I don’t have a problem with Ed creating a forum to promote his book.
I’m a little concerned though, that given this precedent the moderators and maybe even SDSAB members will start agitating for their own forums to celebrate personal life-changing events. We could wind up with I Got A Raise!, Discuss My Garage Sale and My Fungal Infection forums, and no one wants to see that.
Seems okay for now. I have to ask, though, will the forum be removed after the book drops out of the top 50,000,000 on Amazon, or is it a permanent addition?
This is off topic, but did Snopes (of the snopes.com page) get his name from there, too?
I gotta say that since we’re paying to participate in this message board, it may not be the best idea to start separate forums just as an advertisement. It would be different if the board were free.
I think a sticky post at the top of Cafe Society would have been a better idea.
To me, this seems silly, ineffective, and hardly any less pompous than creating a blog, but as long as it doesn’t tax the guinea pigs* unduly and nobody makes me read it, Ed can have his forum.
*-I figure we updated from hamsters last weekend.
And seriously, dude, you thought creating your own forum on a site with 80,000 posters, which very few people have the resources to do, would be less self-aggrandizing than starting a blog, which any Jack Sixpack can do?
With all due respect, TubaDiva, fuck you. If it wasn’t for us this site wouldn’t exist at all either. I and thousands like me have ponied up our hard-earned scratch to be here for the last few years. Where’s our fucking respect? When do we get the features we’ve asked for and been promised?
What the hell. I don’t understand all the anger and animosity directed at Ed regarding his new forum.
It seems to me people just need something to bitch about. free to post is finally here, hey look… new forum, but it’s not what WE want. So what if he has put in a forum to “flog” his new book? Either it works or it doesn’t. If it does, great, if it doesn’t, it will die a natural death. The way some of you are carrying on seems to me to be childish, petty and well downright stupid.
I might, if there’s hot women in it!
I wish I had headed straight to the Pit instead of expressing my views on the subject in the All Things Zotti and ATMB forums.
What a bunch of fucking crybabies. How does Ed’s ego forum harm your experience here?
But the board is free now. As of Tuesday, haven’t you noticed the flood of returning posters as guests? 
Well, yeah. The forum is to pimp Ed’s book. Anybody who wants hard info on rehabbing and extensive advice would be better advised to go the source: http://www.oldhousejournal.com/. I’ve been working on my 1874 brick Italianate for the past 15 years or so. That’s where I get a lot of information on historic preservation techniques, sources, etc. (Right now I’m racing fall weather, pulling out double-hung sash windows, heatgunning off the blistered paint, priming, repainting, replacing sash cords, stops, reglazing, etc.)
So I’m a rehabber, and a pretty hardcore, no-shortcuts type at that, and the forum for Ed’s book doesn’t interest me. The SDMB is my recreation spot away from my full time job and actual, endless rehabbing tasks. I don’t need or want the experience filtered through someone else. If other people do, fine with me.
The timing and prominent placement of the new forum were maladroit–IMO-- but again, Ed can do what he wants. I’m thoroughly unimpressed that he did it but hey, no skin off my nose. Given his marked inattention to the board in the past I don’t quite see how he’ll manage his participation in his new vanity forum. But that’s his problem and not mine. Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.
No…do I get my money back then? :rolleyes:
Apparently they do. MPSIMS remains our most active forum.
Yahbut we don’t need a separate forum for each thing mundane pointless thing.
It’s a fucking message board. We don’t need any of it.
Just because Ed can do it doesn’t mean he should. Put me in the ‘it’s all about the benjamins’ camp. Still, it’s not something to get worked up about.
I think that in the days and weeks to come, it will become more and more obvious that the board doesn’t belong to us, it belongs to CL. Let’s face it, they didn’t just do this big upgrade and go free-to-post to make current subscribers happy…we were already here. They are trying to increase traffic, sell ads, and make money. Now it seems that they are also going to use this as a promotional venue for their own stuff. Color me shocked.
Personally, I don’t see the big deal. I’d much rather get some new blood around here, and get the discussions really pumping than worry about whether or not someone’s pimping a book.
Well the fact of the matter is respect is earned. Unless you happen to be the boss.
Then it’s a FREEBIE!!
So suck it up, my little babies.
Don’t let your pretty little heads go thinkin’ this is some attempt at brown nosing. I’ve had words with both Ed and Tuba and well, after all is said and done, they are the boss.
End of fucking story.
My first thought was that it would be exactly the type of book my SO would love, and it would have made a great birthday present, but now I’m not so sure.
*Exactly. The whole forum is nothing but one big advertisement. :rolleyes: