fumanstan

I found nothing wrong with the Best Price threads as well, and i'm surprised that people felt they actually clogged up the threads. I don't see how it makes it harder to find real bargains... if anything i believe it helps. Those threads are ususally where someone comes up with particular coupons or deals. DVD Price Search engines are hardly the best way to find the best price on new releases (which these threads are ususally confined to).

I don't think a seperate 'Requests' forum is necessary, and would end up being less useful. Subforums in general seem to attract less traffic.

invisiblegt

Ah, finally. The "Best Price" threads are gone.

Always hated those things...

CheapBastid

No, everyone wastes time.

Again you're assuming that a 'best deal' thread is useless because it is just a post requesting info.

You are not recognizing that EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THOSE POSTS ends up having the best deal in it.

So rather than having multiple threads listing every store's price on an item, you can have one thread that discussing the plusses and minuses of the various deals.

A vote for Best Deals is a vote for less clutter.

Adam Tyner

I get the feeling that nothing meaningful is going to come of discussing this with you, so I'll drop it. But seriously, where are you getting this "20 threads for every store's price on every item" thing from? No one's saying that.

CheapBastid

Every single best price I got on a title I've bought in the past 3 months is from either reading a Best Deal thread or posting one.

CheapBastid

I am exaggerating to make a point, but you made it for me. Specific posts on specific prices for an item mean you will have multiple (not neccesarily 20) threads on the price for an item.

Example:

Aladdin is coming out the best pre-order is let's say $19.99

Then on release day there's a $15.99 best price

Then a week later there's a coupon combo that gets you the title for $11.99

Using your logic of 'only posting deals' you have 3 threads created.

Using my logic of 'best deal' you have one thread listing all three.

Robertwoj

Hmmm... I wonder what the 'strong feedback' actually was? And does this feedback thread counter it in any way? Seems the feedback was one-way when the decision was made and the decision never factored in the people who liked it the other way.

BTW, here's my 'strong' feedback: I liked the 'best price' threads! They made it much easier to find prices on release dates that included rebates, specials, etc. The on-line search engines and few ad threads don't give the whole picture.

CheapBastid

Another point I've not made is that the vauge deal threads like:

"BlockBuster - Get $8 minimum on October 3rd"

Can hide a 'best deal' for Aladdin in there. The way I'd find it? I'd do a search for Aladdin and stumble across it in the 63 threads in the bargain forum (yes, there are 63 Aladdin threads in the bargain forum) or I'd have to read each of the threads for each of the vauge deals.

"BlockBuster - Get $8 minimum on October 3rd"
"BestBuy Madden coupon"
"Frys 10/19 ad"

Adam Tyner

No, there won't.

If there's a coupon, it'll be posted in a coupon thread. It'll cover a large number of titles. I don't need to post a thread about every single title Deep Discount DVD offers if they have a coupon. If it's a new release, it'll be covered in one of the new release threads. People don't post the way you're suggesting. They do for very specific deals (which are the examples I listed), but generally, most threads cast a much wider net than that.

CheapBastid

You're making my point for me.

I want to buy Aladdin. I make no secret that I'm CheapBastid I want to pay the absolute minimum for Aladdin. How am I served?

I look in or create a 'Best Deal' thread for Aladdin for myself and other Bargain conscious DVDTalkers.

Or I search through coupon threads, frys ad threads, posts on specific deals, rebate threads, and waste my time and your bandwidth.

CheapBastid

How many DVDTalkers want to find out about a general deal? Folks come here to find deals on titles they're looking for, thus the value of the 'best deal' thread. Yes, there will be 'best deal' threads on titles you specifically are not interested in, but they are there for the folks who come here to get the 'best deal' on those titles (which they happen to be interested in).

Odd that.

=)

Adam Tyner

Exactly. In a separate forum since a request is not a bargain. We're going around in circles here. I'm going to let Geoff or whatever other mods/admins came to this decision post. I agree with them, but they can support their decision better than I can since I wasn't a part of it.

CheapBastid

Again I say.

BEST DEAL THREADS CONTAIN THE BEST DEALS

They are not just random useless posting by dooling idiots. Since they contain the Best Deal on a title, they are by definition Bargains.

Eric F

Almost all of the "Best Deal" threads I start offer the best deal I can find, and ask for others to contribute.

