Great business move or not?
Posted 02-14-2010 at 05:53 PM by mikeandjenn2001
We are members on what I felt was a really good website when we first signed up. At the time, it was cheap ($30) for a lifetime membership and I took advantage of the great deal.
It turned out to be a really good idea. It turns out that the website is really very good, probably one of the best that I have seen. It has a chat room, fairly active forums, and the owner just keeps working to make it better every chance he gets.
The problem lies in the fact that even with over 4000 members, only a tiny fraction use the forums on the website. Of that, there are a few who tend to over advertise for various clubs or bring their drama and issues with other people on the site to the forums.
The site owner has finally had enough of the bickering between members of the clubs, members of the site complaining about the clubs who overadvertise, and all of the other issues between the clubs in our local area. Today, he made it so that there can be no references to clubs or club events in any of the postings except for in the "club" section of the forums.
Of course, he has every right to do this, after all, it is his business and his website. All we are doing is paying for the service he provides much as we pay for cable, internet, phone, and many other services out there.
The unfortunate thing is as I said, with so many people on the site, and so few people using the forums, if he continues to run his business this way, I'm wondering if it will be run into the ground, much as his other website was after he sold it.
We shall see what happens in the future. His justification behind doing it is to stop the bickering on the forums because the forums are google searchable in order to bring new customers into the website. I can see his reasoning, as who would want to sign up for a site where all that is ever talked about on the forums are clubs and drama. As much as I support his decision, I also disagree with it as controlling the forums are what led to the downfall of his last site.
Only time will tell the future of this website and we shall see.
It turned out to be a really good idea. It turns out that the website is really very good, probably one of the best that I have seen. It has a chat room, fairly active forums, and the owner just keeps working to make it better every chance he gets.
The problem lies in the fact that even with over 4000 members, only a tiny fraction use the forums on the website. Of that, there are a few who tend to over advertise for various clubs or bring their drama and issues with other people on the site to the forums.
The site owner has finally had enough of the bickering between members of the clubs, members of the site complaining about the clubs who overadvertise, and all of the other issues between the clubs in our local area. Today, he made it so that there can be no references to clubs or club events in any of the postings except for in the "club" section of the forums.
Of course, he has every right to do this, after all, it is his business and his website. All we are doing is paying for the service he provides much as we pay for cable, internet, phone, and many other services out there.
The unfortunate thing is as I said, with so many people on the site, and so few people using the forums, if he continues to run his business this way, I'm wondering if it will be run into the ground, much as his other website was after he sold it.
We shall see what happens in the future. His justification behind doing it is to stop the bickering on the forums because the forums are google searchable in order to bring new customers into the website. I can see his reasoning, as who would want to sign up for a site where all that is ever talked about on the forums are clubs and drama. As much as I support his decision, I also disagree with it as controlling the forums are what led to the downfall of his last site.
Only time will tell the future of this website and we shall see.
Total Comments 5
Comments
 |  Great business move or not ? Only time will tell... Shame he didn't ask for some help from those involved  I find great help sometimes, if I just ask....  Happy Swinging, Fun4ds |
Posted 02-15-2010 at 06:25 AM by fun4Ds  |
| |  The sad thing is that he has asked for help from the site members. I'm not sure what the final straw was as we were on our way home from a party the morning it happened. From what I have gathered, somebody posted a club bashing thread which has as I said, been known to happen and I think he had enough. That thread was removed as well as any other references to clubs outside of the club forum. Something as simple as "had a really great time at (club name), thanks for the wonderful party" in the events or rants and raves can get you banned from posting and possibly the site. |
| Posted 02-15-2010 at 05:57 PM by mikeandjenn2001 |
| |  This site (the Swingers Board) was the FIRST swinger website to use forums. It takes a LOT to run said forums, and you have to decide pretty early on what you are going to allow and what you are not going to allow. You can stand back and not pay any attention and the whole place will turn into drama central, with nothing but trolls and people attacking each other, clubs attacking each other, etc. Or you can stand up and be a part of the community you hope to create and set an example. That's what I've done here, and that's what the mods I've brought on to help have done here. On other swinger websites, the forums are secondary. That's an important thing to understand. They have forums only because they think they should (because everyone else does) not because they want to provide something of value, and not because they want to establish a sense of community. They put up forums and then they stand back and check in occasionally to see what's going on, usually finding out too late about the problems that exist. By the time they discover the problems their only choice is to either close the forums altogether or block whatever they feel is causing the problem. Rather than just paying attention and watching the threads and the people and dealing with problems before/as they become problems, they allow everything to become a problem and end up squashing what could have been a good thing. Just my thoughts as it's something I've seen happen over and over again on swinger websites ever since I launched the forums here. |
| Posted 02-18-2010 at 12:19 PM by JustAskJulie |
| | Thank you for that insight Julie. To be quite honest, I was wondering to myself how you've made this site drama free. Since posting this blog, I have made the choice not to post as much as I was to the forums of the site. There is way too much drama and flaming that goes on between the frequent posters. While I'm sure it probably has happened here, I haven't seen it as of yet and I find this site to be the best for forums. |
| Posted 02-18-2010 at 12:35 PM by mikeandjenn2001 |
| |  It is the best of forums. Julie and the moderators work hard to make it so. |
| Posted 02-18-2010 at 08:18 PM by gatorvol64 |
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