abc7news.com, which is the web site for KGO TV in San Francisco, Calif., posted this report on May 7: Secrets of online shopping discounts. The entire story is well worth a read if you like to track down retail coupon codes and unadvertised specials on customer-run blogs and bulletin boards.

A snippet:

Behind the computer screens major retailers are balking at customers’ no-holds-barred access to discounts, demanding that their coupon codes be removed.

In this “David and Goliath” scenario coupon-sharing Web sites are caught in a conundrum: Do they remove the codes or keep them? As it turns out, bargain hunters may be the ones making that decision. …

Ellen Davis, a spokeswoman at shop.org, a trade and lobbying organization for online retailers, explained that some retailers intend certain coupons for a select group of consumers. When everyone gets the coupon, she said, it “really loses it’s importance for the people it was meant for.”