I only check out the sites with items that interest me. Like today, I checked out her Woot and the Sports pages. That's it. So I'm missing the Plus deals on the other sites like Home and Kids. Create a tab named Plus and put all the extra deals there. I would check out that page. As it stands now, the possible deals aren't enough to have me check out the other pages.

New woot is like any other "deals" website. I don't want a "shopping experience", but a "woot deal experience". I'm a sucker for a deal, but I hate shopping. That's what I had liked about the old woot.

My feedback: The committee of Product Managers, Product Marketers, and 'consultants' that never used your site or shopped online before redesigning it should be summarily sacked with prejudice. Additionally, the people who HIRED those who were sacked in the previous sentence should also be sacked and forbidden to work in Internet site design and merchant systems ever again.

This 'Tiger Team' found the most effective way to make what was once simplicity itself into a warren of 'deals'. 'Stickiness' is so 1998; generate revenue should be the mantra. Unless there was a HUGE problem with Woot!'s profitability, there was nothing to fix here. So, of course, Amazon had to morph Woot! into it's own image. Sometimes I think Bezos modeled his company using EA's business practices as the gold standard.

I've lost all respect for what was being done here. To be honest, it has been going downhill for a couple of years now as the product mix moved from its roots to more 'safe' fare. This was the last straw for me.

However, I am anxiously awaiting the upcoming train-wreck that the first post-redesign woot-off will be for shoppers.

I'm sorry to see Matt go, and I am beginning to think this was the reason he left. If I saw this on a PowerPoint slide, I would have resigned on-the-spot. Amazon has killed what he created.

P.S. When will you start pimping the Amazon Store Card & Visa? Can I get a free Bucket of Coral just for signing up for the Visa? What about Woot! Prime so I can get free Slower-than-USPS-Post shipping and a bunch of garbage streamed to me that I did not ask for? Also looking forward to the upcoming Woot T.O.C. (Tablet of Carp) with its own proprietary market for apps that other OS markets did not want.

I gave it an honest shot. I really did, but this design is HORRIBLE to navigate on my smartphone. Too busy and when I go to click on something I get a billion popup windows blocking what I wanted to click.

Product selection had been going down for awhile, but I still liked Shirts.Woot. Then you went with the new blanks where a Medium women's hangs off me, but the Small women's is so tight I can't wear it. Therefore, buying shirts is useless now.

I might check out one Woot Off, but if it is as big a trainwreck as I expect then I will say so-long Woot. You used to be a unique and fun daily deal site. Now you are just like all the others, but with a crappy website.

rebeltreble wrote:I gave it an honest shot. I really did, but this design is HORRIBLE to navigate on my smartphone. Too busy and when I go to click on something I get a billion popup windows blocking what I wanted to click.

Product selection had been going down for awhile, but I still liked Shirts.Woot. Then you went with the new blanks where a Medium women's hangs off me, but the Small women's is so tight I can't wear it. Therefore, buying shirts is useless now.

I might check out one Woot Off, but if it is as big a trainwreck as I expect then I will say so-long Woot. You used to be a unique and fun daily deal site. Now you are just like all the others, but with a crappy website.

Nothing. But. Laptops.

I'm waiting for the next Woot statement where they cutely sum up all the negative feedback using self-deprecating humor that signifies they won't be heeding any of it.

As many before have complained, you've gone from google simplicity to geocities (aol?) madness. The madness certainly doesn't render well on my mobile browser.

But there are two more pressing things that concern me:

(1) Why the death of the dot?? You should be pleased that shirt.woot is in my vocabulary. And now it is only Shirt! or shirtwoot! Shame on the "brand engineer" or whatever overhauler you employed. They've failed.

(2) Why did you collapse all the RSS feeds? I was happy to be receiving only the deals instead of the steady stream of humor blog posts. Sucks to the point that I've removed woot and shirt.woot from my RSS list. Shame, that.

equazcion wrote:I'm waiting for the next Woot statement where they cutely sum up all the negative feedback using self-deprecating humor that signifies they won't be heeding any of it.

like...
http://youtu.be/-vWKDMmtoDA

pha9992001 wrote:like...
http://youtu.be/-vWKDMmtoDA

So to sum up that video, just ignore us and we'll get used to it.

I wish I could send a Bag o' Crap to Woot's front doorstep...literally.

