The 411

Keep up to date on what your competition is doing. Create a strategy. Increase your odds of winning.

Friday, September 23, 2011

DealDash411 Tips, Hints, Strategy and General Commentary: A Very Interesting Subject and Woo Girls

Ok, for those who may not thoroughly check through my blog and look at ALL comments, i am posting a most interesting comment i received earlier today. I have interspersed my comments throughout in RED. original comment is in BLUE. This is a long one...i'm warning you in advance.





Anonymous said...







Hey DD411... or is it really TPAF, or now TG411? (btw, shouldn't that be TV411? just sayin'!)

DD411 -  you would think i should be TV411 instead of TG411. In my puny brain  I was just thinking...."oh my gosh! i totally blew it! it should be TV411. What was i thinking?  And then  i remembered, "oh yeah, i did that on purpose. " i had forgotten. i felt like TV411 would mislead people into thinking i was a TV junkie. I do watch a good amount of tv. But i'm not talking about tv. So I changed it to TG411. It may not be the most sound reasoning in the entire world, but i'm just happy i remembered that i  DID have a reason and i did contemplate it for all of 5 seconds.  Trust me I would be the first to call myself out of stuff like that if i had screwed it up! I almost did until i remembered why. 

Anyway, I digress. My reason for dropping a note is to fw to you and the other DD'ers "in the know" on this site my following post to DD:

"Hello again, Dave!

Now our "About Me"'s are being censured? When did that start? Maybe I'll have to ask Jayboy.
Anyway, when can I make a new "About Me", so that I can stop being a billboard for DD's "About Me"? Please respond, 'cause I can't seem to change the one you gave me, and I have more banal info to share if you'll let me; I promise you can trust that it won't be so objectionable to you...

Respectfully,
MyPrecious"

So what do you think? Had you noticed that some of us that had posted "About Me's" had them removed and replaced by the inane DD advertising that they have for us now:

"About me... be friendly and share a bit
about yourself. Hobbies, Interests, etc.
- DD"
DD411 - Now like i said i will be the first to call myself out. I did NOT notice this change yet.  I probably should have noticed but i was too busy copying and pasting that lamp from the Ikea site, so i missed it. However, I did know that some were "unchangeable." my lovely supportive friend mgoldstein1029 tried to revise their About Me to make it point to lovely me and was unable to. Now it can be changed once a week. But for awhile it had been locked. I didn't comment on it at the moment, because i didn't want my friend to get kicked off like my friend SORELOSER did.  So i kept my trap shut. 

However, to start removing people's About Me and replace them with DD's personal message to the world is RIDIC. i'm not even spelling out that whole word because it isn't even worth the rest of the word! So many thoughts running through my head...must organize

1) Don't ask everyone to make a personal statement about themselves and then not allow half of them. I fully understand no one should write something like "if you bid against me i will  hunt you down and make you regret it." Duh. We all understand that's not cool, and no one should use the About Me to cheat. Another DUH.  But if you can't infuse your own personality into it, then why bother? No offense to all those who really do share their hobbies, but come on...do we really care? We're still going to try to kick your bootie and win stuff even if  you love paper dolls, hackey sack, and fruit loops.  In fact, sometimes this personal information can really hurt a player's odds. Let's not forget that essentially this is a gambling site. There are always a few ruthless people out there. When they see that you have 17 grandkids and 12 great-grandkids, they begin profiling..."little old lady, just learned to use the computer. great grandson johnny told her about dd so little granny is going to give it a go.  Clearly  she must be super sweet because she loves all her grandkids and they clearly like her. I don't think you brag about your offspring if they all hate you. So clearly granny has won them all over, so she must be all sugary and sweet and has a rocking chair. "  It actually puts a "potential sucker" stamp right on little granny's forehead!  And who knows if that is even remotely true anyway? While the rest of us say "Aw that's nice," some ruthless player is zeroing in and setting some bid buddies in case granny falls asleep at the computer, whether any of that is true or not.

So, let's be honest -no one really CARES about what their competition likes and dislikes. No one is going to back out of an auction because they "like tennis" too.  Go make friends with your competitors over on Bid Lounge and everyone can discuss all their likes and dislikes over there. Part of what always intrigued me about deal dash is that you could infuse some real personality in the game. If we really can only write about stamp collecting and cacti then we might as well say  nothing at all.  [Tangent: i once saw someone write "might as well" as "mieswell." One word. So awesome.]


