Once in a lifetime deal

[Tom]

DRF, a while ago, told us all we had to register tor ead articles "once in our lifetime." Now they are updating their dtabase and we have register a second time, even though I just logged in!

So here is a golden opportunity.....LIE about everything? Your favorite track is Arapaho, your second fav is Yavapi, you were born in 1918 and you are an owner who bets over 50,000 year and buys the print editin every day!~ :lol:

Why should we give them FREE information when they charge us for everything? Screw up their DB......enjoy!:lol::lol::lol:

[Indulto]

DRF, a while ago, told us all we had to register tor ead articles "once in our lifetime." Now they are updating their dtabase and we have register a second time, even though I just logged in!

So here is a golden opportunity.....LIE about everything? Your favorite track is Arapaho, your second fav is Yavapi, you were born in 1918 and you are an owner who bets over 50,000 year and buys the print editin every day!~ :lol:

Why should we give them FREE information when they charge us for everything? Screw up their DB......enjoy!:lol::lol::lol:Of course if you lied to them originally, and you put in different information now, they'll know you're a liar. :lol:

[bushwick]

I for one don't mind logging in every so often for all the free info I get everyday I think it is a small price to pay.
BUSHWICK

[magwell]

DRF, a while ago, told us all we had to register tor ead articles "once in our lifetime." Now they are updating their dtabase and we have register a second time, even though I just logged in!

So here is a golden opportunity.....LIE about everything? Your favorite track is Arapaho, your second fav is Yavapi, you were born in 1918 and you are an owner who bets over 50,000 year and buys the print editin every day!~ :lol:

Why should we give them FREE information when they charge us for everything? Screw up their DB......enjoy!:lol::lol::lol: Tom your 100% right... we get enough info here, i took drf off my favorite links

[cj's dad]

Hey Tom,


you're approaching 27,000 posts. It's not like you don't have the time for an update.:lol: :lol: :D :jump: :lol:

[Tom]

Of course if you lied to them originally, and you put in different information now, they'll know you're a liar. :lol:

Ahhh, but which time? :lol:

[Dave Schwartz]

So here is a golden opportunity.....LIE about everything?

This response is not aimed at Tom (the poster of the above quote). It is an actual question.


Why?

What is the big deal?

DRF provides a lot of valuable services FOR FREE! Toteboards, articles, track info pages.


I guess I do not understand why someone who provides all this stuff for free should be villified for asking to collect info so that they might - what? Send you an occasional advertisement for a new book that most of us actually look forward to reading?


If you hate DRF so much, would you be happy if they were out of business?

My guess would be that we would all be saying, "Gee, if only there were a company that would provide some stuff for racing that I didn't have to pay for."


This is a serious question -

"Why is there so much anger towards the DRF?"


Regards,
Dave Schwartz

[cj's dad]

No anger here dave; it's the 1st place I go to 4 results.

Info update toook 3-4 minutes. big deal

[Kelso]

Of course if you lied to them originally, and you put in different information now, they'll know you're a liar. :lol:

Not if he uses his Monaco address:
#1 Rue de Palais
Exchequer Suite

[Tom]

Not anger ( this time) Dave - irony!

If it is once in a lifetime, why are we enterting it again?
It is a place where we buy data, yet they want ours for free.
I just logged in, but they wnat to know who I am?

Besides, I felt that some of the info they asked for was 100% out of line and refuse to cooperate with some irresponsible corporation just because they ask me too. There is no earthly reason to have a connectin between a name and annual betting amounts and age. They can PAY for that info, like we pay for most of thiers.

I guess it is anger after all!:lol:

[Gibbon]

What is the big deal? Because it is NOT free. By providing identifiable data, any business using analytical tools can and do track, create demographics, target sales, some would say - spy on their potential consumers. Linux is free – as in free beer. Information is not free rather come with a high price – in this case lack of freedom. DRF could do better by joining the computer revolution {read HDW} as apposed to promoting the status quo.

There are other way to increase daily traffic other than by spying. Perhaps if DRF dropped registration they would not suffer the same fate as NY Times or LA Times. DRF could take a page out of Forbes Magazine. NO registration has resulted in massive daily web hits. I wonder what would happen if PA required all reader to register?

How many more indignities must we as bettor give up? Our privacy as well I suppose. Giving sensitive information to Home Depot may or may not come back to haunt us but giving same info to ADW or DRF may....

