How to post a "heads up" for an Internet/retail gear sale

**DanglingModifier** · 02-19-2015, 15:23

Having notice of a current or impending retail or Internet gear sale is a great public service, and for anyone who does it I thank you. I really appreciate when people point out good deals on the forum. I can't stress that enough, thank you! I've chased down a lot of great deals from "heads up" posts from you guys. Keep them coming!

That said, I've also chased after some deals I wish I hadn't bothered with. They ended up not being of interest or relevant to me for one reason or another.

If you're already taking the time and effort to let the community know about a sale, please consider going the full distance and giving sufficient details in your first post to help guide our actions (i.e. should we really bother following up on it).

People always remember to include what is for sale and which retailer has the sale, but often that is as far as they go.

People often forget or don't bother to include details like:

Sale price versus retail/Discount %
An actual link to the sale
Duration of the sale
Shipping details
Specifications for the item on sale (i.e. weight, dimensions, new/refurb)

Those first few items are vital statistics as far as I'm concerned, and things I'd like to know up front without having to chase down every "heads up" sale post that hits this forum.

Why is this important or worth your time? It provides a convenient way for us to learn more about the sale without leaving the forum, and it helps people make an informed decision whether to follow up on your sale post. You've done the work to find the sale. You're taking the time to point out that there is a sale. That means you care enough to help people out. You have the "vital statistics" of the sale at your fingertips. Take a few extra seconds, go the extra mile, and hold our hands a bit more with a quality post. Hundreds or thousands of people are reading your post. Not everyone is going to make the effort to find the sale website and search through the product catalog or clearance section to find the sale you referenced in your one-liner "X is on sale at someplace.com". Why should they have to? You just did that work and have it in front of you. You're trying to help them or you wouldn't be posting. Share it! Many of us also wouldn't choose to look any further into a sale if we knew up front the discount was only 10%. With a couple extra sentences of typing you save a lot of people each a little bit of time or frustration.

I appreciate all the "heads up" posts, and I'd rather have incomplete ones than none at all, but I truly appreciate the thorough ones the most as they save time and allow us to stay focused on priorities.

Super extra credit:

Add a final post to the thread when the sale is over, if the sale duration wasn't known or specified in the OP
Link to or briefly summarize reviews of the sale item

TL;DR: Please post quality sale posts. Something worth doing is worth doing right. Include several details on an Internet/retail sale if you're posting about it (i.e. price, link, duration if available). Brief is fine; just be fairly thorough on "vital statistics". Save us from missing a great deal because your post was so terse, and we were too lazy or slow to follow up on it. Save us the effort of having to chase those vital details if the deal clearly isn't to our liking.

**BananaHammock** · 02-19-2015, 15:36

Lol I feel like this is one of those memos sent at work that is obviously directed at someone specific….in this case, me. Your post has informed me and and others as well. Thank you for putting your time into trying to improve this site beyond it's already incredible greatness!

**DanglingModifier** · 02-19-2015, 16:54

You get credit for partial inspiration, but I think there has been room for improvement in many of the recent "heads up" sale posts. To anyone making the effort to share ANYTHING on the forum, thank you. To those of you making the effort to do it really well, thank you even more!

**GoatHanger** · 02-19-2015, 17:02

Are you correcting people that have done you a favor?

Dang, dude.

**SilvrSurfr** · 02-19-2015, 17:07

Is there where I express my ingratitude for "heads up" on a deal, and describe how utterly incomplete, unsatisfying, and inadequate the heads up was?

**DanglingModifier** · 02-19-2015, 21:10

Goathanger, I love the hyperlink. It made me laugh. Presentation is everything.

I'm not sure if really I came off as unappreciative, or that is the lens you guys are choosing to look through. I suppose enough other people chiming in may help settle it, but either way,
my intent wasn't to be unappreciative of people who care enough to share shopping tips. It was to improve the process for everyone and increase the quality of those posts, at least where the posters were willing to improve it.

Out of curiosity how should I have presented the idea so you guys didn't focus on the aspect of me being critical and biting the hand that feeds me? How could I have presented this in a way where you considered the merit of the ideas presented within, and how they might improve the content of the forum? What would have made you contribute positive additions to the thread instead of derailing it with dismissive personal criticism? That isn't a retaliatory attack on my part, I'm honestly interested.