Can you actually believe that's what pops up next to Gollum's creepy face every time I place a bid on anything? That's just wrong. Smacks a little of when another DD bidder got in trouble for giving you props by listing your DD411 link on their ShoutOut, way back before they even had this "About You" thing.
Anyway, I thought this seems like it might just be up your alley for fodder for the DD blog. Not like you seem to need any help or anything (except for maybe today?. JK, you're doin' mighty well at this.) But have at it from here if you want, it's all yours... (or don't, my feelings won't be hurt either way!)

DD411 - Ok, so i completely agree. Gollum is not saying a friendly a message from the DD crew. AT ALL. It's bogus.  Why let you even put your own icon and create your own Username if they are going to hijack your About Me? You can't give out 1/2 freedoms. It is all ( and i mean all in a non-offensive non cheating way) or nothing. If you say something more competitive, first, does anyone really care? It's a great way to bluff or pretend  that you have no human feelings. But it is like a UserName. It is just a name. If anything it is entertaining. They want to create a competitive yet safe  happy loving environment on DD. It's like when everyone wins the same trophy at the end of the t-ball season, so it's not really about winning. It's about getting a worthless trophy.  So, if DealDash is going to give ALL of us a trophy for playing "nice" on DD, then ok, maybe i can get there -if the trophy is in the form of cash or apple gift cards. If not, then let us just play.  We essentially are competing for trophies of various worth, not consellation prizes and trying to be everyone's best friend. So you can't mix really competition and try to keep everyone being lame and talking about hobbies.  If they want everything equal and perfect, then the next step going to be where everyone is simply a number.  139459837 just won the ipad. BORING.   If you aren't going to let us be who we are, then make us a number (ooh but then i call dibs on 8675309). Don't make Gollum (who we all know Gollum, (not necessarily MyPreciouS) freaks the poopies out of me - that voice!) say something  from the DD people. Gollum doesn't give a poop about your hobbies and interests. Period. Gollum is never going to say, "oh look how sweet, this person loves taking walks on the beach!"  

Yes, censor violent threats and inappropriateness like any normal site.  However, if you do find something that is out of line that you must override  and remove it, don't put  your little deal dash message, like the player is actually supporting the statement. What's that called again? You know, when you make it look like someone is supporting something, but it is actually misleading? I seriously can't think of that word. Someone help me. My point -  isn't that what some lawsuits are based on? (no, no dd lawsuit. i'm just making a point).  Two potential scenarios:

Some innocent naive and not so worldly player stumbles upon DealDash.  They see all the friendly people with nice hobbies and wonderful personalities. Everyone just loves unicorns and flowers and the world is perfect.  Then they see MyPreciouS join the game and at first they are shocked at the site of Gollum (they have never ever heard of LOTR) but then they see the UserName and think, "oh well, maybe it's someone really dear to the player...you know, their precious little cousin." You know like Benjamin Button who was born an old person.  And then their assumption is further supported by the fact that Gollum's About Me says that Gollum really encourages you to share something about  yourself like your hobbies and dreams. And Naive DD player is sold on this Benjamin Button-esque precious little person playing deal dash. Later Naive player sees that same Gollum face in a trilogy they hadn't known about and thinks it is so sweet that little cousin is a star in these movies. So the movies must be all rainbows and butterflies. So they rent them. Probably on VHS is they can find someone to change it over for them, because they only have a VCR. AND THEN THEIR ENTIRE WORLD IS SHATTERED WHEN THE REALIZATION COMES THAT THIS CREATURE IS GOLLUM, AND HE IS NOT NICE AND SWEET AND OLD BUT IS RUTHLESS AND SUPER CREEPY. AND THE WORLD SMACKS THIS NAIVE USER IN THE FACE AND RUINS THE OPTIMISTIC NAIVE PERFECT WORLD THEY HAVE LIVED IN. AND THEY JOIN THE REST OF US IN A NOT SO GREAT WORLD FULLY JADED WITH NO HOPE AND BECOME SO WITHDRAWN, DESPONDENT AND DEPRESSED THAT THEIR FAMILY SUES DD FOR EMOTIONAL DISTRESS.

