"We want our forum to be a worthwhile stop in your online day, not a playpen for the mentally immature"

A quote to live by in the online world...I'll savor this one.

holmesdog wrote:

There won't be any confusion during the next Bag-o-Crap because, it's not actually a Bag-o-Crap at all - it's called Random Crap. Each unknown item (aka crap) costs $1 and each order contains one bag of some sort, regardless the number of craps ordered. Rest assured, you'll know when it happens. edit - Well now I have egg on my face , I just noticed the date you joined. The explanation might still help anyone else who wondered the same thing.

Holmes, that date isn't correct, either.

It was reset, after the Broccoli & Carrots change.

steve

So much for the noise reduction. See that petey is back spamming his site again in his sig line, not as blatant as before, but hes back at it. Oh, well, guess the user's of the forums just HAVE to endure his stuff, as apparently w00t only makes empty statements. Had hoped that it would last longer than it did, but should have known that the noise reduction and anti-spamming was too good to be true. Back to the anarchy model, I guess.

Mike6 wrote:

So much for the noise reduction. See that petey is back spamming his site again in his sig line, not as blatant as before, but hes back at it. Oh, well, guess the user's of the forums just HAVE to endure his stuff, as apparently w00t only makes empty statements. Had hoped that it would last longer than it did, but should have known that the noise reduction and anti-spamming was too good to be true. Back to the anarchy model, I guess.

I noticed the same. A few others, as well. Anyone notice that when Petey couldn't put his site in his sig tag, his first posts were few and far between?

Binaural wrote:

I noticed the same. A few others, as well. Anyone notice that when Petey couldn't put his site in his sig tag, his first posts were few and far between?

Yep. Now he's starting threads in other forums "What's your best deal".

At least he's not pimping Katrina anymore.

please enforce your rules.......show us you have balls

Binaural wrote:

I noticed the same. A few others, as well. Anyone notice that when Petey couldn't put his site in his sig tag, his first posts were few and far between?

Sure did, his "helpfulness" dropped off when he couldn't spam the hell out of the forums. He became even more active on sites on which he has not been banned on, though, so guess his postings are suspect...... Is he the "kind hearted helper" he claims to be or your "common scum-bag spammer" that I have called him on numerous occasions? I think his actions support my views.

dreamaster wrote:

Yep. Now he's starting threads in other forums "What's your best deal". At least he's not pimping Katrina anymore.

If w00t wants the other forums to be the droppings of pigeeons, so be it, but they have to realize they have the professional image of a "cow pie" with all that kind of crap on their company site.

The pimping he was doing on Katrrina was beyond belief. One of the other places he frequents (apparently run by some college kids) and he posted that crap scheme on called him out on it. Even they had more balls about it than the folks at w00t.

Also, did you notice in the absence of GC that petey was missing more, but since GC is back, the spamming has restarted? I think that GC & petey must be relatives, as when BigD, et. al. were moderating the product forums he was noticably silent.

lukelurker wrote:

please enforce your rules.......show us you have balls

They have never enforced their rules, so they must like the anarchy that quickly takes over. Balls? Maybe they have been castrated?

Ya know, its really sad that things are like this, why should they have to have to moderate the hell out of things? People should have more class than to abuse the hell out of their system. At the current way things are going, I will not be surprised when the political extremists take up residence in the forums and really light them up.

Shouldn't be long until we see ads for crack in the sig lines, should it?

Jason Toon wrote:

We've always had forum rules, but our laxity in enforcing them has driven away some potentially valuable contributors while attracting the hucksters and the free-iPodders and the "first post!" nimrods. We want our forum to be a worthwhile stop in your online day, not a playpen for the mentally immature.

I figure you guys must have gotten one hell of a deal on nomex shoes & socks, because you came here and actually gave us a forum in which to try to hold your feet to your own fire, and yet you seem to be able to almost completely ignore our best efforts and suggestions. A little bit of lip-service enforcement here and there, which always seems to fall apart after just a few hours.

So why not sell us some of that fireproof underwear already? It's got to be a killer deal.

obob wrote:

I figure you guys must have gotten one hell of a deal on nomex shoes & socks, because you came here and actually gave us a forum in which to try to hold your feet to your own fire, and yet you seem to be able to almost completely ignore our best efforts and suggestions. A little bit of lip-service enforcement here and there, which always seems to fall apart after just a few hours.

amen. Hello, anyone at Woot actually paying attention to these threads? Or any of these supposed moderators? The forums are useless crap... "whiner's list", "i stayed up for this?", "no thanks", "too expensive for me!".

WTF? Maybe on the post page you can put in those BIG RED LETTERS:

"Don't post anything here UNLESS IT'S RELEVANT".

Not that it will do any good. Lots of hot air. Why do people think the rest of us care if it's too expensive for them, or that they regret staying up for something? Give us some feedback on the product itself, assuming you have any, or STFU.

