Megathreads / Superthreads - Titanic of the "Hot Deals" section

[Betard]

I've been an RFD user for nearly 9 years, and by far the "Hot Deals" section has been a section I visit multiple times daily. It seems over the last couple years that more and more users are creating these "Superthreads / Megathreads", and posts that are arguably not really "hot deals" at all. Its getting out of hand.

In my opinion the "Hot Deals" section should be succinct for the most part. Current / New deals on a particular service, product, event, store/chain wide sales and discussions related directly to it.

Instead we end up with these huge threads created by "well intended" posters. Whether the first post in the thread is updated constantly only addresses one issue... the other issue is once you spot a deal in that first thread, you have to sift through potentially 1000's of comments / side conversations that may or may not be relevant to the model you would like to know about. Confusing to say the least; easy to find yourself misguided, and few people have the time or patience.

Then we have these "Retention", "Trade In Value", "Teksavvy offering residential services", "staples coupons", "How to get a free HD PVR from Rogers" threads. Arguably these are simply "general discussion" threads. "Retention" savings don't always apply to all customers (as illustrated in the thread where many people do or don't get quite as good of a deal as someone else), RFD already has a coupon section, and how to get a free HD PVR?? Really?? I'm not disputing that these threads don't contain good information that can be useful to many people. But it seems to me that these giant threads could simply live in a general discussion area and be linked to in a reply if someone cares to reference it.

The newest addition is the "NAS Superthread" and already, most of the replies are general discussions on NAS devices (how they work, decent set-ups, pro's and con's of different brands, hard drive pricing).

There mine as well be a "TV Superthread", "Car Superthread", "Battery Superthread", "Camera Superthread", etc.. etc.. and then the hot deals sections can be crunched up into like 20 threads total.

Would it not be a much better user experience to be able to come to the hot deals section and see threads that pertain to a store wide sales, products, events, or services. And then be able to find comments and conversation about that deal specifically.

Perhaps someone on the RFD staff / moderators could create a single post locked thread that captures the current deals for product types (IE "Current Camera Deals" with brief details and a link to the thread). Or the staff /moderators could ensure the posts are all properly tagged, and then users could simply click a "DSLR" link bringing them to all the current DSLR deals.

It seems to me the RFD staff have simply given up or simply don't care that the "hot deals" section is a free for all and loosing its focus. It used to be that the hot deals section was for quick 'at a glance' info on current deals. Now if I want to buy a BBQ or Snow Blower I have to spend half a day navigating through a 1000+ posts to try and figure out if the deal posted in the first thread is really a deal at all.

Just my 2 cents, disappointing.

[Cas77]

I've brought it up before and so have many others. What's really a headscratcher is that 95% of those mega threads have a specific forum they should logically go in as per the actual forum guidelines (i.e. NAS in Computers & Electronics) but mods refuse to move them appropriately.

[Betard]

Thanks Cas77, I'm sure there will be a mixed response to this thread, but I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking this way.

[sjps220]

Superthreads kill my drive to go through the hot deals forum, which is why I come to RFD. I've seen the same threads there everyday for too long. If you do actually try to use one of those threads, it's incredibly tedious and you need to filter through information that's way out of date.

I've never understood the need to throw everything together into a giant thread. I'd much rather have more, smaller threads that are more on topic, and to do with specific up to date deals, than one giant thread where I have to sift through 1000+ pages. Or in the case of rogers wireless retentions, 1974 pages. 30,000 posts? No thanks.

[adamtheman]

Agreed 100%. But your logical argument probably won't get far. The comments made in this forum seem to fall on deaf ears. It is sad to see this forum dying slowly, but as YLO crumbles I guess this forum will too.

[Troy_McClure]

+1

They should be moved to the shopping discussion thread. Any new post containing a good deal can be posted in both the hot deals as an individual thread AND the related megathread to update whoever keeps up with that.

[JWL]

+1. And with the "superthreads" someone will post a genuine deal in there, then one someone posts it separately they get told it is a repost!

[Ojam]

I agree 100% I don't want to have to dig through a 100 page thread looking for a deal. Isnt that why there are categories?

[actng]

to implement a fix, it would actually require someone at RFD / the mods to do real work... instead of just dealing with bans/edits/moves/complaints/whining...

i think what you should do is instead of suggesting a fix... is to let RFD screw up then start your own deals site where you organize the deals properly.

[Betard]

to implement a fix, it would actually require someone at RFD / the mods to do real work... instead of just dealing with bans/edits/moves/complaints/whining...

i think what you should do is instead of suggesting a fix... is to let RFD screw up then start your own deals site where you organize the deals properly.

This sarcasm? I can't discern whether you are saying RFD is a sinking ship (so why bother trying), or that if we don't like it we should start our own site...

Starting a site is easy, getting the user base is the difficult (time consuming) part.

Such an easy fix... move the dozen megathreads to shopping discussions, and set a rule prohibiting the creation of them in the "hot deals" section. Simple overnight fix. But as we can see, the staff don't even chime in on their own "comments and suggestions" section of the site. Thus supporting both our points perhaps.

[AndrewRFD]

We are aware that megathreads/retention threads are frustrating to some users, but a lot of users get value from them as well.

We'll be testing some changes in the near future.

[45ED]

This sarcasm? I can't discern whether you are saying RFD is a sinking ship (so why bother trying), or that if we don't like it we should start our own site...

Starting a site is easy, getting the user base is the difficult (time consuming) part.

Such an easy fix... move the dozen megathreads to shopping discussions, and set a rule prohibiting the creation of them in the "hot deals" section. Simple overnight fix. But as we can see, the staff don't even chime in on their own "comments and suggestions" section of the site. Thus supporting both our points perhaps.

Some sarcasm. Some expressing disdain for mods/admins/folks who run RFD. Actng has (had?) a thread somewhere expressing as much (I think it dealt with mods mostly, though).

[Cas77]

I think this should be dealt with sooner rather than later. I thought this megathread issue couldn't get worse but boy was i wrong.

Not going to name names or point fingers here, but some ***** decided a certain megathread was getting too big for their liking (poor princess)...so they created a 2nd megathread for this specific item. Wtf??? This new thread is growing and now both threads are being bumped up because some people are subscribed to the old one. Come on, smarten up and keep the damn forums clean...this goes for both users and mods.

[AcidBomber]

I think this should be dealt with sooner rather than later. I thought this megathread issue couldn't get worse but boy was i wrong.

Not going to name names or point fingers here, but some ***** decided a certain megathread was getting too big for their liking (poor princess)...so they created a 2nd megathread for this specific item. Wtf??? This new thread is growing and now both threads are being bumped up because some people are subscribed to the old one. Come on, smarten up and keep the damn forums clean...this goes for both users and mods.

Which two threads are you talking about?
If they are on the same topic, then please report it and they will be merged.

[oranr]

Just to reiterate what AndrewRFD said. We are aware of the issue and it's not falling on deaf ears. We are trying to create a solution that will work for everyone and not alienate anyone. Yes, we do agree that the hot deal section needs a clean up and that's what we are going to do but in a way that works for all. This is a sensitive subject to a lot of users and RFD staff and we want to do it in a smart tactful way, that works!