Free Previews Discussion Thread - June 2020

This is the shortest list of free previews that I have seen listed on Dish's site in a long time. (Thank goodness I am tracking all of the other free channels that Dish does not list, in the thread linked above.) Perhaps this would be a good time for the Free Previews page on Dish's site to bring back the list of upcoming free previews. This would pad out the list a bit, and give us a heads-up about any free previews that are coming soon.
 
This is the shortest list of free previews that I have seen listed on Dish's site in a long time. (Thank goodness I am tracking all of the other free channels that Dish does not list, in the thread linked above.) Perhaps this would be a good time for the Free Previews page on Dish's site to bring back the list of upcoming free previews. This would pad out the list a bit, and give us a heads-up about any free previews that are coming soon.

“Skinny previews”?


Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys
 
Now that the Cine Sony preview has ended, there is only one row of channels left on the free previews page.
They finally brought back the list of Past Free Previews today. This only further highlights how many channels used to be in free preview recently, and how few are now left. I always found that to be the least useful section on that page, since those previews are already over. The only reason I can think of for including it is in case Dish gets calls from customers complaining about losing channels. This way, the CSR can tell the customers that it was just a free preview, and refer them to the Free Previews web page to back up that claim.

The list of Upcoming Free Previews used to be in-between the current previews and the past previews. That section was useful to give us a heads-up about upcoming premium channel previews, but now that section is still completely missing.
 
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It's rather funny that they would free preview a channel that is going away - DIY is scheduled to become Magnolia TV.
Basically just going to be the same channel, just to capitalize on the Chip and Joanna Gaines popularity. Back in April MN had a 4 parts special on DYI giving MN the top 4 out of 5 rated shows on DIY.
 
Not digging the new thread for each month, easier to keep track of just one.
It's always your prerogative to start your own thread and do all the work it takes to keep track of all the things.....
Thanks, Bobby! It is a little bit of work at the beginning of each month to update the list and start the new threads, but I enjoy doing it. The reason for the new threads is that people were starting to complain about the old sticky Free Previews thread getting too cluttered, especially with discussion about the free previews rather than just being a simple list. I had always wondered why it was necessary to keep such a long thread as a sticky in the first place. Who is going to have an urgent need to find a list of old free previews from eight years ago? Also, at the time, Dish had frequently been adding new free previews without any advance notice, and continually extending existing free previews, so it was getting hard to keep track of them all. So, I figured that it would be more useful to have a sticky thread that only lists the current free previews, and switch it out on a regular basis, like once per month. (By the way, I feel the same way about the sticky 4K Events Non-Discussion Thread, but it is not my job to maintain that one. This is just a friendly suggestion.) I started the monthly Free Previews Non-Discussion threads to satisfy my desire for an updated thread that only lists the current month's previews, and to address the complaints from those who had been wanting an uncluttered Free Previews thread. This worked great, except that some people had been wanting to post in the new Free Previews Non-Discussion thread, in order to thank me for starting it and keeping it updated. They were not sure where to post those comments. So, the following month, I started the accompanying monthly Free Previews Discussion threads, such as the one you are reading now.

The idea had been to have each month's new Free Previews threads be made sticky, so that they would be easy to find. For the first one, I specifically put "Attn Mods" in the thread title, to get the moderators' attention. That thread (April 2020) was made a sticky, and the sticky was automatically replaced by the May 2020 Non-Discussion thread shortly after I posted it. May's Free Previews Discussion thread was never made a sticky, and so far neither thread for June 2020 has been made a sticky, either. Meanwhile, both the old May 2020 Free Previews Non-Discussion thread and the really old outdated Free Previews thread remain as sticky. Now, it is getting a bit too late in the month to be worth fixing it for this month. I posted in the May 2020 Free Previews Non-Discussion Thread that once the month in the thread title expires, then the Non-Discussion rule goes away. (My thread, my rules.) So, if people do not like the monthly Free Previews Discussion threads, then feel free to post in the old Free Previews Non-Discussion thread for all I care. So far, wormil is the only one who has complained about the new monthly Free Previews Discussion threads (and quite frankly, very few people have posted in them at all) so I will keep posting them each month just for my own amusement, unless I start getting more complaints.
 
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Didn't Dish offer a bunch of free stuff in March to May? Granted, free to me is more obvious due to having Welcome Pack.
 
