The official 'should 100% deals use Facebook?' thread

Nico Westerdale Folks, you have the floor...

Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Data Extractor comments board, where it originally appeared.

Frankly, I think the Facebook requirement is rather obnoxious; you're locking out anyone who neither has nor wants a Facebook account just so you can inflate your FB stats.

(I've run into this sort of thing often enough that I've relented to the extent that I've set up a throwaway Facebook account which I use just for this . . . but I should mention that I make a point of unLiking whatever-it-is immediately afterward.)


It doesn't help matters that you clearly didn't test the Facebook-based checkout adequately, seeing as how it's not working.

I, for one, would greatly appreciate it if you would just switch this to a standard giveaway.

g hudak With out re-type I concur with this 100%!!

Arlene Manduca Agreed. What I post here or on FB aren't necessarily the same things.

Ota C Nicely put!

I didn't even know there was a forum at BDJ until my comment had been moved several days back. Now I see your September 2012 entry, as well as Nico's "This is an experiment" quote. At least we all know when the FB-begging era really started...

ww User Thanks for the great post, I really enjoyed it and appreciate it. My job is about electronic components. If you are looking for some rare electronic components, maybe our website has the model you are looking for in stock.
https://www.yic-electronics.com/

Frank Stephens Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Data Extractor comments board, where it originally appeared.

I could use a fake account, but I refuse to have anything to do with Facebook and I get annoyed with anyone who only offers discounts via specific social media corporations. Email is generic, Facebook and Twitter are specific corporations which I don't care to be associated with.

Ken Hill Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Data Extractor comments board, where it originally appeared.

As with NinaraPoll and Frank Stephens, I do not have a facebook account. I don't want one. I resent this kind of manipulative game.

Richard George I receive your daily emails and have happily purchased many, many software packages from your BitsDuJour vendors for a couple of years now.

My money has certainly been good enough in the past. However, it now seems that, by not being able to avail myself of a special deal, I am discriminated against for not having a totally unrelated Facebook account!

To me, this concept is incredibly insulting. Your reason for this new requirement is beyond me!

I absolutely refuse to patronize Facebook and have no desire to "like" your company or any other on such a frivolous platform.

In a marketing sense, it's ludicrous to turn away your loyal customers who don't belong to a social networking site.

If this nonsense continues, I'll be forced to do without your software!

Keith Norton I would like to hear an explanation as to what BDJ thinks it is accomplishing by forcing Facebook participation in the 100% deals. Clearly, many folks, myself included, feel insulted by it. I have been a very loyal BDJ customer and the number of purchases I have made already demonstrate that I "like" BDJ. I do not understand why liking you on another website that I definitely do not like accomplishes anything worthwhile.

Keith Norton Near the top of this BDJ page, it says: "You can also Post on Facebook, and we'll answer it there! " I went there thinking Nico already had posted an explantation for the Facebook requirement, also the wording suggests that there may not be any answers posted on this BDJ page. Lo and behold, I cannot find anything related to this thread on the Facebook page. This has been a common complaint of mine with Facebook. Whenever I have gone to that website I have not been able to find anything I have been looking for. I fail to understand what anyone sees in it.

Nico Westerdale hi Keith,

Well first off we were expecting a heated discussion about the Data Extractor deal that's running today! We do really appreciate all your comments and we're actually thrilled that you "like" BitsDuJour enough to have such strong opinions.

So today was an experiment, we like to try different things and see what works and what does not.

Let me just refill my coffee cup, I got up at 4:30am today...

But to answer your question... why use Facebook at all?

The idea to use Facebook is actually a prequel to something we wanted to try out for the software vendors that promote using BitsDuJour. For software vendors they use BitsDuJour not only to make sales, but to find an audience and to actively engage with them.

So imagine if you will the Facebook "Like" button was for the software vendor's page on Facebook. So you wouldn't be liking BitsDuJour on Facebook, you'd be liking "Acme Software Company" or whoever built the software we're promoting.

BitsDuJour always serves two masters, you the fans, and the software vendors who promote through us. There are plenty of software vendors out there who, try as we might, are just not interested in doing a regular ol' promotion with us.

We talk to software vendors all the time and we noticed that many of them really want to build a fan base on Facebook. Then we figured out it wouldn't be too hard for us to make a few changes and allow that to happen.

So what does this all mean for you? Well if we were to offer this type of promotion to software vendors then we'd probably be able to get you many more software deals for products that never would have normally promoted on BitsDuJour otherwise.

That's a good thing for you, and a good thing for the software vendor too.

Keith Norton Thanks for the explanation. I hadn't considered the vendor angle and can see how that might make BDJ more attractive to companies. I think, however, it is a false attractiveness, but I recognize that Facebook is a force to be reckoned with and perhaps milked (for now). Clearly many of us see little to no value in Facebook and we are hard core computer users, not luddites. I have no problem with "Please like us on Facebook" as I can ignore it and continue to do business with you. But "Like us on Facebook or we won't like to have you as a customer" sends the wrong message.

Nico Westerdale Thanks for the reply Keith, we certainly don't see non-Facebook users as Luddites, a couple members of my family point-blank refuse to set up an account. However the majority of Bits users do have Facebook accounts, and Facebook can be a great sales channel for small companies; we've seen a lot of traffic from there ourselves.

Keith Norton A thought occurs to me: go ahead and offer Facebook deals, but don't tell those of us that hate Facebook that the deals are there. Some might consider that sneaky or dismissive of part of your client base, but it would avoid most of the s@#%-storm and still get you and your vendors the Facebook exposure you seek. Another daily deal site (Woot) has recently been doing Facebook only specials. It generated a lot of complaints from the anti-FB sector but all of that has died down now. Since I don't do Facebook, I don't know if they curtailed their useage or if the bitchin' has simply stopped.

Nico Westerdale I was thinking very similar thoughts Keith. The fact is that many many hundreds of people did get the deal today and were very happy to click a "Like" button in return for a $29.50 piece of software.

So some questions to the floor:
- Is it something about the way that we presented this deal that generated complaints?
- Is there a way that we can run these promotions without enraging the non-Facebook fans of BitsDuJour?
- If the deal was even more clearly marked with a huge Facebook banner would that help?

Keith Norton I don't think there is a problem with how BDJ did this Facebook deal, simply that it was done. Many of us hate, hate, hate Facebook. It probably borders on the irrational for some of us, but there are good reasons. As referenced in some of the comments here, FB is a source of spam, reputations are "un-earned," the site is difficult to navigate and un-intuitive, much of it is juvenile. Most of us, simply do not see any real point to FB and resent being led by the nose to be a part of a lemming mentality. I ralize that businesses like the exposure and the fact that they can control what shows up on their page, but the whole thing strikes many of us as dishonest. The fact that FB is "free" is a big draw, but also the reason many of us see it as worthless, since no-one seems willing to pay for it. I suppose with that said, maybe it is a good place to dump free stuff.

Robert Reese - Is it something about the way that we presented this deal that generated complaints?

Yes. It is discriminatory.


- Is there a way that we can run these promotions without enraging the non-Facebook fans of BitsDuJour?

Simply offer an alternative such as emailing BDJ for the promotion code.


- If the deal was even more clearly marked with a huge Facebook banner would that help?

Yes, it would help me avoid it like the plague.


I typically add companies that discriminate against non-Facebook users to my 'ban' list which I check while shopping and before purchases. Incidentally, discriminatory marketing practices is just one way to be added to my ban list.

