[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

  • Lancerx on 27/12/2024 - 15:32

    Are you a billionaire now? :)

    • scotty on 27/12/2024 - 15:33
      +5

      In Korean Won? Oh yeah!

      • silverrat23 on 27/12/2024 - 21:35
        +3

        Well, you won this round!

  • jaysee-teh on 27/12/2024 - 17:11
    +1

    thank you for sponsoring meetups for the past few year @scotty
    do you already have a view of whether it will still be going ahead next year ?

  • jaysee-teh on 27/12/2024 - 17:13
    +2

    what is your thought regarding balancing your responsibility between looking after your family in Sydney but parents in QLD ?

    • Chumpmaster on 27/12/2024 - 20:53

      On the same boat soon, would love to hear Scotty's virws. Grew up in the same culture of filial piety, unsure how to navigate the needs of my immediate family, or the obligation of my ageing parents

    • scotty on 27/12/2024 - 21:34
      +7

      It's difficult to answer because every family has different situation. I've been in discussion with my parents for a few years and they kept on changing their plans as well (stay in QLD, come to Syd, go back to TW, etc). They are happy to do their own things when they are still mobile, so at the moment I'm just visiting them every other month to fix any issue they have. It's more about their eventual incapacitation (to look after a big Queensland house for example). They do have plan to sell, and I'm hoping they can move to an apartment in Sydney that's close to the train/metro station so it would be easier for them and myself as well.

      Fortunately my family in Sydney have mostly grown up. Kid #2 is finishing HSC next year so finger crossed that I don't have to worry about them anymore.

  • maverickjohn on 27/12/2024 - 17:40
    +4

    Hey scotty,
    I know the feeling you are going through. And despite having moments where decisions infuriate me on here. Ozb is like a virtual home.
    It's thanks to having a good inspirational leader. Your values are admirable and you are just a good human being.
    I hope the wind down from here to be with your family goes as planned.
    I've graduated from ozbargain high school being here for 12 years. And my head still gets overwhelmed with how to do things. In saying that there's no other webaite I'd rather be.
    Sincerely thank you.

  • Homr on 27/12/2024 - 17:58
    +1

    Hey again Scotty, does your kids use ozbargain?

    Did they found out that you were the creator themselves or did you tell them?

  • Moneyinthebank on 27/12/2024 - 22:58

    what is your favourite takeaway food

  • atali on 27/12/2024 - 23:17

    first thanks for the ozb and second, are there plans to create an app? third I’ve turned on notifications for 100 votes etc but I occasionally see dropped notifs as I browse through deals. Has it been reported before?

  • auna on 27/12/2024 - 23:33

    1. Considering, I feel, that OzBargain and the community as a whole seems to be far ahead of the general public in terms of trends like Bitcoin etc, do you think it’s possible to leverage this community’s pragmatic ahead of the curve thinking to generate interest in the site, or revenue?

    2. With social media sites like forums dying at an alarming rate, due to governments around the world dictating unbelievable and almost nonenforceable policies on site owners, do you feel the internet is worse off than 10 years ago?

    • scotty on 28/12/2024 - 08:50
      +3

      1. I think there's a difference between "leveraging this community's forward thinkers" and actually implementing revenue generation strategy and associated products. Possible? YES! How? No idea, and I rather build things for community to use & enjoy, than thinking about it.

      2. Internet now days is definitely worse off than the Web 2.0 days, i.e. 10-20 years ago. The issue is not government, but rather large enterprises basically kill off smaller grassroot sites. In the old days, everyone can start a blog or a special interest forum, and we have this very decentralised Internet. Now days:

      • Your community is not your domain and website that you control, but just a small section of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, etc.

      • Some people are expecting to access your community via mobile apps, which is another walled garden.

        Old dinosaurs like OzBargain and other popular forums might still linger around, but new entrants can really struggle to compete against big social media networks.

  • Flukin on 28/12/2024 - 02:28

    Other than running this awesome site and once again thank you for help running it, got two questions.

