Brad

As you can see, we have finally upgraded the forums to vBulletin 3.5. This new version has some new features for both you the users and us the admins. As with any new version, there may still be bugs or we may have messed up when installing the various hacks/add-ons/plug-ins, so if you see something that doesn't look right, either reply to this thread or send me or RossMAN a PM. Besides the new overall look of the forum, there are many new features that either were a part of vB 3.5 or that we added after the fact to give you added functionality. A lot of the smaller things you'll find on your own, but here are a few of the bigger changes: * Member Pages: in your User CP, there will now be a link to create or edit your "user page". You can use this page as a "super signature" to post whatever you want - pictures, text, etc... You can use it to list items you are trying to sell, post links to your favorite sites - whatever you want. You can browse others' pages by clicking the "Member Pages" link above on the navigation bar. Each member page also has a "shoutbox" where you can communicate about that page with each other like your own forum thread. * New Avatars: we have added several new categories of avatars in case you don't want to find a custom avatar to use. Many of these new avatars were custom made for this board from various sources. * Create New Thread on Forum Home Page: next to each forum title on the forum home page is a little "page" icon. Clicking this will allow you to create a new thread in that forum right from the home page. This saves a click as you don't have to go into the forum and then click the "new thread" button if you don't want to. * Members Visited Today: at the bottom of the forum home page, in addition to the list of members currently online, there is now a list of everyone who has been to the site since midnight. Hovering over their username will show you the time they were last online. * Expanded "Top 7" Statistics: the very popular "top 7" statistics are back, and are improved. Click on the title of that section and you will be taken to an expanded, dedicated statistics page where you can determine how many of the top/newest/most recent stats you want to see on that page. * GottaDeal Hot Deals: at the bottom of every page will be a drop down menu where you can quickly see at a glance the latest deals posted on the main site. Just click on a deal and it will take you directly to that deal's page on the main GD site. * Back to Top Icons: in every post in every thread, in the bottom right corner there is a little icon with an arrow pointing up. Clicking that will take you to the top of that page in case you need to see the original post. * Inline Editing: now when you edit your posts, you can do so right on the actual thread page. The text of your post changes to an edit box where you can make changes and re-save your post. If you need more formatting controls, click the "Go Advanced" button to go to the traditional form. Also any "new post" text boxes can be expanded in height using the arrow icons in the upper right corner - try it out. * Notification of New PMs: with the previous version, those using IE saw a flashing box when you had a new PM. It didn't work for Firefox, so for this version we will have the PM box be a neon green with a little flashing red LED. This works in both IE and FF and should be enough to catch your eye should you have new PM(s) waiting. * GottaPoints System: this system awards you points for various things on the forum. These points will be able to be redeemed for entries into our contests, and in the future you will be able to redeem your points for things like free GD t-shirts & pens, and other items. I will be making a new thread for this system, so check for that to get much more info on this new feature. * vBulletin Lite for PDAs/Phones: in the bottom left corner of the page you can select your "skin" for the forum. One of these skins is called "GottaDeal.com Lite" and is an extremely stripped-down version perfect for PDAs, cell phones or when you don't want the full graphical version (i.e. work, etc...). There is also a skin called "GottaDeal.com SFW" which is a more work-friendly version in greyscale with no avatars or sigs. There is also a "GottaDeal.com Classic" skin which looks very similar to the old version. Other than these new additions, the board should work pretty much the same as it has. We tried to keep a similar look, but wanted to make it a little more "pretty" and brighten it up a little compared to the older darker blue color scheme. If you see anything wrong, or have suggestions for how to improve the forum, please reply to this thread or let us know via PM. So that's it, welcome to the new forum and let us know what you think :)

That could be done - it would just involve writing a small script that "scrapes" the woot home page a few minutes after midnight to get the item's title and then automatically creates a post - not too difficult

Yeah that's just to display PHP code (with syntax highlighting I think)

You can show PHP code, but I don't think it allows actually executing the code - too much opportunity for security problems. I can run code on the main site - just PM me with the details.

Just bumping this thread in case anyone has any last-minute suggestions before we do the upgrade on Saturday :)

I'll usually include "highly reviewed" when I see cutomer reviews (at places like Amazon, Newegg, Overstock, PriceGrabber, etc...) that are above average (for example, 4/5 stars at Amazon, etc...). Or if I've read reviews at authoritative sites that seem to like the product, the same thing applies.

I don't agree with the "deal wouldn't still be live if it were any good" theory. The reason this deal is still alive is because it only appeals to certain people. If someone wants a loaded laptop with a 3 year warranty, this is going to be the best deal they will find. The $750 off $1499 won't save them as much as this deal does. But the majority of laptop purchasers don't need these loaded machines or the longer warranty, so for them this deal is not as hot. Judging by the interest in this thread, the number of clickthroughs for the deal on the main site and the actual sales we've seen, this is indeed one of the few hot laptop deals we've seen since the huge July deals. And I also think that 45% off qualifies a deal for the "HOT!" tag. 45% off pretty much any kind of item at Dell would in fact. Maybe not "**** BLAZING HOT!!!! *****", but it's still a very good deal for the right audience.

