So. one wonders whether "free re-bidding" is an intended use of PL??
Of course it is. Priceline wants you to pay them. If your bid fails, they potentially lose your business if you can't rebid quickly. However, if they simply allowed you to raise your bid with no other change, the system would be senseless. By having rules that permit rebidding with finite limits they get you to increase your bid but set the number of opportunities by the type of area where the bid is made. It was probably not the original intention but it sure works for getting them business. And they never sell a room at a loss.
I just joined, and then was then promptly banned. I am shocked, as I've never been banned from an internet community before.
I recently placed my first priceline bid. Then, after I won the bid, I found the biddingfortravel forum. I placed information about my winning bid there. Then, a couple days later, I was banned.
It must've been because I didn't use her link to place my bid with priceline, but that was because I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT HER SITE at the time I placed my bid. The funny thing was, I was in the midst of placing another priceline bid using her site at the time I found out I was banned. Guess she's lost out on some referral points from me. I don't understand.
I found this forum when I searched for "biddingfortravel admin" because I wanted to email her to find out why I was banned.
It must've been because I didn't use her link to place my bid with priceline, but that was because I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT HER SITE at the time I placed my bid. The funny thing was, I was in the midst of placing another priceline bid using her site at the time I found out I was banned. Guess she's lost out on some referral points from me. I don't understand.
Hope you will read on down this thread, and see how much company you have with your "banned" status. In fact, you have so much company the group of banee's just isn't that elite anymore. So, don't feel at all bad. You haven't fallen in with bad company, you've found good company. Lots of it! And there is more on www.betterbidding.com.
There are some anonymizers mentioned in other threads here that will let you peak back at bft bidding results. Or you can just search for them. A little slow, but they work.
I've found that about a week or after I've been banned I can get right back on bft. Just looking. Can't try to log on again with my user name or I get re-banned. But that is OK, as all I want to do is look nowadays. I use an iMac, and other iMac users have reported getting back on, but no PC users yet.
So - please let this also be your second welcome to FT. Doesn't seem to be any way to be banned here. You might disagree with some people, but you won't get banned, nor will they.
Thanks for the quick and friendly welcomes! I'm sorry to learn that her site has caused so much stress in so many people, but at least there's comfort in numbers!
Yes, I'm undercover meaning I've yet to be banned with my real BFT user name. I'm hoping that by letting her know that opposition is strong amongst the ranks that it will build such paranoia that she begins a Stalinist purge of everyone on the site. Robin and Romelle, we've actually been in discussions in many threads at BFT in years past.
First, our justification. She, "the name that is not spoken", (no, I'm not a Potter fan; it just seems in this thread that she's treated in that manner) did create the site, I guess, and I suppose she's been mostly responsible for the organization of the forums etc etc though I'm not quite sure how it all worked in the very beginning; I came along a bit after that but before it was even bidding for travel. The real value of the site itself was provided by the community of users that provided information about winning and losing bids and their bid processes. This was exceptionally valuable in the day when bids could only be done once a week and then later 72 hours. Even with up to date, complete information, the site wouldn't be as valuable as it was in the past except in the occasion of making a last minute or same day bid.
I had wondered recently why the number of posted bids on BFT seemed to be fewer and farther in between. That was until I found this forum recently. I had known "she of the dark side" to be a particularly crusty person in her communication style in the years I'd visited the board, but hadn't realized that her thought processes had apparently grown so clouded. Back in the day, there were actually at least two other sites that tried to compile Priceline bids - neither name I remember at this point. One was another bulletin board service and the other was actually a fairly slick database that had a form entry process and a search feature by state and keywords. However, neither was ever able to pull enough data from users to become a destination site for travelers. The database site was a much better idea than BFT, but it lacked the critical mass of information that BFT had, not because of "oh cranky one," but because of all the users like us.
Let's see, the value is in the reports posted from many users, which provides for lots of eyeballs, which gives the opportunity for referral money through click-throughs. So the real value in this value-chain is not the click-throughs but is the data reported. Yeah, l know, let's create more revenue by banning people who don't use our links every time, because that will..... uh, ..... save us some bandwidth? I'm sure that won't impact the timeliness or completeness of the information on our...sorry.... her website. I'll bet the Harvard Business School will someday do a case study on this novel approach to increasing online revenue. I wonder if perhaps she hasn't watched the Seinfeld "Soup Nazi" episode too many times, though she has failed to pick up on the really important point of it. People didn't wait in line for soup because he "No Soup for You"'ed people, but because the product was good. What "the one of whose name we do no speak" has done is equivalent to firing the delivery guy that brought the soup nazi his ingredients.
Okay, let's get a bit organized. Because of "our" information on "her" site, BFT has grown to become a much referenced authority on the issue of Priceline and is frequently noted in articles on bargain travel and especially hotel deals. She has undeserved credibility and free advertising and is accepted by many travel writers as being an authority, leading to published quotes that further increases the website visibility. Oh, yeah, there will be more and more who grow disillusioned with the site, but as long as she has enough publicity, fresh meat will continue to fund her deplorable business practices and stand in the way of critical mass being reached at other sites.
Here are some ideas I have to start the discussion on how to speed along this inevitable collapse of BFT, none of which I claim to be original.
1. As mentioned by many. Support alternative sites like betterbidding. A compilation site that uses a database is bidlesstravel. That's a place with a nice idea that doesn't yet have enough data in it to be relevant in most markets.
2. Reference this thread or others like it as much as possible when BFT comes up. That includes emailing bloggers, travel writers, and news reporters who bring up BFT. Don't libel the site; the truth is all that needs to be said.
3. For news articles that mention BFT, add a note about your experiences in the comments that typically follow all articles and link this thread if you're allowed to do so.
4. Write reviews of BFT at travel sites that have such options, especially ones that come up in the top of web searches. Here's a site with one BFT positive review, but it popped up first today in a search. http://www.judysbook.com/cities/sunn...travel_com.htm
5. Let other BFT users that you communicate with know about the experiences of the people in this thread.
6. Revoke "the one who has no social skills"'s admin rights to the website. Okay, I don't know how to actually do that, but can you imagine how hilarious it would be for her to get a "your account has been banned" message? Anyone really skilled or know someone that works at Yuku?
The bottom line is that we built it and we can build another one and let the first one wither on the vine.
I think it would be useful if when you see BFT mentioned in a travel article you e mail the author and let them know that many people no longer post there due to the moderator and mention the other sites. Eventually betterbidding or? become way more prominent.
I think it would be useful if when you see BFT mentioned in a travel article you e mail the author and let them know that many people no longer post there due to the moderator and mention the other sites. Eventually betterbidding or? become way more prominent.
While her mysterious illness is not a cause for levity, I can look on the bright side: no matter how foolish or unseemly my activity may be, I will not be banned during this period while we pray for Ms. Mexic's complete and quick recovery. Amen.