    1. What is you do for work or what else you do for other streams of income if not work.

    2. Is running this site inexpensive or financially draining in any way?

    • scotty on 28/12/2024 - 08:35
      +8

      1. OzBargain is my work. Prior to OzBargain — software developer / architect kind of role.

      2. The biggest expense is payroll. All the moderators are paid staff, above Sydney's median full-time salary. When you add up superannuation, paid leaves, workers comp etc — running a company in Australia is expensive.

      It's kind of weird that some people here are expecting the impossible from the small team that I have. On the other hand there are still people thinking OzBargain is just scotty's part-time hobby.

  • wombok2 on 28/12/2024 - 03:34

    Hi Scotty, thanks for everything you've done and keeping it this way.

    1. Do you prefer winter melon tea or pearl milk tea or neither?

    2. Being born in Taichung, do you think Chun Shui Tang was where it really started?

    3. Do you miss any particular food from your hometown or is a shop you'd always go to when you're back in Taiwan?

    Cheers

    • scotty on 28/12/2024 - 08:30
      +2

      1. Out of the 2, maybe pearl milk tea. Not sugary drink kind of person — my preference is usually flatwhite with no sugar.

      2. Sorry no idea. My family left Taichung before Chun Shui Tang was even started.

      3. In Taiwan, it's usually the beef noodles. In my trip we would travel to different night market everyday but usually just order the same things (and the night market gets expensive quickly).

  • Fat Horny Ghost on 28/12/2024 - 04:55

    I know you don't go out to the variety of restaurants on offer in Sydney, my question is what is your favourite meal/restaurant in Kingsford and in Sydney in general?

  • Cheap Gamer on 28/12/2024 - 08:39

    Hi Scotty, could you recommend any Taiwan marketplaces that allow buyers outside of Taiwan? Recently, I needed an item from Ruten, but I had to use a buyer's agent which was expensive and frustrating. I heard other sites like Shopee and PChome are the same way. What is up with that?

    • scotty on 29/12/2024 - 08:59
      +1

      I think Taiwanese businesses still don't have that global mindset, and they are far behind Singapore, Hong Kong or even China. It's a little neglected country until recently so I am hoping they will change gradually, and we will be able to shop Taiwanese products here soon.

      I don't have anyone to recommend. I too wish I can just buy something from Shopee and have it shipped here.

  • 1Kenobi on 28/12/2024 - 09:36
    +1

    Are you a millionaire?

  • 1Kenobi on 28/12/2024 - 09:37

    Did the Singapore site take off?

  • aussie bargain on 28/12/2024 - 10:11

    What do you invest in, e.g. property, ETF, etc?

    • scotty on 28/12/2024 - 11:18
      +9

      Just off the shelf ETF. 30% Aus share + 70% Int share — very common allocation. Disclaimer: this is not a financial advice

  • cloudy on 28/12/2024 - 11:03

    Is there a book or two you would gift to children/friends and encourage them to read?

  • peterw1 on 28/12/2024 - 14:17
    +2

    so ozbargain can now legally drink and must be registered to vote. Happy Birthday.

  • hnh092393 on 28/12/2024 - 15:38

    I'm a developer living in Melbourne.
    Is there anyway one can join your dev team?
    And what's the tech stack of Ozbargain and why?
    Many thanks 🙏

    • scotty on 28/12/2024 - 16:53
      +4

      No, we aren't hiring.

    • ChipsChicky on 28/12/2024 - 19:27
      -2

      If you Bargain, he may Hire.

  • witsa on 28/12/2024 - 17:19

    Thanks Scotty for this site and for doing the ama.

    As an owner/ developer of a site like this with only a few staff, when was the last time you were able to take a decent holiday? And what does that look like? Is it possible to totally disconnect and let your staff handle it? Or are you essentially always on call to fix up any technical or management issue that might pop up?

    • scotty on 28/12/2024 - 21:06
      +6

      I just came back after 3 weeks in HK & Taiwan so the holiday was "decent" enough for me. Lots of food & sight seeing and relative visiting, etc. However I'm still on OzBargain and checking emails everyday. The moderation team is taking care of everything but there were still one case that require admin-intervention. I think the big challenge would be "going on the cruise" (and not hiring the expensive Internet access) — hoping to have that one day.

