Closing or marking expired deals

dkperez · 03-07-2011, 06:53 PM

Is there any way the threads for free or discounted books that have expired can be indicated as such? It's great that there are pages and pages of offers, but it appears that a lot of them are available for 15 seconds or so, then expire... Is there any way to mark these so less time is wasted on expired offers?

ATDrake · 03-07-2011, 07:11 PM

Only mods can change thread titles and in the past I used to contact a mod each time something became free/stopped being free in a new store, but I think it was really tedious for both of us.

That said, there does seem to be at least one kind mod who makes a point of going through the threads once a day and "updating" them with store/expiry info if someone's happened to note it in a comment.

But aside from that, it's caveat 1-clicker all the way.

You can of course help out by clicking the Report Post ! button to inform a mod if an offer expires so they can change the title. But sometimes some of the publishers repeat their freebies or the stores have glitchy pricing issues that get fixed later, so there's a certain risk to declaring anything definitely no longer on offer.

Hope this helps.

poohbear_nc · 03-07-2011, 07:37 PM

ATDrake summarizes the situation very well. These offers appear & age quickly - so most threads are just allowed to die a natural death and age off the first page of posts.

koland · 03-07-2011, 07:44 PM

As a general rule, I'd not expect much past a week old to be valid. Many are not after a couple of days (and some from this A.M. are already gone in the original store, but have been picked up by Amazon).

Just check before clicking: if you see a price, that's what you'll pay, no matter what deal may or may not have been in effect earlier.

BTW, if you are a Kindle user, you can check the Free Kindle Reads tab on my blog - I keep a list of the current free books (non-public domain/non-sample), sorted by Genre. It can also end up out of date, but I update it at least once a day.

dmacmart · 03-08-2011, 08:49 AM

Kobo maintains their free books list pretty well
(goto http://www.kobobooks.com and click on Free eBooks at the top)

The newest ones appear first, so if you go every day you may find something you like. There are 7 new (to me) today, 5 from BakerPublishing and 2 others.

You can download the ePub (almost always DRM) and if you want to add it to your Kobo as a kePub you need to click on "Save for Later".

jeromedevine · 03-08-2011, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkperez

but it appears that a lot of them are available for 15 seconds or so, then expire...

LOL, really this happened to me too.

dkperez · 03-08-2011, 06:33 PM

it's caveat 1-clicker all the way

I don't know what this means???

Yes, I understand that things a month or even a week old are likely to expire, but there appear to be offers that were good earlier yesterday that weren't good when I checked yesterday afternoon. I can see it being tedious to kill off the dead offers. But, it's got to be rather annoying to have hundreds or thousands of people going to B&N or wherever, only to find that the offer that was there 3 minutes ago, isn't there any more.

I was hoping the forum software was smart enough to have some expiration that could be set when the topic was created so after <pick your favorite time period> hours/days it would be shown as expired so as to minimize the waste of time.

Oh well, I'll just have to continue using the brute-force method for any offer that looks interesting.

koland · 03-08-2011, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkperez

it's caveat 1-clicker all the way

I don't know what this means???

Yes, I understand that things a month or even a week old are likely to expire, but there appear to be offers that were good earlier yesterday that weren't good when I checked yesterday afternoon. I can see it being tedious to kill off the dead offers. But, it's got to be rather annoying to have hundreds or thousands of people going to B&N or wherever, only to find that the offer that was there 3 minutes ago, isn't there any more.

I was hoping the forum software was smart enough to have some expiration that could be set when the topic was created so after <pick your favorite time period> hours/days it would be shown as expired so as to minimize the waste of time..

If you find a dead one - report it to a moderator and ask for it to be closed.

If I find a deal, I post it. I'm definitely not going to go back and check on it, over and over, until it's dead and then ask a mod. I have a lot of other things I can be doing.

No one posting these deals is connected with them in any way other than finding them. Some deals last for, literally, minutes. Others a few hours, some a few days and some for months (or forever).

At least one on Monday was gone by late afternoon (I've seen them disappear before noon). The only way I know they are gone, though, is if someone else goes to get the deal, finds it is gone and comes back here and posts .... if that person were to alert a moderator, it would no doubt save latecomers from wasting the 10 seconds or so they spend clicking and checking if it is still valid.

Threads on the forum are also not connected to the deals in any way. They get pushed to the back as more current threads are created or commented upon. Unless someone resurrects a zombie post from years past, the least likely to be valid are well to the back.

If you check daily and log in, you'll easily see which threads are new or still getting new comments.

As for "caveat 1-clicker all the way" - a play on words, invoking a more modern image than caveat emptor (Latin for "Let the buyer beware", but universal enough that anyone should recognize this dead language's most famous phrase).

wvcherrybomb · 03-08-2011, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkperez

I was hoping the forum software was smart enough to have some expiration that could be set when the topic was created so after <pick your favorite time period> hours/days it would be shown as expired so as to minimize the waste of time.