Had this been a real deal and not a test, I would have added your vendor customer to my 'ban' list and would never consider spending any money with that vendor in the future. Still, I am considering unsubscribing from your mailings even though I have made a number of purchases from your site in the past.

Matt Keith is right. That would be sneaky. Hide free deals from your loyal customers. So much for loyalty. I guess when it comes down to it, it's all about numbers.

I'd imagine that many many of those many many hundreds already had facebook accounts and didn't create new ones. It really was no big deal for them to click on a 'like' button.

Keith Norton I'm thinking the best way to work this is to have Facebook be an alternative portal to get at your products. The folks that like FB do it via FB, those of us that prefer the BDJ website use that. Everyon's happy and no one feels alienated. BDJ has to manage multiple sites, but you're doing that anyway.

Matt Keith, that is an excellent idea!

Bruno Verschraegen Wow Keith... see thjs post only now... and feel offended. Not personally of course, but in general, since you too generalise. I am a both a "hard core" computer user AND since a few years a facebook user; the latter because I live abroad and it is one of the ways to maintain contact with friends and family. Plus, working in an international environment with people all over the world, it allows me to add an extra dimension to the already virtual contacts I have with them via email and phone. But in your language, I like many others am a luddite? From my angle of reading, that is pretty smug and condescing. I don't even play computer games, much less even all the games that are shared via Facebook.
I have puchased many software products here on BDJ; on several occasions even 3 or 4 copies for the entire team. And occasionally have also benefitted from the free deals "requiring" the Facebook route. Yes, at first that felt a little uncomfortable, but I have rapidly overcome that. And there is also the route of filling out a questionnaire anyway. If you want a free ride and someone asks you a little contirbution in exchange, what is the big deal anyway?
You may accuse BDJ and the vendors of sending thje "wrong" message, but then please also accept me sharing my feeling that you are sending a wring message too.
Bruno

Keith Norton Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Data Extractor comments board, where it originally appeared.

Count me as anolther anti-Facebook individual. I refuse to participate in anything related to Facebook.

DrTeeth Ditto.

1) I do not 'do' social media and will NOT sign up to take part in deals.

2) What is the point of 'forcing' people to 'like' you on facebook? They maight post that you are sods for forcing them to do it and it could backfire. Seems rather infantile to me.

DrT

Phil Tobin Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Data Extractor comments board, where it originally appeared.

Not that my admiration for Bits du Jour is dimmed in any way, but. . . Facebook?

Aw, c'mon, guys. Get real. A vapid, vacuous medium where the need to acquire "friends" and post "likes" is as desperate as life can get for any lonely four-year-old. Who at least have the excuse of being aged four, unlike the "followers" etc who today exult in Facebook and that other hula hoop craze called, um, Twitter? Twatter? Whatever, and will tomorrow desert it in search of some other passing trend.

Nothing wrong with BDJ, or liking it by recommending it to real friends in the real world. But making a BDJ offer conditional on taking out a Facebook account (though J.P. Morgan and other financial predators will at least thank you after losing so many $millions on Facebook's absurd IPO) is about as unlikeable as it gets.

Leslie Milburn Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Data Extractor comments board, where it originally appeared.

@Nico - Because I actually wanted this product, I liked, did the checkout and then UNLIKED immediately. So whatever you were trying to achieve has simply Pi##ed me off. If BitsDuJour want to try this on again then I will walk away regardless of the offer.

Stupid Stupid Stupid !!!!!!!

_*_ Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Data Extractor comments board, where it originally appeared.

Is this the future of Bits deals, tethered to Facebook?
I do not have no wish to have a Facebook account, yet it is clear I “like” Bits by the products I purchase here.

Should “actually” supporting Bits not count for something?

I hope this is not the future course for free deals.

Nico Westerdale It's certainly not going to be for all our deals M B, and you know that as one of our regulars we totally value your support!

I posted some thoughts above in this thread about why we did this experiment.

Dennis Johnson While I completely understand why companies want more Likes on Facebook, it just seems too slimy when they "force" you to "like" them.

Buying Likes, to me, is morally wrong and shouldn't be supported. Someone should Like you on FB because they like you; not because you pay them to.

Just my quick thoughts from a BDJ fan.

See? That's the problem. I like you. But I won't be forced to like you. I really hope you don't bring any more of these types of offers.

Thanks. But no thanks.

RHays I don't face or twit, and I don't mind you trying to pimp yourself on either. I think if you are good and you are on one of the social sites you WILL get liked. But by forcing 'LIKES' you are getting bad data, and if everyone does this (a lot do) then that number means nothing, and then I have to ask what was it all for then? So you can tell someone I got 1 million likes? It's a usless number with no meaning... Using social media to draw in more is GOOD, forcing people to use that social media against there better judgment is BAD.

If your site is good (and up to now I have thought it is great) the word of mouth should help boost you as well. I have already told atleast 10 others of you and know of atleast 2 of them have made atleast one purchase from you.

Up till now I did like opening your emails every morning and checking your deals and see whats new or soon to be a deal.

I DO mind being forced to join such 'social engineering' sites just to get a deal from your site. So I hope you can find a compromise for us non believers of the 'social generation'.

JMJ Squared Wow! The strength of the reactions here is a bit surprising and very reassuring. Much about Facebook and its putative creator are not to be liked. Theft, crass manipulation, contempt for users and considerable amounts of genuine creativity have catapulted them to "the" place to be seen and heard, except very obviously, for many Bits aficionados. Me included.

BitsDuJour is not a hobby. It's a business that should utilize whatever honorable means at its disposal to maximize its value... and bottom line. Your own Iconico brand and most of the third-party developers featured here are entities whom I feel eminently comfortable supporting and recommending.

Facebook is not among them.

Therefore, even in light of the visceral reactions expressed here, I humbly suggest not throwing out the baby with the bath water; ie., use Facebook (or Twitter or whatever) as you think best for you and your associates. However, please give us the choice to engage with them or not while continuing to enjoy the great value BitDuJour delivers.

Continued success with my personal thanks for your efforts.

---JMJ

Scott Youngman I don't have a FB account and never will. I'm totally turned off by a "deal" to "like" a vendor on FB -- it actually makes me NOT like them. I am willing enough to pay money for software I need, but I won't sink to this.

If vendors really want the FB exposure, I suggest the same deal offer the alternative of paying a certain amount instead.

sahil waste i dont use facebook or G+, and i am not going to make a account there for this...so i surely missed this deal.
thanks for the offer though, it'll help those who have a account on FB.

PS: please dont make this compulsary for all of your deals.
PSS: customers are like wives, if you let them free they'll never leave you and if you force them or restrict them they'll try to avoide you.

thanks. have a nice day :)

Nico Westerdale Sahil, any everyone else, thanks for your comments, we really take them to heart. I've said it a few times before, but this Facebook linked deal is an experiment; we're certainly not changing how we run all our promotions. I've posted above some more thoughts on why we did this.

sahil waste hey Nico,

experimenting new and diffrent trends is a good thing and i really appriciate this. If you are experimenting then that means you really cares and you want to improve and thats what is important according to me. I've no prob with this giveaway just wanted to share what i think and feel.

thanks for your reply and have a wonderful day friend :)

sahil waste Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Data Extractor comments board, where it originally appeared.

not for me, i dont use facebook or G+

thanks for the deal though. :)

Mark Johnson Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Data Extractor comments board, where it originally appeared.

I don't like to like. No deal.

Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Data Extractor comments board, where it originally appeared.