      There are unfortunately some things that aren't scripted, or only I have access to, or the know-how to do them. For example, if the database server went off-line and disk drives got corrupted, it would be a significant work to deploy a new server, secure it, copy the live data back from cluster, set up the replications again, etc. Or if there's a security breach.

      • localhost on 28/12/2024 - 23:44

        Just prepare ansible/puppet scripts for everything - deployment, install, database, cluster,etc. Do it once and forget it.
        Security - use aide, hourly snapshots, etc..and reliable backups. Just in case. And encrypt any personal information - like real names, emails, etc. You don't have payment info stored, so less attractive to hackers.

        • scotty on 29/12/2024 - 08:14
          +3

          These are the preparations, which we have. I am talking about responses to the unexpected. There are always scenarios where your scripts aren't covering, and you basically don't have time to cover all the once in a blue moon situations — especially you also have to develop the site, manage the business, work with suppliers and your staff at the same time.

          Obviously the right answer would be hire more experienced staff to cover those edge cases. That can get very expensive.

  • am on 28/12/2024 - 22:05

    Hi Scotty,

    Any feedback on cashback sites using Ozbargain as a mktg channel to grow their business and gain exposure.

    • scotty on 29/12/2024 - 08:22
      +5

      OzBargain has been used as a marketing channel for many business so it's just not cashback sites. From business perspective, we are losing revenue from them (affiliate commissions) and we do not get any referral traffic. However from the community perspective, cashback does give more savings to our users, and sometimes quite a lot more savings during their promotions — which is why we are doing all these integrations so they are part of the site now.

  • hellobargain21 on 28/12/2024 - 23:25

    Do you and the team/staff have a relationship/friendship outside of work, do you you hang out, socialise, attend birthdays etc..?

    • scotty on 29/12/2024 - 08:53
      +9

      I have only met them a handful of times, and I haven't even met hamza23 face to face. We are all good mates though, on Slack :)

      • Clear on 29/12/2024 - 08:58
        +1

        Is 2025 going to be the year you finally meet face to face?

      • Forfiet on 29/12/2024 - 16:34

        WFH dream setting here…… ;) Thanks for a great 18 scotty!!!

        • scotty on 29/12/2024 - 19:04
          +5

          Yes people have been telling me how good it was working from home during covid. I was thinking, "hmm been doing that for 10+ years"

  • ayushlal on 29/12/2024 - 10:18
    -2

    what tech stack is being used for OzBargain?

  • ayushlal on 29/12/2024 - 10:46

    What is your advice for devs working in corporate and also spending a lot of their time outside of work continuing their learning and also creating SaaS/apps to one day hopefully be in your position?

    • scotty on 29/12/2024 - 12:16
      +3

      Just my own experience. If you have the know how of getting everything up and running — just do it. The cost will be minimum and you won't loss much if it fails.

  • Smilence03 on 29/12/2024 - 12:53

    Thank you Scotty for this great site.

    A rather unorthodox question regarding the demographics of Ozbargain users as I’ve noticed through your meet-up photos and my personal experience.

    I’m Asian myself, and my friends who are happy to take on my advice of using Ozbargain are more often than not Asians, than white Aussies. My Aussie friends often ‘cbf’ to use the site and just generally buy at full price, as they tell me.

    It could be just an exception here personally, but I wonder if you have seen the same as the moderator, or there is no way of knowing the demographics of the users really?

    • scotty on 29/12/2024 - 19:13
      +8

      During our OzBargain Premium hoodies comp, I have sent 70+ hoodies to many of the top OzBargain posters here. From the names they have provided me, I'll say the majority are actually non-Asians. I actually had to order extra XL & XXL this year since that was my experience from previous years' comp as well.

      However at meetups we are getting overwhelming number of East, South-East and South Asians at the events. So I am usually ordering extra S, M & L sizes of T-shirts to give away as they usually run out first.

      Those are just observations — I don't know what kind of conclusions people can come up with. More average Australians posting deals, but more Asians coming for the free food?

