Anand needs your help!

[wasssup]

you know what's odd though? if "supposedly" coupon codes were illegal, how come the owners of the other sites aren't in jail? they haven't been sued, etc...hell, i'm surprised my mom isn't doing 30 years to life, she's been using coupons at shopright for years!

---

Coupon codes are not illegal. People were using our forums to discuss ways to get around the limitations imposed on them by the issuing companies.

THAT is fraud, and THAT is illegal. First, we asked our members to stop that behavior. When it did not stop, we banned posting coupon numbers, entirely.

We moderators are volunteers, members just like you who donate some of our time to try to keep AnandTech an enjoyable forum for everyone. With over 39,000 registered members, we have plenty to to without having to chase after a few unethical naughty children trying to stir up a feeding frenzy of greed. If that is what you want, please find it on another forum.

Thank you,

AnandTech Moderator

 

[Ranger X]

Bump

 

[collymor]

Hey forum police, why aren't you locking this thread up???
It is sooo OT it hurts! After all, you guys have locked threads up for less!
In fact, I am making an OT reply in an OT thread, so I must be breaking a hell of a lot of your damn rules, aint't I? Am I banned now?

Quote from mod:

"In the interest of keeping the membership informed, I'd like to outline the various reasons a thread might be locked. It isn't always because it's a flamefest.

1. The thread is Off Topic. It has nothing to do with the forum where it is posted."

 

[safaar]

You tell em! MOD! .. =) BUMP!!!

 

[safaar]

No One is Holding a GUN to your HEAD! If you feel like filling out the form.. do it.. else don't! but dont whine and nag and complain about it! :|

 

[fletch713]

Let's just face the truth here. This site is a business. It's not some egalitarian cyber society where all the participants contribute to the decision-making. We contribute the deals and anand gets the advertising profits. Nothing wrong with that in itself, but lets not be delusional about how things are run. The survey is there to help anand make more money, clear and simple. I doubt that anand has an overwhelming curiosity about our jobs, but the advertisers surely do.

As for the "unethical naughty children," well, I guess they're being punished by the fatherly/adult moderators who revoked the coupon privileges. From a law standpoint, businesses can't sue anandtech for the coupon abuse of some of the posters any more than I can sue AOL because some of its members trade copyrighted programs. Anandtech itself does not promote "fraudulent" activities nor does it have a legal duty to stop others. Anantech just doesn't have any liability in these matters. However, complying with the wishes of large corporations and sponsors is preferable to complying with the wishes of the forum contributors, especially if you want to turn a profit. What does it matter if a hundred or two of your members go to other forum sites, there's still 39,000 left.

Again, I have no problem with anand making a ton of cash off of us, but I'm not going to believe that this survey, or any other action taken by the moderators, is solely for our own benefit.

BTW, safaar, take your own advice and don't whine or nag or complain. You've made your view clear in your multiple posts in this thread, no need to trash others for their view.

 

[jonnyfin]

what i can't understand for the life of me, is the scrubs who hate this site, the rules of this site..etc. who wanna scream 1st amendment rights..etc - when it's much easier to just move on to another deal forum, there are plenty out there.

I like it here, i've been here for a long time - i've never complained. it's a free country, now get lost!

 

[divinemartyr]

You know, I simply don't understand why you guys are complaining to begin with. Either you've saved money by using these forums or you haven't. If you haven't, and you're still coming here reading these forums every day, you're either a moron or you just like reading about these testimonials. That said, one of the long-time members here started a thread to let you know about a survey on the main page, because Anand asked the members to do it. If advertisers asked you for that information about your website, you'd probably do it as well. At least he didn't ask for it as a requirement to sign up for these forums.

Furthermore, some people are saying Anand is 'lying' by saying that it will allow him to bring us the best content. Well let me ask you this, without advertising dollars, without income, and without the proper data to collect the income, where is the time and money going to come from to keep a site up, that has 40,000 visitors? Do you think this site runs itself? In order for Anand to get hardware to review, without personal expense, he has to have a large audience to cater to, and in having these forums, that is helped tremendously.

Whether or not you like it, you have gotten SOMETHING from this forum. Whether it be from another member, or Anand himself reviewing a product to help you make a decision, you always take SOMETHING away. I saw another person say that Anand was not to thank! Well where is your website that shows us the valuable information we get here? Sure most of the information in the forums we get, is from other people, but without Anand, the forums wouldn't be here period!