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Didn't Dish offer a bunch of free stuff in March to May? Granted, free to me is more obvious due to having Welcome Pack.
Yes. The expanded free preview offering in March is what got me started posting regularly in the old Free Previews thread. Then, the discussion in that thread led to my decision to create the new threads, as I stated above. I don't think anyone here can claim to have the free previews be more obvious to them than they are to me. My package is even lower than Welcome Pack. I have International Basic + Portuguese: RTPI for a total of $24.99 per month. On top of that, I still use some deactivated receivers that still work for free channels. So, this puts me in the perfect position to track all of the free preview channels, even the ones that Dish does not announce. This was my motivation for posting all of the free previews and starting the new threads, since Dish was not announcing all of the free previews, or at least not announcing them in a timely manner. I was thinking, "Come on! I can do a better job of updating the list than you [Dish] are doing on your site."
 
Thanks, Bobby! It is a little bit of work at the beginning of each month to update the list and start the new threads, but I enjoy doing it. The reason for the new threads is that people were starting to complain about the old sticky Free Previews thread getting too cluttered, especially with discussion about the free previews rather than just being a simple list. I had always wondered why it was necessary to keep such a long thread as a sticky in the first place. Who is going to have an urgent need to find a list of old free previews from eight years ago? Also, at the time, Dish had frequently been adding new free previews without any advance notice, and continually extending existing free previews, so it was getting hard to keep track of them all. So, I figured that it would be more useful to have a sticky thread that only lists the current free previews, and switch it out on a regular basis, like once per month. (By the way, I feel the same way about the sticky 4K Events Non-Discussion Thread, but it is not my job to maintain that one. This is just a friendly suggestion.) I started the monthly Free Previews Non-Discussion threads to satisfy my desire for an updated thread that only lists the current month's previews, and to address the complaints from those who had been wanting an uncluttered Free Previews thread. This worked great, except that some people had been wanting to post in the new Free Previews Non-Discussion thread, in order to thank me for starting it and keeping it updated. They were not sure where to post those comments. So, the following month, I started the accompanying monthly Free Previews Discussion threads, such as the one you are reading now.

The idea had been to have each month's new Free Previews threads be made sticky, so that they would be easy to find. For the first one, I specifically put "Attn Mods" in the thread title, to get the moderators' attention. That thread (April 2020) was made a sticky, and the sticky was automatically replaced by the May 2020 Non-Discussion thread shortly after I posted it. May's Free Previews Discussion thread was never made a sticky, and so far neither thread for June 2020 has been made a sticky, either. Meanwhile, both the old May 2020 Free Previews Non-Discussion thread and the really old outdated Free Previews thread remain as sticky. Now, it is getting a bit too late in the month to be worth fixing it for this month. I posted in the May 2020 Free Previews Non-Discussion Thread that once the month in the thread title expires, then the Non-Discussion rule goes away. (My thread, my rules.) So, if people do not like the monthly Free Previews Discussion threads, then feel free to post in the old Free Previews Non-Discussion thread for all I care. So far, wormil is the only one who has complained about the new monthly Free Previews Discussion threads (and quite frankly, very few people have posted in them at all) so I will keep posting them each month just for my own amusement, unless I start getting more complaints.

I'm just saying that one locked thread with a new post each month would be easier to keep track of. People complained about the old thread because it kept going off topic. You elected yourself to take over providing a service to forum members but since you copped an attitude about feedback I will adjust my expectations accordingly. Enjoy your cross.
 
It's always your prerogative to start your own thread and do all the work it takes to keep track of all the things.....

Is it? I could easily, I have stickied threads in some forums that are over a decade old and I still update them. The question is do I want to ... No. Because all I care about are free previews on premiums and that's all I would bother posting. So if everyone likes it the way it is, okay, no need to be antagonistic.
 
I'm just saying that one locked thread with a new post each month would be easier to keep track of. People complained about the old thread because it kept going off topic. You elected yourself to take over providing a service to forum members but since you copped an attitude about feedback I will adjust my expectations accordingly. Enjoy your cross.
I am listening to feedback. If I get more complaints about the separate threads each month, then I will stop posting them, like I said in the very last sentence of the post you quoted:
... so I will keep posting them each month just for my own amusement, unless I start getting more complaints.

