2009 ReMake of HCW - Page 5

austinmomto2 · 12-28-2008, 07:14:49 PM

Originally Posted by sati769leigh

HEY now dont get off topic on us!!

i drank some cheap box franzia wine. no coupon but it WAS on sale!!

OMG can you use a 3/15 at CVS even if you buy alcohol!?!?! i COULD have used a coupon then! DRATS

look what you started here!

Someone really needs to give me some lashings now

-Oh wait, I forgot that's my husband's job!

Ooops TMI and it should be posted in another forum like "In the Family Way"

Originally Posted by greenrays

That is illegal!!! You can't talk about coupons in hutc

For your punishment you have to send me your cute
lil' munchkins for the weekend

oh wait, or is that my punishment

That would definitely be your punishment!!!!

brixtonrileightaylor · 12-28-2008, 07:15:16 PM

Originally Posted by hotcouponmama

As one of the owners of the site - I'm going to weigh in on this one.

OP - from literally YEARS of experience online, off topic conversations happen in a community forum. And in all the studying I've done in human communication, giving people a venue with the context of a community is an important way to engage community members.

When we started the site, we'd had the experience of being on a site previous to this that shut down their off topic area. The natives revolted and there were politcal and controversial discussions going on in every other section of the board. So to us, to give people both what they wanted and to create a sense of community, the HUTC forum was the venue we chose to give people to converse here.

Now, you're pretty new to HCW and being as that you came in right in an election year with lots of pretty HOT topics going on, there was certainly more than our fair share this year of diverse conversation. In most years, it's not quite as nutty.

And there's more to the Hot House section of the board than just the HUTC - as others have said, there's the daily living section and a few others. Life is more than just couponing, and part of being a good couponer is being connected to the others in the community. To do that, it helps that we have more than just coupon topics.

You'll note that our way of doing this seems to work because we have some of the least amounts of bad trading and negative feedback in the couponing sections of the board of any other trading site on the net. Being connected to people in other ways than just wanting dog food coupons from them means you also have to be a little more accountable to them when you do want to trade with them. I've based that philosophy on research I've done about accountability between businesses when they have a higher level of connection to each other than just business, and the theory applies here as well and seems to work.

All that said - really, if you don't want to engage in the community at that level, it's not a requirement for you as a trader or deal seeker to do so. I personally enjoy engaging with people in this part of the board - it's like having friends in my living room who I've invited in to share our diversity and our opinions. This section of the board is what adds dimention to our relationships and helps us step to the plate when people need a hand up. Most of the people who we've helped this year we helped not because they asked, because we really don't operate that way - it came from us going to them because of what came out of their engagement with us and others on the site. Hard to fake when those dialogues have been going on for a year in this part of the forum.

So no, we're not going to remake Hotcouponworld because some people don't like the HUTC part of the board. If you'll notice, you have to scroll an awful long way down the forum home page to find it, or if you use the "New Posts" features to read the recent threads, then you'll have had to make the conscious choice to click open and read a HUTC thread.

"It's all about the deals" might be our tagline, but we get better deals IMHO when we are working on them with people who aren't strangers. The Hot House is a huge part of where we build those relationships.

well said!

austinmomto2 · 12-28-2008, 07:17:08 PM

Originally Posted by couponsmakecents

Coupon discussion in HUTC!!! What is this board coming to?

You see, OP, we can pick and make fun of ourselves b/c well, life is life, and nothing is so huge that a laugh can't fix it.

A community/family has more aspects than just the one topic (i.e. coupons for saving $$). I have to have interests to use the $$ I save on (travel deals, finance, savings, etc.), I have to have places to brag out the $$ to saved (Lotta brags forum), I need to be able to talk about my pets flea problems (paws and claws and that is my forum I mod and we definately talk more about pet issues than deals in there), I need a place to share my stockpiles I got from saving the $$ (classifieds, auctions), and occasionally I might want to use some of the $$ I saved to help others (HHH, relay for life, etc.). So you see, like a family is more than just is members, our on-line community is more than just deals...

We are here to lend a hand to those hurting
We are here to pick each other up when we are down
We are here to voice our opinions on all sorts of topics

But most of all we are here because we want to be here and take the whole ball of wax as part of the way to get the deals on coupons.

stepping off my box now

Like usual, your posts always make sense to me and show the "big piture" and true community aspect here.

manders13 · 12-28-2008, 07:23:23 PM

Yea i got a complaint here!! hold on lemme come up with it and i'll get back to you.....

manders13 · 12-28-2008, 07:24:04 PM

Please tell me this is a dream and i did not really read all this? pinch me???

I mean.. seriously :-/ are u kidding?

sati769leigh · 12-28-2008, 07:27:12 PM

Originally Posted by manders13

Please tell me this is a dream and i did not really read all this? pinch me???

I mean.. seriously :-/ are u kidding?

*pinch*

sorry NOT a dream!! :shrug7:

manders13 · 12-28-2008, 07:31:45 PM

Thank you!! Wow.. Just the fact that... someone would want to get rid of this forum

Ok i don't post in here often....

But umm.. HEY I READ BECAUSE I NEED A LAUGH ONCE IN A WHILE! and yes i know there is a humor forum but what goes on in here is SOOOOOO DANG FUNNY!

This although didnt make me laugh.

Hey Heidi and Julie.... I remembered my complaint.

Can you call my boss and ask him to be easy on me in 09 so i can be on here more? lol

hotcouponmama · 12-28-2008, 07:34:59 PM

Originally Posted by manders13

Thank you!! Wow.. Just the fact that... someone would want to get rid of this forum

Ok i don't post in here often....

But umm.. HEY I READ BECAUSE I NEED A LAUGH ONCE IN A WHILE! and yes i know there is a humor forum but what goes on in here is SOOOOOO DANG FUNNY!

This although didnt make me laugh.

Hey Heidi and Julie.... I remembered my complaint.

Can you call my boss and ask him to be easy on me in 09 so i can be on here more? lol

Only if you call my boss and let him know I'd like to be able to be online anytime I want during the daytime hours. I don't know what I'm going to do - I have to go back to work tomorrow after being snowed in since the 15th. I've decided I hate work, and love hanging out here during the day.