Is it really needed [Bargain Alert [Requests]] ?

rgfuller

Just a personal opinion/ergonomic view, I've been 'using' the bargain alerts forum for a long ol while, and in the past if I saw a request and had something worthwhile to contribute I would post a suggestion to a bargain/request.

However now that there exists the Bargain Alert [Requests] subforum, I have no interest/drive/reason to explicitly look there so miss out on any requests I may have been able to help with, thus making it less efficient/useful than before.

I suspect this may be the case with other people, or maybe not, it's my opinion anyway.

So I would suggest why not just allow people to post in the main Bargain Alerts forum with [REQ] as part of their Title, even if it's a pain to moderate.

6th

It looks like its working out well but as someone who just lurks maybe I dont fully get the dynamic of the place?

Sherifu

imo the new way is better, it was getting far too cluttered with [REQ] threads for my liking. Why don't you subscribe to the req forum?

stevenmu

Have to say I prefer the new way too. I did like having some requests in bargain alerts because if somebody requested something, then the replies to it usually contained some bargains. But it had started to get a bit much and it was starting to get in the way of genuine alerts I felt.

rgfuller

rkm wrote: »

imo the new way is better, it was getting far too cluttered with [REQ] threads for my liking. Why don't you subscribe to the req forum?

I tend to use boards by browsing new posts in the forums I am interested in.
I don't usually use mail notification as a trigger to go look.

But because I'm not really/actively interested in giving responses to requests I'm not bothered looking there explicitly.

Does boards record the number of people looking at specific forums, I'd be interested to see how many view Bargain Alerts Vs Bargain Alert Requests ?

A quick look now @4.20pm irish time shows 89 people viewing alerts, and 11 viewing requests, so requests in theory gets alot less exposure.

stevenmu wrote: »

Have to say I prefer the new way too. I did like having some requests in bargain alerts because if somebody requested something, then the replies to it usually contained some bargains. But it had started to get a bit much and it was starting to get in the way of genuine alerts I felt.

Good point, I guess generic requests for info (be they bargain or not) on something isn't right in an ALERTS forum.

Sherifu

stevenmu wrote: »

I did like having some requests in bargain alerts because if somebody requested something, then the replies to it usually contained some bargains.

That's true, I liked the way [REQ] threads would throw up some nice info from time to time, but it was getting to the stage of there being more [REQ] threads than Bargain Alerts.

rgfuller wrote: »

But because I'm not really/actively interested in giving responses to requests I'm not bothered looking there explicitly.

Does boards record the number of people looking at specific forums, I'd be interested to see how many view Bargain Alerts Vs Bargain Alert Requests ?

A quick look now @4.20pm irish time shows 89 people viewing alerts, and 11 viewing requests, so requests in theory gets alot less exposure.

It's true enough, I don't look in there myself much, only about once a month but it's preferable for me anyway like this.

muffler

When the idea of separating the actual bargains from the requests arose a couple of times in the past I was opposed to it but I have to say that having watch the evolution of the new "request" sub forum I find it great.

I view both of them and as has been pointed out above you will still find bargains in the requests forum as people are replying with the best deals for the individual requests.

Its fine. Leave it as it is.

Karoma

I can see where you're coming from and it was a concern raised from the beginning. So far, I think it has worked out quite well. The old way was getting quite cluttered and a pain in the ass:

rgfuller wrote: »

...
So I would suggest why not just allow people to post in the main Bargain Alerts forum with [REQ] as part of their Title, even if it's a pain to moderate.

This was one of the main reasons that it was a pain in the as. People simply wouldn't do it.

WhiteWashMan

it was changed at the request of the users of the forum, becuase it was getting too cluttered.

RoundyMooney

You know what they say about pleasing all of the people all of the time.

The new way is better IMO, and many of the users agree.

Karoma

RoundyMooney wrote: »

You know what they say about pleasing all of the people all of the time.

The new way is better IMO, and many of the users agree.

The majority at that.
The only argument put forward really is "I'm too lazy to perform one extra click"; not much of an argument that.

Ruu_Old

As a moderator of the forum who was against the idea at the start, I prefer the subforum now and it is working well.

Vexorg

One of the hacks for the new developer will be to come up with an option so that users can mix both forums if they so wish.

No doubt someone will be unhappy with the option:)