THESE FORUMS NEED URGENT HELP

[BobSnob]

AT has been on a slippy slope for a long time and it ain't getting any better AFAICS. I can't remember the last good deal that originated here... and a lot of the good deals don't make it this far. If the management here gives a hoot about these forums I reckon they need to take action asap. Things I would do immediately:

- relax (not necessarily kill) the coupon posting rules. This single issue is the cause of most migration to other sites.

- remove most of those stickies from the top of the hot deals forums. Most of them are useless and take up valuable real estate. Remove the crappy ads there (newegg/kingston) these are NOT hot deals...so why are they there? I DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

- remember who writes the content for this site - we, the members do. Don't jerk us around (like you did in the bad ol' days). A lot of people still have painful memories of being modded off these forums.

It would be a shame for AT to slip 'round the U-bend, but that's where it's going if someone doesn't take action.

 

[Hossenfeffer]

Originally posted by: BobSnob
AT has been on a slippy slope for a long time and it ain't getting any better AFAICS. I can't remember the last good deal that originated here... and a lot of the good deals don't make it this far. If the management here gives a hoot about these forums I reckon they need to take action asap. Things I would do immediately:

- relax (not necessarily kill) the coupon posting rules. This single issue is the cause of most migration to other sites.

- remove most of those stickies from the top of the hot deals forums. Most of them are useless and take up valuable real estate. Remove the crappy ads there (newegg/kingston) these are NOT hot deals...so why are they there? I DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

- remember who writes the content for this site - we, the members do. Don't jerk us around (like you did in the bad ol' days). A lot of people still have painful memories of being modded off these forums.

It would be a shame for AT to slip 'round the U-bend, but that's where it's going if someone doesn't take action.

1 - The forums aren't a generator of revenue. Rather, it's been said they are a drain.

2 - The coupon rules are largely in place to prevent most legal troubles that might come. (Not a hassle that Anand and team need to deal with, seeing as how this "was" a technology site, rather than a hot deals site

3 - The stickies can be a bit much at times, but their value far exceeds, imho, the relative inconvenience of having to scroll down. Having the stickies up there likely cuts down the number of newbie threads drastically. Though some of the stickies would almost work better in a sub-forum type of format.

4 - Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that the Newegg/Kingston stickies were paid advertisements. True, not hot deals, but if scrolling down a quarter of an inch further helps maintain the site, then I say fine. Especially given the apparent demise of the subscriber debacle.

5 - Why is it so important that a hot deal originate here? As nice as it might be to add another 100,000 registered members and have ultra-relaxed coupon code posting rules, running a site this large costs money, and ad revenue apparently doesn't cut the mustard. If this were solely a deal-related forum, then maybe these suggestions of yours would have more pull.

 

[BobSnob]

So what you're saying is... it's best if the forums are sh*t because then they are cheaper and less hassle to run. Well, if that's the general attitude then I'm outta here for good. I'd be surprised if it was though.

 

[Hossenfeffer]

Originally posted by: BobSnob
So what you're saying is... it's best if the forums are sh*t because then they are cheaper and less hassle to run. Well, if that's the general attitude then I'm outta here for good. I'd be surprised if it was though.

I don't see you paying the bills.

And being cheaper/less hassle does not necessarily equal "sh*t"

And what I'm saying is: I don't think the forums are terrible. Sure, I think they've done some things less than perfect (the subrscriber crap, the adbar on the left, etc.), but there is still a tremendous amount of value here. If you can't see it, don't let the door hit ya on the backside on your way out.

That being said, the powers that be have their reasons. Would be nice if they'd share em with us a bit more, but what can ya do? Either stick around and offer suggestions or bail, I suppose.

 

[BobSnob]

Originally posted by: Hossenfeffer

I don't see you paying the bills.

And being cheaper/less hassle does not necessarily equal "sh*t"

And what I'm saying is: I don't think the forums are terrible. Sure, I think they've done some things less than perfect (the subrscriber crap, the adbar on the left, etc.), but there is still a tremendous amount of value here. If you can't see it, don't let the door hit ya on the backside on your way out.