      As of your Aussie friends — are you living or working in affluent suburbs? I'm in the Sydney East and have kids going through private independent schools. Most parents I met are from the affluent background, and are the opposite of ozbargainers. However they are from all races, not just Caucasians or east Asians.

  • SomeGuyOnOzB on 29/12/2024 - 17:39
    -1

    Hi Scotty,
    I know you do the coding, but can there be a celebration on the site or Scotty's day this year, so more people can come forward to say their thanks and welcome Neil and Hamza to their new roles? :D

    (Thank you btw for the community, helping everyone out with shopping, helping to foster cash backs … you must've helped so many of us to save or get back so many hundreds or thousands of dollars :D making life better and less stressful for so much of Australia)

    Also, how do we nominate you for an Australian Order? :)

    • scotty on 29/12/2024 - 19:16
      +5

      I much prefer not under the limelight. So no thanks, but just keep enjoying the site.

  • freekay on 29/12/2024 - 18:21

    Taiwanese beef noodles or Vietnamese Pho?.

    P.S.
    Thanks for all you do!

    • scotty on 30/12/2024 - 14:21
      +1

      My opinion is biased, and you know the answer to that :)

      It might be because I have not had "authentic pho" as I have never been to Vietnam. There have been instances where I tried out some pho shops here in Sydney and thought, "hmm this is nice". However people would tell me that the ones in Vietnam are far better so I felt my pho references might not be the best.

      On the other hand I've had some very nice Taiwanese beef noodles in Taiwan. Best one I had recently was this shop — close to Shi-men Ting, included in Michelin Guide, although a bit more costly at TW$250 (2 years ago). I can't find an equivalent one here in Sydney at 2x or 3x the price. Even chain store ones there aren't bad.

  • Unrvl on 29/12/2024 - 18:52

    Do you think in the next 5 years, bargains will be found by AI more than humans?

    • scotty on 30/12/2024 - 14:22
      +1

      It's already happening with a lot of deals discovered by price trackers. Not sure how that is going to affect OzBargain, but ultimately the fun part is still people doing the posting and commentings.

  • docmoh on 29/12/2024 - 21:06
    +1

    Hi Scotty, first of all I'd like to congratulate you on the 18 years of ozbargain. I hardly comment on anything on the net and have only posted rarely on ozbargain. I joined up when I was not working and was useful for me when I needed it.
    Some of my good talking points in life, where related to ozbargain posts (eg free ticket at Barangaroo for the Sydney NYE fireworks).
    Being an immigrant I learned a lot about Australia and the people here as well as rules and cultures and am indebted to ozbargain-other the savings and the excessive money spent on 'bargains'
    Thanks once again. Hope you all the success in whatever you want to do in the future.

  • ranmalynx on 30/12/2024 - 02:34
    +1

    Hey Scotty,

    Big thanks to you for creating this website. I have been a user since the very start and love how it has grown. I've been visiting almost daily and have taken advantage of a lot of bargains from this site. Yes, I am old. :)

    Here are my questions:

    1. If you were given a chance to have a do-over on Ozbargain, what will you do over?

    2. What motivates you?

    3. You mentioned that you are in the process of retirement. Do you think you have already achieved success in your life? How do you define success?

    4. Do you still have any pending goals that you are striving for?

    5. Do you have a bucket list? If you do, can you share some that are high priority for you that you have already ticked and some that you still need to tick?

    • scotty on 30/12/2024 - 14:43
      +3

      1. Technically — probably still PHP but a simpler / less-modular framework. I know many developers despise PHP (I myself included) but it's scalable and its stateless nature rarely leaks memory (whereas our Python services leak like crazy). OzBargain was based on an old version of Drupal which can be quite a challenge to work with and maintain.

      2. Probably happy users and growing influence.

      3. Objectively I am happy with where I am, and I would have no worry nor regret if I step outside today and truck-kun sends me to Isekai. That's my definition of success I guess.

      4. With OzBargain, we don't really have a specific goal. Keep the site running, help each other to share & discover bargains, make it as part of Australian Internet history, and maybe someone will do a Wikipedia page for us?