Privacy, a long lost concept although something worthy of a good fight!
But “I have nothing to fear” some interject. I am not a two dollar player – I have everything to fear.

Tom is spot on as usual.






__________________________________
The game exemplifies the worst aspects of capitalism that have made our country so great. ~ Walter Matthau

[Gibbon]

http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/
http://www.bloodhorse.com/
http://www.equidaily.com/

require NO cumbersome registration process.

[bigmack]

Perhaps if DRF dropped registration they would not suffer the same fate as NY Times or LA Times. DRF could take a page out of Forbes Magazine. NO registration has resulted in massive daily web hits. I wonder what would happen if PA required all reader to register?

Tom is spot on as usual.
Gibbo - You hit it on the nail. Tommy always does.

Sites that posture as if they're doing us a favor by disseminating information that we can gather from a multitude of other sources have spent too much time around a conference table with marketing nimrods.

What's the big deal? Fine. What's the big deal if one interjects "fantasyland" registration info?

Again, that NYTimes/LATimes scenario is as apt as it gets.

DRF is practicing a business model as outdated as Crist's PoTail.

[Dave Schwartz]

Gib,

I must disagree with you here.

While those other sites are all worthwhile, they do not produce information that I would call "essential" to handicapping - like tote information.

And that tote board, you can bet, is not without a significant cost. Yet they do not ask for anything in return except our info.

I have not seen the new registration yet - perhaps there are some items that are "over the top."

IMHO, when a company spends money to give us something at no cost, they deserve a chance to recoup it elsewhere. And by "elsewhere" I mean by advertising to us.

Heck - Why would I want to buy a horse racing book from Amazon if I can get it from DRF for a reasonably competitive price? I don't even mind if it is a couple of dollars more - if it keeps them in business.


Just my opinion.


Dave

[socantra]

IMHO, when a company spends money to give us something at no cost, they deserve a chance to recoup it elsewhere. And by "elsewhere" I mean by advertising to us.

Heck - Why would I want to buy a horse racing book from Amazon if I can get it from DRF for a reasonably competitive price? I don't even mind if it is a couple of dollars more - if it keeps them in business.

Dave

I'm fairly ambivalent about DRF's marketing practices. I don't use their site often and when I do I generally pay for what I get, so any other information is really none of their business. Of course, I also refuse to talk to telemarketers unless I initiate the call, so maybe I'm less tolerant than some folks.

As for buying books from them rather than Amazon, I think you must be a certifiable nutcase. Here is a comparison of the first four books I came to at the DRF store.

Bet With The Best 2
DRF - $29.95
Amazon - $19.77

Handicapping 101: Paperback
DRF - $14.95
Amazon - $10.17

Expert Handicapping
DRF - $24.95
Amazon - $16.47

Betting The Kentucky Derby
DRF $14.95
Amazon - $10.17

That means at DRF, you pay nearly 50% more, and that's before shipping. Amazon has their free shipping if you spend more than $25.00. I was unable to find a shipping cost from DRF without logging on and going through the ordering process.

You must really love that toteboard.

[Gibbon]

Perhaps I'm envious of my counterpart enjoying privileges horseplayers only dream about. Sports handicappers relish such freedoms as free parking, free entry, complimentary meals. Not to mention free past performances widely available. Game replays, near infinite and instantaneous updates of odds and scores sent directly to cell phones/pagers/computers...

Dave, when our generation moves on to that great race track ??? in the sky, where O where have the horseplayers gone? Will posterity reflect with fond memories of glorious battles between Affirmed vs. Alydar, Sunday Silence vs. Easy Goer, the magnificence of Spectacular Bid, Ruffian or Cigar? I think not. Everyone will be watching March Madness, a Superbowl in Madrid or perish the thought, UFC.

We are the last of the Mohicans in an industry that cannot face an uncertain future.
O' how I miss Belmont I mean Roosevelt raceway .... a glimmer of things to come?







__________________________________
They gambled in the Garden of Eden, and they will again if there's another one. ~ Richard Albert Canfield (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Albert_Canfield)

[Dave Schwartz]

As for buying books from them rather than Amazon, I think you must be a certifiable nutcase. Here is a comparison of the first four books I came to at the DRF store.

Certifiable nutcase - Yes, I get that a lot. :lol:


I certainly see your point on prices.