I hate Facebook so i will never be able to find out if I could like the programme.

Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Data Extractor comments board, where it originally appeared.

Bad idea to use Facebook as registration method!

joji sawhney Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Data Extractor comments board, where it originally appeared.

I agree with Mark Johnson remark. This type of deal is irritating.

Paul Eaves Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Data Extractor comments board, where it originally appeared.

If you are going to force people to join Facebook then bye bye.

Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Data Extractor comments board, where it originally appeared.

I " like " it on m desktop.....but not with a forced facebookmembership...

Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Data Extractor comments board, where it originally appeared.

"Before you checkout you'll be asked to "Like" our Facebook page." - So those of us not interested in Facebook miss out. And this is just further proof that the "like" function on Facebook is BS, and "likes" are bought through bribes like this and indicate no genuine like from anyone and are therefore worthless.

"The application works by first choosing where you want to get your data from." - Why would I want to let an application make that decision for me?

"fully fledged" - in English that would be "full-fledged".

"extract data in any way from different webpages" - different from what? I believe you mean "various" or "multiple", neither of which "different" actually means.

"If not then the application comes with..." - You're saying that the application may or may not come with the rules, and it depends on whether the user is familiar with JavaScript. How can you be a programmer if you're unfamiliar with "if - then"?

Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Data Extractor comments board, where it originally appeared.

Tch, tch, tch. Avoid FB and its stock at all costs ;)

Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Data Extractor comments board, where it originally appeared.

I'm not interested in this social media hype. It was fun as long as it lasted. Bye Bye BDJ, i'll find another site without facebook. Something like GOTD.

Scott Youngman Requiring FB membership in order to avail of a deal is parallel to saying it is only open to members of Kiwanis or Girl Scouts -- it immediately excludes some people. I'm really put off by that approach.

Nico Westerdale Point of order Scott; I don't think the girl scouts would let me join!

Scott Youngman Well, then we're both excluded! ;^)

Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Data Extractor comments board, where it originally appeared.

I do not like the facebook like offers either. But in this case, I believe that bitsdujour is a good website, therefore I will do it.

Vivaldi Like on FB (or any social media) = No Sale from me. I think BDJ is a great website but if any social media requirements become a regular feature, I'm out of here. (I'm not going to repeat all the reasons already stated; I agree with all of them.)

I think both BDJ and the vendors are being very short-sighted and blinded by mob mentality. Just because 'everyone' is doing it doesn't mean you have to do it too. Judging by the comments here, 'everyone' isn't doing it, and you're ticking off the loyal customers you already have.

Note to vendors who think this will get them new customers: Some of us pay close attention to usage policies of the software we buy. We don't buy if there are restrictions such as on-line activation, limited or no reinstalls, per computer licenses - oh, and SOCIAL MEDIA REQUIREMENTS!

Please reconsider, and deem this 'experiment' a failure.

internet explorer Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Data Extractor comments board, where it originally appeared.

FB violates privacy expectations without allowing user choice, so I will not be "liking" there although I certainly do like BDJ. Sorry.

Robert Reese Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Data Extractor comments board, where it originally appeared.

Only offering this deal to Facebook users is discriminatory against non-Facebook users. There are plenty of good, valid reasons to not have a Facebook account.

Brian Crumrine Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Data Extractor comments board, where it originally appeared.

I have a fake facebook account I use for these things. It worked for me this morning.

internet explorer Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Data Extractor comments board, where it originally appeared.

to Brian Crumrine - What do you mean a fake facebook account? There are times like this that it might come in handy if I could find out how to have one without the complications of actually having a real one, so could you please elaborate on that? Thank you.

Brian Crumrine Just a separate facebook account with a fake name and extra email account. I have two - my friends/family account and one for deals, specials, forced likes, etc. on the other. Really don't need to have all my friends and family's spammed with things I am picking up online. I find facebook very annoying for this.

Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Data Extractor comments board, where it originally appeared.

One of the pluses for this website was it avoided the whole facebook nonsense. If you have to force people to like you its pointless.

Phil Tobin Hopefully, Nico and BDJ will have got the message. It's not a message from sour-puss ancient kill-joys but from intelligent users. . . who use BDJ intelligently. They're people not unlike, let's say, the marketing & adverising department of General Motors, which cancelled all its advertising on Facebook just before the catastrophic PO -- cancelled it on the grounds that Facebook is an infantile medium which cannot, nor ever will, deliver the kind of specific audiences that are matched to a specific product.

As for "Like": surely, no-one at BDJ can possibly think there's any actual value in such childish me-too nonsense? Millions of FB accounts are, by FB's own admission, entirely bogus. And there are any number -- again, by FB's own admission -- any number of accounts manipulated by idiots who will happily issue hundreds of "likes" a day just for the hell of wrecking FB's alleged Unique Selling Point.

Facebook is yesterday's busted flush. BDJ isn't. By all means, take advantage of FB if it's believedf that "social media" is of value to anyone other than the inadequate, immature and downright unintelligent. But don't -- please: don't -- alienate the core audience of independently-minded invidiuals who rate BDJ very highly indeed -- ironically, exactly the kind of audience that an increasingly desperate Facebook would dearly love to have, but will never, ever capture.

major4579 Like many before me I don't do facebook or other social media. Its for personal reasons but also for social/political reasons. It's always ticked me off that many companies are expecting us to shill for them in order to participate in deals, drawings, etc.

It's not enough that I can like (not Like) their software and recommend it to my friends, no I have to use a mechanism that I find personally distasteful, deceitful, and untrustworthy to shill for them. Well I refuse to participate, even through a dummy account, and further it makes me less likely to support any one who utilizes this method exclusively.

The more this happens, the less I feel like joining the lemmings on their march to the sea (yes I know that isn't real).

Please don't do this as I refuse to accept 2nd class membership due to my beliefs, instead I will cancel my membership entirely as it is the only way I can state my dislike of this.

Thanks for listening
Marc

Matt Hi Nico,

Do you have an alternate method for those of us here that refuse to create a facebook account and yet still take advantage of the free Data Extractor offer and other future free deals?

Thank you.

Nico Westerdale Sorry we don't have an alternate method today.

DrTeeth A first and last time I hope too!

GOTD User I think you should start with simpler experiment:
If any BDJ user wants to buy software, he/she MUST write a positive comment on this forum before.

How many buyers comment their shopping? How can you expect that anyone will go to "like" Facebook if you know that so many people don't like commenting at all?

Nico Westerdale Interesting idea!

Can I ask, are you affiliated with Giveaway Of The Day, or is that just your screenname?

Luis I don't want to have anything to do with Facebook simply because I found it useless as it is annoying.
I'll never make an account there and I would take my distance from anyone trying to coerce me into use it.

Fletch I support your desire to try new things. However...

Facebook = overrated. Fail.

Still a fan.

ehab i dont do the facebook.

i have a dummy account with a dummy name i can use to like anybody : ) just so i get my candy.

Lee Price Hey Nico and Roger,

I've been a fan BitsDuJour for sometime now. In addition to enjoying several of your giveaways, I have purchased items here as well; however, like many others I do not have a Facebook account; I do not want a Facebook account and I will never have a Facebook account!

With that said, I follow other 'giveaway' sites as well. At at one time or another a few of these started requiring their followers to 'Like' them on FB as a requirement to download the giveaways.

Needless to say, this caused a tremendous backlash on each site; however, everything was resolved by doing one simple thing: they stopped the FB requirement and simply asked those with Facebook accounts to 'Like' them. This seems to have worked out very well as those with Facebook accounts have no problem hitting the 'Like' button.

