Hi John, Thanks for posting that very handy information. I hope everyone sees it! God bless, Dave

Hello Dave,
This is definatly food for thought Thanks,Kathy Hamilton/simikathy.com

Hi Dave,

I thought I had read one of the clearest comments on the state of the Art at AdlandPro when this forum was posted


But you have topped it, Dave.

If this is a rant - then long live ranting!  You have come  out and said what a lot of people have commented privately.  Many of them, myself included,  said nothing to avoid forum arguements  and bring Adland into further ridicule online.

Adland has grown and changed - as all things change.  It has some good new options but it has also lost many forums and forum posters of extraordinary quality.    And those are the one's that kept people reading and attracted new paying members.   Gone are many of the forums that informed us and in which we had an exchange of ideas and learnt something.

Of course there are new people who have added quality to the forums, but in the main we now appear to suffer from constant advertising forums and a lot of self congratulatory forum of little interest  to anyone outside the community at all and an abundance of online cliques


This is supposed to be a business community.  For networking in the broadest sense, for getting to know each other and to share knowledge and opportunities.  There are many advertising options available to members, without resorting to taking up precious bandwidth flooding it with advertising everywhere else - especially forums and private mailboxes.

And the popularity contests!  It is like being back at school and seeing who was the most popular girl or boy in the class - and heaven help you if she or he was not a friend of yours.

The Best Forum Award are NOT elections - we are not looking for anyone to represent us.   We are all supposedly adult enough and literate enough to read for ourselves and decide which forums add value to the community and which do not.  Or are we?

There is no need for "campaigning", for the writing of hundreds of DCs, forums, emails and PMs and IMs and frankly I find it very distastful to see a good idea turned into a popularity and personality context, which has very little to do with the value of the forums.  And the same goes for the campaigns for the POTW and other awards.  

Because these are NOT harmless little groups of friends supporting friends - they are full blown "you are with me or you are against me" campaigns in the most aggresive style.  I even recall a post on a previous POTW forum saying to a candidate who had received a last minute reverse in voting not once but twice "don't worry, this week it is yours".  Pardon me?  

I despair of a group of people who have come to a business based community and who do not even recognise the value of your own forums Dave, which share valuable advice and help us on our way to using the internet better - whatever our brand of work.  I confess to nominating these without your permission when it became obvious that you were not going to blow your own trumpet.   Becaue they are some of the best in AdlandPro and, like some other members, one my main motivations for staying.

The Best Forum - to my way of thinking should stand up by itself, irrespective of the personal relationships of the writer

I think it is time that we woke up before it is too late and turn Adland back into the happy and informative place it has been in the past and can be again.  A place where we can share and benefit instead of compete and divide.  These are not issues for the owner - they are issues for us and all future members - as the ones that benefit are us.

That was a nice vent too!

Saludos
Jenny

You are so correct Dave - an honor is something that is bestowed, not something you campaign for like elective office.

As Walter said, perhaps that is why so few vote.  A couple of other reasons might be that there are not nearly as many active members as the total membership and daily visit figures make it seem like there are.  I think the fact that the number of people who have upgraded to Adlander remains stuck at 761 week after week (despite 52,000 members???) is a better indication.

There are some awesome folks here and it has been my privilege to have met them.  However, I think that the this has become more of a marketing bizaar than a community, which brings me to one of my pet peaves (or, MY turn to be crotchety - lol):

Why don't we just rename "Invitation to become friends" to "Invitation to look at my marketing pitch"?  It is so rare when someone takes the time to look at my profile and find what common interests we have and THEN send me an invitation to become their friend that points out our common interests.  Manyof the messages no longer even say anything about becoming a friend and just launch right into a generic advertisement for their can't miss opportunity.

For a long time, I reverse marketed and sent them a reply that mentioned something very inexpensive that I was offering and said that surely if your opportunity is as genuine as you portray it you should be able to afford such a small price.  Can you guess how many signed up?  Zero!

And once when I needed very badly to raise some money and made a very good discounted offer of two great products for half price, do you know how many folks who would have you believe that they all have can't miss moneymakers responded?  Yep, zero!  But I surely did get a lot of replies about how tight money was for them

I understand that this is a community for marketing.  I just wish that there were more people like you who put more stress on the community part.  Perhaps then the numbers would really add up to a more vibrant community.

Like you, that felt good to get off my chest!

Thank you John!  Guess I need to learn a little more about the options huh.  ;)

I plan to use that little button.

Have a fabulous day!  :)