Boards Deals scam

RoundyMooney

Just wanted to address this, Wibbser:)

Wibbs wrote: »

It depends on how you define "suffer". More ads would kill it? I doubt it. Not financially anyway. People use plenty of sites much bigger than Boards that are very ad/marketing heavy and it's not affected them. How many billions will Facebook the marketing company make when it's floated?

Nah, more ads wouldn't knock it for six, but it would piss a lot of people off. The facebook valuation is a false one anyway-take Bebo and AOL's experience in that regard as a key example.

Wibbs wrote: »

Maybe the pool of volunteers would dry up? Again I doubt it. It's currently the go to discussion site in Ireland. I reckon on that score you will always have people lining up to volunteer, pretty much regardless of how things change(though quality would likely suffer).

You're talking critical mass, as I often have done myself. Said critical mass is often a volatile entity though-again, positing Bebo/myspace as an example of how quickly people can up sticks and migrate en masse to the next shiny thing.

My initial and ongoing point is that boards walks a tightrope between a voluntary collective and a full blown for profit enterprise. Both are necessary, and both are equally worthy.

If that balance should be disturbed, be it through overzealous interference in the discussion element, causing it to suffer in numerous ways, or through a collective and gradual move away from the community ethos that still holds sway here (from both mods and users-exhibit A being adverts.ie), then you're at a stage where boards needs to piss or get off the pot.

Happily, neither is likely anytime soon. But that's not to say that we can't head off such at the pass, as it were. I gather discussions were held among the mods about such postings from boardsdeals on the fora. Did anyone think to ask the users?

denballs

Wibbs wrote: »

Me? Biased? Oh that's funny. No really. :pac:
noted for future ref. Actually I think it better to ignore you as so far your "arguments" are pretty silly and simplistic. 'nuff said really.

typical of a mod, i politely explain my opinion and you insult me....excellent just the standards ive come to expext here

P. Breathnach

denballs wrote: »

typical of a mod, i politely explain my opinion and you insult me....excellent just the standards ive come to expext here

For what value of politely?

Tragedy

I know the discussion has long since(and for good reason) moved on, but could I just ask people to revisit the bean bag & shamballa threads? Unfortunately, it seems like customers were left quite dissappointed by both despite prior assurances by staff that deals stacked up.

Wibbs

denballs wrote: »

typical of a mod, i politely explain my opinion and you insult me....excellent just the standards ive come to expext here

No insult meant, I was simply pointing out the "standard" of your posts on the matter summed up by your opening salvo of

Every boardsdeal is crap.....IMO.....they always have been

Adding IMO doesn't negate this wildly generalised statement. It comes across as ranting for the sake of same. You don't offer examples, never mind specific ones, neither(more importantly) do you offer possible solutions. Maybe it's just me, but when I hear more objections than solutions over an issue I look at the objections, but tend to downgrade the opinion behind them. If I hear no solutions offered at all I pretty much switch off.

Adding in stuff such as "bias" and "typical of a mod" doesn't exactly add to the discussion either and would be pretty inaccurate. For a start looking across all the mods typical is not a word I'd use. Trust me there can and has been quite a lot of quite vocal disagreement on issues that have arisen within the various communities. I've seen mods step down, even whole active and popular communities walk away over such disagreements. Aiming bias at me? Fair enough, but I've stuck my head above the parapet before and because of that if I was ever offered another mod position, I'd need to sit down with a stiff drink from the shock of it. You may not choose to believe it, but in my experience here as a user and mod about the only things mods agree on 100% are being protective of their own communities(and good posters) that they're a part of and have helped build and that spammers and trolls should be roasted alive over hot coals.

Tar.Aldarion

Tragedy wrote: »

I know the discussion has long since(and for good reason) moved on, but could I just ask people to revisit the bean bag & shamballa threads? Unfortunately, it seems like customers were left quite dissappointed by both despite prior assurances by staff that deals stacked up.