My goal in posting this was to convince people there was a more helpful way to make these types of posts which other people would appreciate EVEN more. If I'm coming across as ungrateful for the effort people have put forth to date, then I'm not accomplishing that mission; I'm just wasting my time and looking like a jerk. How could I have done this better? Should I not bother trying at all?

**ktitan** · 02-19-2015, 23:50

DanglingModifier perhaps you are living up to your name. As a modifier you do give more information to something else, but since you are dangling that message is getting lost. I think if anyone has an idea that may make the forum better then they should share it, and it looks to me like you made an sincere effort to come off positively with a subject that you thought could leave you looking like a jerk.
Thinking about this for the last 3 minutes or so I had this idea. Maybe there could be another sub-forum under merchandise (maybe called retail sales) where people could post sales at rei, woot, amazon, etc. There could be a sticky up top listing the desired info and then if the original poster doesn't have all the info other members could fill in the blanks. and when the sales over the post could be closed and moved or deleted like the for sale sub forum.

Well that the big.

**GoatHanger** · 02-20-2015, 00:08

It's the internet, man. Do whatever. I don't know you personally, so my first impression of your post was that you were saying "I appreciate the tips on a good deal, but you're doing it wrong."

It kind of seems like being invited to someone's home for dinner, then after eating it, telling them they're a terrible cook instead of just kindly thanking them.

I've eaten many a bad meal, even if I thought it sucked. I didn't tell them afterwards the ingredients they should have used to make it better. I just thanked them, and made a personal note to make an excuse not to go if ever invited again.

I mean, I get what you're saying. The details would definitely be better than without. It just seems like asking for $100 after someone just gave you $50, you know?

Heck man, maybe I've got it all wrong. I understand that you're looking to improve the content, whether I agree with the tactic or not.

I'm just like you... some guy on the Internet. Honestly, I don't even know why I said anything to begin with. It has nothing to do with me. I've never posted any deals that I remember.

Happy hanging, fellow elevationist.

**DanglingModifier** · 02-20-2015, 03:42

I get it Goat. That was a concern of mine when I was drafting the post. I didn't intend to make it about wrong and right ways to do something, but more about a good PSA versus a great PSA. With hindsight I see that I summarized by effectively saying "do it right" and sort of screwed up my own intentions.

I'll keep working on refining my delivery, so the intended message isn't lost or misinterpreted. In this case the intended message has plenty of merit. Seeing the sale price of an item and having a link to it delivers a lot more value than just saying "X is on sale at REI". Nobody can effectively argue that isn't more helpful. The only question is if it is worth someone's time to put in the extra 30 seconds of work when they post about the deal. My hope was to convince people it is worth that little bit of extra effort for the overall help it provides the community. I didn't insult someone's dinner they spent hours thoughtfully working on. I asked them to consider spending approximately 1 minute doing something well instead of 30 seconds doing it a bit less well.

And it does have something to do with you, and you have every right to contribute your ideas about it. You're part of the community, and you stand to benefit from people sharing this information even if you don't share it yourself. Every little thing we do has the potential to keep the status quo, make this a better place, or poison the well. My intentions are good even if my execution is sometimes lacking.

Thanks for keeping it friendly, regardless.

P.S. If you're a fan of irony... if anyone's dinner got insulted tonight, it was my 'How to post a "heads up" for an Internet/retail gear sale' dinner thread cooked up for you guys, at some expense of time and energy, with thoughtful care. A couple guys almost immediately came by and implied I was doing it wrong.

P.P.S. If you're a fan of infinite regression or vicious circles... now I've effectively told you you're wrong in the way you told me I was wrong about the way I implied deal posters were wrong. The rabbit hole only goes deeper from here. If we play another point we'll be back at Deuce.

**GoatHanger** · 02-20-2015, 07:15

LOL, nice

I didn't mean to make you feel bad, now I feel kind of bad. You're right though, the irony is that I did the same thing you did, and had equal righteous intention, also lacking a bit of tact. Kind of amusing. No, definitely amusing.

Like I said though, I agree that everything could be better if we tried. I'm just not the kind of guy that asks. My next door neighbor is always asking to borrow something, dog sit when on vacation, babysit his daughter, help remodel his kitchen, carry groceries, etc. How many times in the four years since moving here have I asked him for anything? Not once. Neither of us is wrong, we're just different.

As for the original topic at hand, I don't really have any valuable input. So, I will now stop cluttering your thread with silly analogies

What's that Shug guy say? Carry forth.