They really dropped the ball today. Rabid2 spammed at least 10 topics with his little rant, and I'm still seeing spam links in sig tags. They'll probably drop off later today, but it is the same people over and over again.

Yep - same one everyday posting a place holder, then editing in his ad for his site.

Funniest bit with him is he is threatening to have me banned because he didn't like the private messages or me harrasing his forum.

If one of the woot staff is up at midnight, perhaps they should switch to post approval instead of automatic posting. Or at least shut off editing of pposts, that would put a crimp in the spammers plans.

Binaural wrote:

They really dropped the ball today. Rabid2 spammed at least 10 topics with his little rant, and I'm still seeing spam links in sig tags. They'll probably drop off later today, but it is the same people over and over again.

It sure seems like they could just close the accounts of the constant offenders, as the items sell out and I sincerely doubt that petey and his spamming brethern contribute much, if anything, to the bottom line compared to the people who do not spam or just cover the forums with chit.

Personally, if I am considering a product and want some feedback about it and the forum is trashed, I just say screw it, I can always buy a similar item elsewhere, if not the same thing. I have a life, so I don't want / need to wade past the same crap daily.

Yes, saw the rants from Rabid2 as well and wondered WTF? his problem was. If you feel someone screwed you, whose fault is it that you repeated over and over? The "facts" are sketchy enough that he really doesn't support his case, so it amounts to just a rant, that is all, and who knows why he put it in the main forums? While its a waste, so is the crap of "1st page", "too much for me", "I want another MP3 player or too many MP3 players", etc.

There have been several users who have volunteered to help w00t monitor their messages (no, I was not one of them), but GC was very abrupt with them, basically telling them to STFU, and maybe w00t should get some help and get them to weed out the obvious crap as its posted. 2 or 3 people could probably do it, and that would help w00t get the "product forums" a lot useful to the people who are actually willing, ready and able to buy products.

dreamaster wrote:

Yep - same one everyday posting a place holder, then editing in his ad for his site. Funniest bit with him is he is threatening to have me banned because he didn't like the private messages or me harrasing his forum. If one of the woot staff is up at midnight, perhaps they should switch to post approval instead of automatic posting. Or at least shut off editing of pposts, that would put a crimp in the spammers plans.

petey seems to do that every night, and agree with you, how long would he do that if he could not go back and edit his post? If he was unable to edit to make them "more relevant" (read that as actually saying what product is for that day), it would be so much more obvious exactly what he is up to.

Do I think that w00t has an idea of what he is up to? Of course they do! Do they like it? Sure!!!!! They HAVE to, otherwise he would have been gone long ago. Do I think that w00t "management" is full of chit when they say they are serious about cleaning up the product forums? Take a wild guess!! hehehe

The downside of this is that there will be copycat sites, as there already are, and one or more of them will take hold, and people will migrate there to get away from this crap. Can just see it now, talking about the "good old days" when there was a site called w00t.com, similar to the discussion of the BBSs. Its their call, and they seem to have already have made it, now who wants to start a pool on how long they will be around?

PS: The 157k "members" doesn't mean jack, AOL has "somewhere around 175 trillion" users of AIM and they are falling fast, and their resources are considerably more than those of w00t, they aren't even in the same country, much less ballpark.

I imagine I'll stick around a while, anyway, because there still have been some products I can use.

In the first place, it was "a darned shame" that the forums were so often unusable for the first couple of hours. Now that woot have promised and failed it's all the way to a "low-down dirty damn shame" and that's a ... oh, never mind

Quite frankly, I am much more frustrated by the broken promises than I ever was by the noisy forums.
I have completely stopped telling other people about woot.
I figure that's the meanest thing I can ethically do about it.

here's another "twelve hours into the current woot, and I'm only looking at page one" review:

Where's the keyboard?

What TF?????? Or is that what beeohcee morphs into today?

Reccomendation:
+ every night, designate at least two people to moderate
+ have then start the instant the forum opens
+ don't have them look for a reason to delete a post, but instead look at each one for a reason to /retain/ it.

obob wrote:

What TF?????? Or is that what beeohcee morphs into today? Reccomendation: + every night, designate at least two people to moderate + have then start the instant the forum opens + don't have them look for a reason to delete a post, but instead look at each one for a reason to /retain/ it.

Ever get the feeling you're talking to yourself, or maybe a wall?

*sigh*

spycedtx wrote:

Ever get the feeling you're talking to yourself, or maybe a wall? *sigh*

But yet I keep trying. Isn't that one of the signals indicating possible mental disease?

I just noticed that was my 666th post.

this morning, I couldn't even stand reading all the way through page 1:

atapul wrote:

I wonder if woot gpt worse after being featured in "Time"

I'd say so, but that wouldn't be the reason why.