If you're reading this right now, and can't see that the only reason that survey is there, is out of necessity to help keep this site get better and bigger, then maybe you should take a course on advertising, marketing, or even management. These will all help you to realize what is trying to happen here. Anand is not trying to hurt anyone. Don't want to fill out the survey? Don't. I didn't see any questions regarding, what is your address, credit card, or social security number, but anyone who shops online willingly gives out much of this information and never complains once about it! You might say, "I am getting a product from buy.com and not Anand". Don't forget, the most valuable commodity of all, knowledge.

divinemartyr

 

[zoiks]

damn those buccaneers...flushing the rams down the toilet like that.

 

[safaar]

First off... i didn't voice my opinion in other posts.. if you take time to Actually Read the posts.. you would know.. and i only wrote the last post cause it is sickening to hear people whine about something they are not forced to do, but simply asked politely. Like i said before, no one asked you to fill the form, no one asked you to read the posts, and certainly no one is going to hold you here if you dont want to. I come here to get reviews on products because i think they are very acurate and helpful than many other sites i have been to. and i come here got deals cause unlike other sites, this forum is more "easy to navigate" for me than others and has more items directed towards my shopping needs. If you dont agree with me, You dont Have To. That is my opinion and it will be... As for Anand, I dont care if i give him a few answers about what i shop for and how much i spend roughly etc. to help him make a few bucks, for the good of the site or not! He has obviously put alot of time into this website as it is and i am sure he expects certain degree of monetary returns out of his hard work. I dont mind helping him out, but if you do.. Then Don't Fill the Form! but stop bashing on people for being thoughtful to help Anand out. :frown: :|

PS: Word up to devinemartyr

 

[fletch713]

My post was not bashing; it just stated the truth -- that this is a money-making enterprise. If anything, it should quell all those dissenting voices who want as much freedom to post as other sites offer. This site is run by anand rules, plain and simple, so we should all adhere.

What I get in return is bashing. The "if you don't like it, get out" attitude that is so common with the pseudo-moderators that seem to be rampant around here. I didn't think my opinion was so provocative, but apparently it deserved a response from people who enjoy being provoked. I guess if you don't sing praises to anandtech from the highest towers, that makes you some sort of evil person. Well, I'm glad to hear all the voices that think every policy of this board is another Commandment to be observed, but I'm also glad to hear the voices of those who sing a different song. Isn't that how things improve? I don't understand why people would make personal attacks rather than just allowing others to state their opinions. Respecting the viewpoints of others, even if different from yours: that's what creates a sense of community.

 

[wasssup]

i see brown noses everywhere! aaaaaaah!

 

[zoiks]

YAWN!! Is the election over?

 

[collymor]

The point is, THIS TREAD IS OT AND SHOULD BE LOCKED.

hmm....why is it that the mods lock some threads up faster that you can say
"hypocrisy", but leave this thread alone...

 

[dude]

Fletch, I feel the way you do, but anandtech may be liable for the contents on here. Remember Yahoo auctions got sued for people selling counterfeit and pirated game cd's? Yep.

 

[divinemartyr]

dude,

Yahoo got sued, and won. Now there is a law prohibiting the ability to sue a website over the content on their site regarding auctions and pirated materials, audio bootlegs, etc.

divinemartyr

 

[mattingly]

Off topic, lock this crap.

 

[MusashiX]

wassup, what's your beef? So anyone who disagrees with your point of view is a brown-noser? If you don't want to take the survey, so what? Some people here don't mind, some do. But the majority of them aren't insulting each other because of it. Why don't you get off your high horse and find another forum to look for deals? Stop whining.

 

[fletch713]

Currently a content provider is not liable for what others post on the site, unless, perhaps, the content provider participates in and encourages the illegal activity. AOL got sued a while back because a client disseminated pornography. AOL won. That's why there are so many "warez" sites around. You can post information and link all you want; it's only the actual use/transmission of copyrighted software that's illegal. However, I'm sure that just the possibility of being sued creates an incentive for some to police users' activities.

 

[Saitanic]

Bump and on the way to fill it out

 

[LuZeR]

bump in italics

 

[anazoal]

Okay, apparently the survey's over. Had I been in time, I would have filled it out -- it's not a crime if someone's trying to recoup on their investment -- has anyone estimated the running cost of anandtech.com or the time and effort it takes to review something?

What is wrong is that this was an off topic thread that was not locked. Moderators, when you make a rule, there should be NO exceptions -- period. Moderators, if you wanted, you could have posted this message as the first thread (like the recent virus alert) and simply asked people to fill out the survey.

 

[matmax]

did & done.

 

[zoiks]

HEY!! I wanna join this conversation about nothing too! Can I Can I!

 

[Cable God]

wow...... you can just feel the love here