First off, I'm being advertised at, so in a way I AM paying the bills.

I'm glad you agree that things are less than perfect... much less than perfect.

There is *some* value here, but not as much as at FW or other sites I now frequent. Why waste time here when I can get every deal + more on FW? AT is giving me nothing right now. I only look in now once a week to assure myself that nothing has changed... and it hasn't.

I'm making my point here because AT was my first deals forum and I would rather not see it die... and it IS dying IMO.

 

[Hossenfeffer]

People have said it's been dying for 3 years.

The thing is, FW is a deal site and it does it very well. AT isn't. Yes, it has a good Hot Deals forum, but that's not the focus. FW gets supported by more commissions, affiliate links, live chicken sacrafices, etc. (Talking out of my ass here. I'm assuming that it's the case) If Anand wanted to go whole hog on a deals site, he could I suppose.

 

[minendo]

Originally posted by: BobSnob
I'm outta here for good.

No big loss. AT is a hardware discussion forums. The hot deals section is a nice addition, but by no means is it the main focus of the forums.

 

[First]

AnandTech is not a Hot Deals-centric web site. The purpose of this web site is as a technology and hardware review online resource (among other things). The forums are here to supplement the reviews and the industry in general.

I think there's some merit to your argument that AT Hot Deals has slipped, but you're exaggerating. Besides, FW is totally focused on hot deals. They don?t do anything else.

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: minendo

Originally posted by: BobSnob
I'm outta here for good.

No big loss. AT is a hardware discussion forums. The hot deals section is a nice addition, but by no means is it the main focus of the forums.

HD,ATOT and P&N Forums were created so us whackos wouldn't infest the Hardware Forums which are the main focus of Anandtech.

 

[mechBgon]

FatWallet might be a top Hot Deals site, but AnandTech Forums is where you can find out what's worth looking for hot deals on. Case in point: FW can undoubtedly find you a rippin' deal on a GeForceFX 5200 and a Celeron for your new HalfLife2 system, but AT is where you'll get the sense slapped back into you before you make those mistakes.

And if your new Hot-Deal loot is giving you problems, where you gonna go for technical support? FatWallet, or here? Hmmm?

 

[BobSnob]

Originally posted by: Evan Lieb
AnandTech is not a Hot Deals-centric web site. The purpose of this web site is as a technology and hardware review online resource (among other things). The forums are here to supplement the reviews and the industry in general.

AT has very little to offer now on that front too. New articles are nowhere near as prolific or interesting (to me anyway) as they used to be. It promotes articles several years old and they use links to articles on other sites much more.

 

[Jason Clark]

Bob I disagree, we've put out more quality content in a month than we ever have in history. As other people have said Hot deals, for sale and trade are NOT the focus of these forums, they are there and are used quite a bit, but are not the focus of the site. This forum holds more technical information than any other IT forum around, that is it's purpose.

 

[BobSnob]

Originally posted by: Zuni
Bob I disagree, we've put out more quality content in a month than we ever have in history.

I'm probably a bit behind, but up until quite recently the main site seemed stagnant. The "featured article" was invariably an old one from the archives and many of the other headline articles were simply links to other sites. It does look now that things are picking up, but I wonder how many regulars (like me) you lost during that dry period.

As for the forums... "if something's worth doing, it's worth doing right". I think a good hot deals forum generates more interest than a tech review site, no matter how good it is.

 

[mechBgon]

BobSnob, I'm assigning you your share of the improvement duties. Go find us some Hot Deals and post them here. To improve the Forums further in the areas for which it actually exists, you will also be responsible for the following:

• Solve at least two "my-computer-won't-boot" problems per day (choose from Technical Support, Motherboards, CPU/OC and General Hardware as desired). Alternately, you may help people troubleshoot unstable computers.
• Review at least one "critique-my-system-before-I-buy" thread every day in General Hardware and give helpful, insightful advice
• Tackle one "is-this-CPU-temperature-OK?" thread in Cases & Cooling every day. Alternately, post some useful C&C knowledge or a link to an interesting new case or mod.
• Develop an area of particular expertise and actively look for people who will benefit from your knowledge, whether it's cars, video editing, home-theater setup, girl trouble, or whatever you're good at. If it relates to computers, develop an FAQ and submit it to AndyHui (example: Eug's recordable-DVD FAQ here)

You talk real big, now let's see you walk, boy.

