  • t_c on 26/12/2024 - 18:33

    You previously said half the traffic is bots.

    1. Do the bots post in the comments section to promote user interaction and engagement.

    2. Are your parents still disappointed you didnt become a Doctor or Lawyer?

    • scotty on 26/12/2024 - 19:01
      +11

      1. No. Mostly just fetching random pages.

      2. Why? Dad was a surgeon and he would not want his kids to become one because how tough it is. Still had memory of him being on call, and had to ride his motorbike to the next town to remove someone's appendix in the middle of the night.

        My interest in computing also started when dad bought an VIC-20 to mock around.

      • t_c on 26/12/2024 - 19:59
        -4

        Q1. Might be a fun programing challenge creating a AI bot that posts random human like comments. Maybe even taking it a step further and building profiles from a users past comments then using that data to craft responses they would be most receptive to.

        Q2, re why: Was a attempt at humour. Gpt explains…

        1. Sarcasm: The humor relies on a subtle jab, implying societal and familial pressure to pursue "prestigious" careers. It's funny because of its exaggerated assumption and the shared understanding of this cultural expectation.

        2. Observational Comedy: It points out a common experience or stereotype—parents often having high aspirations for their children’s careers, especially in certain cultures. The humor works because many can relate to or recognize this scenario.

      • Mixhael on 27/12/2024 - 07:28
        +1

        I assume question 2 was a nudge at the stereotype of Asian parents wanting their kids to become a doctor or a lawyer, and being disappointed by any other career.

        I've actually found this stereotype pretty accurate in my situation as well as many of my friends haha

  • dlakers3peat on 26/12/2024 - 19:23
    -5

    Why is this website still stuck in the 90s

    • whyisave on 26/12/2024 - 20:58
      +4

      …because the 90s was an awesome time to use the Internet? hah

    • scotty on 28/12/2024 - 11:21
      +2

      OzBargain turned 18, not 28. Btw what websites were you using in the 90s?

  • Ten on 26/12/2024 - 19:29
    +2

    Is there a particular reason that the classifieds section is listed as 'Classified' under the forum menu, and if so, should it be restricted?

    • scotty on 26/12/2024 - 19:49
      +4

      Originally Classified was a sub-forum to request and sell. A new module was developed later on but we still placed it under the forums menu. Didn't you know that there has always been some restrictions with accessing & posting in Classified?

    • brawndo on 02/01/2025 - 14:46
      +2

      It's restricted to members only (you won't see it if you're not logged in). So technically the classifieds are "classified".

      I think I get your point (maybe), it's missing an "s" which changes the meaning.

      • Ten on 02/01/2025 - 15:33
        +1

        Yep, you understand my point I am just terrible at explaining :D

  • samdong on 26/12/2024 - 20:07
    +3

    Do you have a full-time or part-time job outside of OzBargain, or do you rely solely on OzBargain for your livelihood?

    • scotty on 28/12/2024 - 11:24
      +1

      Answered multiple times in the past… I've been running OzBargain full time since 2011 and currently have multiple staff working as moderators and developer. I've had investments for many years as well so I don't rely on OzBargain solely for livelihood.

      • samdong on 28/12/2024 - 20:46

        Great!!

  • awkwardmon on 26/12/2024 - 20:56

    Have you watched Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, if so how would you rate it?

    • welcomeUniverseWorld on 26/12/2024 - 21:09

      I get confused. Is that the one with the new lady or that captain dude? i liked the one with the captain dude…

    • scotty on 28/12/2024 - 11:24
      +1

      Not yet,

  • Embaloo on 26/12/2024 - 21:34
    +3

    Sorry a few personal ones,

    1. How many days would you be happy to keep and eat a half-price roast chicken that you were able to get in the fridge an hour after purchasing, assuming the family didnt get to it first? (Do you find food wastage/frugalness with groceries/food safety balance difficult)?

    2. Where do you think you lie on the aus political spectrum, from left to right?

    3. What convinces you that christianity is The Way, or one thing that's a standout?

    4. How do you feel about how much you/australians are taxed?

    5. What corny film do you look back on as a favourite but that you are afraid to recommend people watch?

    6. What are some top couple of things on your steam backlog? Nostaligic or new? Understand the parenthood/parent-care/life juggle backlog.

    7. What do you think about nuclear energy in aus?

    8. Top couple of boardgames that you'd personally like to spend more time playing, if you had time?

    Thanks for your integrity on here.