I seriously hate the new format of woot. They are becoming just another Amazon clone/child site, way too busy. Even if this shirt switch had not happened I would be checking woot’s main page MUCH less often as it has become too busy and cluttered. Woot took what was a GREAT experience and soiled it. Instead of spending 30-60 seconds checking a site that had 1 thing in a few categories they have tried to change it into another shopping destination. I only came to woot daily because I didn’t have to dedicate any real time to the site, less than a minute and I was in or out. They have killed what woot was and I have not bought anything from them in months…..and I don’t miss it at all. I have discovered many other shirt sites that outshine woot in their offerings…so thanks for driving me forward towards better things…..WOOT!!!!!!!!!

By the way I have all the Rokus, flash drives, video cameras, vacuum robots, and laptops that I will ever need. They may not need me, but I certainly don’t need them.

I like the new layout, but I do have a serving suggestion:

ban the IPs of those who don't They can't successfully navigate the new layout anywho.

As a member since 2006, a wooter with 100's of woots, and a web designer in my early life before entering management; I thought I'd leave my honest feedback for "whom it may concern".

I used to enjoy reading the woot write-up's, but I don't think I've clicked on a single "continue reading" link since the redesign. I now spend a minute looking for the specs (that used to be at the bottom of said write-up) and realize after looking over your other deals on the front page, that I should just click the title and hope I find what I'm looking for (resulting in an additional click to get to what I consider the true home page of the deal listed?) Doesn't make sense...

I also used to look for and came to rely upon some of those "quality comments" to point me to price comparisons and personal reviews, and those too have been hidden underneath their avatar and a "scrolling" list that leaves me less interested to wait and read it all and just has me clicking into the discussion bypassing your snazzy new format. (Another click?)

And I'm confused how the plus deals (combined) get more space on the home page than the actual deal does? Seems that the plus deals overwhelm the home page and overshadow the true daily deal for this week's list of deals that honestly, just remind me of other shopping sites always trying to get me to look at their "recommendations". Not to mention that the woot site hover menus almost completely hide the daily deal so the navigation seems to be, again, covering up the true purpose of the page I'm on.

I used to check every single woot site exactly at 10pm PT just to see what today's great deals will be. I even have an alarm set on my iPhone that says "WOOT!" that goes off at that exact minute to remind me to check. I honestly don't look as often since the redesign and just recently made my first purchase and was sad to see all the changes (It takes two clicks to get to the buying page??) And why the square buttons? I always liked and appreciated your oval buttons... kind of a characteristic and trait of the site if you ask me.

Now, I'm not all doom and gloom. I REALLY like seeing all my purchases under one link/page. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! I used to have to open each and every woot site up to reconcile my monthly purchases (yes, I buy that many woots). I can't believe it took THIS long to get those all consolidated.

I must finish my feedback/rant by saying I like your attempt to streamline and make things look "official" and clean... I'm just afraid that you've cluttered the home pages, made the primary deal less of a focus and overwhelmed the rest of the page with plus deals and ads. It even took me a few minutes to find where I could log in to my account but I think you've since made some adjustments to that since the redesign.

I know things change. I used to be in charge of those changes/redesigns! But woot feels less like woot and more like something else and whatever it is... it feels less personal and wootastic. Reminds me of when a company is acquired and the acquiring company says "we bought you because of your culture and your people and don't want to change a thing!" Then they change everything and the only thing left is the company name...

I do appreciate seeing the little changes/improvements since the redesign... but someone should seriously look at usability and refocus on the true purpose behind each woot home page. I used to be able to see something I liked, read a humorous product description, see the technical specs, read some immediate feedback from the woot community and make a purchasing decision without a single click!!! think about that...

I didn't post on this right away, because I didn't want this to just be a knee-jerk "change is scary and I don't like it post".

Okay, I've given it some time, and I still don't like the redesign. Things that annoy me:

-The design is very busy and cluttered looking. I thought this would get better as I got used to it. It didn't.

-More clicking for the same information. Woot used to be about one very good deal the description was right there under the blurb. I now have to click to read the rest of the post, then I have to click on tabs to get all of the details/specs. It looks like woot is trying to cater to impulse buying window-lickers who don't want to be bothered with the details of what they are buying.

