I just discovered I didn't know one of those click-thru's that keep betterbidding.com in business - restaurant.com. So went back and re-read the list there. Learned a couple more I wouldn't have guessed - my new best friend delta.com and amazon.com.
If you want to help support bb, might take a fresh peak at the list.
Romelle
Good advice. With hotel rack rates plummeting, I've been booking as much with Expedia lately as I do Priceline and/or Hotwire. I always access Expedia through Better Bidding's link.
I too found myself banned from BFT today . After finding this thread and seeing that Romelle (who IMO kept the board afloat when "she" went AWOL )had also been banned . I had to join to express my disgust .
I was never a big poster and admit that I didnt use the "special link" mainly because I'm in the UK and would get stung with Credit Card currency conversion charges if I used the US Priceline site . I therfore used the Priceline UK site .
When I did post on BFT I would convert what I had paid into USD to keep it relevant. I felt that because my posts mostly referred to UK cities , I was at least helping the site by giving up to date wins in rarely posted locations .
I posted today because I got a cracking deal on a hotel in London which was half the cost that had been previously reported for that hotel on BFT.Also the hotel class had been upgraded so I thought it would help keep the lists up to date . as I didnt use her link ,she banned me and removed my posts.
Even if I didnt use the link ,can the silly woman not see that others may have, after seeing a good deal posted ?
I think the Administrator has seriously lost the plot . I can still view her site as she banned me on a works computer so who has lost out ?
Edit*
I have just noticed that she used the info from my post that she removed to update the change of rating on her hotel list info . Cheeky or what ?
Last edited by crombiestone; Mar 23, 09 at 5:22 pm.
Reason: additional info
Edit*
I have just noticed that she used the info from my post that she removed to update the change of rating on her hotel list info . Cheeky or what ?
For the gazillions of people who keep wondering why BFT is apparently content to ban posters who contribute data to the "community", you have to realize BFT is not a community at all, but rather someone's business. As I posted earlier, the rules are simple. If you want to post your winning results, then you must bid through BFT's affiliate link. Period. Forget about the value of sharing your experiences with the community. It's all about business, not community.
For the gazillions of people who keep wondering why BFT is apparently content to ban posters who contribute data to the "community", you have to realize BFT is not a community at all, but rather someone's business. As I posted earlier, the rules are simple. If you want to post your winning results, then you must bid through BFT's affiliate link. Period. Forget about the value of sharing your experiences with the community. It's all about business, not community.
Whilst I totally understand that its a business ,people (me included) can still take information from the site as lurkers and never use her affiliate link ,I can't see what advantage she thinks she is getting by removing posts that could still generate income for her ? Speculate to accumulate ?
Whilst I totally understand that its a business ,people (me included) can still take information from the site as lurkers and never use her affiliate link ,I can't see what advantage she thinks she is getting by removing posts that could still generate income for her ? Speculate to accumulate ?
An objective, rational person might come to the conclusion that the owner, for megalomaniacal reasons, cares more about doling out punishments than he/she cares about the incremental income that is lost by banishing the offender (also depending on the churn of "fresh meat" newbies to replenish the lost income).
Whether this is the case with the BFT Administratrix is probably known only to her (and her psychoanalysts, if any).......
__________________ * * * I Survived the Great FlyerTalk Outage of November 2009!!!!! * * *
...you have to realize BFT is not a community at all, but rather someone's business... Forget about the value of sharing your experiences with the community. It's all about business, not community.
But a business such as BFT is a community, and any smart business leverages all the free business assets it can rather than repelling or "banning" them. What is so inexplicable about BFT is that it depends on a steady influx of free data, and Sheryl spends most of her waking hours apparently trying to strangle or discourage that flow.
__________________
Owing to heightened security you must comply with any crazy fake "regulation" we make up. Thank you sir.
But a business such as BFT is a community, and any smart business leverages all the free business assets it can rather than repelling or "banning" them.
You know that, and I know that. But my previous post was deliberately cynical in an effort to expose to any 'newbies' to this site/thread the way the management of BFT apparently views it. So to all of us here, yes, it's a community, except for the itsby bitsy fact the owner only views it as such IF you bid through her affiliate links.
I only use BFT for info and never post or register there. But i must say it is getting a bit out of date and the winning bids are not that good to be used as absolute guidelines.
I think I'm still banned, it doesn't make any sense for me to even try to log in. I agree with most of the above posters but BFT is Sheryl's business. It's not unreasonable to ask, and expect, posters who use the resources of BFT to compensate the site owner by using her links. That includes posters who ask for help in bidding and even posters who use BFT to research winning bids.
Betterbidding makes a similar request. BB has a nicer way of asking and is much slower to ban posters who don't comply.
We're able to make intelligent bids thanks to sites like BFT and BB. Using affiliate links is one way to keep the sites going. I try to remember to use the BB links, no matter where I got my research. BB has given me some help suggesting booking a Las Vega hotel direct, even though the site didn't have an affiliate relationship with that hotel. You'll never get that kind of help at BFT.
I think I'm still banned, it doesn't make any sense for me to even try to log in. I agree with most of the above posters but BFT is Sheryl's business. It's not unreasonable to ask, and expect, posters who use the resources of BFT to compensate the site owner by using her links. That includes posters who ask for help in bidding and even posters who use BFT to research winning bids.
Then why doesn't BFT's owner simply put a message in the Administrator Annoucements forum that bidding through their affiliate link is a requirement to posting your winning bid(s)? There's already sufficient evidence that not bidding through the links gets you banned, so why not just make it one of the many, many rules of participating on that site? Sure would cut down on everyone wondering/speculating why they've been banned...
Then why doesn't BFT's owner simply put a message in the Administrator Annoucements forum that bidding through their affiliate link is a requirement to posting your winning bid(s)? There's already sufficient evidence that not bidding through the links gets you banned, so why not just make it one of the many, many rules of participating on that site? Sure would cut down on everyone wondering/speculating why they've been banned...
That suggestion is much to logical for the site owner. A few years ago BFT had to use PMs to request use of her links. An explicit demand might violate the terms of her affiliate agreements.
Nothing wrong with asking people who benefit from your service to pay for it. It's a shame the way she's asking, and banning people who don't comply, is counterproductive.
I'm in the banned user category, I don't even remember what I did to get banned. As a banned user I see no reason to use her links. I use BB links. It's to our advantage to help keep sites that provide bidding research up and running.
Then why doesn't BFT's owner simply put a message in the Administrator Annoucements forum that bidding through their affiliate link is a requirement to posting your winning bid(s)?
Perhaps she doesn't want to scare people away from posting once they are already there, but it certainly begs the question "Why ban the ones who really, with the exception of using the stupid link, aren't trouble makers to begin with?!?"
As quoted from the old Tootsie Pop ad, "The world... may never know..."
Bidding for travel had once been wonderful and helpful. After few visits, I thought I'd give back helping others. I took my time to post hotel reviews and winning bids. I got a message from Sheryl about only seeing my hotel reviews, but no winning bids. I reassure her that I would post the bid once I am FREE. I posted the hotel review because I wanted to warn ppl about the horrible experience. Sometime later, I got banned. I don't know if it was because I didn't bid through her link or I didn't post the winning bid asap...
Hello, I have lurked around bft for years, and never made the effort to create a user and post winning bids. I just wanted to mention that at some point in the last several months my IP has been blocked from accessing the bft website. So, apparently lurkers are at risk as well.