Just look at the date yourself.

I usually check the freebies once a day and have rarely found one that is expired. If it happens, no big deal, it just takes a second to click back.

Ripplinger · 03-08-2011, 07:29 PM

It's too much work to expect the forum mods to keep up with marking these, even if someone PMs them about it. They have better things to do, this isn't a paying job for them remember.

Just check the forum daily or every few days at least and you'll be sure to catch the deals. Mark the topics all read after visiting so you always know which are new posts or not.

03-07-2011, 06:53 PM	#1
dkperez Groupie Posts: 184 Karma: 1047931 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: nine	Closing or marking expired deals Is there any way the threads for free or discounted books that have expired can be indicated as such? It's great that there are pages and pages of offers, but it appears that a lot of them are available for 15 seconds or so, then expire... Is there any way to mark these so less time is wasted on expired offers?

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03-07-2011, 07:11 PM	#2
ATDrake Wizzard Posts: 11,517 Karma: 33048258 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Roundworld Device: Kindle 2 International, Sony PRS-T1, BlackBerry PlayBook, Acer Iconia	Only mods can change thread titles and in the past I used to contact a mod each time something became free/stopped being free in a new store, but I think it was really tedious for both of us. That said, there does seem to be at least one kind mod who makes a point of going through the threads once a day and "updating" them with store/expiry info if someone's happened to note it in a comment. But aside from that, it's caveat 1-clicker all the way. You can of course help out by clicking the Report Post ! button to inform a mod if an offer expires so they can change the title. But sometimes some of the publishers repeat their freebies or the stores have glitchy pricing issues that get fixed later, so there's a certain risk to declaring anything definitely no longer on offer. Hope this helps.

03-07-2011, 07:37 PM	#3
poohbear_nc Now what? Posts: 58,891 Karma: 135181808 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Durham, NC Device: Every Kindle Ever Made & To Be Made!	ATDrake summarizes the situation very well. These offers appear & age quickly - so most threads are just allowed to die a natural death and age off the first page of posts.

03-07-2011, 07:44 PM	#4
koland Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,560 Karma: 8033155 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: TN, USA Device: kindle(all), nook, nookcolor, Sony, Kobo, epic, iphone, iPad, pc	As a general rule, I'd not expect much past a week old to be valid. Many are not after a couple of days (and some from this A.M. are already gone in the original store, but have been picked up by Amazon). Just check before clicking: if you see a price, that's what you'll pay, no matter what deal may or may not have been in effect earlier. BTW, if you are a Kindle user, you can check the Free Kindle Reads tab on my blog - I keep a list of the current free books (non-public domain/non-sample), sorted by Genre. It can also end up out of date, but I update it at least once a day.

03-08-2011, 08:49 AM	#5
dmacmart Fanatic Posts: 531 Karma: 696908 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Ottawa Canada Device: Kobo Mini, Glo, Arc, H2O, iPhone, iPad 2, (husband)Touch	Kobo maintains their free books list pretty well (goto http://www.kobobooks.com and click on *Free eBooks* at the top) The newest ones appear first, so if you go every day you may find something you like. There are 7 new (to me) today, 5 from BakerPublishing and 2 others. You can download the ePub (almost always DRM) and if you want to add it to your Kobo as a kePub you need to click on "Save for Later".

03-08-2011, 06:33 PM	#7
dkperez Groupie Posts: 184 Karma: 1047931 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: nine	it's caveat 1-clicker all the way I don't know what this means??? Yes, I understand that things a month or even a week old are likely to expire, but there appear to be offers that were good earlier yesterday that weren't good when I checked yesterday afternoon. I can see it being tedious to kill off the dead offers. But, it's got to be rather annoying to have hundreds or thousands of people going to B&N or wherever, only to find that the offer that was there 3 minutes ago, isn't there any more. I was hoping the forum software was smart enough to have some expiration that could be set when the topic was created so after <pick your favorite time period> hours/days it would be shown as expired so as to minimize the waste of time. Oh well, I'll just have to continue using the brute-force method for any offer that looks interesting.

03-08-2011, 07:29 PM	#10
Ripplinger 350 Hoarder Posts: 3,574 Karma: 8281267 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Midwest USA Device: Sony PRS-350, Kobo Glo & Glo HD, PW2	It's too much work to expect the forum mods to keep up with marking these, even if someone PMs them about it. They have better things to do, this isn't a paying job for them remember. Just check the forum daily or every few days at least and you'll be sure to catch the deals. Mark the topics all read after visiting so you always know which are new posts or not.