Is it? I could easily, I have stickied threads in some forums that are over a decade old and I still update them. The question is do I want to ... No. Because all I care about are free previews on premiums and that's all I would bother posting. So if everyone likes it the way it is, okay, no need to be antagonistic.
In my opinion, that was part of the problem with the old thread. It mostly only got updated with premium channel previews, and not even all of those always made it into that thread. It was just left at random to any member who felt like posting whatever preview they personally may have been interested in. I thought, if we are going to have a sticky thread called "Free Previews" then it should be more organized, and try to provide as complete of a list of all of the free previews as possible.

I am not locking any other member out of posting in the Non-Discussion thread, either. As I say in the first post of the thread each month, if anybody finds out about a new free preview before I do, they are welcome to post it there. The "No Discussion" tag is only intended to keep the thread short and on-topic. As you admit, people complained about the old thread because it got off-topic. I am following similar rules to the now long-standing 4K Events No Discussion thread. It is mostly maintained by one member, but anyone can post a new 4K event listing there, as long as they keep the discussion about it to a minimum. As Bobby said, if you would prefer a separate thread that only lists the premium channel free previews, then you could start your own. Alternatively, I could start and maintain such a thread myself, if enough people request it. As I said, I am open to feedback and suggestions.
 
I am listening to feedback. If I get more complaints about the separate threads each month, then I will stop posting them, like I said in the very last sentence of the post you quoted:



In my opinion, that was part of the problem with the old thread. It mostly only got updated with premium channel previews, and not even all of those always made it into that thread. It was just left at random to any member who felt like posting whatever preview they personally may have been interested in. I thought, if we are going to have a sticky thread called "Free Previews" then it should be more organized, and try to provide as complete of a list of all of the free previews as possible.

I am not locking any other member out of posting in the Non-Discussion thread, either. As I say in the first post of the thread each month, if anybody finds out about a new free preview before I do, they are welcome to post it there. The "No Discussion" tag is only intended to keep the thread short and on-topic. As you admit, people complained about the old thread because it got off-topic. I am following similar rules to the now long-standing 4K Events No Discussion thread. It is mostly maintained by one member, but anyone can post a new 4K event listing there, as long as they keep the discussion about it to a minimum. As Bobby said, if you would prefer a separate thread that only lists the premium channel free previews, then you could start your own. Alternatively, I could start and maintain such a thread myself, if enough people request it. As I said, I am open to feedback and suggestions.

As you said, it's for your own amusement and it wasn't my intention to upset you so I'll leave you to it. Cheers.
 
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I am listening to feedback. If I get more complaints about the separate threads each month, then I will stop posting them, like I said in the very last sentence of the post you quoted:



In my opinion, that was part of the problem with the old thread. It mostly only got updated with premium channel previews, and not even all of those always made it into that thread. It was just left at random to any member who felt like posting whatever preview they personally may have been interested in. I thought, if we are going to have a sticky thread called "Free Previews" then it should be more organized, and try to provide as complete of a list of all of the free previews as possible.

I am not locking any other member out of posting in the Non-Discussion thread, either. As I say in the first post of the thread each month, if anybody finds out about a new free preview before I do, they are welcome to post it there. The "No Discussion" tag is only intended to keep the thread short and on-topic. As you admit, people complained about the old thread because it got off-topic. I am following similar rules to the now long-standing 4K Events No Discussion thread. It is mostly maintained by one member, but anyone can post a new 4K event listing there, as long as they keep the discussion about it to a minimum. As Bobby said, if you would prefer a separate thread that only lists the premium channel free previews, then you could start your own. Alternatively, I could start and maintain such a thread myself, if enough people request it. As I said, I am open to feedback and suggestions.
Only a few more days till July and you can start a new thread.:)
 
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Only a few more days till July and you can start a new thread.:)
A couple of new threads, actually. :)

Most of the remaining previews are scheduled to end June 30, so I will follow my usual pattern of waiting for them to actually expire (usually early the following morning) before I start the new threads. I do appreciate Dish scheduling the "month-long" previews to actually end at the end of the month. It makes things much easier for the purpose of my lists. Before the expanded coronavirus previews started in March (and before I started posting these threads) there always used to be a little overlap on the old free preview schedule, with previews starting and ending several days into the month. I hope Dish keeps going with the new schedule of previews for an entire calendar month. The only one currently scheduled to carry over into July is Sundance. I look forward to seeing what the new previews will be. If recent history is a guide, July will be the month for the annual "Dish Kids' Binge-A-Palooza." That preview usually includes the kids-themed channels from the premium packages, so there is something for everyone to look forward to. :)
 
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