As a result, everyone is happy! The sites get numerous 'Likes' on their Facebook page and the folks who don't do 'Facebook' do not feel like outcasts. This approach has worked out well for the other sites; it's been a win-win situation for everyone and it's something you should consider doing as well. ;)

I really wanted to check out 'Data Extractor' but I don't guess that's going to happen. Seriously guys, not everyone in the world wants to be on Facebook.

best regards,

Lee

Richard Cavaney I must say that I agree with what everyone here is saying about Facebook but I do not see why you have to in anyway make it compulsory to go via the facebook route. Surely having two paths would get you those vendors who want you to have a Facebook presence without alienating those that refuse to have anything to do with Facebook.
I do like BDJ and have recomended the site to friends but what Facebook vendors seem to want is for people to like something before they have ever used it. This makes the like button worthless and meaningless.
I hope this experiment has given you a great deal of food for thought Nico. Thanks for all your work.

Matt I played the game and created a 'junk' facebook account so I could click on the 'like' button just to get the free Data Extractor.

BDJ, doesn't all of the "likes" seem kind of silly, shallow and cheap?

Nico Westerdale I just wanted to reiterate that we really do value all these comments and take them all to heart. Thanks everyone for being so constructive, and it is indeed food for thought.

Vivaldi Perhaps one of the things to consider is this: You set up a situation that requires a FB account in order to get something. BDJ's and the vendors' reasoning seems to be that the loyal BDJ customers will be so enthralled by the offer that if they don't already have FB, they'll just race over there and create one.

It didn't quite work out that way, did it? Bottom line... Nothing, and I repeat, NOTHING, is going to make me create a FB account - not a real one, not a 'fake' one, not any other form of one. This applies to Twitter, G+, and all past, present, and future social media. I don't want anything that badly.

The obvious solution is, as has been said, to allow those of us non-social-media types to acquire the offers through BDJ. If you want to use FB as another method, fine. But please don't exclude us because we refuse to join the FB herd. We're a fairly large herd on our own. ;-)

judi bunner In a word, no. Each time I receive offers for free merchandise that is attached to my liking it on facebook, I refuse to participate. I have purchased software through this site several times and have been a happy follower. I don't understand the reasoning or logic behind this kind of marketing ploy. I have had a facebook page before and have never visited any of the websites others recommend. With the timeline change there, facebook has become nothing but an aggravation. Please clarify your purpose in requiring facebook. Is it is to get more website traffic by offering free software there? If the users of facebook had to pay for that service their statistics on users would drop significantly. So your thinking the users there will buy your software? If you decide to offer 100% deals only to facebook users it is not fair to those of us who have been and are customers. Thanks, Judi

Nico Westerdale Judi, I posted a long reply further up in this thread that explains our thoughts. Thanks again for your comments.

lemonade soda See my name, see my spend, take the hint: NO FACEBOOK

And no, dont ask me or other customers to trawl your silly threads for answers. What kind of Customer Service is that? For EACH CUSTOMER you have upset you need to send them AN INDIVIDUAL apology. That's life in business whippersnapper!

Nico Westerdale Apologies lemonade, we did have a very busy day yesterday and being a holiday weekend here in the US we were not able to follow up with everyone individually. As always we really value your comments and your continued support of BitsDuJour.

lemonade soda Nico, thank you for following up, and sending polite emails to all us "whiners". That's a good effort, especially on a Sunday. 10/10

eb235 BDJ followers "Like" on Facebook. OK.
But will Facebook "Like" BDJ followers' dummy accounts ??

Wouldn't it have been more clever to announce, for example, "same deal next week but open to all (no Facebook account required)" ?
Then anyone without a Facebook account would have had the **choice** to wait or create an account.immediately.

J S Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Data Extractor comments board, where it originally appeared.

To BiTSDUJOUR MODS:

Many many many people choose to NOT have a facebook account, for a whole host of reasons and don't you (bitsdujour dot com) already ask people to supply their name & email addresses as well as deploying - presumably trackable, cookies onto a persons computer, in return for 100% OFF no cost software.

Now YOU own the Bitsdujour website, so you can choose what practices you employ or choose not to use, BUT from my families point of view FORCiNG people who want THiS particular 100% OFF DEAL to use facebook is not a friendly practice (I'll leave what's ethical tho others to decide) and we sincerely hope this is just a "ONCE OFF" instance, or if not, then will only be used in conjunction with your other iCONiCO products.


"Engelmann Media GmbH" offers products for promotion on Bitsdujour (such as CDRWiN 9, Photomizer, MakeMe3D etc) and must have copped a backlash for their facebook only promotion, because they have sent out emails literally apologising to their customers for offering deals and promotions on facebook which weren't available to NON-facebook customers.

Then Engelmann's - having learnt their lesson, made the deals available to all customers, (at least those signed up to receive their emails).

lemonade soda Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Data Extractor comments board, where it originally appeared.

I agree with everyone else here... "forcing" Facebook is not in the spirit of BDJ and you are damaging your brand-loyalty/goodwill.

To "ask" people to "like" you is one thing. To force it is royal arrogance.

Wayne King Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Data Extractor comments board, where it originally appeared.

J S To BiTSDUJOUR MODS

I completely agree with all that you have said and will not be bothering to get this deal as I don't like being forced to use facebook.

The Big Fat Man Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Data Extractor comments board, where it originally appeared.

Whad did You do? Facebook? I don't like Facebook and the administrator also! The admin has blocked Facebook, Twitter and some others. And that's absolutely okay!

Husker Tech Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Data Extractor comments board, where it originally appeared.

Hopefully, you will still offer promotions to those of us that dont have FaceBook. Thanks.

Phil Tobin @ Harlan Bruce: to be honest, Harlan, I've no doubt at all that BDJ will continue to sustain its audience. . . because it is that audience which sustains BDJ. The appeal of this website / reference resource has always been that it's intelligent and comprehensive, and I'm in no way surprised that discerning computer users who find a resonance here have firmly (though politely!) trounced the very idea that such users should somehow be corralled like a bunch of mindless morons into joining a quite different website with which they have neither empathy nor sympathy. . .

major4579 Nico,

Maybe I never noticed this before, but under your:
"Like Us on Facebook", it says
"and get fan-only special offers".

Is this new or has it been there for awhile?
Either way, it seems that the decision is to continue to offer Facebook only deals? Correct?

Please let me know...

Thanks,
Marc

Nico Westerdale Marc, That's been like that for quite some time. We have not run any Facebook only special offer in quite some time. The text probably needs updating.

major4579 Thanks for the quick response - I probably didn't notice it because I ignore any Facebook reference on most pages. I used to have a Greasemonkey script that removed most social network icons, but it hasn't worked for awhile. BTW, I sent in a message via the contact form.

Thanks again..

Roger Thomasson Keep in mind folks, yesterday we offered 5 deals. 4 of them were for you, 1 was for our thousands of fans on Facebook. Given that ratio I have no idea why any of you would presume that we'd abandon our non-Facebook users, but let us reassure you. It ain't gonna happen.

S B I , too, have no Facebook or G+ accounts for important reasons, though I may eventually make an account unconnected to my real life, business, and clients--if that is even possible.

Perhaps you can make a "free" offer to Facebook people first ("a Facebook Early-Bird Special!"), afterwards opening the offer to all of us without Facebook accounts.