2nd scenario: (again maybe not the most realistic but i am making another point).  Everyone looks up to this one guy in their neighborhood. He says stuff like oh i play dealdash. that's why i have this awesome fold up ping pong table and you don't. (or that's why i paid triple for my ikea lamp and you didn't). He says yeah i'm user - kingoftheneighborhood. So all the neighbors go home and join deal dash too. And they see that their pal kingoftheneighborhood loves the site SO much that he even posts things for dd, encouraging people to open up and share their hobbies on dealdash. So Mr. King must truly believe in this site if he offers so much support of it. So the neighbors throw down some cash and lose their money on DD. And now they hate Mr. King for misleading them so maliciously, acting like a mouthpiece for DD. And Mr, King is just like "what? I didn't write that on my About Me!! I wrote " I am King of my neighborhood and I will checkmate you every time because i am KING and you are merely a pawn (he must play chess too)." But somehow it got censored and he got a message put up that he didn't approve. And now he lost all social stature in the neighborhood and he has to move and start over and he is bitter. So he sues DD for defamation (i'm no lawyer) or false representation(?) i don't know the right term.  (where do i come up with this stuff? it's friday...my apologies). Doesn't everything these days end up in a lawsuit?

Alright maybe  that is extreme. But i am making a point to show how misleading it is to have Gollum sound so nice and sweet and want to know about your hopes and dreams and wishes. 

Most respectfully,
MyPreciouS

P.S. I was just looking way back in your blog for the name of the DD'er that was busted for your link, and came across the bit where you mentioned about, and then wondered whether you ever explained to us, just what a "Woo girl" is? Are you one? Just thought someone should have asked...

DD411 - Woo girls. 
Now there is one thing that is common among every bar where college girls and bachelorette parties (and others) frequent. Any city and it is the same story. Actually it potentially can happen in any bar, at any time. But it is way more frequent in bars where bachelorette parties go and college girls. It's usually not at the local pub down the street where it's chill and low key. That is not where you find Woo girls. I have nothing against girls AT all. I just don't like Woo girls.

Woo girls are the ones who travel in a pack (that's why the bachelorette party is usually a big part of this), and are celebrating something by drinking heavily - a birthday, a marraige, a new job, the fact that it is the weekend - whatever the reason, they are all fired up. And inevitably at some point in the night, they will order like 20 shots of something apple green, get in a circle, hold up their shot glass, and then all go "Woooooooooooooo!" at the top of their lungs and take the green shot. It is always extremely loud, and the prep takes up way too much of the bartender's time because they always miscount and realize they need 5 more so EVERYONE has one (god forbid someone misses out).  Then they can't just quietly cheers and clink glasses and take the shot. They must scream together at the top of their lungs, and it is usually some version of the word "Woo." These are Woo girls.  90% of the time, i know i will probably not get along with a Woo girl. We just don't seem to be on the same page. I apologize if you are a Woo girl and i have offended you. Not everyone has this aversion. There are way more Woo girls than there are people who don't like Woo girls, so clearly i am in the minority (which is nothing new to me). Woo girls have fun and enjoy it. So i guess it is not really a judgement i am passing on them. It is more of a fact. Some girls are Woo girls and some aren't. I happen to get a headache when i hear incessant Woo girl clans throughout a nice evening out.   It drives me crazy. I'm usually the one giving them the disapproving look. 

Thanks for the reminder MyPreciouS....i'm sure i just offended someone just now, but that's is nothing new either. 



If you actually made it to the bottom on this post, you are my hero. Hope you make it down here to receive my praise. 


4 comments:

  1. I do like your reasons behind questions asked of you about things that go on over at deal dash so I have one. What is your opinion of this ONE PER USER thing that should be I think if I'm right where you can only win ONE of that item. RIGHT? So what gives with this OK person that won a Apple 21" computer on Friday night and is now bidding on the same item on Saturday night. (Tonight)... So how does Deal Dash get away with letting this BIG BIDDER have a shot at two of the same item? I looked at the description and the only thing I could see different about each of these up for grabs was the PRICE, but we know they change their prices often even for the same items. I think that has to do with the Buy it Back stuff. I also noticed that this OK person seems to only bid on the expensive items but it does not seem to fair to all the other players if this OK bidder is allowed to bid and win two of the same item when it clearly says. One Per User. So what is your take on that one?

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  2. I also noticed the situation presented above with the iMac. I thought it was a bit selfish on that particular bidder to go after such a similar (if not the same) item when it is so popular.

    Recently, in one of the comments, drummerboy wrote about something that happened on DealDash about seven months ago. I was curious what he was referring to. Also, I was wondering how DealDash has changed since it was started. I was hoping you could do a post on this, and perhaps some of the older bidders could comment, if necessary. Or, if there is a site where this info is available, a link would be great.

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  3. I'm going to respond in another post...as requested.

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  4. Anony...

    Plz let me know what post that was in, and I will certainly elaborate on what I was speaking about. I have an idea of what I was talking about, just want to make sure ;)

    drummerboy

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