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What exactly is happening to RFDs?

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Deal Addict
Oct 17, 2009
1521 posts
3577 upvotes

What exactly is happening to RFDs?

I posted in a thread about a Huawei phone deal. I specifically asked if their tense relationship with Google, and inability to sell in the USA will effect their ability to effectively support their phones.

Here's my actual post "Politics aside, is it safe to buy this phone considering Huawei's connect with the CPC? Aren't they fairly well known for wanting back doors set up in electronics that come out of China?
Furthermore, if Huawai can't legally do business with Google, what hope is there for future support for their products?"

How do these concerns NOT effect the validity of a deal? If a product is going to be a cinderblock in a year, isn't that something we should be able to talk about? If a product might actually be helping another country spy on our citizens, isn't that something we should be able to bring up?

It feels like RFD has become wildly censor heavy over the last three months, to the point where people can't talk about the good AND bad points of a deal. I get that they want to push their affiliate links, but pushing people to crap products will simply make us choose another forum to frequent.

Is there something I'm missing here? Has this forum recently changed management or something? Been here for a decade, and it seems like actual conversation about deals is now heavy-handedly censored by admins.
27 replies
Deal Addict
User avatar
Nov 30, 2005
2000 posts
1581 upvotes
Ottawa, ON
Don't be dramatic. No need to repeat the bs in the media. Rfder are smart enough to build those considerations in. Your comments are probably removed because it was not relevant. There are subsection for these sorts of political/technology debates, not in deal threads. Besides you should be smart enough to know the whole thing with Hauwei is really linked to the US China trade deals. It's been proven that the US spies on their allies and citizens and forces apple and other tech company under threat of law to give them whatever they want in the name of national security.

Turning a blind eye to all this while saying we need to ban Huawei because there is potential of spying one day is just rich.
Deal Fanatic
Nov 22, 2015
7851 posts
8801 upvotes
MikoWilson wrote: I posted in a thread about a Huawei phone deal. I specifically asked if their tense relationship with Google, and inability to sell in the USA will effect their ability to effectively support their phones.

Here's my actual post "Politics aside, is it safe to buy this phone considering Huawei's connect with the CPC? Aren't they fairly well known for wanting back doors set up in electronics that come out of China?
Furthermore, if Huawai can't legally do business with Google, what hope is there for future support for their products?"

How do these concerns NOT effect the validity of a deal? If a product is going to be a cinderblock in a year, isn't that something we should be able to talk about? If a product might actually be helping another country spy on our citizens, isn't that something we should be able to bring up?

It feels like RFD has become wildly censor heavy over the last three months, to the point where people can't talk about the good AND bad points of a deal. I get that they want to push their affiliate links, but pushing people to crap products will simply make us choose another forum to frequent.

Is there something I'm missing here? Has this forum recently changed management or something? Been here for a decade, and it seems like actual conversation about deals is now heavy-handedly censored by admins.
Nope... Politics have always been considered off-topic....

Prefacing a statement with "politics aside", doesn't automatically make it non-political. You could have asked the same question without mentioning the CPC or Chinese electronics at all
Deal Addict
Sep 9, 2010
4863 posts
3538 upvotes
Burnaby
MikoWilson wrote: What exactly is happening to RFDs?

I posted in a thread about a Huawei phone deal. I specifically asked if their tense relationship with Google, and inability to sell in the USA will effect their ability to effectively support their phones.

Here's my actual post "Politics aside, is it safe to buy this phone considering Huawei's connect with the CPC? Aren't they fairly well known for wanting back doors set up in electronics that come out of China?
Furthermore, if Huawai can't legally do business with Google, what hope is there for future support for their products?"

How do these concerns NOT effect the validity of a deal? If a product is going to be a cinderblock in a year, isn't that something we should be able to talk about? If a product might actually be helping another country spy on our citizens, isn't that something we should be able to bring up?

It feels like RFD has become wildly censor heavy over the last three months, to the point where people can't talk about the good AND bad points of a deal. I get that they want to push their affiliate links, but pushing people to crap products will simply make us choose another forum to frequent.

Is there something I'm missing here? Has this forum recently changed management or something? Been here for a decade, and it seems like actual conversation about deals is now heavy-handedly censored by admins.
Take a second look to your post. Despite your introduction "Politics aside", the argument you are introducing is political (trade war/spying/CPC). You could have avoided that asking whether or not this particular product was in the list of Huawei products still supported by Google and stating your opinion about the risk of losing such support (no need for explanations, everybody knows, or you could have linked the Off Topic thread where that issue is being discussed).

