Gearbest Forum

Digital Solitude

Not sure if this is in the right place, but I was flicking through the forum listings today and came across the gearbest hosted forum.

Seems a bit strange that there's a link straight to them after the crap in the Chinese Android Thread last year that got them added to the swear list and made any association and links from users a big no-no.

Any explanation for this?

zarquon

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Not sure if this is in the right place, but I was flicking through the forum listings today and came across the gearbest hosted forum.

Seems a bit strange that there's a link straight to them after the crap in the Chinese Android Thread last year that got them added to the swear list and made any association and links from users a big no-no.

Any explanation for this?

Money talks. It's amazing how talk of morality and rightneous indignation gets thrown out the window when there is profit to be had.

Boards.ie - left wing capatilism in full flight

_Tombstone_

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1757

I wanted to be first to post in it but it won't let me. Boo.

degsie

Tut tut boards.ie

Gearbest: Widest selection of cool and fun gear at the best prices online.

All for a shilling!

Lovely Bloke

pieces of silver

MarkR

Bit of a climb down.

Satriale

Whats the official line on this, only the farm takes up most of the day and in the evening i like a cup of tea, so i mightn't be able to devote all my time to the old Gearbest!

Edward Hopper

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

pieces of silver

Very disappointing if they really are going to accept them on boards, after the huge witch hunt that was devoted to them.

Liam McPoyle

Edward Hopper wrote: »

Very disappointing if they really are going to accept them on boards, after the huge witch hunt that was devoted to them.

Why?

There is a massive difference in a company paying Boards to advertise and the carry on ie shilling that members were involved in.

One is open and upfront.

The other is sneaky and underhanded.

Ye all know that anyway.

Winterlong

Saul T Nutzz wrote: »

Why?

There is a massive difference in a company paying Boards to advertise and the carry on ie shilling that members were involved in.

One is open and upfront.

The other is sneaky and underhanded.

Ye all know that anyway.

But someone has to pay the shill and that someone would have been gearbeast ?

Liam McPoyle

Winterlong wrote: »

But someone has to pay the shill and that someone would have been gearbeast ?

What's your point?

I don't know how it works but I think it involves members getting referral fees for posting bargain alerts?

If Gear best were telling members to post on Boards then its an issue.

If people were doing it on their own back then why would GB be held accountable?

Winterlong

Saul T Nutzz wrote: »

What's your point?

Saul T Nutzz wrote: »

If Gear best were telling members to post on Boards then its an issue.

That is my point. We dont know how the shill was working and that is why people are raising this as an issue.

Spear

Winterlong wrote: »

That is my point. We dont know how the shill was working and that is why people are raising this as an issue.

If Gearbest have been forced to give up the shilling, and instead do the responsible thing instead, then it looks to me that they were dealt with correctly.

Boards.ie: Niamh

Hands up guys, I set that sub forum up last week in Sponsored Threads and had intended making an announcement about it before it went live properly (it's to be moved) but ye obviously spotted it. As we similarly try with businesses who sign up an account to promote themselves either blatantly or via shilling, we have managed to convert Gearbest into a paying customer. Happy days.

Satriale

Can we still discuss their bad aspects? Cause they can be a bit scammy. I had to do one paypal and one visa chargeback after months of being blatantly lied to and fobbed off by their appalling customer service. I had considered asking the mods on BA could i post my experience on the sticky there to warn people off.

In any case please try to get them to do a Talk to, that would be some solid gold entertainment right there, better even than the TescoMobile one. :pac:

Edward Hopper

Saul T Nutzz wrote: »

What's your point?

I don't know how it works but I think it involves members getting referral fees for posting bargain alerts?

If Gear best were telling members to post on Boards then its an issue.

If people were doing it on their own back then why would GB be held accountable?

They were offering rewards for people to post items on boards, encouraged people to shill and sent PM's to people encouraging them to post links and give positive feedback. Dav stated Gear best were the lowest of the low, banned any mention of them, which doesn't suggest they were an innocent party does it?



Euro signs changes everything.


Absolutely disgusted by this. Community my fu*ckin arse.


