"Forum Fuhrers - Are they all little Hitlers?" Topic

Rule set forums, rule set internet groups, we hear a lot about political correctness on the FoW forum, with "politcally incorrect" postings (i.e. those mentioning other rule sets and other manufacturers) being wiped. But are you really telling me that this is unusual, surely all such forums look to protect their own interests?

Is there anything wrong with such censorship? Are the guys who don't do this just fools who are not protecting their investmemt?

Quents

Not really, if the product was that good to start with ,then the opposition would not matter.
I have a yahoo group for my company, and have no problem with people mentioning other products, most people want to know if there is compatability between ranges, because they already have a large number of figure X, and want to know if my stuff is a good match.

I don't really like the censorship side of it, but I do understand the rationale behind it.

"Is there anything wrong with such censorship?"

If I own a gaming company where I spend my money to offer a forum for my products then the last thing I want is someone to start advertising for my competitors.

"Are the guys who don't do this just fools who are not protecting their investmemt?"

Yes.

I don't see anything wrong with limiting blatant attempts at advertising your competitors product.

I have a hard time when the company doesn't offer a certain product currently and questions arise about how to obtain a certain unit that is not available.

Offering info to another gamer looking to use a unit in the rules but not available is an asset not a detriment. Currently my personal interests do not coincide with BF's. I would rather play EW/MW than LW. But BF has decided LW is the way they are going.

That leaves me having to look for out of stock or even out of print models. I spend a lot of time hunting down old BF models on the internet and by browsing old stock at local game stores. But, in the end if I want to get BT-5 or BT-7 tanks. I can no longer get them from BF, so as a hobbyist I ask on the forum if anyone has the BF models. If I get a reply that someone is going to pm where I can find something that will match BF models, then I do not see the harm.

So, in the end I think BF does need to protect its market. They however should be a bit flexible when it comes to product they no longer make or offer. Since, it is their fault that loyal customers now have to go somewhere else to get it. IT is not the customers fault that BF does not have what is needed. Penalizing customers by first not offering needed models and then secondly not even allowing them to talk about the missing model ranges is a good way to alienate said customer and send them and their friends to other pastures.

BF needs to think hard about the fine line needed to handle such a touchy subject. A little common sense would go a long way here. It used to be very OK on the FoW forums to state in your post that you would pm someone a link or info on how to get discontinued models or other products. Now it seems the Mods are much stricter.

I hope they lighten up and show some more courtesy than currently is being shown.

Chris

If a competitors product is closer to what a potential customer wants making it more convenient for him to find that product in a way that costs you very little is just good customer relations. What are the implications of the alternative? That you would rather make a sale knowing the customer would have rather had something else if only he had the information you have not allowed to be presented on your forum. Seems a bit petty and grasping to me.

It comes down to what business you are in. I see figures as entertainment. Entertainment comes down to making someone feel good, they should feel they got just want they wanted and that the person they bought it from is kindly and not just interested in maximum profit. If you can't provide that perhaps you should be in some business where hard dealing is more part of the trade.

"If I get a reply that someone is going to pm where I can find something that will match BF models, then I do not see the harm."

PMs are fine by me due to their nature – blatently posting a competitor's products into a thread is not.

"They however should be a bit flexible when it comes to product they no longer make or offer."

Still doesn't give anyone the right to promote another companies products on the BF forum provided by BF money.

Its your show. Allowing other rules sets would be daft.

There's nothing wrong with healthy debate on the pros of product X (Who pays for the site) vs the pros of product Y. I think 'most' manufacturers would be OK with that.

But most of the time its guerrilla marketing. Thats pretty darn rude of the person who did it.

In the end though. They pay for the site, they make the rules, you follow them or leave. Rules say stand on one foot and swing a chicken around your head when posting? Start hopping.

-Chris

I don't frequent the forums that are guilty of such egregious sins, but so what?

Why should they pay for the privilege of reading how Mike's Models Zulus make superior Dark Eldar, or that pencil sharpeners make fabulous 15mm T34s??

It's not as if that information is not available here on TMP, for Heaven's sake.
Besides, everybody knows that already.

I think that those discussions should be held elsewhere, personally. The vendor is paying for the site and should be able to avoid having competitors pointing avid customers away.

With that said, I think there is a way to do it without alienating customers, and I think that some boards miss that point.

Don.