Unfortunately, as worded, it looks like "bait" (political discussion bait) and it's a fact almost every time a political topic is introduced in a Hot Deals thread some posters take the bait and end up hijacking the tread and derailing the discussion (from the deal/product to politics/bickering). Take for example, the poster below: they took the bait and went on a political tirade outside of Off Topic - PRC.

There's nothing wrong with RFD filtering out such kind of posts. Hot Deals is for discussing products/services/etc, not arguing about politics [even if related/pertaining].
ZxExN wrote: Don't be dramatic. No need to repeat the bs in the media. Rfder are smart enough to build those considerations in. Your comments are probably removed because it was not relevant. There are subsection for these sorts of political/technology debates, not in deal threads. Besides you should be smart enough to know the whole thing with Hauwei is really linked to the US China trade deals. It's been proven that the US spies on their allies and citizens and forces apple and other tech company under threat of law to give them whatever they want in the name of national security.

Turning a blind eye to all this while saying we need to ban Huawei because there is potential of spying one day is just rich.

Incompetent workers (and criminals) cover each other's "lower back"
Keywords: doxxers, moles, security breaches, cs*s,
Deal Addict
Jan 26, 2017
1859 posts
2808 upvotes
MikoWilson wrote: I posted in a thread about a Huawei phone deal. I specifically asked if their tense relationship with Google, and inability to sell in the USA will effect their ability to effectively support their phones.

Here's my actual post "Politics aside, is it safe to buy this phone considering Huawei's connect with the CPC? Aren't they fairly well known for wanting back doors set up in electronics that come out of China?
Furthermore, if Huawai can't legally do business with Google, what hope is there for future support for their products?"

How do these concerns NOT effect the validity of a deal? If a product is going to be a cinderblock in a year, isn't that something we should be able to talk about? If a product might actually be helping another country spy on our citizens, isn't that something we should be able to bring up?

It feels like RFD has become wildly censor heavy over the last three months, to the point where people can't talk about the good AND bad points of a deal. I get that they want to push their affiliate links, but pushing people to crap products will simply make us choose another forum to frequent.

Is there something I'm missing here? Has this forum recently changed management or something? Been here for a decade, and it seems like actual conversation about deals is now heavy-handedly censored by admins.
Who was the Mod?
Deal Expert
Dec 5, 2006
16792 posts
12577 upvotes
Markham
MikoWilson wrote: I posted in a thread about a Huawei phone deal. I specifically asked if their tense relationship with Google, and inability to sell in the USA will effect their ability to effectively support their phones.

Here's my actual post "Politics aside, is it safe to buy this phone considering Huawei's connect with the CPC? Aren't they fairly well known for wanting back doors set up in electronics that come out of China?
Furthermore, if Huawai can't legally do business with Google, what hope is there for future support for their products?"

How do these concerns NOT effect the validity of a deal? If a product is going to be a cinderblock in a year, isn't that something we should be able to talk about? If a product might actually be helping another country spy on our citizens, isn't that something we should be able to bring up?

It feels like RFD has become wildly censor heavy over the last three months, to the point where people can't talk about the good AND bad points of a deal. I get that they want to push their affiliate links, but pushing people to crap products will simply make us choose another forum to frequent.

Is there something I'm missing here? Has this forum recently changed management or something? Been here for a decade, and it seems like actual conversation about deals is now heavy-handedly censored by admins.
"is it safe to buy this phone considering Huawei's connect with the CPC? Aren't they fairly well known for wanting back doors set up in electronics that come out of China?" is more or less political statement

But I would say your concern is legitimate and I don't think it should be removed
Moderator
User avatar
Aug 20, 2009
9827 posts
5935 upvotes
Hot Deals is for deal discussion. We don't mind the odd aside, joke or anecdotes but people coming there don't want to see 10 pages of circular debates about government, veganism or etc. We sometimes see off-topic posts that will lead to a significant derail/clean up and act preemptively to ensure the thread stays on topic. Your example is actually a good one - Huawei threads tend to devolve into multipage political brawls if we allow any political discussion. They usually end in infractions for several posters and often dozens of posts that need to be removed which takes up a lot of time. The site has 2 other discussion forums that could've fit your question. If someone has a concern about a potential political entity surrounding the product then they should take it to PRC which has a lengthy thread on this subject. If you have a tech question about Huawei phones, we have many owners of them in the Cell Phone sub of Computers and Electronics.

