"Bill''s Business Model for TMP ..." Topic

Well … I'm back in the saddle again … I have to learn to watch Bill's unique business model. He post topics he knows will be controversial. Get's a lot of chatter … then DH's a bunch of us. Which further generates more chatter. And in turn the bottom line is more TMP traffic which makes his advertisers happy and Bill too ! Most in the DH were there from comments on Topics posted by Bill. Regardless, I've never seen that business model in any of my business courses. And I have two business degrees from a State University ! But I'll all for making profit. So Bill gets a pass from Me ! And a & a It's all about the Benjamins !

Wait until you get the bill for your stay in the Dawghouse!

With respect, a 'controversial' topic in and of itself doesn't excuse breaking site rules. If you really believe that is the construct then how hard is it to ignore the topic-?

Are you being sarcastic or do you actually believe Bill is starting threads in order to increase DH stats-?

Oz? The Dawghouse is in Australia?

That sort of thing has been done before…..

Are you being sarcastic or do you actually believe Bill is starting threads in order to increase DH stats-?

Joe … only 1/2 serious … note the smilies …

Wait until you get the bill for your stay in the Dawghouse!

A bill !?!?!? Like in China I've heard your family has to pay for the bullet that they execute you with ! Yikes !!

Oh Joe, Legion is just happy to be back in The World instead of being in 'Oz'!

I was beginning to feel like Paul Newman in "Cool Hand Luke" or Steve McQueen in "The Great Escape" … now where did I put that baseball ?

Just keep your filthy hands (and mouth) off my harmonica. I'll need it the next time I go back in.
It's a real tyrannical hell hole I tell you. The bulls confiscate all my hobby tools!

Are you being sarcastic or do you actually believe Bill is starting threads in order to increase DH stats-?

Well, I do.
Everybody has to have a hobby.

Am I the only one who giggles when I see grown men who play with toys screaming at each other like high school girls? I think the debate threads are hilarious and anyone who gets upset on an internet forum is silly. Funny, but silly.

Poor Terrement. He's gonna start feeling like he's
Papillon.

Legion: understood.

I think it's only when Bill or Tango try to introduce topics such as "Girl Scout Cookies Hated in China" (under the guise of Ultramodern Warfare) that the villagers begin to collect rocks and sticks…. From what I have noticed.

First time I've seen someone claim entrapment on a web forum.

<sarcasm warning>

It's totally unfair. We all know it's a human imperative to abandon your manners when discussing strongly held beliefs with persons you disagree with. You cannot respect them if they don't agree with you, and this disrespect must be publicly expressed. Only the most lilly-livered pansy refrains from foul language when discussing issues of morality or public policy.

Can I say "lilly livered" or did I just get myself DH'd?

Now I'm going to go look for my copy of the Principia Discordia

I think the business model is to ensure TMP outlasts GW. Oh wait… I think I have my threads crossed.

I love capitalism!

Andrew Walters wrote:

Can I say "lilly livered" or did I just get myself DH'd?

Probably not but 'pansy' is rather de trop in some quarters.

Ooh goody another controversial topic.

Is this the result of a new dawghouse brainwashing regime?

Forget the DH. Just leave them on a park bench with two semi-colons in their head.

Whether it's intentional or not, the news site reposts do seem to generate most of the DH incidents.

Hi skippy0001.

Like this?

;;

Sorted.

I think the debate threads are hilarious and anyone who gets upset on an internet forum is silly.

Well I didn't get upset … I said something that appeared to upset Bill. And as we all know its his party …

L4,

I am on your side even if you are lily-livered. Lilys smell good, right?

Well I didn't get upset … I said something that appeared to upset Bill. And as we all know its his party … koolaid

Oh, my comment wasn't directed at you. I was just making a general observation. But it sure is Bill's party.

Bill has a business model?

JohnG

I believe that with forum participation waning Bill is struggling to increase readership. But I think he's going about it the wrong way.

The Tango/Bill posts certainly generate more action than most threads but they come across as a low rent version of TTGN. I noticed that the Tango profile has been busy across many different boards linking to industry announcements. But the TTGN guys do that better and more professionally. And they get comments on their site too.

TMP used to be the MWAN of the internet. I think that Bill's heavy handed and uneven editing/moderation has hurt the forum. It's fine to have strict rules (LAF does that) but where LAF is very even handed and professional TMP allows certain views unrestrained expression while others get slapped down fast. Right now in TMP talk there's a thread specifically polling political views and the OP was not DHd while others were recently DHd for far lesser crimes.

If Bill wants to improve readership he needs to make TMP less about Bill and more about the hobby/business. By that I mean he needs to be ruthlessly fair in moderation (eg either anything goes like Tango's politics thread or Tango gets banned for repeatedly break8ng the no politics rule).

And it's telling that when controversy erupts a common refrain is "Bill's house, Bill's rules". If Bill wants a professionally run business then we should be hearing "TMP rules" full stop. The moment Bill and his personal preferences/feelings/life enter the story TMP's business is undermined.

Over on TTGN I know nothing about the editors, I've not seen photos of their friends getting medical treatments, and it appears well run and professional 100% focused on the hobby. TTGN = a professional gaming publication/business. Increasingly TMP = a dwindling number of Bill's friends hanging out in his basement bemoaning the rest of the world.