    • scotty on 26/12/2024 - 22:22
      +16

      So many questions :)

      1. Don't like food wastage so I'm usually on the cleanup duty if the family can't finish the meal when going out. More than happy to eat the half price chicken. I would however still throw away the food in fridge if it's way passed the best use date, or get mouldy, taste weird, etc.

      2. Hard to say, because often it's more than one spectrum. I do find myself in the conservative camp in many issues, but progressive in the others.

      3. The world view and the solution presented in the bible makes sense. Basically everyone is bad & selfish and no one can be right with God by their own merits — quite evident when you look around, OzBargain included. So God provided the solution via this guy Jesus 2000 years ago. At the end Christianity is not about "what can I do" but "what has God done".

      4. Yes Australia has relatively high income tax. I do wonder sometimes whether I am paying too much tax (too lazy to do tax-effective structures). However I don't mind paying (or paying more) if that enables the government to provide welfare and service to those in need, and to maintain a healthy and stable society.

      5. Sorry — too afraid to share them.

      6. Saw the Divinity Original Sin deal last night, and remembered that I have that game in my backlog. I would like to play Baldur's Gate 3 as well, maybe when the price drops to $20 or less.

      7. Any feasible alternatives to provide the base load?

      8. Don't really like boardgames (much prefer PvE than PvP :) but recently played Dixit when uni students from church came over.

      • Embaloo on 03/01/2025 - 08:42

        Thanks for all the replies!

  • chastonts on 26/12/2024 - 21:39
    +1

    Hi
    How did you find out this name, OzBargain? What is its future plans?

  • xiuhan83 on 26/12/2024 - 22:35

    how much revenue do you get from this site per month?

    • scotty on 28/12/2024 - 11:26

      Different from month to month, but more than enough for my lifestyle after paying all business expenses.

  • fredblogs on 26/12/2024 - 23:07

    Do you miss anything about corporate life?
    Do you make more than you would as an engineer for a big tech firm?
    Any regrets?

    • scotty on 27/12/2024 - 06:58
      +10

      Big advantage of being a salaried developer — you can turn off when you leave the office. You are constantly working when it's your business, especially when it's something that's online 24/7.

      I have no idea how much I can make if I stay in the corporate world. However I think retiring from it would be easier — just hand in the resignation and not turn up the office. Whereas I can't just simply turn off the servers of I want to fully retire from OzBargain.

      No regret though. At least I don't tend to think about them.

  • mmd on 27/12/2024 - 00:04

    Which deal do you think was the "viral" deal that turned
    ozbargain into mainstream?

    Furthermore, which year had the highest number of users registered?

    What was your best bargain this year? I asked this question at every ozbargain meetup

    • scotty on 27/12/2024 - 07:04
      +7

      I don't think OzBargain turned viral from a single deal. People might have their own most memorable deal, but OzBargain itself just grew slowly over the years.

      Sorry can't really help with the "best deal" question. I am ashamed to say that I am usually preoccupied with running the site, than taking advantage of the deals themselves.

      • Fobsessive on 27/12/2024 - 15:12
        +2

        That's nothing to be ashamed about!

  • quanticism on 27/12/2024 - 00:50

    What were interesting changes to the market that forced your business to adapt, if any?

    How has the codebase evolved over the years? There are types that love chasing the new fad and frameworks, resulting in many large refactors, and the types that are perfectly happy not creating additional work refactoring things that aren't broken. Any interesting changes here or complications from the lack of change?

    • scotty on 27/12/2024 - 07:37
      +3

      Large scale refactorisation unfortunately is just not feasible at OzBargain. Some business can afford to have a dedicated team writing a new version of the site, while the existing team maintain the existing code base with bug fixes & new features, OzBargain has only 2 developers (moocher & myself) who also have to spend half of their time running the business and doing moderation.

  • shkippy on 27/12/2024 - 02:23
    +1

    Love your work Scotty! I can honestly say ozbargain has changed my life and as an atheist/agnostic I would (and have) called ozbargain 'my religion' =D

    What brand & model phone(s) do you own/use? Which network are you on? On one of those prepay 365 day plans or post paid monthly plans?

  • db2k on 27/12/2024 - 07:35
    +1

    @scotty thanks for taking up your time and doing this. I read through questions and did a search and couldn't find the it's been asked before… so here goes

    1. Product Road Map
    What do you envisage in the short (less than 12 months), medium (2-3 years) and long term (3-5 years) for OZB as a product/service? Not asking for features or anything functional (too low level details). But simply a high level goal/ vision statement for short, med, long term.

    2. OZB Community Help
    What can we do as users to help? Top 3 or 5 if you have it? Apart from the usual- being respectful and good netizens etc. If you don't have specifics a vision statement would be helpful. We (as a community) can't achieve it if we don't know about it.