I didn't remove your post but I agree with the decision. Ultimately if you feel we're too heavy handed you can always PM TomRFD your concerns, though I always suggest people contact the moderator in question first and ask.
Deal Expert
Feb 7, 2017
27765 posts
27805 upvotes
Eastern Ontario
Ya ... agree with the others
it’s a case of the HOT DEALS FORUM
Being strictly to list a HOT DEAL

So list the deal ... without any side slide
The deal ... and nothing but the deal

Want to discuss a deal you found ... as a topic of conversation
Then you need to find a relative DISCUSSION FORUM

Of which there are a plenty ...

https://forums.redflagdeals.com/

In this case ...
there’s the CELL PHONES SUB FORUM
Or the
OFF TOPIC : POLITICS, RELIGION & CONTROVERSIAL SUB FORUM
Depending on your interest / spin

Advantage ?

Your post will attract a wider audience
Willing to throw into the discussion
People get ticked ... when the HOT DEAL FORUM gets bogged down with discussion
RFDers go there JUST FOR THE FACTS

ABC for Sale for $ X @ BIZ
Dates, and any other relative info needed to secure the deal ... like coupon info etc
Administrator
User avatar
Jun 17, 2013
18226 posts
36618 upvotes
Scarborough
Redmask wrote: Hot Deals is for deal discussion. We don't mind the odd aside, joke or anecdotes but people coming there don't want to see 10 pages of circular debates about government, veganism or etc. We sometimes see off-topic posts that will lead to a significant derail/clean up and act preemptively to ensure the thread stays on topic. Your example is actually a good one - Huawei threads tend to devolve into multipage political brawls if we allow any political discussion. They usually end in infractions for several posters and often dozens of posts that need to be removed which takes up a lot of time. The site has 2 other discussion forums that could've fit your question. If someone has a concern about a potential political entity surrounding the product then they should take it to PRC which has a lengthy thread on this subject. If you have a tech question about Huawei phones, we have many owners of them in the Cell Phone sub of Computers and Electronics.

I didn't remove your post but I agree with the decision. Ultimately if you feel we're too heavy handed you can always PM TomRFD your concerns, though I always suggest people contact the moderator in question first and ask.
Redmask summed it up perfectly. We try our best to keep deal discussions about the deals. Derailing comments will be removed simply because people don't want to have to weed through 20 off topic comments for every 1 related to the deal itself. I don't think anyone visits Hot Deals to argue whether Beyond Meat is good or not, or is it's safe to travel to China. There are plenty of more suitable forums here for users to discuss those topics should they want to.
RFD Staff - Got a question? Send me a private message.
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Deal Addict
Oct 17, 2009
1521 posts
3577 upvotes
superfresh89 wrote: Nope... Politics have always been considered off-topic....

Prefacing a statement with "politics aside", doesn't automatically make it non-political. You could have asked the same question without mentioning the CPC or Chinese electronics at all
How exactly will I ask if these will get updates without bringing up the fact that Google can no longer actively work with the company that makes the phones? I was hoping for actual clarification on that issue, because I was about to buy this phone... That's the thing. You can make a statement be STRICTLY about the validity of buying a product without making it political.
Deal Fanatic
User avatar
Dec 7, 2007
5145 posts
21531 upvotes
Toronto
MikoWilson wrote: How exactly will I ask if these will get updates without bringing up the fact that Google can no longer actively work with the company that makes the phones? I was hoping for actual clarification on that issue, because I was about to buy this phone... That's the thing. You can make a statement be STRICTLY about the validity of buying a product without making it political.
(8) [Superstore] YMMV SuperStore Kellogg's 8 pack snack cups cereal $5 with $7.50 in points - Page 2 - RedFlagDeals.com Forums https://forums.redflagdeals.com/superst ... 2351210/2/

You pretty much derailed & killed that thread with your posting style. That's what not needed in HD.

Maybe go visit Reddit.
Deal Addict
Oct 17, 2009
1521 posts
3577 upvotes
By trying to verify if the deal was actually accessible to anyone? The OP posted a YMMV deal which no one could get by him. Me, and a couple of other people went to try to get the deal, which didn't exist.
Hopefully I saved a ton of people from wasting their time.
Isn't that the point of RFDs?

I guess that's the real question. No one knows what you guys mean when you say "Derailing." How is talking about whether or not a deal is actually legit anything close to "derailing?" What else could you possibly talk about in a deal forum beyond that? lol.
Member
Sep 1, 2018
278 posts
290 upvotes
Toronto
ZxExN wrote: Don't be dramatic. No need to repeat the bs in the media. Rfder are smart enough to build those considerations in. Your comments are probably removed because it was not relevant. There are subsection for these sorts of political/technology debates, not in deal threads. Besides you should be smart enough to know the whole thing with Hauwei is really linked to the US China trade deals. It's been proven that the US spies on their allies and citizens and forces apple and other tech company under threat of law to give them whatever they want in the name of national security.

