possibly stupid idea... deal of the day notifier

Khukuri Monster

Khukuri Monster

Joined
Aug 4, 2004
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373
I had a (possibly stupid) idea about making a deal of the day notifier.

Basically this would be a little program that would run in the background and notify you with a pop-up or similar when Yangdu's deals of the day are posted. You could have it automatically check for new DoTD postings every 5 minutes or whatever you want.

This could either be a Firefox plugin or maybe just a little stand-alone program. The firefox plugin would be more interesting to make since I haven't done any of those before.

I thought it would be neat, since when I wanted to buy something I would have to remember to continually check the HI forum during the proper hours. And this might let those of you who check the deals while at work to multitask easier.

Anyway, what do you think? Would this give an unfair technical advantage to some people? Would it ruin the conventional rules of sharking? Should I abandon the idea?

edit: I now realize that it was very insensitive of me to post this. I should have understood that this would violate the etiquitte of this forum. I apologize to anyone that I have upset.
 
But... but that would take all the fun out of sharking ;) :D

Heck, I haven't been a shark for about four years or so. It wouldn't help/hurt me any. Don't know if the board would allow it though. That might muck up Spark's system.
 
I think it's not a good idea. It takes some of the fun out of the forum specials. Don't do it :(
 
Bri in Chi said:
I think it's not a good idea. It takes some of the fun out of the forum specials. Don't do it :(
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That was my initial thought when I first wanted to write this program about a year ago. Then I forgot about it.

I was just thinking of it again since I've been doing some amount of work with scripting languages recently (for the thread saving script). I'll just put this idea back in the scrapbin of my mind.

edit: Or I could set it up so that it only checks the forum around every hour. This would let those dedicated people keep an advantage. I don't know if anybody would find it useful, though.
 
It'd be like bidding on eprey against bots...and the reason I quit buying there.

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There are other ways available if you think about it. But yeah, you lose the fun.


ex-shark mPisi, even on the weekend it seems :yawn:

p.s. no comprendo Ebay bots... put in your top bid, then forget about it. No problem.
 
I think it is a generous impulse, but unless everyone had knowledge of it, and access to it, and could understand how it would work (like me, duh), it could give an advantage to the barnacle-encrusted sharks, and put some of the newer folks at a disadvantage.

And, part of the vibrancy of the Cantina is the enthusiasm and sponteneity of the deals of the day, and the by-play it creates among both the newer and more experienced members.

I've watched the eBay bots flail away at each other in the final moments...but that is industrial selling, not the family atmosphere of the Cantina.

But you are a nice guy to suggest setting it up. And what you are doing for the archives is a really decent effort for all of us.

Thank you.
 
mPisi said:
p.s. no comprendo Ebay bots... put in your top bid, then forget about it. No problem.
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I would actually rather be bidding against bots. Then you will be less likely to get locked in an emotional bidding war against somebody. And as you said, in the end, whoever wants to pay the most for the item will get it, no matter the strategies involved.

I won't go through with this after all. Occasionally (well, maybe more like quite often) I get bad ideas that I think are interesting. Sometimes I need other people to tell me which ones are really dumb.
 
Hey, KM, cut yourself some slack. It isn't a bad idea at all. As was mentioned, it just intrudes on the family atmosphere a little. We like to pretend we're not communicating via computer, remember.

A bad idea would have been to implement the bot without asking. You did well.
 
The limiting factor for me has always been $ available, not chances to buy. I suspect that mostly the bot will give you the satisfaction of being there first.

Of course, if you really want to be sophisticated you monitor the site where Yangdu posts the pictures. When they go up you know something is in the works, so you are ready as soon as the deal appears on the forum.

But who could be that obsessed with knives? :confused:

:D
 
Of course, if you really want to be sophisticated you monitor the site where Yangdu posts the pictures.
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Howard! How could you? The feline is definitely free of the flexible fabric container now!
 
Gave up on that long ago...it's much more fun to gamble.

.
 
There is some merit to the idea of notice. I had thought you posted on the thread your intent to buy then send the email to Yangdu and then payment, first come first serve and you would not have several people sending emails at the same time for the same item.

But it apears thats not how it works . The email sent notice is posted after its already bought. I would think first to post notice should be the one who buys and then payment should be made within a certain time limit say 15 mins or it goes back up.
Its still a shark feast though it would also be a little less hetic for Yangdu getting less emails to answer. I wonder how many times she has to write back sorry its gone!
 
And in reply to the message here...

It has evolved over time that some folks post their intention, some announce that they have already emailed as a courtesy and others simply buy them and never say a word.

The Cantina is sort of like a family style dinner where you are just lucky that Great Uncle Frank didn't stab *you* with his fork this time.

Nope...no rulez is good rulez.

.
 
Eh. Write it if you want to. If you start sharking everything, then you'll just piss off lots of crazy folks who spent their time sharpening khuks instead of coding. :eek: :D

I don't think there's anything inherently unethical about being notified of the DoD. It's just a hair faster than mashing the refresh button, which itself is unfair to people who don't work at a computer. I imagine you could auto-program emails to be sent directly to Yangdu, but unless you have money to burn, you'd still have to look at the post and ponder what you *really* wanted.

Like most stuff in the Cantina, it's fun to modify stuff to make it work for you. Give it a try. (but I don't think you could beat the Duck to a Durba)
 
Bri in Chi said:
It ain't broke. Don't go fixin' it just to show off how smart you are.
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It was never my intention to "show off", I just put the idea out there because I thought someone might find it useful.

I have already stated that it is my intention not to do anything with this. Please let this stupid thread die and don't post to it anymore.
 
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