The world is changing, and social media cannot be ignored. It may well be that BDJ, in its own interests, should aggressively promote itself through Facebook and other social media.

_*_ Nico, Thank you for listening to your customers and not moving to FB only offers on Bits without considering your non-FB user base.

The egg for me was not necessary, only knowing that Bits would not jettison it present customer base for a potential customer base.

I appreciate the code for the program, but again for me personally it was about the direction of Bits more than a singular program.

As you well know, I have quite a few programs here both free and purchased, so many, that missing one here or there will make no real difference to me.

I have not liked everything Bits has done, but I do understand it is a business and the bottom line is to garner greater revenue. This to me is a good thing, as it will hopefully make Bits (or any company) more attune to its customers.

Thank you for listening, and for bringing to your customers many quality software titles that I personally would never had known about or own otherwise.

Well done sir! :o)

Phil Tobin For Nico: nope, the egg wasn't necessary for me either. But it's appreciated. There was an issue there about individual choice and as Bits is just about as individual (and appreciated) a resource as it gets, then it's wonderful to see you handling all this so very, very adroitly -- even going to eggstraordinary lengths, too.

Well done, Nico. Seriously: well done. Bits can only go from strength to strength when it is so clearly blessed with both wit and intelligence. Drinks all round (on me, of course: I'd be a bit suspicious of any advocaat that you might suddenly think of handing out. . .)

ron r I did not read all the comments, but my 2 cents.

I haven't been really long on BDJ but I purchased some licenses through this great service.
But some deals really annoy I am talking about the deals that require are a "one" time deal installation (the one where if your format and reinstall your pc, you can not re-install the software).
I am not a big fan of hardware footprints and immediate installation "or you can not use the software".

I know, there must be balance between "respect the fact that you are given a free piece of software" and "complain about the restraints" On that note I want to point out that my response is not intended to disrespect BDJ or it's vendors...hell man I saved myself some bucks and got learn that there are some VERY nifty tools out there...

In the then end, what I am trying to say. If you use Facebook, go ahead it's your thing man and we both are reaping the advantages of it. But please, if you make the users go through some "extra hoops" , please make sure that software in the promotion isn't to restricted.

Again, If I offended someone here... My sincere apologies.

ron r I am sorry about the typos in my previous post. I accidentally pressed "post".

Steven Avery Hi,

Basically I will ignore Facebook deals. Why Facebook floods you with the spam of dating sites and weird ads simply to have a small presence is to me offensive.

Beyond that, this whole "like" scheming .. really dumb. Give me money.. I like you. sheesh.

Steven

Nico Westerdale Everyone,

Please note we have an upcoming Facebook deal for Clipstory soon:
http://www.bitsdujour.com.../clipstory

You'll notice that for this promotion the easiest way to get the deal will be to simply click the "Like" button for the vendor's Facebook page and the BitsDuJour Facebook page.

However... drum-roll please... we will have an alternate way for those of you who don't have Facebook accounts to get the promotion, which will be by partaking in a questionnaire about the product.

We've made these changes specifically because of the feedback in this thread about the earlier promotion which did not have this option.

We've also made the promotion stand out by using a different visual style to the border.

As always feedback is most welcome, if we hear crickets then we will assume we've got it right this time!

Luis @Nico

I just tried, clicking on the questionnaire's link it says:

"The survey you are trying to take is either not live or not available to you. "

internet explorer I just successfully downloaded today's Facebook special, despite hating FB, because I could not find the alternate you mentioned. I also could not find where to put a comment there, as I wanted to see if I could find out what version of Clipstory it is before installing (Hint: that would be a good detail to have on your Deal page.) I do appreciate your effort to offer an alternate, but I'm afraid it may be all for naught if the alternate method cannot be found especially by someone who knows it should be there and looks diligently. Not being a regular FB user, I suppose I may be missing something, but shouldn't the comments section be readily accessible as well? Sorry to bother you with these questions, but I don't know who else to ask, since it's your page we're talking about. I do like you regular page and hope you keep doing it for a long time to come. Thanks.

Luis @internet explorer

When you click the green button, opens a window.
In that windows there is this text with a link:

"If you don't have Facebook Take our eleven step questionnaire instead"

You just click there, and in my case you are welcomed with this:

"Complete this survey to get your 100% Off Deal
The survey you are trying to take is either not live or not available to you."

Vivaldi I got the same message.

Nico Westerdale Ooops my bad! I didn't realize there was a limit, let me fix that....

Nico Westerdale Ok fixed, sorry about that. Questionnaire now works.

internet explorer okay, guess I didn't click on everthing to see what's behind it, so that one's on me. My other question was basically where do I go there to comment of today"s 100% off offer, since it's not available on your regular website but rather refers you to your Facebook page? Before I forget, what is the version number for today's Clipstory so maybe I can get that much done? Thanks for your prompt response.

Nico Westerdale There's a note on the promotion "Discuss this Deal on Our Facebook Page"

You can either go to the BitsDuJour Facebook page here:
http://www.facebook.com/BitsDuJour

or the software vendor's page here:
http://www.facebook.com/Iconico.inc

Clipstory version is 1.5

internet explorer OK, thanks for the quick response. Looks like this is the same version I already have, either from BDJ or DSG, don't remember, so no need to install it again at this time. Reminds me though, that I do appreciate that your offers can be re-installed later if need be, and I am grateful for that, because you never know when you might have to reinstall windows and that's one less thing to worry about.

Rick Truell ie: "My other question was basically where do I go there to comment of today"s 100% off offer"

The answer doesn't do you any good, because in order to comment on either page, you have to - wait for it - *log into Facebook* :-(

Rick Truell "if we hear crickets then we will assume we've got it right this time"

Bzzzzz. Sorry, no. I guess you didn't get the message last time: no Facebook. No hoops. Having to go to Facebook is a hoop. Having to have a Facebook account is not only a hoop, but a show-stopper for the majority of us. Having to click a 'like' button is a hoop. Having to fill out a questionnaire is a hoop. We don't want hoops. If the only way you can offer software at 100% off is to require us to jump through hoops to get it, then don't offer software at 100% off. All this is doing is causing frustration and anger for the BDJ users, and harming your reputation. Don't forget, your reputation was made by offering great, one-day discount deals on software...not by trying to out-do GAOTD.

Worse than that, for the vast majority of us that don't have Facebook accounts, this time around you removed the possibility of commenting on, or asking questions about, the product. This is utterly unacceptable. A lot of BDJ users rely on the questions and answers, and the back-and-forth between other users, in the comments in order to make a decision as to whether or not to buy the product. Since they're plainly not going to just blindly buy the product without knowing if it's satisfactory for their purposes, not being able to get the answers they need simply results in lost sales. (and for those that are about to say "but it's 100%off, so there's no 'sales' involved", think again...the only reason that vendor's are offering software at 100%off is because they're anticipating massive sales in the future when upgrade time comes!)

Do us - and yourselves - a huge favour: forget about Facebook. And, while you're at it, forget about all the other "social media" as well. Just pretend they don't exist. It'll make life easier, and better, for everybody.

Roger Thomasson Rick, the non-Facebook 100% deals we've been offering all along require an email address. That's a hoop, right? The bottom line is that we need some kind of incentive for vendors to promote with us. An email address, a share of commission, a facebook like, the results of a questionnaire. That's just how it is. After all, we can't give you something for nothing.

Bottom line? The more incentives we can offer our vendors, the more software we can get on Bits. That's the reality of the service we provide you.