Also the food thread where people bought a deal and the menu was different, much worse, and they waited months being strung along to be told 'the menu changed'. Well duh. Also ringing one person to say this instead of telling the thread etc and they had to ask to be told, yet again.

IITYWYBMAD

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Also the food thread where people bought a deal and the menu was different, much worse, and they waited months being strung along to be told 'the menu changed'. Well duh. Also ringing one person to say this instead of telling the thread etc and they had to ask to be told, yet again.

Just read that thread there. Seems to be very shoddy practice on the part of the hotel, but equally the perceived lack of customer service from Boards Deals leaves a lot to be desired.

What exactly is the situation whereby somebody buys something and the supplier moves the goalposts by changing the offering? Surely the customer is due a full refund at the very least, and that's without getting into the disappointment of turning up there and finding that what you have paid for is no longer available.

I don't see anywhere on that thread you refer to, were the buyers rights are clearly outlined, which seems bizarre???

I'm not having a go at Niamh, but to single out a single complainant for a phone call to explain the situation, also seems rather bizarre.

denballs

Wibbs wrote: »

No insult meant, I was simply pointing out the "standard" of your posts on the matter summed up by your opening salvo of

Adding IMO doesn't negate this wildly generalised statement. It comes across as ranting for the sake of same. You don't offer examples, never mind specific ones, neither(more importantly) do you offer possible solutions. Maybe it's just me, but when I hear more objections than solutions over an issue I look at the objections, but tend to downgrade the opinion behind them. If I hear no solutions offered at all I pretty much switch off.

Adding in stuff such as "bias" and "typical of a mod" doesn't exactly add to the discussion either and would be pretty inaccurate. For a start looking across all the mods typical is not a word I'd use. Trust me there can and has been quite a lot of quite vocal disagreement on issues that have arisen within the various communities. I've seen mods step down, even whole active and popular communities walk away over such disagreements. Aiming bias at me? Fair enough, but I've stuck my head above the parapet before and because of that if I was ever offered another mod position, I'd need to sit down with a stiff drink from the shock of it. You may not choose to believe it, but in my experience here as a user and mod about the only things mods agree on 100% are being protective of their own communities(and good posters) that they're a part of and have helped build and that spammers and trolls should be roasted alive over hot coals.

I understand where you our comeing from, and i could go into how and why boards deals fails but if i put that much effort into destroying it.....people would wonder why i care so much....I dont...if people want to spend 3 times the price on items they could get elsewhere {you want examples you say.....the necklace should suffice} and think themselves lucky thats their business......but I dont like seeing boards put funding before its users........

You want solutions..../...ideas............how about actually putting the effort into researching the supposed deals before posting them here.......how about not just takeing 300 quid off whoever wants you to bang a 20% off banner on this site.........how about you actually google.....look for contacts....follow up leads......spend 8 hours a day .....and find us 1 deal....yes just 1....good deal......and good for the sites users not those who run it and their advbertiseing partners.

I,d prefer boards be more like wikipedia then facebook is all.

28064212

denballs wrote: »

I,d prefer boards be more like wikipedia

Run on donations from users? Great, here's the subscribe page, I take it you'll be going for a 1 year recurring? You can even buy a couple at a time to donate more since you're so in favour of user-based funding

denballs

28064212 wrote: »

Run on donations from users? Great, here's the subscribe page, I take it you'll be going for a 1 year recurring? You can even buy a couple at a time to donate more since you're so in favour of user-based funding

Ill gladly give a thousand a year for the rest of my life if they sorted out all the issues....until then....they dont deserve my money.

28064212

denballs wrote: »

Ill gladly give a thousand a year for the rest of my life if they sorted out all the issues....until then....they dont deserve my money.