Dave

[socantra]

Certifiable nutcase - Yes, I get that a lot. :lol



You too, huh?

[tleusin]

Everything the DRF gives for free is available elsewhere for the same amount.

It is none of thier business where or how much I gamble a year. Perhaps I would not mind it near as much if it were not REQUIRED.
While I find handicapping with the DRF better for me than any other product
I still wonder why we have to pay more for the same amount of tracks on line as
in the paper form.

[Greyfox]

Maybe the original data base man died. Registry was once in a life time. They never said whose life did they?;)

[Kelso]

I did the re-registration waltz yesterday. Made certain to UNcheck the "send me a bunch of worthless offers" (or something close to that) box.

Sure enough, their first spam email arrived this afternoon. I squinted REEEEEL hard to read the "opt-out" instructions and followed them religiously. Looking forward to seeing how well they follow MY instructions (again).

A real slimy bunch there at DRF. Greatly disappointed to learn that.

[Tom]

Maybe the original data base man died. Registry was once in a life time. They never said whose life did they?;)

Now I like that one! :lol::lol::lol:

[takeout]

Getting ready to sell again???

[Pace Cap'n]

This will mark my third time to register, each one more invasive of my privacy.

[Indulto]

Gib,

I must disagree with you here.

While those other sites are all worthwhile, they do not produce information that I would call "essential" to handicapping - like tote information.

And that tote board, you can bet, is not without a significant cost. Yet they do not ask for anything in return except our info.

I have not seen the new registration yet - perhaps there are some items that are "over the top."

IMHO, when a company spends money to give us something at no cost, they deserve a chance to recoup it elsewhere. And by "elsewhere" I mean by advertising to us.

Heck - Why would I want to buy a horse racing book from Amazon if I can get it from DRF for a reasonably competitive price? I don't even mind if it is a couple of dollars more - if it keeps them in business.


Just my opinion.


DaveDS,
We're actually almost in agreement here. I generally regard the DRF to be a benevolent force in the industry and I don't mind paying for their services that I use.

I think giving them one's real name and e-mail address is reasonable, but not year of birth or level of play category. As a previous poster suggested, they should be optional. If one must be 18 or over, then that category is reasonable as might be 50 or over.

Valid data in the fields I objected to is invaluable to them to determine marketing strategy. Therefore they should consider offering something of value in exchange to the willing. Decline-to-state should be an option to avoid providing incentive to enter invalid data and to lose the respect of customers in the process.

A great marketing promotion for them would be to offer the LV video tapes for $25 to any customer whose annual subscrition purchases exceed $100 or free to anyone willing to provide the elusive data they wish to capture. Are you listening, Marc?

Now that I have a 22 in monitor, I will probably purchase the Moss figures on-line rather than the print edition. I just wish it were possible to highlight characters in red and save the highlighted PDF.

It occurred to me they could use colors on pace ratings and get rid of the distracting, bolded race shape comments. They could also use color in the company line to identify common competitors not entered in the race.

I really feel they are missing the boat by not accompanying the Byer rating with either the Beyer Par for the race or the offset from par. At least they should be available as an extra-cost option.

DRF is the best I can get for what I'm willing to pay, but they could be better.

[takeout]

I found it extremely irksome the first time around and held out for a quite a while before finally caving in to read some article that I can’t even remember now. Not doing it again though. DRF, you can quit poking me with a sharp stick, I finally get it. Don’t want me reading your stuff... fine.

[highnote]

I use a credit card that gives me frequent flyer miles. Some oil companies offer rebates if you buy their gasoline. Costco gives me a rebate at the end of the year when I buy from them.

More and more I try to only shop with companies that give me an incentive.

Otherwise, if someone wants me to view their ads on TV or the internet then they need to pay me. Same thing if they want my info -- they need to pay me for it. No free lunch.

[Grits]

Ha!! DRF thinks the information they are being given is absolute truth--WHEN PIGS FLY!

Asking a woman what year she was born . . . . dream on buddy!! :lol:

And even more absurd, asking her how she spends her money, ie, how much she wagers???

Rolling on the floor, still, . . . . LOLOLOLLLLLLLLLLLLLL:lol:

[riskman]

Maybe the original data base man died. Registry was once in a life time. They never said whose life did they?;)

And maybe the lifetime registrant died, which means the departed must re-register.