-r

Rick Truell "the non-Facebook 100% deals we've been offering all along require an email address. That's a hoop, right?"

Nope. Nearly everybody has an e-mail address. The vast majority of people got it from their ISP's. Most of those that don't, and even some that do, got a free one from Yahoo!, Hotmail or Google (although Google isn't a very good place to get one from these days). In fact, one *has* to have an e-mail address in order to sign up with BDJ...it's a *required* field.

"The bottom line is that we need some kind of incentive for vendors to promote with us. An email address ..."

Not a problem...as mentioned above, you have an e-mail address for logged-in users and you pass that on to the vendor, or their payment processor, when the "buy now" button is clicked. For those that don't sign up or log in before getting one of the software deals, they *have* to provide one to the payment processor because most (if not all) of them *require* an e-mail address in order to complete the purchase, so they have somewhere to send the receipt, etc. Thus, you have your incentive.

"... a share of commission ..."

I'm guessing this doesn't apply to the free (100% off) deals.

"... a facebook like ..."

Utterly useless as an incentive. Most of the people are going to click the "like" button simply so they can get the free software. They can't be indicating that they "like" the software, because they haven't *gotten* the software yet. And most of them can't be indicating that they "like" the vendor, because they probably haven't *had* a previous relationship with the vendor to know whether they like the vendor or not. After all, they're not here because of the vendor, they're here because someone, somewhere, said "hey, there's free software on BDJ today...go get it!!!!!!!!!!!!".

"... the results of a questionnaire."

Questionable as to its use as an incentive. Again, for most people, this is just something to get through as quickly as possible - by just clicking *any* option - in order to get the *free software*. If i were a vendor, i would be wary about accepting the results of a questionnaire forced upon people in order to get free software. The results *might* be valid...but probably not. Particularly if the questions are about the software itself; questions like "do you like the software", "how often will you use it" or "will you recommend it to your friends". How can someone give valid answers to those questions when they're still trying to *get* the software to begin with?

"After all, we can't give you something for nothing."

Why not? Many places do. And, no, I'm not counting GAOTD...the time-bomb they wrap around the software they "give away" makes it non-free, as far as I'm concerned. No, I'm talking about places like SourceForge...all kinds of something (software) for nothing (free). There are many sites with free Windows software...I have hundreds (possibly thousands; haven't sorted through them lately) of links to such sites in my bookmarks. Microsoft has free software, some they wrote, some that others wrote...although, if *they* wrote it, I'd be wary of it. Even Apple is in the something-for-nothing game...the iOS app store is crammed full of free software, most of it without ads or in-app purchases of any kind. I don't know about the Mac App Store (for the desktop macs), since I don't have one of those machines, but I wouldn't be surprised to find lots of free software there as well.

But seriously, we're/I'm not asking you to give us something for *nothing*. You've got our e-mail addresses and you pass those on to the vendor every time we buy something, thus allowing them to Spam us...err, I mean, send us exciting e-mails telling us about the other software they sell and alerting us to upcoming deals. That should be enough. After all, our time is quite valuable (at least, mine sure as hell is!), and the time we spend going through those e-mails is time away from our jobs (for those stupid enough to be going through personal e-mail on company time) or family, friends and other things that need to be done.

As to incentives to offer your vendors, point out to them that you're offering the potential of dozens (hundreds?) of brand new customers, all with e-mail addresses, and with a fresh influx of cash that they normally wouldn't have. Plus, when upgrade time comes, all these new customers are going to be paying the same upgrade fees that their old customers do...an *additional* influx of cash they normally wouldn't have. That should be enough of an incentive.

Plus, of course, if their software is good enough, and their customer service is good enough, all those new customers are, of their own free will, without having to be forced to do so in order to get the software, going to be passing the word far, far further than a "like" on Facebook will get them. On Twitter (which has *far* more active users than Facebook, BTW) and all the other "social media" services, blogs, web sites, forums, e-mail, Usenet newsgroups and our family and friends. A whole bunch of *priceless* advertising that they're getting for *free*. If *that's* not enough incentive for a vendor, they really shouldn't be in business...and they're not going to be for very long, making bad business decisions like that.

DrTeeth @ Rick

Well said. It is just like those sites that ask for a DOB for age verification - I'm about 100 years old on those sites LOL.

Whilst the free deals are welcome and one should not look a gift horse in the mouth, I do avoid those offers that use DRM or have install/registration limitations. That is why I have never been interested in GOTD.

Rick Truell DrTeeth: "I'm about 100 years old on those sites LOL."

Heh. Hadn't thought of doing that. Since I'm (a lot over) legal age anywhere, I just put in my actual DOB :-)

"I do avoid those offers that use DRM or have install/registration limitations"

Yup, me too. Not worth the (potential) frustration. Although, I do check out GOTD every day...occasionally they feature a program that looks interesting, at which point I zip over to the program's web site for further investigation and/or getting.

Roger Thomasson Anyhow, not going to debate this into the ground.

After just two 100% Facebook promotions we have ample data indicating that the number of BDJ customers on Facebook far outweighs the number that are not. We think that the questionnaire is a very nice compromise to appease the anti-Facebook minority while still allowing us to keep pace with the Internet and how it is being used.

Sounds like you disagree, and that's ok! That's what makes this a community.

One factual point however. We love Twitter and use it often, but Twitter certainly does not have more active users than Facebook. Not sure where you got this information, but it contradicts quite a bit of readily-available 3rd party data. Google it. Twitter is in the 100-200 million range of active users, Facebook is approaching 1 billion.

GOTD User So we have a failbook day again. The last time nothing worked OK, as described here: http://www.bitsdujour.com/view/id=18544/
Now it's a little bit better - only questionnaire is broken. I couldn't go to the questionnaire page in Firefox, so I had to dig in the webpage source to find the proper link. Then I couldn't go out from the questionnaire to the download page so I had to dig in sources once again.

And it seems noone read the answers in the questionnaire, so I rephrase my words here with more detailed explanations:

I don't want to fill the questionnaire any more. It's unusable for non-native English speakers, they just don't understand it. you can check it on your own - use Google Translate to translate your questionnaire to another language and see how many words stay untranslated. Then use Google Translate again to translate results back to English and see if the final results are similar to the source text.

I suppose other people just mark random answers as I do.

Nico Westerdale The questionnaire seems to work fine for me in Firefox and all other browsers. It may not translate correctly using the Google Translator, I'm sure that it's not 100% perfect, but the link shows up fine on the popup after you click "Get it for free"
We're seeing a lot of responses, so I think it might just be an issue for you. Do you have any add-ins on Firefox that may block it?

The Big Fat Man I have the same problems. All Bitsdujour pages works well and fine. But if it is a facebook deal - i can click on the button so often as i want - the page doesn't open.
Ouch - i can not post in this forum. I must use IE.
I use Mozilla Seamonkey with the same addons as Firefox. My Noscript blocks only Facebook, Twitter, Sharethis and Google-analytics. Google-apis is allowed.
The 100% Aomei Partition Assistant i have lost. After 09:00 hour central european time (00:00 your server time) my click works fine, but i come to a page with a lot of costs. No way for me as a handicapped pensioner (german: Invalidenrentner) and wheel chair driver.

Thank you very much for your answers in the forum. The owners from other giveaway sites (dsg, gotd) don't answer or make a detour around the just treated problem.

Nico Westerdale Well sorry for your problems, from what you've posted it appears that one of your Firefox add-ins is blocking a script that's needed to get the Facebook deal or complete the survey.