      5. Nah, not really. I am just retiring from being the face of OzBargain — I'll still be around fixing things. It's not that I'm moving to a retirement village or something.

      • dbnewman89 on 30/12/2024 - 17:31

        Wouldn't move into modern JS frameworks like React/Remix?

        I work primarily in AWS/serverless these days, don't have to worry about infrastructure/memory leaks when everything is short-lived.

        • scotty on 30/12/2024 - 18:14

          Serverless == $$$!!!

          And when you say "move" you didn't mean mv ozbargain ~/latest-js-framework, right?? It might turn out moving an 18 year old code base to a completely new framework + testing to ensure all functionalities are implemented, can be a lot more complicated.

          • dbnewman89 on 31/12/2024 - 09:59

            @scotty: haha serverless only === $$$ when it's not done right :P - because you're paying for execution time rather then runtime you end up with peaks and valleys that balance out over time.

            One of the biggest problems though is people who are new to serverless try to run it like traditional infrastructure (ie. monolithic design that runs over seconds rather then milliseconds) whilst its designed for modern microservice architecture and you need to put a lot of thought/design into everything before executing.

            It would be a total rebuild, but you'd do it route by route with weighted blue-green rather then a big bang

            • scotty on 31/12/2024 - 10:43
              +1

              @dbnewman89: Budget me a "total rebuild" of OzBargain + serverless, and I can guarantee you that our current infrastructure is way cheaper. Some parts of OzBargain were serverless before (on GCP not AWS) and that turned out to be costly and difficult to maintain over the years. No one doing web facing execution that "runs over seconds" anyway as a lot of processing is done in the backend queues + micro services.

              • dbnewman89 on 31/12/2024 - 11:19

                @scotty: Fair! I guess it's also come a long way from passion project to functional business now so those hard decisions eventually kick in :)

                I know tech debt all too well, our team have just spent months getting everything moved over to IaaC-based deployments and moving from node14 to node20.

                I personally prefer python to write, but hard to argue with how powerful/fast modern js frameworks are these days.

                Since there's already a rebuild in the pipeline however, framework selection should def be front of mind and design decisions for stateful/stateless can allow flexibility into the future, ie. if you were to design the app to be a stateless and container-based, the design pattern allows for server and serverless design patterns.

                There's always a bit more processing involved in running container-based, but since you can just run docker/Kuber on traditional vps's the costs remain fairly static :)

                • scotty on 31/12/2024 - 13:19
                  +1

                  @dbnewman89: node14 was 2020. Don't tell me about technical debts when it's still so recent :) OzBargain started with ~Debian Etch in 2006 with Python 2.4 & PHP 5.2, and gradually migrated to Python 3.11 & PHP 8.2 today. Nor do we have the budget to have a "team" doing the migration. You are looking at a 1 or 2 people team operating one of the busiest community websites in Australia. We aren't a well funded ISV.

                  PHP is actually relatively close to serverless with no state kept on the application between requests — it does not give you option of in-process persistence unlike node.js or most Python frameworks. Scaling the application is relatively easy for us — not fully automated, but can be deployed relatively quickly. Most of the bottleneck is actually on the persistence layer, i.e. database, which can still be a bottleneck to whatever serverless stacks people are using. We run our DB on an old 8-core E-2288G with replication only for live-backup but not for queries. Our battle is not whether to move to the best and the greatest, but whether we have the budget of money or time for it.

  • brawndo on 30/12/2024 - 10:15

    Hi Scotty

    I know you've stated in the past you wouldn't pay to run a race. But I'm curious to know what it would take for you to run an official marathon?

    • scotty on 30/12/2024 - 14:23
      +1

      Free? And can't be on Sunday because I'm usually busy with church in the morning.

  • ryzie on 30/12/2024 - 12:03
    +1

    Hi scotty, are the ozbargain treasure hunts not a thing anymore?

