Why Are You Pissed Off Today?

Mauro said:
Styleffourm. I just received an email today saying they want me to pay them $600.00 a month for my WvG thread. Normally I would bitch but since I have never paid a penny for the last 5 years I think it's absurd. I only have a handful of people viewing my thread,WTF!?!
How do I get the people to read my WvG thread come over here with the cool kids?
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What? That is a lot of money... tell them :NO-8:
 
I still remember when Mauro told me about how much they were trying to bilk him for. I literally spit out my drink. I know they're trying to fuck TOJ out of the same type of cash.
 
Seems like a hell of a lot of money for a single thread on a forum, especially when threads like that seem to be what keep much of the userbase posting.

I mean, in some ways it is TOJ's storefront...but less so with shops that actually have retail locations or ecommerce websites. Isn't that part of what people like about it though...you can talk with the shopowners and get far more information and service than somebody who just browses the website?

What about threads like the Everlane thread? It was started by a random poster (although it was a 1-post noob so it might be a shill...but what kind of shill doesn't include a link to the site and mentions buying them on ebay instead of from the shop?). It then took on a strong presence from a preexisting SF member who happens to work for them. I certainly would never have bought anything from them if not for the thread and the fact that he gave established members a credit on their first order. I wouldn't have kept ordering if it weren't for the fact that they seemed to respond earnestly to feedback in the thread. Half of their stuff still doesn't fit me, but it fits a lot of SFers better than it used to. If they were paying a bunch of money and paying for an intern to post on forums, I don't know that they would have been so generous at the beginning (which is really the thing that makes me go "oh, cool, there's something special about being here").

So who is the customer? Are you building a community of posters that generate advertising revenue (and maybe marketing insight) by attracting people who are interested in those kinds of threads? Or are you building a community of retailers who have threads to sell shit in with the hopes that you will have a community for them to sell shit to?
You can sort of do the second one with B&S, but if Mauro has to pay $600 a month for a discussion thread, he's going to have to generate extra revenue so either prices are goign to go up (which will then attract less interested parties) or he is going to have to shill like mad all of the time (and nobody wants a thread full of sales pitches).
 
What about the Allen Edmonds thread?

It probably drives more sales (although only seconds, and only when the seconds are half off) than the WvG thread *AND* the CEO of the company occasionally posts in it.

Personally, I'd call out the second point and not care about the first. "Hey guys, come be a member of the forum, the CEO of your favorite shoe company may even stop by, remedy your issue, and then offer a special custom order deal to members".

But what do I know...clearly the ads don't generate enough revenue (I mean, facebook can't even solve that problem...I certainly don't click their ads), so maybe more users won't help. Threads like the AE one are already absurdly overloaded: unless you check it multiple times a day, you will end up with hundreds of unread posts--mostly uninspired photos of unpolished shoes--and just skip to the end until you realize you missed a couple of really good posts and a link to some Shell shoes marked down to $150.
 
I remember when I first joined SF, Fok had the same passion for an online community where people can anonymously come together and discuss whatever that was their minds. I remember he clearly said that it was about community and he, J, Matt didn't care about making money as much. But I guess things have just changed so much since. For the worse or better, we will just have to see.
 
Mauro said:
Styleffourm. I just received an email today saying they want me to pay them $600.00 a month for my WvG thread. Normally I would bitch but since I have never paid a penny for the last 5 years I think it's absurd. I only have a handful of people viewing my thread,WTF!?!
How do I get the people to read my WvG thread come over here with the cool kids?
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I hope he doesn't do the same to David Hober....
 