That's true. But if you can cut your list of stores to hit down from 8-10 down to 4-6, you can still have the full BF experience knowing that you've already got some of the better deals, plus you'll be able to get to the remaining stores a lot quicker.

RossMAN is going to take all the fun away from the official BF site launch!

Starting today, Best Buy stores have the following console games on clearance: Playstation 2 Blood Rayne 2 $9.99 Cabela's Deer Hunt 2005 $4.99 Conflict Desert Store II $4.99 Crash 'N Burn $4.99 Dead to Rights $4.99 Def Jam Vendetta $4.99 Driver 3 $4.99 Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires $9.99 Enter the Matrix $4.99 Eye Toy $9.99 Fight Club $4.99 Freekstyle $4.99 Future Tactics $.99 Ghost Recon $4.99 Growlanser Generations $9.99 Hot Wheels: Stunt Track Challenge $4.99 James Bond 007: Agent Under Fire $4.99 Jeopardy $4.99 Kill Switch $4.99 Knockout Kings 2002 $4.99 Midnight Club/Corvette 2-Pack $4.99 Mission Impossible 2: Operation $4.99 MLB 2005 $4.99 Monsters, Inc Disney/Pixar $4.99 MTX: Mototrax $4.99 MVP Baseball 2004 $4.99 Namco Museum Vol. 1 $4.99 Narc $4.99 NBA Street $4.99 Nicktoons: Movin' $4.99 Pinball Hall of Fame $.99 Resident Evil Outbreak (Online) $9.99 Risk $4.99 Rocky $.99 Saturday Night Speedway $4.99 Scaler $4.99 Scooby Doo Mystery Mayhem $4.99 Second Sight $4.99 Sega Superstars/Eye Toy $4.99 Shellshock: Nam '67 $4.99 Silent Hill 4 $4.99 SRS $4.99 SSX Tricky $4.99 Tak2: The Staff of Dreams $4.99 Terminator 3: The Redemption $9.99 The Hobbit $4.99 The Polar Express $4.99 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 $4.99 Top Gun: Combat Zones $4.99 Y's: The Ark of Napishtim $9.99 XBox Army Men: Sarge's War $4.99 Blood Rayne 2 $9.99 Cabela's Dangerous Hunts $4.99 Cabela's Deer Hunt 2005 $4.99 Catwoman $.99 Chessmaster $4.99 Colin Mcrae Rally 4 $4.99 Conflict Vietnam $4.99 Crash 'N Burn $4.99 Crash Nitro Kart $.99 Crash: Twinsanity $4.99 Digimon Rumble Arena 2 $9.99 Dukes of Hazzard: Return $9.99 FIFA Soccer 2004 $9.99 Fight Club $4.99 Ford Mustang $4.99 Ghost Recon: Island Thunder $4.99 Godzilla: Save the Earth $9.99 Harry Potter and the Prisoner $4.99 High Rollers Casino $4.99 Hunter $4.99 Legacy of Kain: Defiance $4.99 Lemony Snicket: ASOUE $4.99 Lord of the Rings: Two Towers $4.99 Magic the Gathering: Battle Ground $4.99 Mech Assault 2: Lone Wolf $4.99 Midnight Club 2 $4.99 Midway Arcade Treasures $4.99 Midway Arcade Treasures 2 $4.99 MLB Slugfest 2003 $4.99 Mortal Combat: Deception (Se) $9.99 MTV: Music Generator 3 $9.99 Otogi 2 $9.99 Outlaw Golf 2 $4.99 Rainbow Six 3 Tom Clancy $4.99 Return to Castle Wolfenstein $4.99 Rocky: Legends $4.99 Scaler $4.99 Scooby Doo Mystery Mayhem $4.99 Second Sight $4.99 Shellshock: Nam '67 $4.99 Silent Hill 4 $4.99 Simpson's Road Rage $4.99 Spyro: A Hero's Tail $4.99 SRS $4.99 Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Acade $4.99 Star Wars Starfighter $.99 Tak2: The Staff of Dreams $4.99 The Bards Tale $4.99 The Incredibles $4.99 Tron 2.0: Killer $4.99 Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush $4.99 Yager $.99 Game Boy Advance Astro Boy $4.99 Backyard Basketball $9.99 Cabela's Big Game Hunter 2005 $4.99 Disney's Tarzan: Return to the Jungle $.99 Disney's The Lion King 1.5 $4.99 Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury $4.99 Excitebike Classic $.99 Fairly Odd Parents: Shadow $4.99 Final Fantasy I&II: Dawn of Souls $9.99 Finding Nemo $4.99 Golden Nugget $4.99 Grand Theft Auto $9.99 Kim Possible 2: Drakken's Demise $4.99 Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past $9.99 Lemony Snicket $9.99 Lord of the Rings: The Third Age $4.99 Mega Man Battle Network Blue Mo. $9.99 Monopoly $4.99 Ms Pacman Maze Madness $4.99 Namco Museum $4.99 Rapala's Pro Fishing $4.99 Shaman King $4.99 Spyro: Season of Flame $4.99 Texas Hold Em $4.99 The Polar Express $4.99 The Urbz: Sims in the City $4.99 Tony Hawk's Underground $.99 Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush Re $4.99 World Championship $4.99 Zoids: Legacy $9.99 Pac Man World $4.99 GameCube Fairly Odd Parents: Shadow Show $4.99 FIFA Soccer 2005 $9.99 Goldeneye: Rogue Agent $4.99 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of $4.99 Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life $4.99 Intellivision Lives $4.99 Lemony Snicket: ASOUE $4.99 Lord of the Rings: The Third Age $4.99 Lord of the Rings: Two Towers $4.99 Medal of Honor: Rising Sun $4.99 Megaman X Command Mission $4.99 Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes $4.99 NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup $9.99 NBA Street 2 $4.99 NFL Street $4.99 NHL 2005 $9.99 Pac Man World 2 Bundle $4.99 Paper Mario 2 $9.99 SC: Pandora Tomorrow Tom Clancy $9.99 Scooby Doo Mystery Mayhem $4.99 Spyro: A Hero's Tail $4.99 Tak2: The Staff of Dreams $4.99 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 $9.99 Tony Hawk's Underground $4.99 True Crime: Streets of LA $4.99 Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush $4.99 Viewtiful Joe $4.99 Playstation Final Fantasy Anthology $4.99 Final Fantasy Origins $4.99 Final Fantasy VIII $4.99 Pac Man World $.99 Patriotic Pinball $.99 Sponge Bob Squarepants $.99 Nintendo DS Mr. Driller: Drill Spirits $9.99 Zoo Keeper $4.99