That's the whole point of DVD Bargains, isn't it?

Most of the experienced users know that DVDPricesearch, etc aren't always the best deals. Many stores don't even show up on the price-search engines.

scarredgod

i dont like the "Best Price" threads in the bargain area, it clutters it up and it always seemed to me like laziness on the part of a poster. i vote for a seperate sub-folder for Best Price and if its too much trouble just to click on that folder to get what you want, then the laziness thing is very very true.

GeoffK

Despite any speculation, this move wasn't motivated by advertisers or anything like that.

It was made because those damn Best Price threads were clogging up the bargain forum and making it difficult to find the actual bargains!

I'm not opposed to a sub-forum for them, if there's enough interest...

Eric F

Geoff, the problem is that "best prices" aren't always bargains.

Sub-Forum would be great.

treszoks

This is somewhat off-topic, but is there a reason why no one has posted the circulars for next week yet? I always look forward to seeing them and was wondering if a policy change effected the posting of them as well?

fumanstan

The problem with that comment is that for many, those threads made it easier to find bargains. Especially when it concerns a hot new release... i mean, wasn't there an official one started just for Star Wars? Asking for the best price on say... Beauty and the Beast may be rather pointless, but looking for the best price on new releases, particularly the big ones or the pricey box sets (like Friday the 13th types) are probably helpful to everyone that visits.

There are plenty of other threads that clog the forum that are of less use, like dead bargain threads that are bumped just so people can say they recieved an item.

Robertwoj

Those damn circulars threads are clogging up the bargain forum and making it difficult to find the actual bargains! Most of the circulars never have real 'bargains' in them anyway. I say that those threads should be stopped, too.

fidodido

Just my $.02:

I think some of you have mistakenly attributed the ban to being a ban on title bargain discussion.

The ban is to make the bargain forum about bargains, NOT about questions. Can you see the distinction?

In a BARGAIN forum, it is perfectly legitimate for me to post a thread:
"XXXX - $20"
And then write that "I found XXXX at Store YYYY for this price."

This would be a bargain post.

What is NOT acceptable is a thread:
"Best Price for XXX?"
and then write: "Does anyone know where the best price for XXX can be found?"

This is NOT a bargain. It's someone trying to FIND a bargain.

It's annoying as all get-out to see a thread named "Best Price for XXX" and then discover that all it is is some n00b who's too lazy to search for the deal on the various pricing engines.

My point is: Don't complain about the system, work WITH the system. Don't ask the best price. Start by posting the Best price for the item (although preferably one which isn't in a pricing engine) and then let the other members try and find better pricing. The discussion will come about naturally.

Now, maybe I'm mistaken about the intent of the ban, but to me, it makes sense. Bargain threads are mean to be informative, not to ask questions? By the same token, one shouldn't EVER post a thread "Next week's Best Buy ad?" If someone has it, they will post it. We don't need someone asking for it.

fidodido

Ouch, that hits close to home.

But seriously, I disagree. The circular posts are rather informative. Keep in mind that your definition of a bargain may not match someone else's definition of a bargain.

For example, now that I have $140+ credit at Blockbuster, a regular posting of their new release pricing would be useful to me. Maybe they won't have the best price on a given title, but it may be good enough that I'd rather use my credit than to pay cash at another store.

fumanstan

I think we're all aware of that. Not sure who you think is mistaking the intent of the new policy.

Regardless, if the purpose of the rule is to weed out so called pointless posts that are "cluttering" the Bargains forum, i'd say your first example is just as much 'clutter' as threads asking for the best price. It'll lead to threads being created that aren't bargains at all

runner001

I disagree with the elimination of the "best price" threads. but I will work WITH the system as fidodido suggested. and where the heck are the weekly circular prices for next week??

hobbes4444

What will likely happen with a sub-forum, IMHO, is a clogged-up forum with repetitive posts from those currently posting "What's the best price?" threads. More often than not on the STL forum my searches yield multiple threads for the same title. Wouldn't happen if people searched. . .

The bottom line for me: useful, but sometimes repetitive as a result of laziness. I don't mind the best price threads since I often find good info in them. While I would welcome a Best price subforum similar to the STL subforum if the ban in the bargain section is permanent, I would prefer to see them continue in the bargains forum with the mods locking dups if noted. However, I think it will be underutilized as someone pointed out earlier. But I will try it, really!