Battlefront has never prevented people playing their rules with other miniatures. They have asked that you not promote another company's range on THEIR website fora. How hard is that? If you want to go on their fora and slag their rules or their miniatures, why be surprised when your posts get deleted and you get bounced? Coyly proclaiming an allegiance to the company while damning it a la Marc Antony's speech in Julius Caesar, is the shoddiest high school debate tactic.

Having said that, there shouldn't be a problem with Battlefront customers looking for out of production blisters posting. Individuals or retailers stocking Battlefront product may be able to help them in their search. Preventing this would be bad for customer relations and counterproductive to a healthy business model.

You pays your money an makes your choice…

If you don't like an aspect about the product or manufacturer/writer, why be such a sychophant as to play in their yard, to their rules.

You are free to pick where and how you spend your money and your time. Use these to YOUR advantage. Cut the apron strings to rulebooks and own brand figures.

Take off your blinkers boy!

A forum is like someones home, politeness dictates you go by their rules when inside. If you cant abide by their rules they have every right to boot you.

That said I agree with alot of what T Meijer said. I've gladly sent customers to other businesses that I knew could better accomodate them. I have fun painting and I want my customers to enjoy the hobby as well.

Its different though, once you get out of the hobbyist zone and into the big company zone where you have people that actually want to make a boatload and often are only in it for the money. Often not even hobbyists. But still its on their dime so you should abide…

John The OFM wrote:
Why should they pay for the privilege of reading how Mike's Models Zulus make superior Dark Eldar, or that pencil sharpeners make fabulous 15mm T34s??

It's not as if that information is not available here on TMP, for Heaven's sake.
Besides, everybody knows that already.

I wrote:
There are enough people who think purely that all miniatures in a given situation must come from one manufacturer, and if said manufacturer doesn't make it right/perfect/or to their specification, then the said manufacturer needs to be beaten into submission. They simply will not accept alternatives unless pushed heavily, and in the end with revert back to using the manufacturer and grumble about it all and will replace them pronto if the manufacturer does retool the line, because the kharmic concept exists in their head that their army must be provided by one manufacturer to maintain unformity.

Every forum is run by different people who have different values, and rather than going to war over these differences, some people might like to try and simply co exist for while.

I fear in some instances these posters have no other life, and quite frankly a kick/ban might offer the slight chance they will re examine their bully button and move on.

At some point the rights of these indiviudals needs to fade out in terms of rights of the community, and they need to accept their behaviour is not welcome there whether they are right or not. They need to come to terms with the fact it is not their place and they are a guest, and have to make some accomodation or be prepared to overlook other peoples preferences and desires.

Not that I frequent any companies forums, but if I did I would refrain from blatantly advertising another company's product on that forum. It's just bad manners. Even if they don't make miniatures for a given period I would still refrain from doing so. The forum belongs to a business that wants to protect their investment and future investments (by this I mean the ranges they currently don't make but will at some point in the future).

The correct thing to do would be to point them in the direction of TMP and tell them to ask here for a little help. This is a place where they will get plenty of helpful advice and it won't be biased towards any single manufacturer. At the end of the day it's their playground and they can delete what they like and do what they like, which is why I prefer TMP. Sure Bill has the power to do the same, but he allows us more freedom and there are less fanboyz.

Battlefront provides a forum to discuss their rules and products and has asked fairly frequently that other makers products are taken to TMP to be discussed .

A Yahoo group is free to anybody to setup and you can't really have the expectation that people wont discuss other ranges when you only cover a small portion of the conflict.
(I'm not having a dig at you VillageIdiot)

What most people seem to be upset by is that Battlefront does not like other products being promoted on their forum , but they also do not allow other peoples products being trashed on their forum which would happen if you allowed the Fanboyz to air their views.

Let the Fanboyz enjoy themselves over there and let free discussions continue here.

Dan.

The nub seems to be that there is a BF forum reluctance to allow BF fans the freedom to express a preference for the old style BF miniatures, rather then the new Brothers Grimm munchkin types.*

If BF is going to ignore a significant rejection by existing customers of the new lines, that is their own mulish decision, and will be at their own expense.
But the owner of a forum has a right to be stupid on it.

*Seems retro to me – Mike's Models in fatigues is all.

They are very good at being stupid on it.

Deleting critical posts justs spreads the all over the Internet.

A lot like manure!

My Forums were created to try and get some rants and flames going.

So far everyone has been too dammned polite.
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