I think he's referring to having the main 6 similes always at the top of the list, and then the rest randomized.

That's the thing - although there are some legit hot deals on BF, many of the items in the sale ads can be found online for the same price or cheaper in the weeks before Christmas. In fact, we are going to specifically point out many of these items on either the site or the forum. We'll say "Best Buy has this DVD player in their ad for $49.99, but you can order it now for $44.99 with free shipping at Amazon", etc... That's part of the reason we have the site in the first place, to let people know that many times you can get the same item cheaper online and not have to deal with the crowds. That can cut down on the number of stores you need to hit on BF, increasing your chances of getting everything you want.

Compared to the normal Dell prices, this deal is still very hot. How would you like to be your average consumer going right to Dell.com where these configurations are around $600 more than you can get with this coupon. The 3 year warranty is very nice and should greatly help resale value.

Yeah, we'll have a lot of new members again this year, plus we'll be contacting all those people who were here last year reminding them about the site, so when they come back we can all yell at them for leaving after BF, lol. Hopefully those of you who found the site last year during BF can help us out this year by spreading the word about the site wherever else you happen to post.

The work we do to prepare is fun, the build-up and anticipation for BF is fun, the actual day is fun, reading the threads is fun. If it was that much of a hassle, we wouldn't do it, but we know a lot of people like it and we'll get a lot of new people coming to the site, which benefits everyone in the long run.

There is only one code. I don't know why the codes are different. Dell has used that page for several recent promotions, so the codes may be the older ones. I'd try using the code on our site first, and if it doesn't work, use the ones on Dell.com as a backup.

Very sorry to hear that, Keith. Here are some that are supposed to work for 1800flowers.com: VISA33 - $10 off $39.99+ TKY - 15% off A25 - 25% off $49.99+

As for whether the 40% off any configuration coupon will be back, it might, but it probably won't happen until mid-October. And even that is not a certainty. Dell recently lowered the 35% coupon to only 30%, so it might go back up to 35%, but that might be it. With this deal, you get 45% off, and although they come with a lot of extras, you can get them for just a little bit more than a stripped-down version using the 35% coupon. Plus the extras will help if you decide to sell it down the road. The extended warranty is also a very nice thing to have.

Very nice deal for anyone who wants a loaded laptop. The configs are pretty loaded anyway, and you can upgrade a few things and also get 45% off those.

Cheap TVs are one of the few things you can count on for BF. Pretty much every store that carries TVs will have the cheap 13", 19", etc...

There aren't really any hot deals on them yet. Buying from Apple.com gives you free shipping and free engraving. MacMall.com has free shipping and free FM transmitter after rebate (and $5 cheaper).

All the ones I've seen without rebates were in the $22-26 range. CompUSA has the Sandisk version for $19.99 this week, but it's in-store only.

For anyone interested, I found it interesting that for all the sites in my Amazon account (here, XBox-360.com, XBox360Preorders), for the few hours this deal was live yesterday, the Deluxe version outsold the Core version by about a 14 to 1 ratio. Nobody wants the Core system. I think there will be a shortage of Deluxe systems this holiday season, but there will probably be lots of Core systems available.

GoDaddy gives 10% off with coupon code PAYPAL10. I'm not sure if you have to use PayPal as your payment method to get the discount.

Nice deal. OnSale still has it for $169 shipped. They are coming out with an 890 model soon which adds RF.