III said:
The thing about it is, I don't begrudge any of them wanting to make money off SF. J and Fok, and to an extent SteveB have all spent years working for free (or nearly free), sometimes late into the night trying to fix shit so that they could build this thing. Being on the phone with some Russian IT guy for five hours at 3am trying to problem solve why the site is lagging. Travelling around visiting affiliates, and etc. I mean, these people did this stuff when they had day jobs and in Fok and Steve's case - families to support. They have a lot of monetary catching up to do, and they've made significant personal investments of time, money, and otherwise into the forum. It's just not reasonable to expect that given the same time, energy, and investment in this forum that Rambo will continue to do it for free forever - or that he won't eventually feel the need to bring on partners that drive the business aspects if this forum ever achieves any of what SF did. But he can make different choices. And end up with a different result. Ebay and Craigslist started out with similar ideas.
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I was thinking about this and the comparison to a magazine. The content of a magazine is created by professionals who get paid to do it; the content of SF is 99% made by its members, unpaid. So while I don't begrudge SF's owners making some money off it commensurate to the work they put it, I think they have tipped the balance too far, and it now seems like they are profiting off the content created by others (whether or not that's true, that is how it comes across). Even that would be ok, as long as they kept the members feeling like the place belongs to them. But around the time that the profit motive kicked in, SF's management style also seemed to change to a more authoritarian one - changes to the forum were imposed from on high with no discussion with the members who make the place what it is. That move of DT from general to lifestyle for instance. Just happened one day, no warning, no discussion - even managed to piss of Thomas (as I recall), who seems a pretty sanguine chap and who gives up his time to be a mod over there (I presume unpaid).

I'm pretty sure this is basically what caused Vox to leave in the end - he created loads of great traffic-driving content for them, free of charge, which they were now obviously profiting from, and they acted like dicks towards him. One or other maybe he could stand, but not both. So he said fuck that and walked.

I'm a horrible noob who came here uninvited and have no idea who Rambo is or what history he has over there, but it seemed to me he was setting out to solve the above problem. While I wouldn't begrudge a few banner ads or whatever for him to cover costs, it's important he does everything with the consent and understanding of the members.
 
Chester said:
His postings on twitter/instagram are worth a nod. I have no idea where he gets them but his library of high resolution photos from 1930 to 1965 is huge.
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Can you reach out. I can see the SF community taking note if he surfaced here.
 
Meh. PB doesn't really give a shit about this forum so I seriously doubt it would make any difference.
 
Chester said:
Pissing me off: my entire casual wardrobe is douche-tastic. My best fitting outfit is an Armani polo shirt and True Religion jeans. I've spent 10 years making, buying and studying the perfect formal clothes and completely neglected my casual wardrobe. I foresee some expensive months ahead.
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Have you met my friend Mauro?
 
Chester said:
Pissing me off: my entire casual wardrobe is douche-tastic. My best fitting outfit is an Armani polo shirt and True Religion jeans. I've spent 10 years making, buying and studying the perfect formal clothes and completely neglected my casual wardrobe. I foresee some expensive months ahead.
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Burn with fire.
 
Lost my effing car keys. I hate losing stuff or forgetting about things and I'm doing more often as I get older. It's a sign I'm losing my mind.
 
Keys are a ridiculous anachronism anyway. My car should just sense my approach, start the engine, adjust cabin temperature and open the door.
 
I had one of each till I lost them, though if I use the real key without pressing the button first the alarm would go off anyway.
 
Harveybirdman said:
They're getting there.



I must admit though, I don't care for those kind of advancements. All it does is unnecessarily complicate the automobile. I like having to use a key, because that means if I lose my keys I can still break into my car, hotwire it, and drive home.
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Within the next decade many cars will be driving themselves. Many a truck driver will be out of work, most entering law school I suspect... you're warned.
 
Harveybirdman said:
I've already seen the death of my business. They're going to start out-sourcing law work to places like India where you can get moderately intelligent people to work for a pittance. Video conferencing is already starting to be accepted in Court, there's no reason it can't extend to the other side of the world instead of just across the state or country.
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you mean paralegal type shit?

dont you have to be a citizen to be in the bar assn?
 
^^ that will fail. How can you have accountability? If you fucks didn't charge so much this wouldn't happen.
 
I came back to work from lunch yesterday and offered to buy a female coworker a coffee. She said no so I said I am going down anyway and if she wanted a macaroon or something let me know. Somehow that turned into some vicious IM conversation that went to her saying no im, no text message, etc. Then she said she was acting like a child. And I said I have a bunch of conference calls and I can't deal with this now. Plus I was drunk so I will say something stupid.

Two nights ago I was having a work dinner in her neighbourhood at a bar she recommended and she was messaging me till last call on our personal mobile.

I'm utterly confused. And supposedly we have a lunch on Tuesday.
 
Since I made that mistake very early on in my career around 22 I'm well aware not to. She's more a protege of mine who has been with me for two firms. I got promoted and left her in a bad spot and I know it's driving her nuts. Maybe that's why I get the attitude sometimes.
 
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