The deals are a little complicated technically, and I've confirmed that they do work fine in Firefox, Chrome, IE, Safari and other browsers on Mac and PC.

GOTD User Yeah, sure. My browser bad, your website good.

So you must run some facebook scripts to allow downloading WITHOUT facebook and you have never heard about XSS. And you can't use simple English in your queries, blah blah blah is sooo cool. And the scripts are so complicated you can't add code to skip the query, if it doesn't contain any new question.And you are a proud owner of a magical crystal ball and you know better what I use.

Wrong, all wrong.

I always do tests with a new clean Firefox profile before complaining. No add-ons, no plugins, only Firefox with default settings. Oh, and your website with invalid code, alas.
Just look how it (badly) validates:
http://validator.w3.org/c...our.com%2F

Sorry for wasting your priceless time, just move all your deals to facebook and let me forget about your ill-behaved code.

Nico Westerdale Could you tell me your exact problem so I can fix it?

GOTD User Fix your website, please. Make it standard compliant. Keep it simple...
I don't know your slang, you don't understand my English. I can't help you any more. Go back to your facebook, young man, let us oldies die.

Roger Thomasson @ GOTD User

If you can't be patient, mature, or respectful, take your business elsewhere. Seriously. Our community has no interest in this sort of nonsense side-tracking our grown-up conversations.

Mike B Lots of hate for Facebook only deals.

I don't have a Facebook account and don't see my self getting one. But I'm going to buck the trend.

I'd rather that none of the deals offered by BDJ required a Facebook account. But I just ignore the ones that do. If BDJ gets some benefit from tying a deal to a Facebook 'Like', then they should go ahead and do these deals.

If I think that some bit of software is worth having at 100% off, then I have to decide if it's worth it to me to get a Facebook account. If I don't think that's the case, then I don't get the software for free. As simple as that. Sure, I'd prefer it if they didn't tie the deal to Facebook, but I'd prefer it if I got a free lunch every day too.

Unfortunately, that doesn't happen. Who do I complain to?

Nico Westerdale Mike, These are all very old posts from our first Facebook deal.

Today's Facebook deal has an option so that you can also get the deal by filling out a survey.

No Facebook account is required.

Mike B Oops - a link to this old thread showed up at the bottom of the BDJ "all deals" page I was looking at. So I clicked and posted a reply without reading too carefully (tl;dr) ...

Go ahead and delete the post (and this one). Just know that if you bring a Facebook requirement back, there's at least one non-FBer that won't be complaining. :)

Daniel . Are we getting to the point where every deal is done via facebook? Looks like I will be leaving.

Nico Westerdale No. Out of several thousand deals we have done five Facebook deals. That's 5.

There are also three other non-Facebook deals today.

Peter Thompson Am I the only one not really bothered about liking a page. At the end of the day I am getting something free and if it's something I need then I will like the page. It's either that or have to buy the product.

Dennis Johnson You may be the only one not bothered.

The issue is, you're forced to Like something before you've even used it. Nothing less than buying Likes.

I run several Facebook pages. I'd never purchase a Like - Not with cash - Not with products - Not with software - Buying likes is just sleazy.

Peter Thompson Have you ever heard there's no such thing as a free lunchbox.

Why do you think these companies give stuff away for free? At the end of the day they need to make money and some that use BitsDujour are small companies not massive ones probably hardly making anything.

They could turn to the extra annoying installer programs trying to make people install Ask toolbar and a load of stuff and people will complain they got spyware from the product. They could plaster the product with adverts and people would complain that it ruins the look.

Instead of all this they ask you to simply like a page. Don't want to like a page? Fine, buy the product instead. I'd rather save a lot and click a like button but some people seem never to be happy.

By the way I can understand people not being happy who don't have Facebook but the ones who do I just think they are being too picky.

ron r I had trouble with the facebook deal today "Password depot" , it seemed that you had to do 2 likes (one for acebit and one for bitsdujour).

When I clicked the green button I was redirected to an acebit facebook page (the link in my adressbar was "facebook/acebit" and it showed a deal that was upcoming = "winsurvey"... shouldn't that be "Password depot"?)

I clicked the like button but was not re-directed to the real bitsdujour facebook page. I apologize if I overlooked and/or misunderstood something.
But I couldn't complete the facebook process to get the deal.
So I did the questionnaire.

Nico Westerdale Sorry for the problems - the issue has now been fixed.

The Big Fat Man Although "GOTD-User" of collar burst, but he's right. The sites are increasingly overloaded with external scripts (generally, not only BDJ). At the end is required for each site a specially customized browser.
I can fully understand that you want to take trends (and must), if one with a website to earn money. But the raised curb overloading, it is important to reduce foreign functions and even to make available or to renounce it. Then maybe work all pages of a site. Whether as Facebook, Echelon or something hangs.
The Facebook-only deals do not work with Mozilla browsers (I use Seamonkey). The ajaxbuy page will not open. I opened the page ajaxbuy separately and everything is allowed except Google analytics. Nothing! No working links.
So far I have downloaded the page and looked at the source code for the correct link. After a long search for the right link component and copy and paste, I came several times to the target date. Since the Hard Disk Sentinel (which I would have liked), no longer works also.
But at least now I have found the survey link and answered the questions, even though the season was over. Let's see what happens, I thought. The result was, unfortunately, only an endless loop. The site survey-complete.aspx was called alternately with http and https. Get back no giveaway.

The first time Facebook scandal still went well. The problems are now - in the current deals.
(translated by Google)

P.S.: Shit, For reply I must use IE. argh...

Roberto would be possible a hide facebook deals from the user profile?

Nico Westerdale We don't have that functionality at the moment.

However you can still get the Facebook deals by completing a short product survey.

Pavi Johnson Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Essential Fonts comments board, where it originally appeared.

I don't use Facebook. Why the limitation?

Best, /Pavi

Roger Osborne Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Essential Fonts comments board, where it originally appeared.

Nor do I use Facebook; nor do I want to. Nor do I want to complete a survey. What is wrong with you people?

rodken "What is wrong with you people?"
Are you kidding, seriously they're providing free soft for either Facebook (don't do either) or a simple questionaire that any person can fill out (I do often).
The ability to do this is way better than so many other giveaway sites that I commend BDJ and Company on their generousity to simply fill out a survey. If you don't have two minutes then you must be wasting your time just using the net!

Why don't you just wait aroung and hope that they come to you because obviously you seem so special!
Get my point!!
Think about it what are you really whining and crying about!

Just to let you know there are actually software companies out there that charge for their soft!!!

ElvesAteMyRamen I totally agree! I mean, like most people who have been slammed by the media non-stop with all the reasons Facebook is a horrible, rotten thing & why you shouldn't contact anyone or anything you get/meet off the internet ever because if you do then you've just opened the door to brimstone & fires, zombies, astroids, Richard Simmons, & all things evil!

But...the reality in this debate of BDJ using Facebook to hand out software free of charge, with zero liability to sign into some shifty contract or fork over a single dime & all *we* need to do as the ones being offered these products free of charge is to hit the "LIKE" thumbs-up button? To which I reply..."heck YES I'll do it!"

And yes, I am one who has a Facebook account & am exceptionally wary of anything that is offered to me so after carefully reading through everything & all the fine print..(although technically there really isn't any because BDJ & the software designers holding the promos show you all that is being offered without hiding secret "contracts" or "liabilities" one may regret & pay for later)...
...between reading through the info, then hitting the like button, then downloading the software then installing it, before plopping the Key emailed to me to register the product to then checking back to my mail to Archive the confirmation info?
....About 2 1/2 minutes. Seriously, it takes so little effort on my part that I'm usually reading articles or watching reruns of Pawn Stars while sipping my coffee with 1 hand as the other does the couple taps required to do it all.