 

[BobSnob]

Originally posted by: mechBgon<brYou talk real big, now let's see you walk, boy.

I've done all this... but not on AT. I've lived on the newsgroups and other forums for many years, helping people and being helped.

Perhaps I should restrict my criticism to the Hot Deals forum, in which case my opinions still stand.

 

[mechBgon]

I bet the AnandTech Forums would be much more popular if posting warez and pr0n were allowed, too. But I have a feeling that's NGTH.

 

[BobSnob]

The feeling I've come away with today is that the Hot Deals forum on AT is indeed a waste of time to visit if I have already visited FW. There seems to be no will to make it any better than it is, and with this will is lacking it will continue to wither. I was hoping to hear a few "yeah, your right - let's do something about it", but I suppose any support I may have had have long since flown on to greener pastures. This is what I shall now do. Good luck and...

Adios.

 

[Hossenfeffer]

Originally posted by: BobSnob
The feeling I've come away with today is that the Hot Deals forum on AT is indeed a waste of time to visit if I have already visited FW. There seems to be no will to make it any better than it is, and with this will is lacking it will continue to wither. I was hoping to hear a few "yeah, your right - let's do something about it", but I suppose any support I may have had have long since flown on to greener pastures. This is what I shall now do. Good luck and...

Adios.

Ok, I'll try to make an analogy because it seems you haven't quite "got" it, yet. Off the top of my head I couldn't come up with something ideal, but I think this illustrates things well enough.

You've got your gourmet coffee place: Starbucks

Then you've got someplace like a service station.

They both serve coffee.

The service station just isn't going to match the coffee of Starbucks. The thing is, they don't care. Their niche isn't just "coffee". The coffee is just something that the customers tend to like, or there as a perk. They can try to make their coffee better, but it's not the main focus of their business.

You're trying to pass off the demise of the HD forum as some sort of doom and gloom thing.

I like the HD forum (well, it's a love/hate thing because of the money I spent that I didn't have), but it's not hard to realize that the focus here isn't Hot Deals. That being said, it doesn't matter a hill of beans if the Hot Deals forum crumbles. I'd venture to guess that it's not gonna be anytime soon. There is still a huge chunk of traffic visiting that forum. FW has been doing a great job and growing, from all I can see. Good for Tim.

I'm annoyed by the Anandtech "deals" stickies (since they're warm, at best) but it's not a huge deal. Once I can't stand them enough, I'll suppose I could just head elsewhere when I look for deals.

 

[Sundog]

Originally posted by: BobSnob
The feeling I've come away with today is that the Hot Deals forum on AT is indeed a waste of time to visit if I have already visited FW. There seems to be no will to make it any better than it is, and with this will is lacking it will continue to wither. I was hoping to hear a few "yeah, your right - let's do something about it", but I suppose any support I may have had have long since flown on to greener pastures. This is what I shall now do. Good luck and...

Adios.

[waves hand] Bu-Bye[/waves hand]

 

[Gaard]

A quick question concerning the coupon rules...why don't the other sites have legal troubles with posting coupons/codes?

 

[DannyBoy]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
BobSnob, I'm assigning you your share of the improvement duties. Go find us some Hot Deals and post them here. To improve the Forums further in the areas for which it actually exists, you will also be responsible for the following:

• Solve at least two "my-computer-won't-boot" problems per day (choose from Technical Support, Motherboards, CPU/OC and General Hardware as desired). Alternately, you may help people troubleshoot unstable computers.
• Review at least one "critique-my-system-before-I-buy" thread every day in General Hardware and give helpful, insightful advice
• Tackle one "is-this-CPU-temperature-OK?" thread in Cases & Cooling every day. Alternately, post some useful C&C knowledge or a link to an interesting new case or mod.
• Develop an area of particular expertise and actively look for people who will benefit from your knowledge, whether it's cars, video editing, home-theater setup, girl trouble, or whatever you're good at. If it relates to computers, develop an FAQ and submit it to AndyHui (example: Eug's recordable-DVD FAQ here)

You talk real big, now let's see you walk, boy.

