Can We Stop the Free Apps in the Freebies Section?

Are you talking about the free for a limited time apps? Those aren't really free, they are free for a limited time.

By the way, if they were actually "crappy" I wouldn't be posting them on here. Most of the crappy ones I don't bother with for myself or for others.

I personally see it as spam because I have no interest in the apps but I guess if other people like a free app or 2 and don't know about it then it's great so I'm on the fence **eats popcorn awaiting the outcome**

Hey

This is a tricky one!

I understand lots of the more traditional freebie hunters aren't too fussed about free ebooks and apps. And it was for this reason that we updated the guidelines to disallow free ebooks.

That said, I think there's a distinction between something being always free and free for a limited period.

I personally think that, probably, something that is always free doesn't really constitute a deal - as there's nothing particularly special about it. Although even with that statement there are probably a bunch of exceptions!

However, something that usually has a price but is free for a limited period of time potentially represents more value and is more "deal-like" - I believe this is where Rockman's posts often fall. And I have to say, whilst some may not be interested in the subject matter of his posts, they are always exceptionally well written and laid out!

I think, ultimately, people have different interests and I wonder if there's a way to allow both free ebooks and free apps without negatively impacting those who aren't interested in either.

A new category perhaps? Or an option to filter out posts by tag? Any and all ideas welcome!

Kelsey I agree that a new category would be great; perhaps ‘free downloads’, which could cover both apps and ebooks plus anything else which you don’t physically receive. Could put the original price in the description (the initial search view which is then clicked on) crossed through and the reduced price put next to it (like is already done in the deals section of the site) or, if it’s always free then not crossed through price and just ‘free’. This would indicate to people whether it truly is a deal (i.e you are getting something for free which usually you would have to pay for) or if it’s something which is normally free and therefore just a nice find which some people may like / find useful. If you (by you I mean company founders / owners!) have a way of monitoring click through rates for each post then it should be easy enough to see what is and isn’t popular amongst site users and could then update the guidelines accordingly (i.e if you have a below average click through rate on ebooks which are always free then you simply don’t let them be posted, they can only be posted if an original price is added). Ebooks (and probably apps actually) could even be catagorised by genre, so people don’t have to look through everything to find what they are interested in / looking for. Although the ‘traditional‘ freebie hunter may not be so interested the number of people searching for free ebooks is increasing as the cost of e-readers, Kindles etc are decreasing aswell as improving technology allowing ebooks to be read much easier on mobile phones, tablets etc so it would almost certainly direct increased traffic to the site, which I assume can only be a good thing! I hope that makes sense.... !