By now, I've downloaded perhaps a dozen or so completely free programs from BJD over the span of about a year that I've had this account (I don't download stuffs onto my laptop willy nilly^_~) & I'd say about 5 or so were through the Facebook deals & I have NEVER had an issue with BJD or the programmer's software...not a single scam, or trick, or scandal, or them misleading me, heck not even any spam/unwanted emails! One should definitely be wary about deals offered to them from sporadic businesses & companies through Facebook & if in doubt...READ everything! It's the least you can do to protect your own hiney but people have to realize that gee wiz...not ALL businesses are corrupted evil spawns of Satan. ^_~

Daryn Bogart @ Roger Osborne ....... if you don't want to use Facebook or take the survey, you always have the option left for people like yourself......PAY for the software while the rest of us get it free by complying with the reuirements to get it. Don't like it? Tough.

Thomas Duntze Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Essential Fonts comments board, where it originally appeared.

@Mr. Osborne,
Bitsdujour made a deal possible for $0. Shouldn't it be their decision, how this can be compensated?
Fact is, a lot of people use facebook, follow Bitsdujour and have no problem with this. Others - like me - just fill out the questionaire.
Take a look at it. You can choose at least one nonsense answer. Honesty is not required and it costs you about three minutes.
Feel free to not take this offer. Maybe it will appear on Giveawayoftheday someday. The Themida-package might be more to your liking.
Thomas - not related to Bitsdujour.

Paulo Macewan Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Photopus Pro comments board, where it originally appeared.

To get this software download I have to like you ??
How on earth can I like something i have never tried! Keep it - its yours

Ota C Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the Auto Employee Schedule comments board, where it originally appeared.

The same thing applies to having to 'Like' you/developer when you have free deals on (I don't do forced love) vs securing the discount without being asked to do anything in return for it.

Wouldn't it be nice if you and the developers became more and more popular by simply being cool – instead of begging for popularity? A word of mouth and ORGANIC likes at FB will get you the same number of customers anyway. Not to mention the latter ones will be significantly more purchase-ready because people actually recommended you to those new customers (instead of merely quoting generic advertising messages on their walls).

Daryn Bogart I am NOT directing this comment to Ota but rather to ALL of the people complaining about the "requirement" regarding facebook. There ISN'T one!! EVERY product that had the Facebook Like options also had an option to take a small survey instead. If you would simply READ the print in front of you, you would see that.

Why should you have to do the survey? Because that's what the companies giving the software away want you to do in order to avoid paying for the software. If you don't want to, then spend your money on the same product you could've received for free had you taken the time to answer 7-12 questions. Stop whining and acting like you should have everything for free without having to do anything for it!!

Jim Buchanan Hi Nico. It's me again. The one you helped a few days ago. i've cooled down about the FB thing and decided to read this article. Since my tirade was all about FB and how I try to stay away, I was expecting to see my nonsense included but it wasn't anywhere to be found.

So Facebook and the deals. Let's say it straight. I do not like Facebook. Not because it is Facebook but because of the dishonesty displayed with its security measures. One day you can shut someone off from seeing what is on your page and the next those settings mean squat. That is my biggest pet peeve. My wife uses FB a great deal and it keeps her in tune with all the relatives she can find. Recently she found a niece she had wanted to find for 30 years. Good for her.

It is no skin off my nose to 'like' a company on Facebook so I've changed my mind and will do so. However, as for doing the 'unlike' button right after I feel it is a bit dishonest. [No disrespect to anyone else here but that is my take on the 'unlike' button.] If I get the program then someone had to pay for it. That is the people who thought up the program had to be paid. As a matter of fact I had a friend who thanked me for steering him to a company I had liked. I figure that paid for the program I got that time.
What one company did was they wanted on my FB page (to be liked) but I had to tell why I liked them or no go. They actually checked. AND all I put was that I wanted to have a program like that and this was the way to get it. Not dishonest and it explained the 'like' which I also had to give. Again - no skin off my nose.

Now the damn survey!! I use Firefox and have yet to find any real survey. When I do try to find the survey and I can't then I try IE. Still no luck.

So to sum it all up:
- don't like FB because of reason given
- will use FB but won't use 'unlike' right after because it is the program I am liking not the company!
- There is good in FB. One just has to have good experiences with it.
- Survey? Where? (=== doesn't really have to be answered until I try to find the next one.

To all: May peace be with you during this day and afterwards.

Nico Westerdale The survey link is in the popup after you click "Get It For Free"

Jim Buchanan Ahh ... now it is beginning to make sense as to why I can't find it. Possibly one of my ad blockers is stopping it or Firefox's popup blocker is blocking it. Guess I will have to try and disable it for while I'm using the\at particular item. Thanks for turning on the light for me.

Now, all I have to figure out is why I'm not getting my daily emails from BitsDuJour. Been missing them for a few days for some reason. Probably some silly setting I put on somewhere.

Again thanks.

Nico Westerdale We're showing you as signed up Jim, please check your spam folder.

Software Babe Editor's Note: This comment was moved from the 7-Data Card Recovery [1 Year] comments board, where it originally appeared.

I don't do Facebook either. Only those 30 and younger do Facebook and they have absolutely NO IDEA how it will harm them socially, financially, educationally, thru the workplace, and with government.
This next generation is doomed, I am very sad to say.....so much for high-tech destruction..........and I am a Software Engineer who actually KNOWS what I am talking about.......GOD BLESS AMERICA.

However, BitsDuJour is an awesome software site and I often purchase their discounted software, so, THANK YOU BITSDUJOUR!

Rick Truell Software Babe: "... they have absolutely NO IDEA how it will harm them socially, financially, educationally, thru the workplace, and with government."

The truly sad thing is that even though Facebook continues to make big headlines with its bugs and security problems like it did just over a week ago, people *continue* to use it and, even worse, sign up for it. There certainly are a lot of Ostriches in the world :-(

Netpilot > "BitsDuJour is for People who Love Software"

But Facebook is NOT!

I too, do not, and will not ever have a Facebook, Google+, Twitter, or any other account that makes my life's details public and recorded forever, with absolutely no control of how that information will be used.

It's going to take a generation before enough people who have been using social media discover how it will hurt them sometime in their future and they start to tell their kids to stay away from it.

I'm not a cynic, just a long-time computer professional who knows and has seen how personal data can be stored, organized, and used for reasons other that those originally intended - for good or bad.

Jim Buchanan I also have this site bookmarked and receive emails about the deals. All is good that way.
The things I don't like about the Facebook thing are:
1 - Everyone who can read knows how well FB sells your info. Some pictures that my brother-in-law took ended up in Europe where he found them one day. So he decided to put his signature on them. And I would believe most people like pictures without names through the picture. Just an example of how well you can trust FB
2 - Having to say you like a company just to get the deal is a bit against my "good" feelings and often I don't bother.
3 - And to be able to sign in with my FB account is also not my thing. FB tracks you as bad as the government does. I do not need FB to be able to always see what I do.
These reasons are why I do not want to 'have' to 'like' any company on FB. Now if the company wants for me to give a review or thank them on their web page and they give me a link where I could do that without going to FB, then I would happily do so.

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