Post by christopherjgould on Jul 20, 2013 18:23:40 GMT -5
Message from Christopher Gould
Sorry it has all gone a bit quite here, and thanks for you guys for keeping everything afloat!
The thing is that both Anthony and I have been involved in the Evening of Mystery. Which has become something of a huge thing!
Also, I am still trying to get myself together from doing this full time and getting the new Alchemy Moon workshop organised.
This is what Anthony and I are thinking about the future of this place.
Our original intention was to spend a good deal of time working on this project. For this to happen, we would need to make it a commercial venture, i.e. vendors pay a monthly 'rent' to have a stall.
We are not sure that this would actually work, not sure that enough magic vendors would get behind it. But without it making financial sense, we cannot afford the time to do it as a charity to magic dealers, who in some senses are our competitors too!
So what so we do? Knock it on the head and say, sorry guys, it was a good idea, but we don't think it will work out for us?
Well, this could be the sensible thing...
However.....
I cannot stop thinking about how badly the scene needs something like this.
Imagine, a forum where all dealers have a level playing field, an open resource to promote their goods, without all the thread bumping and exhausting management that we/they have to go through elsewhere.
Also, from a punters point of view, imagine a forum that you can use to genuinely get an informed view of what the dealers are sweating hard to bring your way. Somewhere, where everything is open, no friends bumping friends threads, no made up members bumping threads, no hyping - just good solid information to inform you purchases.
Is there anyone involved in magic that would not want this?
However, it is going to take a little more than the dream of two guys. It is going to take a concerted effort by both dealers and forum members to make this place work.
So here is the plan!
We make the Marketplace an open community resource.
This means two things - dealers do not have to pay a monthly fee to have a stall. It is free forever.
The other thing is this, it is the dealers responsibility to make it work - to keep their stall interesting, to keep updating it, to actively promote it to their customer base and though other social media.
In short, if you want this, it is up to you if it works.
The rewards are considerable, if you make the board a success.
The same applies to regular forum members. If you want a forum where you can get clear information from dealers and good contact with them, you have your part to play too.
You job is to make the place an exciting and interesting one to visit on a daily basis, start interesting discussions, write some meaningful reviews, tell people about the forum and send them a direct invitation to join.
So what now?
The very first thing I want to do is look at the structure of the forum itself. At the moment, it is too clunky and needs to be streamlined.
Some bits will go! So if you have made a post and want to save it, now is the time to do so!
The result of this will be a streamlined forum where it is very easy to find your way around.
The next stage is for me to contact a small group of dealers and invite them to take part in the project.
Then we will have a launch day and a launch party - an exciting event. But I am going to take my time over this, make sure that it works and that everything is in place. So I am looking at an October launch.
Then, well, it really is up to you, the board will be handed over to you, if it a success, you will have created it, if it fails, then it is a missed opportunity.
But, I would like you to spend a little time imagining what this could be, and what a wonderful service it would provide for the community.
Get behind the project, I mean really get behind it, and it will happen - big time!
Sorry it has all gone a bit quite here, and thanks for you guys for keeping everything afloat!
The thing is that both Anthony and I have been involved in the Evening of Mystery. Which has become something of a huge thing!
Also, I am still trying to get myself together from doing this full time and getting the new Alchemy Moon workshop organised.
This is what Anthony and I are thinking about the future of this place.
Our original intention was to spend a good deal of time working on this project. For this to happen, we would need to make it a commercial venture, i.e. vendors pay a monthly 'rent' to have a stall.
We are not sure that this would actually work, not sure that enough magic vendors would get behind it. But without it making financial sense, we cannot afford the time to do it as a charity to magic dealers, who in some senses are our competitors too!
So what so we do? Knock it on the head and say, sorry guys, it was a good idea, but we don't think it will work out for us?
Well, this could be the sensible thing...
However.....
I cannot stop thinking about how badly the scene needs something like this.
Imagine, a forum where all dealers have a level playing field, an open resource to promote their goods, without all the thread bumping and exhausting management that we/they have to go through elsewhere.
Also, from a punters point of view, imagine a forum that you can use to genuinely get an informed view of what the dealers are sweating hard to bring your way. Somewhere, where everything is open, no friends bumping friends threads, no made up members bumping threads, no hyping - just good solid information to inform you purchases.
Is there anyone involved in magic that would not want this?
However, it is going to take a little more than the dream of two guys. It is going to take a concerted effort by both dealers and forum members to make this place work.
So here is the plan!
We make the Marketplace an open community resource.
This means two things - dealers do not have to pay a monthly fee to have a stall. It is free forever.
The other thing is this, it is the dealers responsibility to make it work - to keep their stall interesting, to keep updating it, to actively promote it to their customer base and though other social media.
In short, if you want this, it is up to you if it works.
The rewards are considerable, if you make the board a success.
The same applies to regular forum members. If you want a forum where you can get clear information from dealers and good contact with them, you have your part to play too.
You job is to make the place an exciting and interesting one to visit on a daily basis, start interesting discussions, write some meaningful reviews, tell people about the forum and send them a direct invitation to join.
So what now?
The very first thing I want to do is look at the structure of the forum itself. At the moment, it is too clunky and needs to be streamlined.
Some bits will go! So if you have made a post and want to save it, now is the time to do so!
The result of this will be a streamlined forum where it is very easy to find your way around.
The next stage is for me to contact a small group of dealers and invite them to take part in the project.
Then we will have a launch day and a launch party - an exciting event. But I am going to take my time over this, make sure that it works and that everything is in place. So I am looking at an October launch.
Then, well, it really is up to you, the board will be handed over to you, if it a success, you will have created it, if it fails, then it is a missed opportunity.
But, I would like you to spend a little time imagining what this could be, and what a wonderful service it would provide for the community.
Get behind the project, I mean really get behind it, and it will happen - big time!