    3. Vendor/Product goals
    What do you want to see from vendors/suppliers, or product providers?

    4. OZB Hackathon
    What do you think about a regional hackathon workshop, distributed by state and each managed/governed in unison by members (e.g. not needing your time, we create the rules and establish governance for approval), and theme is we as a community pitch ideas, and create a plan to implement the idea. The best winners' from each state compete for the best national idea, and the community implements it (for your approval to go-live, or be parked).

    Just some random ideas, in the spirit of improvement and moving forward.

    Thank you again for reading. Merry Xmas and hope you enjoy some time off with the family during the break!

    • scotty on 27/12/2024 - 07:57
      +6

      I think you are assuming OzBargain is a cohesive community that came together for a common goal but the reality is far from that. Every user has their own agenda when they first came to OzBargain and why they stayed, and I don't think there's a "common goal" here. So,

      1. There are a list of features that I would like to implement but there's no product road map. Often we just need to be reactive to the needs, but the main goal is still being the independent platform hosting a community of bargain hunters (that have many goals of their own).

      2. Yes being a respectful netizen would definitely help. However the answer would be the same as (1) — I think it's a bit pointless to talk about the grand scale vision statement or road map, as though OzBargain community is a product. It's just a platform gathering different people together and the commonality happens to be "bargains". You guys are free to do whatever you want within rules, and our job is just facilitating this community, providing tools to share and discover bargains, and making sure it's well moderated.

      3. You mean the merchants that post deals on OzBargain? Just post good deals and listen to community feedbacks. And when the not-so-good deals get criticised by the community, don't send us legal threats or post 1-star reviews of OzBargain on ProductReview.com.au.

      4. You are thinking about an OzBargain that has 100x the revenue and staff count. At the same time just thinking about that makes me want to retire earlier.

      Merry Christmas to you too.

  • Mixhael on 27/12/2024 - 07:39
    +1

    Thank you Scotty for all you've done for OzBargain and the community. Slightly embarrassing but it's become a part of my identity as I grew up reading this site.
    Anyway, a few questions:

    • I'm interested in previous comment you made stating that 50% of traffic is bots. What do you believe they are doing? Do you have any plans to flip that off button?

    • If you could have changed the direction of the site at any point in the past, how would you have done it?

    • And… do you consider a hotdog to be a sandwich?

    • scotty on 27/12/2024 - 08:24
      +6

      • There are many different types of bots.

        • Good search engine bots (Google, Bing, etc) and not so good search engine bots (ahrefs and other SEO bots analysing the websites). Some can get very aggressive without following the robots.txt rules.
        • RSS bots. Every now and then we have run-away RSS bots on someone's computer that generates multiple requests per second for hours, got blocked, and then emailed me asking why OzBargain is not working for them.
        • Scrapers for other websites. They usually identify themselves as an odd version of common browsers.
        • Scrapers for AI models

        and many many more which we have no idea what they do. They are constantly in the background downloading pages & chewing up our bandwidth and computing resources. When we turn on the Under Attack Mode on CloudFlare to force every request to verify that they are human, the bandwidth graph immediately drops by half.

      • I'm happy with the way it is now. There are things that we can change to generate more revenue, but I don't think the community is going to like it.

      • Hotdog? No…

  • mrvaluepack on 27/12/2024 - 08:06
    +1

    Have you ever heard or known about your kids proudly bragging to their friends or other people about this awesome bargain site you founded?

    • scotty on 27/12/2024 - 08:30
      +11

      I don't think my kids are the bragging types. Instead they usually tell me how they discovered their friends / teachers were using OzBargain. For example one of my daughters is doing engineering at uni. She won't tell others how she's associated with OzBargain (although some of her friends eventually found out). However she told me that half of the posts in the engineering Discord server were about deals on OzBargain, but she would just camp there looking at what people are saying.

  • Zelda on 27/12/2024 - 09:01

    How do you actually make money from running this site? No need for actual numbers, but I was wondering since the referral links are minimal and you don't do paid sponsorships etc. thank you!

    • scotty on 27/12/2024 - 09:37
      +7

      Majority of the revenue comes from banner ads, which I guess you might not see if you have adblocker installed or use a browser with built in adblocker.

  • retailsaver on 27/12/2024 - 09:42
    +1

    Much admiration for you scotty.

    My questions:

    • What tech stack does the site run on?

    • What was the original tech stack and what has been the hardest tech change you made?

    • What recommendations do you have for someone starting their own business whilst juggling a young, growing family?