Are there any users banned during the big gearbest purge that remain banned? Presumably they'll all be welcomed back now too?

Boards.ie: Niamh

You can still discuss your personal experience.

Anyone who was site banned for shilling at the time is still banned. This new sponsored sub forum does not negate the fact that those users broke site rules by shilling.

Digital Solitude

Not sure how I feel about it, but thanks for the honest answer Niamh.

Had just glanced at it in A-Z listing which is how I found it, wasn't sure how old it was or anything

Edward Hopper

Boards.ie: Niamh wrote: »

You can still discuss your personal experience.

Anyone who was site banned for shilling at the time is still banned. This new sponsored sub forum does not negate the fact that those users broke site rules by shilling.

But the reprehensible action (putting words in Davs mouth, but that was most definitely the sentiment at the time) of Gearbest is forgiven because they have money?

Pretty well sums up the new reality of Boards.

Edit: C'est la vie.

Gearbest.com: Lindell

Dear all,

How are you?

This is Lindell from gearbest. I am so sorry for what gearbest did here one year ago. We do made some mistake in strategy when gearbest was no more than one-year old. We were so eager to bring you all we had, by inviting people to share our product to you, but which came to you were all bad memories caused by our poor Logistics experience, customer experience.

People make mistakes, what matters is how he face it. Gearbest has been working hard to make improvements after what have happened here, and we have become a website that has 64.6 million monthly clicks today. Now we are confidence to cooperate with many other free speech website over the world, like hotukdeals.com, slickdeals.net, mydealz.de, dealabs.com and so on. We also here, would like to provide our better products and service to you.

We may not perfect yet. We still need to spare no efforts to fulfill these goals. And this is the reason why I, the representative of Gearbest, am here. If you have any question, you can just contact me and I'll try my best to help you.

Have a nice day.

All the best,
Lindell

Lovely Bloke

what the.

Is that a joke post?

This is like when someone gets sitebanned, then offers to pay a subscription to get unbanned.

Well, apart from the righteous indignation that follows in the prison forum I'm disgusted you'd offer to do that, go away for ever

Also, since when is Boards.ie a "free speech website"? We've been told since time immemorial that it is the opposite of a free speech website.

duffman13

Your not allowed shill. Posters got banned becuase they benefited promoting the products of the company. Company now pays a fee to boards and can post in its own guise therefore there is no one being misled as can happen with shilling.

People got banned for breaking the rules, a company now pays to use the site in honest transparent manner.

dunworth1

Really? I had to check the calendar to make sure it wasn't The 1st of April

ThisRegard

duffman13 wrote: »

Posters got banned becuase they benefited promoting the products of the company.

As to did the company.

Turtyturd

Somewhere Lindell's pleading down the phone to a member of boards staff that he did what they asked and to let his family go.

Gearbest.com: Lindell

Thank you for all your response. People changed, and I promise we will never make the same mistake.
On behalf of gearbest, I am here to solve all your problem with gearbest.

degsie

So are we allowed to post gearbest 'bargains' in other forums without getting banned?

MarkR

May want to get rid of the sticky warning so...

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057438229

Boards.ie: Niamh

Afternoon - I just wanted to expand on what I posted yesterday about this. This is not a new departure for Boards. We have always been willing to work with any company who comes on to the site to contact customers/potential customers - even if they do so in the wrong way - if they come to us and understand that they went about things the wrong way. If they are willing to do things the right way, then we're happy to work with them on that. Hopefully it will be to everyone's benefit. This is how some of our first Talk to forums came about and is how a lot of the Verified Rep accounts on the site also came into being.

Gearbest has been removed from the swear filter now as we're confident that their site will no longer be shilled here.

MarkR, thanks for pointing out that link, we'll get onto that.

Pelvis Parsley

This is hilarious.

KevIRL

Will MCD be getting a sponsored forum soon?

Chorus_suck

This post has been deleted.

JaMarcusHustle

I asked this in the other thread so I'd like to ask it again here.

JaMarcusHustle wrote: »

I have a question.

Why is this under Bargain Alerts?

Why not in Talk To like most other sponsored forums?