-Dubious WootPlus "deals" in addition to the main deal. They take up a huge amount of space and if the several that I have checked into are representative, they are not any cheaper than you can find at dozens of other sites. If I can find the thing cheaper on Amazon with a 5 second google search, then it IS NOT A GOOD DEAL. It's even sillier because woot is owned by amazon, so you figure they could at least price something lower than their parent company. Maybe the appealing to the least common denominator is working though, the sale I'm referring to was already sold-out in most of the items and the others sold out quickly after, so I can't exactly blame woot for taking the rubes money. I have, however stopped looking at the wootplus deals, which I doubt is their intention.

I feel like woot has morphed from a tightly focused streamlined site with one (usually) really good deal in a couple of categories into a bloated mess of a website offering a much bigger variety of much lesser deals.

One positive note: the combined purchase history is great; thanks for that. Unfortunately, between the site changes, deals seeming less and less like true bargains and the AA/Anvil shirt fiasco, I probably won't be buying as much, so keeping track of orders won't be as critical.

I Hate The New Site!!!!!!!! Even the wines are not as much fun. Where are all the comments?? Those comments helped me to decide what to buy. Jeesh!!!! By this time of the morning, there would have been at least 30 comments. Now there is 10 at most. Jeesh!

To: service@woot.com
Subject: Another woot purchase missed because of the redesign...

To whom it may concern:

95% of my Woot purchases are not things I "need"; They are novelty items that are bought on a whim, because of a clever writeup, because the price/value is easily determined by quality posts, or because the description gave me an idea of how/where/why a product might be used by myself or someone around me..

Several times in the last few weeks, I have resisted the urge to buy because of the terrible site redesign.
1) Descriptions are unavailable (On the main page)
2) The context of the writeups is difficult to understand (with only 6 -8lines visible)
3) The presentation of quality posts prohibits me from scanning them it 5-10 sec
4) The terribly busy design is simply offensive and why I quit visiting groupon/living social and other online sites

I will continue my boycott until the site is repaired. I periodically check the site to see if things have been fixed, but my polling interval has been reduced to only every few days.

Please fix the site, and post the changes and status updates to [this] beta feedback blog.

Dear woot!

I've read the postings regarding your site update. Most of them negative.

I, too, hate it. Hate. It.

Please don't be Netflix. Put it back.

Note: I spend most of my time on wine.woot.com, but used to check all the pages religiously every morning.

Having done web design for a living as a first career, I usually try to suppress the "resist change" reflex when a new design rolls out. Usually I adapt pretty quickly, and in most situations somethings are better, some things are worse...but at the end of the day it's still a webpage and you use it.

That said, this redesign has affected me so strongly that I'm shopping at woot significantly less. I find the busy lay-out horrible. I can't find information easily, and I have no desire to kill minutes searching through tabs. In fact, this design has driven me off such that I can't even give you specific suggestions for improvement...unless it's a product I already recognize I just close the page without trying to fully understand the product. The product information feels under attack from all these busy sidebars (the top, the images, the woot chatter, the ads, the bottom frame)...and whatever I want to do (read the write-up...which USED to be a woot signature feature, find out more about the product, etc.) all takes wading into the navigation further than it should.


I also admit that this website redesign is bearing the brunt of my growing woot.com frustration. The deals seem to be MUCH less significant, and it seems like more times than not the savings is only a few pennies or it can be found cheaper on another site. The tone on the forums is much more corporate...more moderator involvement and chastising/defensiveness.

Most items are pricier (you see many less <$50 wine deals...much less <$10 tech gadgets), which I get makes you better profits given the shipping deal (especially wine), but for sight-unseen purchasing that's quite the investment you're asking for.

Finally, the discontinuance of the labrat program killed a lot of my loyalty to the site. That was a brilliant and unique program, and it gave a great resource to your buyers to decide if they wanted to invest in a wine without tasting it. I can't even count the number of times lab rat comments pushed me over the edge into making the purchase. Now, I'd rather buy all of my wine locally. Without the "killer prices" and community tasting notes, it's a much smarter plan for me to taste my purchases at a wine shop.

Anyway...sharing my thoughts because I used to really, really like this company and the site. I guess the upside is I have a lot more cash in my wallet, now.

Cyradia wrote:Note: I spend most of my time on wine.woot.com, but used to check all the pages religiously every morning.
[...]

Finally, the discontinuance of the labrat program killed a lot of my loyalty to the site. That was a brilliant and unique program, and it gave a great resource to your buyers to decide if they wanted to invest in a wine without tasting it. I can't even count the number of times lab rat comments pushed me over the edge into making the purchase. Now, I'd rather buy all of my wine locally. Without the "killer prices" and community tasting notes, it's a much smarter plan for me to taste my purchases at a wine shop.