    • Do you own Bitcoin/crypto and/or what is your opinion of it?

    • scotty on 27/12/2024 - 14:47
      +4

      Here's an old wiki page. Pretty standard nginx + PHP/Python + MariaDB stack.

      I had this pretty much from the beginning. "It works" and I don't see a need for major change (nor do I have the time & budget for). Obviously over the years we have to do some big patches as we are deploying to the latest version of Debian. PHP7 to PHP8 was quite a task to fix up man existing code, as well as Python2 to Python3 migration that I've done many many years ago.

      What recommendations do you have for someone starting their own business whilst juggling a young, growing family?

      I don't want to give recommendations because I can't afford the responsibility :)

      For me it's just about being slow and steady. Most startups are celebrating achieving x million users within y months, whereas OzBargain was a hobby for me at the beginning — I had no goal, I can't commit too much time, but at least it's something I've started, and I have the technical know-how to keep it going at minimum expense. Gradually it just grew into the size it is today.

      Do you own Bitcoin/crypto and/or what is your opinion of it?

      Someone gave me a small amount of Bitcoin in 2017 (~$500 back then). I had it parked somewhere and it has multiplied several folds by now. However I generally have negative views on cryptocurrency because of lack of actual utility, i.e. having money parked at a non-producing asset that's violatile.

  • shima888 on 27/12/2024 - 09:48

    Where do you plan or aspire to travel to and what for?

    Any favourite places so far?

    What foods from your travels have you found hard to replicate outside that location?
    (inspired by your TFC > KFC comment)

    • scotty on 27/12/2024 - 14:53
      +2

      Went to Japan 8 years ago (Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto & Osaka) and had great experience, and it also happened to be one of the most asked travel destinations in the OzBargain travel forum. Had this great ramen place outside our Airbnb in Yoyogi. Thinking of going back to Japan again in the next couple of years, either to Kyushu or Hokkaido.

  • mousie on 27/12/2024 - 10:00
    +1

    How are you feeling towards retirement.

    I'm salaried myself but a lot of the people I work with are now retiring.

    How best to support the transition

    And was is difficult to let go from hands on to delegating?

    • scotty on 28/12/2024 - 11:30
      +4

      And was is difficult to let go from hands on to delegating?

      Let go is always hard, as OzBargain is like one of my kids. Well, it has just turned 18, and I need to learn to not care so much about where it is heading, but just enjoy the process.

  • Roe Jogan on 27/12/2024 - 12:22
    -6

    HOW MUCH MONEY DO YOU MAKE FROM THIS SITE?
    edit: not the taxman, not diddy

  • Clear on 27/12/2024 - 15:03
    +3

    I saw that you mentioned you're super tight with your money and not wanting to get a second car etc.

    Are you saving your money for any particular reason, i.e. for emergencies or just don't feel the need to spend excessive money when everything costs so much? Have you invested at all? I.e. a rental property or anything else?

    Or perhaps does it come down partly to how you were raised? I initially grew up poor and early on learned to appreciate what you have. Only later when we struck gold that I was no longer afraid to spend money.

    • scotty on 27/12/2024 - 15:45
      +6

      Rather than fear, I think it's just a lifestyle choice, that both the Mrs and I have adopted. No real saving goal, but rather the "why spend when you don't need to" mentality (probably not good for the economy). I might lack the ability to appreciate luxury items, and do not feel like learning it either.

      Yes, savings get invested and probably ended up helping the next generation to afford Sydney housing (although the Mrs is strongly against it). It might have something to do with the upbringing, as my parents live in a similar fashion, although I do consider my family quite resourceful when I grow up (dad's a doctor).

      • Clear on 27/12/2024 - 18:44
        +2

        Makes sense. You don't need to buy and wear Louis Vuitton when you can deck yourself out for $30 at Kmart and still look good. Especially when a lot of luxury items don't add any extra functionality, unlike running shoes that you're all over.

        One optional question. What did you think of the Scotty masks at the Parra meetup? Do I get your blessing for more at any future official or unofficial meet ups? 🤣

        • scotty on 27/12/2024 - 21:40
          +3

          I don't mind as long as people know that it's an impersonation, rather than an official representation. However I am also in the process of taking a step back from being the face of OzBargain.

          • Clear on 27/12/2024 - 22:17
            +1

            @scotty: Definitely not an official representation. Knowing that you weren't going to attend it was a spur of the moment idea. People who wanted their photo with Scotty got it… and there was a lot.

            You've made a big impact on a lot of people here and they're going to miss seeing less of you around.

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