The cynic in me believes that Gearbest would have requested it be put in Bargain Alerts for traffic reasons, given they've specifically targetted this forum before. Did they specifically ask for it to be put here?

I don't see why it should be in Bargain Alerts. Im sure they believe the offer the best bargains, but I'm sure the likes of Three, Virgin Media, Sky and other sponsored forums would claim that too. What makes Gearbest more suitable to Bargain Alerts?

Me thinks GearBest wanted a piece of the BA pie that is traffic and you were happy to oblige despite them going out of their way to break the sites rules.

To elaborate - I'm sure GearBest believe they belong in Bargain Alerts because they offer Bargains on many products. But every company will say this - it doesn't mean they belong in the Bargain Alerts forum though.

To be transparent here (someone has to be), I'll admit that I'm accusing Boards of pandering to Gear Best because they're now a paying customer, and I think Boards has gone above and beyond what they've offered the likes of RicherSounds.ie, Sky, Vodafone, Virgin Media etc. by offering them a subforum in Bargain Alerts - a highly active forum that would contain a lot of users that GearBest specifically want to target.

Probably none of my business, but are GearBest paying any more than those other businesses to have their sub-forum in a more desirable location on the website?

The reason I ask is that Dav is on record as saying that this company cannot be trusted:

Dav wrote:

There is *NOTHING* more insidious and downright evil on a forum like this than shilling. It completely poisons the well of a resource like our Bargain Alerts forum if someone thinks that recommendations and "bargains" can't be trusted.

So the previous stance was that GearBest were a "poision" to the Bargain Alerts forum. Yet now he's more than happy to give them a home...right in the Bargain Alerts forum of all places! Can you explain this thought process?

Are they now trustworthy and no longer a poison? If so, what has changed between today (May 31st) and this time last month (April 30th) that means they are no longer insidious, downright evil and poisonous?

Lovely Bloke

They are now paying.

_Tombstone_

Is anything on their site legit?

scudzilla

So if i got site banned, then offered to pay to come back it'd be ok??

That's exactly what's happened here and IT STINKS

Shame on you boards

RossieMan

Fair enough being allowed on the site.

Why is it alerted in bargain alerts? It's a joke to be honest, put them in the talk to....forum where businesses belong. We'll find them if we need them.

BA is not the place for such a shady company, they haven't changed one bit in all the years. Have a look at other forums and they're at the same old tricks they did here.

CantGetNoSleep

My probably is not only what happened in the past but the sheer crappiness of that company. A lot of orders won't arrive and they really don't care, and will pretty much tell you that after 10 emails. I will continue to comment on individual posts giving my opinion of that company

zarquon

This turnaround gives us all hope. Some right wing groups can now get their own subforum in politics if they stump up some cash and Dav will then change his mind about how dangerous right wing opinion is.

In fact all "insidious"and "evil" groups should now have their own fora if they have 30 pieces of silver

This turnabout by boards is incredibly disappointing and indicative of boards continue slide into the insidious practices it once criticized.

cyning

I actively dislike this decision. Firstly it wasn't one person coming on to shill their business: it was organised shilling. To the point where the company's name was added to the swear filter: how many other times has that happened?

It also comes across as incredibly unfair on those who participated: the instigator has money so can buy their way out of it but those that participated are site banned forever? I really hate shilling: but it's the double standards that are getting to me.

Also why is it a sub forum in bargain alerts?

Finally I do appreciate bills have to be paid. I do. But considering the strength of Davs statement this is really surprising and a complete u-turn... I don't have a problem with sponsored posts or forums but please put it out into Talk to if you have to keep them which I suspect you do.

Lovely Bloke

You really have to ask if the monetisation of Boards.ie is really worth it, is it a failed experiment?

If principled people's heads are going to be turned like this, even if we don't personally agree with those principles, or have had run-ins with the higher-ups, I assume we are all here posting because we do generally have a grá for Boards.ie, so we are all at least looking at the same hymn book, if not the same page.

At the time, Dav posted this in the prison forum

And yet you completely burned any bridges with our communities by being a shill for Gearbest and by profiting from posting fake recommendations on this site on their behalf.