I've read every single comment in this thread (including the two or three "assurances" that staff were reading it all, and paying attention to it, but your points about lapratting and tasting notes are so important that I would like to re-emphasize them. In a couple of cases, where I'd had a good experience with several different offerings from a winery, I might have been willing to purchase blindly, but I believe I'm done making purchases.

Until they return to requiring the CVV, and to providing links to the prior discussions on my purchases (ones that I do NOT have to search for, thanks), I'm done. I can buy good wine anywhere. It was fun to be introduced to new places, but the bloom is off the rose.

Pity.

Like...ummmm, like this new design, is um...like, just not good. It's ummm, like, ummm, terrible, and stuff. Like, I don't really like it, ummm, and I would like it if you went back to the way it like used to be...ok?

Is that where the word cloud came from?

"Woot + top brands = tons of cool stuff, sold cheap."
No, W00t + top brands = tons of crap that rarely changes, is not particularly well-priced, and nobody who comes to counter-culture w00t gives a flying rhinoceros horn about the BRANDS.

If you jokers think BRANDS drive the sales here, you haven't the foggiest notion of what w00t is, was, or ever will be.

I see the occasional positive note in here, but the vast majority have spoken, often over and over. I really don't even look at what's on sale anymore, just checking to see if you guys have woken from the corporate-induced nightmare to realize it was all a horrible mistake, a dream to be flushed away by a hot shower and ONE really good deal.

Nope, still not there yet, haven't had our Dallas' moment ending the awfulness.

shrdlu wrote:I've read every single comment in this thread (including the two or three "assurances" that staff were reading it all, and paying attention to it, but your points about lapratting and tasting notes are so important that I would like to re-emphasize them. ...

Pity.

Thanks. I'm pretty sure I'm just commenting for my own cathartic purpose...like speaking at a funeral.

I like amazon. I liked woot. I do not like what amazon did to woot.

It's only because I *really* liked woot that I felt the need to discuss why I think it died. Maybe the new form of woot is more profitable, but it's not something that'll be in my daily morning ritual.

Edited in case people really are reading this that have the power to make decisions....

My Amazon pattern is "pull". I think of something I need, and I go shop for it on Amazon and buy it (and I spend a TON of $$ on Amazon). Since I'm actively shopping and choosing between products, I don't mind the real estate discussing other options.

My woot pattern was very different...it was "push". I didn't go to woot with a thought about something I wanted/needed...I went for the humor and to see if there was something to buy that I had no idea I wanted (yet). You've lost the ingredients that made this a good "push" fit, and for me those were...

1) A great deal. I might not need that piece of crap, but I was confident it was cheaper for these 24 hours on woot than anywhere else. More and more, that's not the case...or it's like $0.30 more on Amazon.

2) Clean webpage design that I could skim without clicking through navigation. I don't want to see ALL the choices. I want to see that ONE choice you're pushing today. I don't even fully understand what all these ads and deals on the navigation are...but they're really distracting.

3) Community forum...I'm sure you have the analytics in front of you, but my gut says forum involvement has plummeted with these changes. I bought stuff I didn't "know I wanted" because of the quality posts and the not-so-quality posts from other customers discussing the product. Lab rats were a GREAT catalyst for this.

Cyradia wrote:
I like amazon. I liked woot. I do not like what amazon did to woot.

With this simple statement you have summed up the opinion/feelings of many of us!

This is slightly cross-posted, but given that daily offering forums have been so lacking in product discussion since the site switch, a little cross-post won't hurt anyone.

___
Some repeat, some not:

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE put the tracking # back in the shipment notification emails!!!!!

Other stuff:
The new layout is not more attractive. It's busy, areas aren't well defined, more clicks are required to get basic info. It's been a real turn off. Woot is now all about advertising. I only hope that there will still be some high quality wines at reasonable prices (high discounts.) So far, the new wine.woot has proven to be a venue for higher priced wines and large quantities.

Many of us are on wine.woot to get exposure to many different wines. Can't do that if the lots are all large and per bottle prices high.

The only improvement, IMHO, is easy navigation to all woot sites from all woot pages.

The monkey has lost it's identity. The woot plus items have altered the site tremendously. You could use woot plus to offer items that didn't sell out during the previous 24 hrs. Again, IMHO. I'm all about quality over quantity. Woot is now all about quantity over quality.