1. I don't believe you
2. While you're waiting for them to fix everything, why don't you donate 5% of that €1000 for the stuff you do use right now for a year's subscription?
3. Wikipedia's income for the fiscal year 2011-2012 was $29.5 million (including). At a conservative estimate, Boards.ie's running costs might be a little over one-thirtieth of that, round it to an even €1 million. So all we need is a thousand (non-bullshitting) members to give €1000 every year. I'm sure they're rushing in with cheques any minute now

denballs

28064212 wrote: »

1. I don't believe you
2. While you're waiting for them to fix everything, why don't you donate 5% of that €1000 for the stuff you do use right now for a year's subscription?
3. Wikipedia's income for the fiscal year 2011-2012 was $29.5 million (including). At a conservative estimate, Boards.ie's running costs might be a little over one-thirtieth of that, round it to an even €1 million. So all we need is a thousand (non-bullshitting) members to give €1000 every year. I'm sure they're rushing in with cheques any minute now

1- im not going to brag but id easily giv it if i fully enjoyed the site.
2-because i dont pay half price for half eaten sandwiches in a deli
3-you made no valid point....doesnt require a response

Sully

Any chance of a tl;dr? I have no idea whats being discussed and the posts are verrry long!

28064212

denballs wrote: »

3-you made no valid point....doesnt require a response

Reaching your usual high level of discussion there. Can you at least expand on why it's not a valid point in your eyes?

Oryx

Sully wrote: »

Any chance of a tl;dr? I have no idea whats being discussed and the posts are verrry long!

Some boardsdeals bracelets may or may not have been inflated in price to look good for a deal.
The big boy beanbag deal suffered the same delays as on every other deals site where it was offered.
Deals have been advertised on some boards forums by deals staff. The merits and problems of this were thrashed out.
Denballs thinks all deals are terrible but has offered boards a grand a year if they turn the site into his vision of perfection.
Thats about it I think.

Sully

Oryx wrote: »

Some boardsdeals bracelets may or may not have been inflated in price to look good for a deal.
The big boy beanbag deal suffered the same delays as on every other deals site where it was offered.
Deals have been advertised on some boards forums by deals staff. The merits and problems of this were thrashed out.
Denballs thinks all deals are terrible but has offered boards a grand a year if they turn the site into his vision of perfection.
Thats about it I think.

The last thing I recall reading was about the deals on other forums. I thought we finished that. Then I arrive and there are long ass posts. Struck me by surprise.

IITYWYBMAD

Can somebody (An Admin??) please sort out denballs as he is in danger of completely derailing this thread, and also of clouding what the real issue should be here.

ibarelycare

Tragedy wrote: »

I know the discussion has long since(and for good reason) moved on, but could I just ask people to revisit the bean bag & shamballa threads? Unfortunately, it seems like customers were left quite dissappointed by both despite prior assurances by staff that deals stacked up.

Just came in to post this. Those threads are being completely ignored by boards deals. Very poor showing.

P. Breathnach

IITYWYBMAD wrote: »

Can somebody (An Admin??) please sort out denballs as he is in danger of completely derailing this thread, and also of clouding what the real issue should be here.

Can't really be done. It's a matter of optics: taking action against denballs could be represented as Boards silencing its critics.

IITYWYBMAD

P. Breathnach wrote: »

Can't really be done. It's a matter of optics: taking action against denballs could be represented as Boards silencing its critics.

I don't believe so. I think denballs has made his point(s) clear at this stage, and I think everybody should accept them and move on. I'm not asking for anybody to be silenced, but I think when you have users saying things like "I'll gladly give a thousand a year for the rest of my life if they sorted out all the issues" it's just nonsense, and has no real place in a reasoned discussion (my opinion).

We get his message, he doesn't rate/like/whatever Boards Deals. We don't needed shouted in our faces every 6-7 posts.

I've nothing personally against the user, but I think my original point stands, with regards to the CS issues and diligence of product, and that's really what this thread was put in place for imo.