I like your analogy tom

<~~~Begin Bull~~~>
BobSnob, im sure everyone here at Anandtech will wish you a goodbye, and will deeply miss the comfort of having you around. It is such a shame to see someone with your level of expertise and intelligence leave. We will all miss the valuable input you have put into the forums, for instance the daily support threads you have posted over the past two years, that have helped so many people in their conquests to become "computer experts".

Its a shame anandtech is not suited for you anymore, im so sorry about your loss.
Best Regards,
Dan
<~~~End Bull~~~>

I would also like to point out a few other things, like such, you have repeated yourself over and over again after repeatedly being told this is a computer hardware / software orientated website / community. = Take reading lessons, you obviously need them to some extent.

Also I like this post in reply to tom's list of chores:

I've done all this... but not on AT. I've lived on the newsgroups and other forums for many years, helping people and being helped.

Perhaps I should restrict my criticism to the Hot Deals forum, in which case my opinions still stand.

So if you've done all of this on other sites, why can you not do it here also?
Perhaps you are a selfish, big-headed mongoose who only likes to obtain information for himself to use, and not help other people?

I cant really be bothered wasting my time to continue typing this post when I could be enjoying myself asleep, or by doing something as stimulating, like sleep...

Edit: Oh and btw, thats not the best of attitudes to have with the mods, they have a hard job moderating the entire forums of all the little pratts / trolls / and plain simple annoyances like you that post useless, pointless sh!t, insulting the forums, the people who run them, and the community as a whole. AT is a strong community and you should be grateful for being a part of it. People like you REALLY piss me off :|

 

[Ryan]

Originally posted by: Gaard
A quick question concerning the coupon rules...why don't the other sites have legal troubles with posting coupons/codes?

Oh, but they do - it's just that the questionable codes are removed before you know it.....

 

[mechBgon]

I like your analogy tom

Thanks I like Hossenfeffer's, 'cause it involves coffee!

I would hope BobSnob still feels comfortable in coming to the AT Forums for stuff relating to computer hardware & software. I just question his assertion that the Forums are no good because the Hot Deals aren't as good as a dedicated HD-only site. That's not what this site's all about... look how good the other sections of the Forums have become. This place is awesome, you can get sound advice on the whole spectrum of hardware/software issues, or kick back in Highly Technical and ponder the concept of ice at 100C, or go discuss current events in P&N...

From what I heard, the Forums are operated at a financial loss for Anand, ads or no ads, and Zuni said that the Hot Deals forum gets the most traffic. That would make Hot Deals the "loss leader," no? Maybe it's a good thing that they're not any more popular than they already are. Let FatWallet be FatWallet, and let AnandTech be AnandTech.

 

[DannyBoy]

Originally posted by: mechBgon

I like your analogy tom

Thanks I like Hossenfeffer's, 'cause it involves coffee!

I would hope BobSnob still feels comfortable in coming to the AT Forums for stuff relating to computer hardware & software. I just question his assertion that the Forums are no good because the Hot Deals aren't as good as a dedicated HD-only site. That's not what this site's all about... look how good the other sections of the Forums have become. This place is awesome, you can get sound advice on the whole spectrum of hardware/software issues, or kick back in Highly Technical and ponder the concept of ice at 100C, or go discuss current events in P&N...

From what I heard, the Forums are operated at a financial loss for Anand, ads or no ads, and Zuni said that the Hot Deals forum gets the most traffic. That would make Hot Deals the "loss leader," no? Maybe it's a good thing that they're not any more popular than they already are. Let FatWallet be FatWallet, and let AnandTech be AnandTech.

Well said, AT is AT, where else can you go to discuss a parking ticket you got an hour ago at the same time as discussing the release of the Athlon64

 

[DivideBYZero]

Cya, BobSnob