I recommend an experiment for Bill: have Bill and Tango disappear from the forum for a month with respect to posting and moderation. Certainly edit news stories and manage the business side. But stop participating as another TMP member and stop editing at a tactical level. If someone posts something inappropriate then issue a private warning via PM explaining that a third strike is a ban. (That would also reduce the drama around here). And stop posting about the personal lives of TMP staff. Make TMP a professional place of business.

I am on your side even if you are lily-livered.

Who you call'n lilly-livered Pilgrim !!!?!??!?

Oh, my comment wasn't directed at you. I was just making a general observation. But it sure is Bill's party.

Indeed … please pass the and !

Can I say "lilly livered" or did I just get myself DH'd?

And now that I think of it ? WHO you call'n lilly livered !?!?!? "Fill your hand you ! " – Rooster Cogburn

Another Tango attack.

Why am I not surprised?????

God knows, but I suspect you are on the wrong thread as no one has mentioned Tango on this thread but you.

Still, in the spirit of things "Fill your Hand".

@Oh – VIS recommended an experiment where Tango goes away. Read to the end of the long post.

So he did. I'd missed it, thank you.

The lad has a point.

Apologies Mako.

VIS-- Well said.

I believe that with forum participation waning Bill is struggling to increase readership.

Actually, readership is fine as far as I know.

The number of "revisitors" – people who visited today, who have previously visited TMP – is roughly the same as a year ago.

And the number of Supporting Members is nearly double what it was a year ago at this time.

I'm just happy I'm not in the Dog House … again … But the day is young !

Actually, readership is fine as far as I know.

The number of "revisitors" – people who visited today, who have previously visited TMP – is roughly the same as a year ago.

And the number of Supporting Members is nearly double what it was a year ago at this time.

In the Sponsors forum you were seeking advice about how to increase forum participation. So I see where I may have used the wrong term. Sounds like readership is fine but participation is down. Is that a more accurate description?

If all of that is true (readership is fine but you're clearly concerned with forum participation) then maybe the first step is to figure out what's driving those numbers.

I believe that TMP is still a good place for product information, especially for smaller publishers and niche historical gaming products. But TTGN is light years ahead in terms of mainstream product info as the entire site and its content is more professionally presented and managed.

A lot of the link spam from Tango is interesting. It reminds me of "Huffington Post" in some ways and they're very successful.

Those two factors might explain why participation is down but readership is steady.

You're generating content and links which members are interested in (i.e. product releases and current military affairs news). But neither type of content is going to generate much discussion.

New product info is pretty much, "here's product X" and folks go check it out. Usually a few people chime in with questions but that sort of thread usually doesn't generate lots of discussion.

And the current affairs links CAN'T be discussed because members never know what will draw a DH penalty due to completely arbitrary moderation/editing. The best example, as noted previously, is Tango's explicit posting of a purely political thread with no DH penalty and recent penalties against folks like Legion and Lion in the Stars for trivial comments.

So the content simply doesn't lend itself to forum participation: either it's not going to generate lots of discussion or folks are afraid of getting DH'd.

Compare that to vibrant forums like Dakka Dakka where there's LOTS of gaming discussion focused on GAMING. And because Bill edits/moderates based on his personal political beliefs even he drives discussion away from gaming and towards those beliefs (as a gamer why should I know the editor's political stance? I don't know that info about Dakka Dakka or TTGN!!!!)

My advice: re-focus on gaming, manage the site professionally, and don't fan the flames of personal drama. That's why I suggested stepping back from the whole Bill/Tango participation thing. I wasn't "attacking" tango. I was merely suggesting that his content isn't GAMING discussion-friendly. It's either low rent TTGN product info or it's non-gaming DH bait.

Another problem imo is the Balkanization of TMP. Some of the forum themes are so fine grained that they lack a critical mass for vibrant discussion. TMP has what most similar sites covet: critical mass. But then it undermines its critical mass by segmenting forums to the point that they become stagnant backwaters in some cases.

Here's a good standard for TMP's forum participation problem: why do we know sooo much about Bill's personal life and politics on a site dedicated to playing with toy soldiers? If the focus was on games with toy soldiers then forum participation would probably be better since that's why people come here. Get your GAMING mojo back and back off the personal/political stuff! :-) The thing is you have SOOO many people rooting for you since TMP's success feeds their success. You just need to stop shooting yourself in the foot by introducing distractions from your core business.

OTOH, if you see this more as a purely personal thing and not a business, then the whole current TMP approach makes sense and nothing need change.

For the love of all the saints,,,,,,just don't mention global warming

In the Sponsors forum you were seeking advice about how to increase forum participation. So I see where I may have used the wrong term. Sounds like readership is fine but participation is down. Is that a more accurate description?

No.

I am always looking to increase forum participation, because it makes TMP a better place.

But I have no concerns that participation is "down."

Well, now we're getting a little Orwellian. Here's what you wrote in the sponsor's forum:

When I recently purchased an automobile, the car dealership offered me inventives if I would say nice things about them on various social media.

So I was thinking…

Would it make sense to have a page on TMP somewhere, offering incentives for different types of forum participation?

Based on your proposal to offer financial incentives for forum participation I sort of figured you needed to increase forum participation.

And this is why you have a concern about forum participation.