TouchingVirus

denballs wrote: »

2-because i dont pay half price for half eaten sandwiches in a deli

Do you poke at half-eaten sandwiches, flip over the bread a bit, fork away at the filling, bleat about it to the staff ad nauseum? I wouldn't think you do, but you're managing to do it here...how long before somebody drops the t-word?

denballs

28064212 wrote: »

Reaching your usual high level of discussion there. Can you at least expand on why it's not a valid point in your eyes?

that point basically says.....fb makes alot and has a high cost or running
boards makes little and has a small by comparison cost of running.........

i really dont get the point you wer trying to make if there was one please explain it to me...and why it makes a difference to what me and mr wibbs are debating?

denballs

TouchingVirus wrote: »

Do you poke at half-eaten sandwiches, flip over the bread a bit, fork away at the filling, bleat about it to the staff ad nauseum? I wouldn't think you do, but you're managing to do it here...how long before somebody drops the t-word?

No disrespect TV but i dont think you fully understand that point or you are using the metaphor out of context to make yours.

denballs

IITYWYBMAD wrote: »

I don't believe so. I think denballs has made his point(s) clear at this stage, and I think everybody should accept them and move on. I'm not asking for anybody to be silenced, but I think when you have users saying things like "I'll gladly give a thousand a year for the rest of my life if they sorted out all the issues" it's just nonsense, and has no real place in a reasoned discussion (my opinion).

We get his message, he doesn't rate/like/whatever Boards Deals. We don't needed shouted in our faces every 6-7 posts.

I've nothing personally against the user, but I think my original point stands, with regards to the CS issues and diligence of product, and that's really what this thread was put in place for imo.

I apologise if the thread has been taken over by me and others who dont agree with me..i just wanted to make my point that in my opinion boards deals is,nt good......but people keep asking me to back upo that...then back up my reasoning behind that........they dont seem to understand its just my opinion.....i dont like the taste of eggs either.....are you going to get annoyed by that and debate my opinion on it also?

leave it be and get back to the subject at hand

28064212

denballs wrote: »

that point basically says.....fb makes alot and has a high cost or running
boards makes little and has a small by comparison cost of running.........

i really dont get the point you wer trying to make if there was one please explain it to me...and why it makes a difference to what me and mr wibbs are debating?

First of all, it was Wikipedia.

Secondly, since when was 1 million euro a "small" amount of money? Even if you weren't bullshitting about donating €1000 every year (you were), that would be 0.1% of the money needed to keep Boards running

denballs

28064212 wrote: »

First of all, it was Wikipedia.

Secondly, since when was 1 million euro a "small" amount of money? Even if you weren't bullshitting about donating €1000 every year (you were), that would be 0.1% of the money needed to keep Boards running

small by comparison to wiki.....pay attention please...


again.......you hav,nt explained why you bothered to say it

28064212

denballs wrote: »

small by comparison to wiki.....pay attention please...

Says the poster who couldn't remember whether it was Facebook or Wikipedia they were talking about

denballs wrote: »

again.......you hav,nt explained why you bothered to say it

*Sigh* Forget about Wikipedia, it seems to be too much for you to handle.

Boards would need €1 million a year to stay afloat. You're offering €1000 for it to be tailored to your exact needs. That's one-tenth of a percent of what they'd need

P. Breathnach

P. Breathnach wrote: »

Can't really be done. It's a matter of optics: taking action against denballs could be represented as Boards silencing its critics.

I would have preferred if denballs had not thought it a good idea to thank my post. It was not my intention to encourage him, but rather to explain why it is difficult to do as IITYWYBMAD sought, and "sort out denballs".

Sully

ibarelycare wrote: »

Just came in to post this. Those threads are being completely ignored by boards deals. Very poor showing.

Create a new thread. Id guess Dav & Co have tuned out of this by now.

It would appear our concerns were right all along. They took a gamble and it seemingly hasn't worked out.

Mr.Biscuits

Myself and a mate were starved and broke heading to the flicks one night and my mate says he seen that there was an Indian restaurant doing a meal deal for €4.99 on Boards - so both used our free €7.50 vouchers and had a lovely meal on DeV & Co