    • scotty on 30/12/2024 - 14:30
      +4

      A few reasons,

      • It was fun initially because of being a gimmick, but in later hunts we have to change the format a bit but it's still not new anymore.
      • Some of the prizes are actually won by the same group of users.
      • It kills the server worse than Amazon Prime Day, because too many people reloading.
      • I ran out of ideas of prizes.
      • It's actually quite a bit of work to set everything up — images, quiz questions, etc.

      Well, we all had fun, but at the end I've decided that that's it for the treasure hunts.

  • Aidanaus on 30/12/2024 - 21:05

    Do you think its strange your older than some users?

    I'm only a year over your 18 years here.

    • scotty on 31/12/2024 - 07:30

      Why it's strange? In IRL I'm mostly surrounded by uni students and don't find it strange at all. Had some high school students turned up at OzBargain meetups before as well.

  • watwatwat on 30/12/2024 - 21:22
    +1

    Thanks for running this site, it's hard to imagine life without it.

    So for whatever reason, i guess you were able to keep a low profile and no youtuber or news outlet has ever asked you to do a video overview? I find that interesting, maybe because Australia is so small and most youtubers are oveseas.

    Would have been cool to watch some video interviews with yourself, but i understand that it also wouldn't be fun for you to participate in such a thing.

    • scotty on 31/12/2024 - 07:31
      +2

      I've had some podcast interview requests but I've only done one.

  • spychiatrist on 30/12/2024 - 22:53
    +1

    Hi scotty,

    1. Did you consider publicly-listing Ozbargain?

    2. Why do you think Ozbargain is really successful here, while CheapCheapLah didn't last? Is overseas expansion still planned?

    3. Ozbargain birthday meetups is a way to thank more members, not everyone can win in Treasure Hunts. I attended once and wish there's more interaction among attendees but still worth the time.

    4. Putting my tin-foil hat on, how safe is a members personal information? If something lWhirlpool-like happens legally involving a member, will you share the member's details?

    • scotty on 31/12/2024 - 07:37
      1. Never.
      2. Not an Singaporean so don't know about the market. We did not intend to expand but just me responding to expat's request to have something similar there. Ended up wasting everyone's time. If any Singaporeans or Malaysians want to have an ozbargain equivalent there — do one yourself.
      3. Here's a question — if the meetups aren't sponsored, will people still meet and have interaction? How many people will come?
      4. What private details are you keeping here? Email addresses and IP addresses, which we're obligated to share with court order or police requests. We aren't social networks or financial institutions that ask everything including your cat's birthday.
  • Joanneso on 30/12/2024 - 23:35
    +7

    Thank you so much Scotty and for all that you do, it's honestly very appreciated. I love OzBargain so much and like others check it daily! P.s. I do wear my OzBargain t-shirts - my most worn shirts 😎😁✨💖 Happy Awesome 18th Birthday to OzBargain 🥳🎉🎊🎂🍰!

    • whyisave on 31/12/2024 - 14:02

      my most worn shirts 😎😁✨💖

      which design do you have?
      and/or like?
      and/or wear the most ?

  • cerealsmok3r on 31/12/2024 - 13:23

    Thanks for the awesome work you do for ozbargain and the community. It has definitely shaped some of my beliefs and who I am today.

    I have a few questions here that I’ll list below:
    1. My favourite time has to be r u ok day for ozbargain. Do you think you will make any changes for next years iteration?
    2. Do you have any advice you can give on running as a beginner?
    3. There are some members willing to cover the entire cost of shirts for birthday events and wanted to know your thoughts on it.
    5. Lastly, do you think your daughters will ever attend or organise a birthday event?

    • scotty on 31/12/2024 - 13:50
      +2

      Thanks. Here are some of the answers:

      1. Neil can probably answer this. We do look at RUOK's guidelines but there will be minimum changes.
      2. Run slow to build the base. I don't race so I rarely do speed session but I heard that makes you run faster, but maybe just once a week.
      3. If someone wish to pay — maybe they can do the sourcing as well? We can provide designs or even run design comps. I can just pass that onto someone and say "make 300 of these in whatever colours you decide for this year, and then distribute them". That would certainly make our job easier :) If it's just about paying $15 to cover the shirt, then don't worry about it.