Jason Toon wrote:

Eh? Huh? What's that you say? Speak up, man! I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER ALL THIS NOISE! It's no secret that the signal-to-noise ratio on our forums is low. It's XFL-TV-ratings low. It’s Michael-Brown’s-credibility low. And that makes all of us feel pretty low.</p> When forum anarchy reigns, we lose the wooters with engaging and informative things to say. So sound the alarm: the crackdown is here. Most of you have nothing to worry about. To the rest: it all comes down to having some consideration for other people. This is kindergarten stuff, right?</p> We've always had forum rules, but our laxity in enforcing them has driven away some potentially valuable contributors while attracting the hucksters and the free-iPodders and the "first post!" nimrods. We want our forum to be a worthwhile stop in your online day, not a playpen for the mentally immature. Herewith, the New Woot Order:</p> Posts with links that the poster stands to profit from - through a referral program, a commercial site that he or she owns or work for, a blog with paid advertising, etc. - will be deleted as soon as we find it. This goes for the body of posts as well as the post signature. If you want to show our members a better deal on today's woot, please take your referral code out of the link. Our forums are not a public billboard. You all don’t want to scroll past all that stuff to get to the posts with real content. Worthless posts - "first page!", "I'm drunk", "warez teh Beverage of Choice!!!!!", etc. - will be deleted. Again, none of you want to sift through all that mess. We’re definitely interested in hearing your comments and criticisms about the product and price, positive or negative. Let it all out: we’re not interested in being Big Brother. Substantive debate is the very lifeblood of our community.</li> </ul> We shouldn't even have to remind anybody of this, but carpet-bombing the boards with the same post in every thread (as in a recent case) is clearly forum vandalism, whatever the motive. It’s a major irritation for anybody else using the forums. Any forum member who does it will be banned.</li> </ul> Running scripts to contact our members or post on the forum en masse is strictly prohibited. Anyone found to be doing so will be banned. If applicable, legal action will be taken.</li> </ul> Take a moment to reacquaint yourself with our forum rules at <a href="http://www.woot.com/WhatIsWoot.aspx#q26">http://www.woot.com/WhatIsWoot.aspx#q26</a>. Every single one is in full effect. Users who persist in breaking the rules, even the "minor" ones, will be banned.</li> </ul> We'll be implementing some other ways to make the forums a more valuable community meeting place, but first we have to pick up the litter and chase off the muggers. If you have any other suggestions on how we can improve our forums, please let us know in this discussion, or use the form at <a href="http://www.woot.com/WriteUs.aspx">http://www.woot.com/WriteUs.aspx</a>. If you’ve stayed away from the forums before, give them another try. If you’ve been here all along, enjoy the new low-noise Woot forums!

Jason, I see this post, but I don't believe it.

When Petey stops his incessant spamming, I'll believe.

Please, make me believe!!

LOL -

You actually think that something is going to happen to petey spam?

//slaps knee

//guffaws

It's going to take a massive effort by wooters to get it stopped - not that it matters really - his site is a joke and a half anyway.

Thank you. I'm not a high volume customer and I've never posted on the discussion boards but I do like to read them for information. I've been quite thrilled with the recent changes. I'm no longer afraid to refer Woot to my friends.

You know, I saw the more frequent bannings a while ago and applauded them, but they seemed to fall off and I just didn't have the time to wade through the posts, and so I gave up on the forum. The bottom line of that was that unless it was a product I already was completely familiar with or that I had the time to investigate thoroughly myself, I didn't buy.

Today (iRobot Roomba), I had a little more time and was very interested in seeing waht poeple had to say about the product since I had just recently gotten one (not from WOOT), plus I figured I might have some insight to offer. HAVE YOU ALL FALLEN ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL????!!!???

That was the most ridiculous amount of nonsense and drivel, I've ever seen for a product forum. I can't believe it's of any use to anyone. Yes, the wootbot posts help when they finally arrive, but in today's case, I don't think the info got there until theRoomba had already sold out.

Now, I guess that may answer my question - the forum was a 9 page mess, yet you still sold out by 9am. I guess you don't need to enforce your rules. I just wanted you to know how disappointed I am with you.

