2009 ReMake of HCW

[lovemy2girls]

*knew how to type

[melodyjg]

Originally Posted by couponsmakecents I believe this sums it up...two women who had a desire to help others, came together, created this board, and puts up with 107,203 members crap.

[kval07]

When I first came to HCW, I jumped right in to it, especially HUTC. Why? Because no one I know gives a damn about anything. I don't have anyone to have a civilized conversation (argue) with. None of my friends or family care about politics or stupid cashiers or random stuff that happens in HUTC. I like a good argument and I also occasionally like to play the Devil's Advocate.

If it wasn't for HUTC, I don't think I would spend as much time on here. I am at the point where I can figure things out on my own (mostly) and the deals aren't all that important to me anymore. I come here to pick up deals that I might not know about (cats, MIRs, etc.).

Besides, if it wasn't for HUTC, none of us could pretend to be holier than thou. You couldn't have me cornered from up there on your high horse. Ya know? HUTC helps us all get to know each other (faults and all) and it makes the site more personal. You are more invested in it.

Funny story:

DF is a Wow gamer and I have been driving him nuts lately with all my time in the HUTC threads. He says I am ignoring him (ironic coming from someone who plays a game for 12+ hours a day.) Last night when we were getting ready for the TSO concert, he asked me, "What pants should I wear." When I hesitated, he said, "Oh wait, do you need to get on coupon world and get someone's opinion first?"

[Kristen.C]

I'm interested in saving money, but talking about nothing but coupons and deals here every day would get a little dry, don't you think? I find that the way I get to know and enjoy other members is through the off-topic forums.

[kval07]

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.

I feel like your statements here are at odds with the no religious debates/convos rule. In that post banning the religious talk you say that the site really is all about the deals, which kind of seems to contradict what you say in this post. (NOT trying to start a whole debate on that one.)

So which is it, lol?

I understand the reasons behind the rule (especially since I am not religious at all) but I don't necessarily agree with the ban. Although, HUTC is doing pretty well without the religious debates thrown in.

[neglectarino]

See, I think it's either the posts go here or they go in the deal threads as they do on other less organized sites. Considering my level of activity on HCW, I think you can determine my preference.

[bearlister]

I love to come in here and read what you all say. I don't get to post much but it sure is fun just to come in here and read and if I have time to post I do.

[queenofthehivemomof5]

Originally Posted by kval07 I feel like your statements here are at odds with the no religious debates/convos rule. In that post banning the religious talk you say that the site really is all about the deals, which kind of seems to contradict what you say in this post. (NOT trying to start a whole debate on that one.) So which is it, lol? I understand the reasons behind the rule (especially since I am not religious at all) but I don't necessarily agree with the ban. Although, HUTC is doing pretty well without the religious debates thrown in.

To sum it up this site is all about the deals but we are a community. And since this is a privatly owned site there really is no "freedom of speech" we really felt that the religious debate was taking away from the community. We went round and round on if we should ban the religious debate (and politics was on the table too) and ultimately we made the decision to not allow it in the forums (you can still debate in the social groups on religion). It was not an easy decision to make but overall it was a good one I think and the HUTC forums are a little more tame and the complaints have lightened up which decreases our workload and gives us more time to work on more important things. So..it is what is I guess.

[nateNnatsmommy]

Hey let's get rid of the CVS forum too; I don't have any CVS's to shop at, so that forum is not relevant to me.

[queenofthehivemomof5]

LOL I don't have a CVS either...

On another note there are site features that are in the works and suggestions are always welcome. We have some good stuff planned for 2009. But we are keeping them underwraps for now.