Turning a blind eye to all this while saying we need to ban Huawei because there is potential of spying one day is just rich.
Uhm, Huawei IS a security threat. Have u ever been to mainland China? Everything is controlled by the government, including corporations. Id like to know that if i was buying a cheap product. Why's it so cheap?? Oh because its subsidized by a communist totalitarian government. Nothing against Chinese people at all, but a corrupt dictatorship of a government needs to be called out.
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Moderator
User avatar
Aug 20, 2009
9827 posts
5935 upvotes
MikoWilson wrote: How exactly will I ask if these will get updates without bringing up the fact that Google can no longer actively work with the company that makes the phones? I was hoping for actual clarification on that issue, because I was about to buy this phone... That's the thing. You can make a statement be STRICTLY about the validity of buying a product without making it political.
That's not what you posted though. This is what you posted:
"Politics aside, is it safe to buy this phone considering Huawei's connect with the CPC? Aren't they fairly well known for wanting back doors set up in electronics that come out of China?
Furthermore, if Huawai can't legally do business with Google, what hope is there for future support for their products?
Do you see the difference? You're backdooring a political connection with 2 leading questions that you knew full well were going to cause issues. You've been around as long I have and the rules here aren't that complicated.

If you had said "what is the timeline or plan if Google stops updating these phones?" then that probably would've been fine. Someone would've responded with how Huawei has their own OS in production as a Plan B and life would've moved on. That's a product quality issue, it's come up before. Or you could've just asked in the Cell Phone sub and gotten the same answer.

In any case I'm repeating myself here but politics does not mix with Hot Deals. For the same reason we remove posts debating the ethics of bottled water, hunting/equipment, vegan food and so on from Hot Deals. It derails threads and most people coming to Hot Deals don't want to read it. Anyways I can't really explain it better than that. You're always welcome to PM the mod who removed the post and ask their logic, though I suspect it will be similar to the answers you received here from users and mods alike.
Moderator
Sep 27, 2003
11124 posts
3367 upvotes
Newmarket
Same situation is going on with the Coronavirus now. I had to clean up and lock a thread promoting the sale of Masks as it very quickly turned into a thread full of racism / xenophobia, or simply off topic banter about the effectiveness of the masks. If it weren't for the racism, I probably would have left the thread open, but as soon as everyone started talking about the virus itself, the thread no longer belonged in Hot Deals. As mentioned earlier, Reddit is an ideal place to have those discussions.
RFD Forums Moderator
Deal Addict
User avatar
Nov 30, 2005
2000 posts
1581 upvotes
Ottawa, ON
techie101 wrote: Uhm, Huawei IS a security threat. Have u ever been to mainland China? Everything is controlled by the government, including corporations. Id like to know that if i was buying a cheap product. Why's it so cheap?? Oh because its subsidized by a communist totalitarian government. Nothing against Chinese people at all, but a corrupt dictatorship of a government needs to be called out.
Yeah cause the US (which is the one pushing everyone to ban Hauwei as a bargaining chip in its bilateral trade negotiations) has such a great track record for not spying on their own citizens and allies (roll eyes). Products are cheap in China ... hmm it might have something to do with cheaper labour and maybe that they can get sh1t down without cost overrun? Don't let simple logic and economics get the way though - let's blame it all on the Chinese government.
Moderator
Sep 27, 2003
11124 posts
3367 upvotes
Newmarket
ZxExN wrote: Yeah cause the US (which is the one pushing everyone to ban Hauwei as a bargaining chip in its bilateral trade negotiations) has such a great track record for not spying on their own citizens and allies (roll eyes). Products are cheap in China ... hmm it might have something to do with cheaper labour and maybe that they can get sh1t down without cost overrun? Don't let simple logic and economics get the way though - let's blame it all on the Chinese government.
These posts / replies in the wrong section of the forum are exactly what's "wrong" with RFD. This is not the place for it.
RFD Forums Moderator
Deal Expert
Dec 5, 2006
16792 posts
12577 upvotes
Markham
WorldIRC wrote: These posts / replies in the wrong section of the forum are exactly what's "wrong" with RFD. This is not the place for it.
Your guys should seriously consider remove off topic, don't make RFD as Reddit

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