"Poor Service from TMP" Topic

In late Feb I asked Bill to change the image on the manufacturers for Vexillia. I have raised this issue by PM, email and a post on the sponsor's forum.

I have not had a single reply to my PM's or emails. Only on the sponsor's thread did I get weak apology and that was on 05 Mar.

Apparently, there is backlog! Over thirty days to change an image over. Something that can be done in the time its takes to write "click bait" posts like "What's your favourite …".

As a sponsor & long time advertiser I'm extremely unimpressed.

In the meantime I'd like to thank everyone for the suggestion that I pay my advertising bill just as quickly: not yet!

Get this sorted.

--
Martin Stephenson
Vexillia: Wargames Miniatures & Accessories
Shop | Rules & Games | Twitter

Sorry to hear this Martin. Things have come to a poor place when an advertiser and long term TMPer needs to post a mesage like this here on the site to try and get a simple task actioned..
Worrying and disappointing.

This will get nuked.

It won't matter, it already has 586 hits. You can't sweep that under the rug.

Wouldn't be so sure of that, Cyrus. I seem to remember much bigger and more contentious threads that now never existed.

Are the sub-editors still working part-time, or has the financial crisis been averted? Or is Bill still off sick?

Certainly not the sort of thing that might encourage other advertisers to sign up, I would think.

This is a customer service issue. People will remember this long after the latest contentious craze passes through the bowel of TMP.

It won't matter, it already has 586 hits. You can't sweep that under the rug.

And what difference will it make to the average user (consumer)? Who's going to stop frequenting the site as a result? No one.

And since I expect it has the most traffic of any (largely) historical wargames site, it likely won't make a difference to advertisers either. They have no alternative.

And since I expect it has the most traffic of any (largely) historical wargames site, it likely won't make a difference to advertisers either. They have no alternative.

Not necessarily the case I should think. I didn't even bother to post my last KS through the main news site as I don't really receive any traffic from TMP as a source. Many, many gamers (also read this as everyone I know personally, some of them through TMP) has left TMP due to a combination of factors from controversy to the ease of FB. There are more alternatives everyday, TMP should be fighting hard to remain relevant…

That being said, none of the new alternatives will ever be as good as TMP was back in the day. It was THE central place for the hobby, I believe we will never be as central as we once were when TMP was the real option 5 years ago.

Happy anniversary Puddinhead

And what difference will it make to the average user (consumer)? Who's going to stop frequenting the site as a result? No one.

This site exists because of paid memberships and advertising dollars. There is a tipping point where if enough paying customers and manufacturers leave TMP, it will cease to exist.

And since I expect it has the most traffic of any (largely) historical wargames site, it likely won't make a difference to advertisers either. They have no alternative.

There have been historical miniatures manufacturers that have taken their advertising dollars elsewhere over the years and they all still exist. Magazines, Facebook and other sites are factors that contribute to this. Advertising dollars have other places to go, TMP is just one of them.

Did John T ever start advertising his fine magazine here?

I have suggested to Bill as an improvement for TMP4.0 that advertisers be able to manage their page like the members page. I can change my icon and so on. Why can't I change edit the "Scale Creep" page too? If I could manage my own page (and the banner ads too while you're at it) that would alleviate a lot of the backlog I'd think. Win-win.

I know the advertising landscape has changed. And revenues here required Bill to let the other editors go. I know I spend less here and more on Facebook and other sites than I used to….

Bill being alerted to the presence of this thread is hardly the point GD.
The real point is being sufficiently efficient to deal with advertisers and subscribers in a timely fashion and avoid them becoming frustrated.
Especially avoiding them becoming so frustrated that they feel they need to post their complaints publicly on your site (aka livelihood)

Yes, this is one of the reasons why I rarely if ever change anything.

@Mark, I have made the same exact suggestion at least two years ago now. I find that most of my hobby news stories now take 2 days to be published. If I could manage my ads and stories myself, this problem would not exist.

Thanks PM & JS…beat me to it.

I must say though that Bill is not doing any favors for himself around here lately.

Stupid polls have got to take way too much time from running the business. Yeah I know some people like them but I think they add very little to the quality of the site. Multiple polls daily, I don't get it.

Did John T ever start advertising his fine magazine here?

I put it in the hands of the publisher at Warners (owners of Miniature Wargames). She emailed and PM'd

We are still waiting….

John T

And yet Bill seems to have time to post updates when random companies' websites are down… I don't get it.

Surely taking care of advertisers is more important than advising us that someone's website is not working?!?

Yeah! This is the first thread in which I've a post deleted. I will admit it was probably right to delete my post because I should never infer a TMP poster is an idiot if he behaves like one. I am sorry for inferring a fellow TMP poster was an idiot, I shouldn't have done that online. (I will wait until I ever get the opportunity to say it directly like a gentleman)

In the meantime, if Bill is indeed ill then I wish him a speedy recovery so he can get back to running his business as he should.

John T's attempts to get the Mini Wargames advertisement posted predate Bill's illness by a long while so that is not the reason for the wider problem

Private Matter--Probably not anything you said out of line. I believe the policy is that when an egregious post is deleted,response posts are as well. That's the explanation I got when it happened to me, anyway.

Hafen has it right. You were just collateral damage PM.

HvS & TM thanks and I figured that. Still, I shouldn't have reacted to the post and just chalked it up to another muppet getting access to a key board.

I really like TMP and want to see the advertisers taken care of since without their revenue this site will suffer.

PM, that's the point isn't it, we all really like TMP, want it to be successful and well supported but there does seem to be a 'sales prevention manager' on duty sometimes.

Maybe John should do a 'day in the life of TMP' article that might drum up some interest from new supporters and advertisers?

Hmmmm….maybe not perhaps…

I'm happy to keep plastering the regular threads – for FREE - with news about the latest issue of the mag but it seems a shame not to do "the right thing" for everyone's benefit…

2,500 hits from interested parties, probably a number of them passing the info on to other miniature sites, and not one word from a single editor…if any are still alive or around.

The world wonders while the mind boggles!

Is it relevant that both complainants are UK based?

Will the TMP be around 2 years from now?

Bill has a Facebook page and his last post was on March 25th.

My 2 cents worth everybody fu now and again (yes even me) but put it right ASAP. It would seem TMP is having a few problems I for one hope that they can be resolved. Come on Bill we are rooting for you.

Whatever the issues, I hope they can be resolved amicably for all affected parties. I've been a part of TMP since it was a much cruder forum, back in the late 90's (technology was very crude, back then…). I hate to think of it not being here. Not perfect, but neither am I. Sincerely hoping all can be happily resolved. Cheers!

Seems to be spreading:

TMP link

Meanwhile, Vapnartak 2017 is still being advertised on the boards, a mere 2 months after it happened.

Surely one of the Editors will have seen these threads and let Bill know? He's here and posting other stuff, surely keeping paying members and advertisers happy is more important than random threads – unless it's to up the hit count again?

That's one of the reasons I dropped my advertising. I requested years ago to update the sample pictures with my business listing and nothing. And a couple of years later I get an email from Julia asking if my information is correct, I reply yes and can we change the images. Nothing.