Would you rather go to yahoo, cnn, etc using IE or FF with the Ad Block Plus extension? Busy sites with lots of advertising equate to poor design. Unfortunately we live in a world where the bottom dollar rules and it's all about 'what have you done for me today.' So it makes sense that woot would follow suit. But I can't help remembering the advice my mother gave me when I was young... 'would you jump off the Sears Tower just because everyone else was?' Or when I got older, it became the GW Bridge.

When you do something well, make small improvements, but don't re-invent yourself. If it ain't broke, don't fix!

Annoyed with logging in "a lot"?

I thought this dev update from Shawn Miller may be of assistance to help:

"Checking back in here to let this group know we added some text to explain why we're asking you to sign in again to order or view purchase history."



Original thread

inkycatz wrote:
Original thread

More updates! And when there is the word we, this is straight up Shawn Miller talk!

"We're working on fixes for voting from mobile devices. Let me share some release notes over the past couple weeks.

- Launched Sport.Woot (hopefully you noticed)
- We changed the design around the Write-Up on the homepage to give it more visual priority
- We increased the accuracy of shipping estimates for One-Day and Two-Day shipping methods
- We fixed all kinds of sale stats on the retail sites (especially with Shirt.Woot)
- Synchronized Deals.Woot reputation in the tooltip that appears when you hover over your username in the global header
- Fixed issues with iTunes subscriptions on Wootcast videos
- Renamed "Withheld" order status to "Waiting List" and more accurately described what this status means
- Streamlined the sign up experience for users signing up using their Amazon account
- Stopped showing "Welcome" lightbox for mobile devices and user agents that don't support cookies"

• I don't like the extra click to get to the write-up and details.
• I miss getting my landed cost immediately upon selecting quantity.
• I'd like to see the HTML linkage of the thumbnails point to the images again, so we can easily open them in tabs, and the ThumbnailZoom extension works on them again.

Thanks to the moderators for cross-posting my Deals.Woot ramblings over here on big boy Woot.

Is there anything I can help answer in this neck of the woods?

shawnmiller wrote:Thanks to the moderators for cross-posting my Deals.Woot ramblings over here on big boy Woot.

Is there anything I can help answer in this neck of the woods?

it is apparent that these changes are for good how about just making a old.woot and letting use decide what we want to look at it is 10 min after the deals started and I didn't even bother to look at them as I was enjoying seeing that my feelings are shared by the majority of the posters here.

This is not a good design.

W00t Whitespace has been changed to a w00t feed. Not sure how I feel about this yet. Maybe if the "tweets" were swapped for the "posts" on the left I'd be feeling less boxed in. Mebbe.

bower515 wrote:So to sum up that video, just ignore us and we'll get used to it.

I wish I could send a Bag o' Crap to Woot's front doorstep...literally.

Vote with your wallets. Let Amazon...errrr...Woot! ignore that!

khufu413 wrote (in today's item thread):\Okay, unrelated to item... It's been a bit since the change and I've got to say I have not had the same obsession I used to regarding woot.. I used to stay up until midnight on work nights (tonight is not one) just to see the selection. I do not consider myself a person adverse to change, however EVERYTHING about this just feels different to the point I no longer care. I fully expect and accept the "then go!" responses and their like, and I understand; I too muttered to myself the same thing when previous woot changes brought similar comments from others.. I will continue to check here occasionally and purchase without hesitation if something piques my interest. However I can honestly say that I no longer check every day, it has ceased to be part of my routine.. Perhaps it is solely my imagination but it must be more than the layout.. the items themselves don't have the same allure as before.. It all simply feels "off."
I sincerely wish woot and anyone financially vested in its success well, I truly do. Those who decided on these changes are - I am sure - fine people who have survived the initial backlash of change for a reason.. There is no point to my post, no boycott, no mission to change things.. Just an acknowledgement that - for me - it's been a great journey that has changed course.. and not for the better.
Word.

I was just feeling this yesterday, and applaud your elocution of it. As a member since 2004, I'm surprised at how quickly my loyalty has been punctured. I still give the site a quick glance, usually every day. But I'm not likely to drill down into the forums, etc. Perhaps it's the old curmudgeon in me rebelling against hype and homogenization. It feels less personal, and more like a late night infomercial.
Not that Woot was ever gonna get rich off of me - 108 woots in 8 years. And Amazon is getting rich off of me anyway (2 or more orders per week).
I'm old, and easily replaced. I'm sure that they're after a younger, hungrier consumer demographic.
Just my 2 cents.
Cheers!