There are barely words to express how vile and despicable I think someone like you is, so don't ever come back.

but the company itself has money, so you know, they are no longer vile and despicable I suppose.

There is *NOTHING* more insidious and downright evil on a forum like this than shilling.

Unless you have some dollars you are willing to spend.

I really think that with all the ads, sponsored content, the endless autoplay video ads, the size and sensitivity of the ads on the touch site - this is a step too far. This feels dirty.

Gearbest.com: Lindell

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

My probably is not only what happened in the past but the sheer crappiness of that company. A lot of orders won't arrive and they really don't care, and will pretty much tell you that after 10 emails. I will continue to comment on individual posts giving my opinion of that company

Hi friend, pls tell me your order information, I will be your customer service on boards.ie:)

Gearbest.com: Lindell

I am so sorry for those who had come into the picture, we did not realize what would happen to them. Gearbest will never do that to you again. We cannot change what happened, we do not deny our mistakes, but just trying to fix things up. Hope you can understand, and I will very happy to solve your problems with Gearbest, again.

Boards.ie: Niamh

Good morning all

I'll answer as many of your questions as I can here now.

Banned users
Regarding users previously banned for shilling Gearbest - I already answered this earlier in the thread but I'll repeat myself - those people were members of Boards who violated on of the rules of boards. Ergo, they were banned and will remain so. Gearbest were not members of the site, they did not agree to any Terms of Use and they have now both apologised for their part in it and asked to work with us and the boards community.

Why is it in Bargain Alerts not under Talk to?
Talk To forums are very different to sponsored sub-forums. Sponsored forums have always lived in various forums ariound the site, never in the Talk to section. Usually they are placed where most people have been discussing them, e.g. Bespoke Diamonds in the Weddings, Marriage & Civil Partnership forum or Currencies Direct in Living Abroad. Gearbest, despite being on the swear filter for a time, have been most discussed in Bargain Alerts, therefore this is the natural place to put them. The cost of a Talk To forum is far and above that of a Sponsored Forum.

Products
I don't know anything about their products; should you have a query about a specific order, feel free to ask them about it. That is why they are here after all.

Monetisation of Boards is not an experiment, it is a reality if the site is to be kept running in any form.

I understand that after our strong reaction previously that this seems like a turnaround or a cop out. It's not very nice to find out that something has been going on under your nose on your own site and yes we were very "incensed" about it at the time, to borrow a word being used above. That doesn't mean we have to stay angry forever and cut off our nose to spite our face. People have been discussing GB for a long time on the site, they know it and they want to engage with those people. They went about it the wrong way first time, are going about it the right way now and we're happy to do that with them.

SEPT 23 1989

this is the last thing Boards needed at the moment

Lovely Bloke

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

this is the last thing Boards needed at the moment

or...it's exactly what Boards needed at the moment.

It's all about the money, money, money

seamus

You can post all the links you like Baldy, but it seems pretty clear to me in every single one of them that Dav's digust and outrage is directed at the act of shilling, and didn't contain any kind of declaration that Gearbest were to be forever banished from interacting with boards on any level.

If a company can be turned away from shilling to direct contribution, what's the problem?

You come across like a union rep to be honest. Always fighting to stick to an outdated model, even when it makes no sense.

I think you'd rather see boards go down in flames, broke and filled with abusive malcontents, than allow it to try and change with the times.

Lovely Bloke

you think wrong.

Lovely Bloke

it's also not surprising that you

a. resort to getting personal with me (again)
b. "have the back" of your admin/office pals

Like clockwork we are.

seamus

If I thought this was a bad idea, I'd call it out. It's not a bad idea - turn a shilling pest into a paying contributor. What's the problem?

Funny that in the same post you complain about me getting personal, you get personal with me. Double standards?

ibFoxer

Boards.ie: Niamh wrote: »

You can still discuss your personal experience.

Anyone who was site banned for shilling at the time is still banned. This new sponsored sub forum does not negate the fact that those users broke site rules by shilling.

But Niamh, surely any amount of money can't make up for the way that Gearbest conducted themselves previously? It smacks of hunger if i'm honest, and i understand Boards is a business and has to make a certain amount of money, but surely there is a line somewhere?