Thanks for letting me rant a little.

fastrunningmom wrote:

You know, I saw the more frequent bannings a while ago and applauded them, but they seemed to fall off and I just didn't have the time to wade through the posts, and so I gave up on the forum. The bottom line of that was that unless it was a product I already was completely familiar with or that I had the time to investigate thoroughly myself, I didn't buy. Today (iRobot Roomba), I had a little more time and was very interested in seeing waht poeple had to say about the product since I had just recently gotten one (not from WOOT), plus I figured I might have some insight to offer. HAVE YOU ALL FALLEN ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL????!!!??? That was the most ridiculous amount of nonsense and drivel, I've ever seen for a product forum. I can't believe it's of any use to anyone. Yes, the wootbot posts help when they finally arrive, but in today's case, I don't think the info got there until theRoomba had already sold out. Now, I guess that may answer my question - the forum was a 9 page mess, yet you still sold out by 9am. I guess you don't need to enforce your rules. I just wanted you to know how disappointed I am with you. Thanks for letting me rant a little.

well, all I can say is.... we're trying.
It's pretty hard to keep up with all the moronic posts that appear at what seems like the speed of light.
We try to delete the stupid stuff and probate the worst offenders, but to be honest with you, if you are reading the forum at Woot time, you will inevitably have to wade through a lot of nonsense until we get it cleaned up.
Don't give up on us though.....
We are here every night trying to make the forum worth reading!!!

I start a petition to add more volunteer mods. Does anyone second this idea?

cruzer wrote:

I start a petition to add more volunteer mods. Does anyone second this idea?

Well, if there are six moderators, I guess the first question that needs asking is "how much are they moderating that we simply don't notice?" ...
And if they're just sitting on their laurels then it's a matter of Woot deciding if the forums mean enough to their business model to require a house cleaning and/or addition of moderators.
But then I look at some of the comments from the staff (or at least one staffer in particular), and I realize that they might have their hands full just cleaning up HIS messages.
The fish rots from the head, and with the Woot staff citing the semi-abusive sarcastic nature of their posts as the core template for Woot Life, it's almost an invitation to follow suit. Maybe step one is to focus on the deals, on the contests, and lose some of the attitude that's forcing them to say "Do as I say, not as I do."

Just my $ 0.02

don'twantaname wrote:

Did you ever click on the square under the mods name? It says there are 6 mods. Who are those people? They still aren't going to give it to you, you are too young.

yup...I'm aware....of all of that.....

don'twantaname wrote:

There are three real mods. They are all volunteers. Actually I don't even think they volunteered, they were asked by the woot gods and they agreed to do it. It is every night, they do not get paid and they all have real lives that need attention also. I'm asking about the other three names. People nobody knows, that have no posts, yet they are listed as mods. You better not complain about the moderating too much Solonari, or the woot gods will make you do it for free, on your own time.

*looks around frightened* Uh, who's complaining? ;)

Seriously, though, it's just after midnight (10pm local) and the new woot has been posted, so I go looking at the first page to see what people have to say about their experiences with it... 118 comments currenly posted on it, so there has to be some good dirt or some fine praise, right? Wrong. A couple dozen "no thanks," several "cool" and "sweet", some "wtf??" and a handful of "I stayed up for this??" ... One person asked if being refurbished was such a bad thing, and that one cry for help was drowned out in a static of sophomoric megalomania.

They don't want me as a moderator. I'm already a game server admin and a website admin (which also don't pay and fall secondary to real life and a job), and we keep things squeaky clean, which doesn't make for happy 11 year olds. As a moderator here, I'd probably wipe out all but four or so from the first page of today's (notebook wireless mouse) woot. Imagine how upset they'd be if all the garbage got erased. Imagine if the "legal" equivalent zero-content posts were destroyed before their eyes and they knew that a certain Solonari character was lurking. Yeah, my head would be on a pike in half the time it takes a Betelgeusian Ornithopter Captain to sell out.

And how about a succession process? If the moderator finds he/she no longer has time to moderate, he/she makes a suggestions to the Powers That Be (or "Proteus Torpedo Bunkers" in the B O C tradition) as to the successor for the position. That way there won't be as much a gap in the moderator coverage as it appears we're suffering through at the moment.

You seem to have a good head on your shoulders and an even keel ... I'd think they'd love to snatch you up for moderator. Much as you threaten, they don't want me.

Thank you woot. I noticed the change immediately tonight. Ton’s of 1st pagers and too expensive, and refurb this or that, and in the blink of an eye they were gone...

Great job! Keep it up.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

They'll be back..

There's only one way to stop the flood on crap posts - and that's to kill the idiots posting.

Y'all know me. Know how I earn a livin'. I'll catch these fools for you, but it ain't gonna be easy. Bad fish. Not like going down to the pond and chasing bluegills and tommycocks. These fools, swallow you whole. No shakin', no tenderizin', down you go. And we gotta do it quick, that'll bring back your tourists, put all your businesses on a payin' basis. But it's not gonna be pleasant. I value my neck a lot more than three thousand bucks, chief. I'll find him for three, but I'll catch him, and kill him, for ten. But you've gotta make up your minds. If you want to stay alive, then ante up. If you want to play it cheap, be on welfare the whole winter. I don't want no volunteers, I don't want no mates, there's too many captains on this island. Ten thousand dollars for me by myself. For that you get the head, the tail, the whole damn thing.

don'twantaname wrote:

fish, not thing, fish

not according to this link...

http://www.jawsmovie.com/jsounds/headtail.wav