The announced "changes" and "fixes" are similar to rearranging deck chairs on the titanic. You're not reading or addressing the big huge..."hey I've got a billion woot purchases and have been a daily visitor for years but I'm leaving" trend.

but, whatever, I tried.

At the risk of hyperbole, this redesign is the worst thing that has ever happened to anyone.

To be more realistic, it's not like I'm going to stop coming here, but it has already affected my view of the brand (and the design is so clunky I have closed the window prematurely many times as well). I always appreciated Woots simple approach. One deal One deal. Now it is such a cluttery mess, that I don't enjoy shopping here.

I am also not blind to the fact that almost every change is met with resistance. The key is to figure out if that resistance is of the "everything familiar is better" variety, or the "this change will severely hurt our business" variety (see: Digg, Netflix, and Gawker). Judging from this response thread, this is the latter.

Woot, please, please don't ignore your customers. In addition to making us keep using a terrible interface, it makes us mad that you would so willingly disregard what is clearly a majority opinion.

ThunderThighs wrote:I'll let you in on a not very secret link you can bookmark:

www.woot.com/today

It works for all the sites. It will take you straight to the offer page if that's your fav.

Just don't come crying to us when you miss out on a great Plus deal.

Well, it was secret enough that nearly a month after dropping the hot load of new woot on us, you have to tell us a way to get directly to the deals, sans plus. So, yeah, it was pretty secret. Believe me when I say this, you'll never hear me cry about missing out on the 'Assorted Electronics Bonanza'. I can get that from 1SaleaDay.

The primary complaint most have is that they have to dig too much to get to the deal. Put the deal upfront. Why have you strayed from that?

If this woot is required to be Amazon-like, then lock this thread now. AMZN has no concept of how a website should work - try doing a sort-by-price sometime. 10 years, and they still cannot get it right.

I propose another beta release. This one groups all the plus/'moofi reject' stuff into it's own site/tab, and brings the deals back to the foreground. A metric ton of complaints will be resolved as a result. I know that would help resolve a big issue I have with Woot now. I still have other issues with woot since the 'absorption'.

Also, the break room video is cute, AND it pisses a lot of your pre-Amazonia customers off. I strongly suggest doing some serious damage control before that thing gets more exposure than it already is. The veiled arrogance in that video is unmasked when you see this community thread alongside it.

I would like the prices added back in the RSS feeds.

thanks

ThunderThighs wrote:I'll let you in on a not very secret link you can bookmark:

www.woot.com/today

It works for all the sites. It will take you straight to the offer page if that's your fav.

I'll let you in on a not very secret hint, make THAT the default W00t page, and the crying here will mostly cease.

ThunderThighs wrote:Just don't come crying to us when you miss out on a great Plus deal.

Don't worry, we won't. I take it the 'wooters hate Plus' isn't going over too well...?

Just another user putting in his 2 cents. Still check the site almost everyday, but am disappointed every time. All the complaints about layout are on the money. I find myself leaving the site much quicker and losing interest in the site altogether. The site was a fun little diversion that occasionally led to an impulse buy. The way it's set up now, I would have to actually be in the market for what Woot has posted for me to pull the trigger and make a purchase. That is not what Woot was supposed to be. That's what Amazon is for. Bring back the Woot quirkiness and lose the marketplace mentality. I don't think it will work here.

I might as well throw my hat in on this...

I don't understand what your overall goals were in this redesign. The base foci of Woot were, from my perspective, the community feel and the gimmick (single deal per day, sometimes a bit of a quirk).

The community suffers greatly from the resign, wherein the complimentary post and quality post entries are largely obscured. The longer you get a customer to spend with the product, the better off you are. When you put such things behind a wall you're limiting contact and the ability for a potential customer to become a actual customer. I used to check out threads on a fairly common basis, read the writeup, etc.

Haven't bothered much since the change. It's amazing the difference that click wall makes.

As for the plus... I really think you would have avoided ALL complaints and issues by doing the redesign and then had a new "Woot PLUS" area up top. That way you add something beneficial (hey, more deals! Cool!) instead of detracting from the base design (... why are all the things I actually came here to see covered up in these stupid 'deals'?).

The design isn't bad, and in fact I like some of the feel(and I do think that its about time you did something with the older Shirt designs you own), but I really think it was created by people who did not understand the needs/desires of the customer base.