I as others are probably curious of what your thoughts are Admin (assuming collective for Nino / Nick) of what has been said so far, agree, disagree, confirmed your desires "As administrators, we personally would rather see one good restoration thread than ten opinions on the latest and greatest."
Interested to hear your take on peoples ideas are so far ????, as it may encourage some re-fined discussion.
No problems, Jady. There's nothing to hide.
We are collating the responses that are adhering to the OP. Unfortunately, the thread start to go off topic and we had to clean it up (twice). It was never intended to be a running commentary based on any individuals. It should be based on individual's comments regarding the OP.
What I (as admin, hobbyist, collector etc etc) cannot understand, is that I've said, "from Day 1" -
"The forum is only as good as its members" - "We" as "admins and owners" are asking for input and feedback on the site content and which direction should we grow into (if any). Some REALLY helpful responses indicated that we "older guys" are more into restorations, and the amount of info that was available in 2008, is basically common knowledge - making the OLDER "school of thought" redundant.
Cool - THAT'S what we want to know.. We are asking YOU (The forum is only as good as its members) to help US.
Wotto was one of the restoration pioneers in this country. I've know him a long time. His shift has been from one of the best restorers, to a "player" - that has others restore his games for him. He liked old school machines, he now loves DMDs and particularly Sterns. I know Wotto VERY well. So I know his situation - but I / WE don't know OTHER member's situations.
Other comments - "it ain't broke, so don't fix it"
That's a PRIME example of what we want to take note of. That is following the OP, and that's the kind of info we want to KNOW.
In my old "professional life", we did a company survey every year as part of "Best Practices" - to find out information that would help ASSIST EVERYONE. All this thread was supposed to do is find areas where the FORUM was lacking. Not people's opinions on each other, or opinions on our moderation style. If we wanted to know that, we would have asked. in all honesty, if anyone does not like the way we moderate or admin the site, then do what we did and start your own Forum !
Suggestions that we "have already decided", and other weird theories are simply not based on the facts. As to "what" we have decided when we have
CLEARLY ASKED members their opinion is just bizarre and paranoia. Many have clearly understood the OP, and have answered as requested. Those comments will assist us greatly for our attempt to improve AP.
What we DO KNOW, is several members have decided to leave AP, or not contribute as actively as they did in the past. We want to know if it is because of the forum direction - which for the last 2 years, has changed. Maybe the Forum has not changed with the times ? The software is circa 2008 ! Maybe this forum DICTATED the hobby for a while, but that is no longer the case ?
What has not changed is the forum Software. This is now a MASSIVE undertaking that has to be outsourced. There are technical challenges ahead that have risks associated and costs involved. Is it worth it if members are leaving or don't want to participate ?
Then there is my obvious "conflict of interest" - as one of the originators of AP, as the biggest spammer on AP, as a Commercial Business on AP. Is this "arrangement" affecting AP ? Is it time for me to move on ? As some are aware, the hours Nick and I put into the running of the site are massive.
We ask ourselves ;
Is this worth the effort - Should we just forget about it and shut shop. Is the site redundant ?
Are people still enjoying AP as they did 2 - 3 years ago. Should we go back to our roots ?
Should we be investing MORE sections into the NEW manufacturers / Stern / JJP ?
Should we spend the time and money updating the forum, which will bear additional costs and an increase in a Commercial Presence (which history has shown does not necessarily work).
It is all about improvement or "lack of" improvement (you tell us). For some reason, some responses are just way off topic. This is no Spanish Inquisition ! It is about SELF IMPROVEMENT. How can WE make the FORUM better ?
There are a lot of questions that can be answered by reading the OP, and answering the questions without pointing fingers. If a member does not want to contribute - that's ok ! But admins will continue to archive comments that are not complying / adhering with our request.
I don't know what else to say. It is that simple !