      There's no question 4.

      1. They have been to a Fortress Melbourne event once, a few years ago. No, they aren't that interested in meetup either.
      • cerealsmok3r on 31/12/2024 - 21:11
        +1

        Thanks for answering scotty - appreciate the insights (:

        Personally I want to keep the design comps so we would just print the winning design. Will try to have a supplier ready by then. happy to dm you when you’re considering shirts for next year

        • Embaloo on 03/01/2025 - 08:40

          Awesome! Great idea, yeah the community creative input is essential

  • whyisave on 31/12/2024 - 14:01
    +1

    Hello @scotty

    Deep appreciation and heartfelt thanks for what you have built and dedicated a good part of your life to.
    Of the brief encounters at the meet-ups, I have felt the high-empathy individual that you are and your humbleness, plus I can also totally relate to your shunning of the limelight.

    Also with ageing folks, I can understand the need to step back, to focus on some priorities, so I found this AMA to be bitter-sweet, yet OzB will still live on, with your wise stewardship.

    To justify this "AMA" a bit…

    1. Have you ever caught Uber taxis alone? If so, do you like to sit in front, with the driver, or sit at that back?

    2. What do you think of 'tipping culture'?
      Do you tip for good service in AU (or anywhere overseas) ?
      Example:
      Tipping is the basis of the U.S. hospitality industry, but some places in AU try to force a tip onto the customer, and tipping is mostly frowned upon in AU too.

    3. What do you think of this "gig economy"?
      Example:
      Delivery drivers / servers who have to work below 'minimum wage', without worker benefits like leave, superannuation, etc. When I talk to those drivers, they tell me it's flexible and they can work few hours here or there at very short notice for "extra income" (which I can also understand, but I didn't think that AU could have such 'race to the bottom' work conditions).

    • scotty on 31/12/2024 - 14:31
      +1

      1. Uber taxis as in using the Uber app to book a yellow cab? In that case, no. However I've used Uber many times and I always prefer it over taxis. I usually sit in the front as my family sits in the back. Very very rarely I'll catch Uber by myself as other form of public transport is usually cheaper.

      2. I actually tipped Uber drivers in Taiwan a few times in my trip earlier this month. Surprisingly much better than taxi drivers there, and many provide you with local insights. Besides, Uber is cheap there (15 minute ride is usually AU$12 + $1 tip). Tipping was never compulsory, and the drivers always replied thanks after receiving the tip.

        On the other hand, I almost never tip anywhere else.

      3. Gig economy is there because there's a market, and I much prefer market economy than alternatives like planned economy. Flexibility is great because you can't really define "work" as 9-to-5 in the 21st century. World goes around 24/7 and services are needed all the time as well. On the other hand there might still be a need for legislations to protect (1) those gig workers from the corporations and each other, and (2) existing unionised workers in the same industry.

      • whyisave on 01/01/2025 - 00:33

        Thanks for this AMA.

        Wishing your parents, your family and yourself, good health into 2025.

  • scotty on 31/12/2024 - 17:01
    +11

    I think that's it for the AMA, and I've managed to answer most questions. Not sure when the next one is going to be though.

    All the best with the new year.

    • whyisave on 01/01/2025 - 01:31

      I think that's it for the AMA

      I actually forgot to ask this question:

      Would you consider making the entire OzBargain site and/or database available for offline browsing?
      Something which can be access like the Kiwix library.

    • maverickjohn on 01/01/2025 - 12:05

      Happy New Year to you, your fam and to the ozbargain community.

  • wisdomtooth on 03/01/2025 - 17:22

    Who are the OzBargainers? What are our aggregate demographics? Have we changed through these 18 years?

  • darkmattersunB6c0MV on 04/01/2025 - 10:34

    Congratulations Scotty for all your success.
    I have been a member of OzBargain for way too long!
    06/09/2007 actually- just checked.

    Used to frequent it much more, but as I get older, it is more to just relax without being excited to buy stuff.

    Would love to catch up with you, and share a beer and some food- my shout.
    Thanks for everything and Happy New Year 2025.

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