I'd speculate that there are few who don't participate because they see the site as becoming too commercial. It seems to be heading more that way in the year or so I've been reading.
Truth be known, we have reduced the number of Commercial "industry" entities. We introduced the idea of adding "member's services" - such as "Flipper Rescue" nearly two years ago. We encourage members to add what ever services they can provide to members.
Nino, I don't follow your logic here? Why did you want to reduce the number of commercial industry entities if you want to encourage members to add what ever services they can provide to members. Why some commercial entities and not others? Are you saying some commercial entities are not welcome as members?
By the way I'm not stirring here, but I can't work it out. From the intro and site de******ion that appears on the site welcome page - reading that, to me it seems to suggest the site is far more angled towards non commercial hobbyists, enthusiasts and collectors.
I've really enjoyed and learnt from the contributions of those who do restos and post pictures, details, tips and de******ion even with a few plugs. In this context the plugs have always seemed incidental and fairly innocuous to me.
Maybe I'm too naive, I am purely a hobbyist; I don't seek to make any money out of pinball. I have asked questions and benefited from the site and on occasion contributed where I thought I could offer an opinion or help but truth be told I've always thought a weakness of this site was its' sponsored commercial sales nature - at times it seems to just be a sales advertising forum. It is this angle that I was commenting on as to lowering peoples' desire to participate.
I'm not sure we are on the same page - I cannot follow your comments
AP was setup as a resource site for pinball enthusiasts, hobbyists and collectors. Early days, we ran off our own pockets and donations. It is owned and run by hobbyists that are not millionaires.
We are not reducing the number of Commercials. We don't want to do that either. The site will evolve - more will be added and some may either cease trading or move into other areas in the Industry. We invited Commercial Sellers in the formation year, and left the door open for others to join up as time moved on. That's exactly what happened. We didn't actively persue sponsors - in some cases, they were already here. We don't actively need to chase Sponsors.
"Why some commercials and not others ?" I don't know - maybe go and ask them ?
Most commercial sellers are hobbyists and collectors anyway - but we needed the funds to keep the site running. They were there in the early days. To put it simple - No Sponsors = No site - Period.
Last year, we introduced the idea of members adding their own services - whether it be Neon signs, Barmats, clearcoat services, repair services etc.. Again - we had a decent response.
Aussie Pinball is VERY grateful towards our sponsors for assisting with the upkeep of the site and providing discounts to our members.
