This topic has been annoying me for quite a while, simply because, as a business owner, I know how vital customer service and promise keeping are to the bottom line and long term health of the venture. I worked for a few outfits years ago which stick in my mind because in each case, their craft was superb, but their business acumen sucked the chrome off of a trailer hitch, and every one of those shops had to close their doors, not because of collection problems, but because of stone dead awful customer service. I heard the complaints, and dutifully passed on the messages, but TPTB didn’t make a genuine effort to improve.
So now that I’m The Power That Be (as a sole proprietor), I make it point to keep the promises I make, communicate any problem to the customer directly, as quickly as possible, and when something happens which fucks up the plan, (late delivery of goods-damaged in shipment) accept responsibility immediately, and resolve the issue to the customer’s satisfaction. I’m certainly not the best in my trade, nor am I the most wealthy among similar shop owners, but I do have the unwavering trust of my customers, because I’ve never told them a lie.
I guess it all boils down to your priorities as a business owner. I like honesty, and let the profits take care of themselves. Apparently, the SDMB Grand Poobahs don’t share my view of things.
Ed said June or July. It’s barely August, so it’s fallen behind schedule. Cry me a river. Really, this thing isn’t top priority, the board is sailing along quite nicely. When we change, we’ll change. It’s not as if fucking lives are depending on it.
In short, what the fuck does it matter if it’s taking longer than they thought?
Because switching the board from paid posting to free posting does not take months or weeks or days. It takes a couple of hours.
So the fact that The Powers That Be haven’t done it says volumes about what they think of promoting this board (not at all). Google Ads for a website of this size should be a huge chunk of change. A blind monkey with a pencil in it’s teeth should be able to sell enough companion ad space to make a fuck ton of money.
I noticed a few months back that my subscription end date was pushed forward to August 4th (this coming Monday).
Now, I remember seeing a thread about this in ATMB that said the subscription change was global, and all paid users were getting extended out to August 4th.
Given that, could it be that August 4th is the date of transition?
I’ve said this in these type of threads before, but I think it can be repeated:
CL, as it was with the Reader, is an alternative “Newspaper”, surviving by selling classifieds of a more or less shady nature (and, yes, some legitimate too) and *they have no fucking idea * about how to make revenue from the 'Net. This they share with more traditional newspapers.
I’ve been checking their website and I get the impression that their web ads are thrown in as a bonus when ad buyers place an order in the paper.
The SDMB has readers from many parts of the planet. What I, or someone in Minneapolis, would benefit from a banner ad from a Ford dealer in Chicago is beyond me. But porn sites figure out in which town I am in Sweden, and get targeted ads that work geographically for me. CL should set up Cafe Society (where I spend most of my time) to expose me to ads from Amazon for the newest DVD releases here, from Amazon Europe.
Online betting is big i Europe. They could rake in money from those people when there are big sporting events and put non obtrusive ads in the Game Room.
My guess, then, bordering on certainty, is that TPTB simply don’t understand the web. We’d be much better of if Slate, Salon or some such, had bought the Cecil Adams brand name from the Reader and licensed it back. As it is now, one set of Web amateurs was bought out by another set of web amateurs.
Hey Ed. If you read this. Try pitching CA to Salon instead. More readers, better money and a happier board.
While this board is definitely more international than most, I think some of the overseas Dopers sorely overestimate their presence. A simple Amazon.com partner link (that earned the SDMB 3-8% of every sale) would do wonders.
Which is why I didn’t say international. There are maybe ten Germans, somewhat fewer Scandinavians, quite a few Brits and guys with the Brogue. Aussies and Kiwis, at least one guy from S. Africa. But Chefguy (in Alaska) and Dio (in Minnesota) aren’t interested in Joe Rizza Ford*, even if they’re in the market for a new Explorer.
quit complaining. they are busy installing that new server they bought in 2002. That one that will stop all the timeouts and even put up with those that abuse the search function by searching more than twice per day. Also I hear great things are on their way.
You know, if it weren’t for all of the know-nothing apologists here, we might actually be able to reach some kind of consensus as to what we should do. But we have far too many folks here willing to give the Reader a pass for absolutely no reason at all other than to be a kiss-ass.
It’s far too obvious that running a fucking internet forum is neither rocket science nor expensive. Gazillions of websites out there do it for free and FAR more efficiently.
I would personally be willing to organize something given the opportunity, if I knew everyone would switch to a new board. But that’s the problem. Everyone wants to stay here. The Reader has been jerking us around for years and still hasn’t done a goddamned thing. All we have to show for it is still poor performance which we pay for now.
This Jerry guy? I think he probably knows better. He just has other things on his hands. The Reader isn’t going to get serious about it so he probably only does the minimal necessary to keep things going.
What should be done? I suggest that the Reader turn over the running of the board to the board members themselves. We could then find someone amongst ourselves to run it and do a good job of it instead of someone who doesn’t give a shit. Maybe we could work out something where the person in charge leases the rights to use the CA name and is allows to figure out how to make a profit within those restrictions. How could that be a bad idea? The Reader still gets its money, and all of the prestige or whatever and none of the headaches of day-to-day operation while the board members would be assured that there won’t be any more bullshit and realize the people running it really care about it.
Or you can just blame me for not being loyal enough.
You’re not disloyal, just one of the outrageous people who actually expect a modicum of response from the folks who charge you money. I like your idea, and agree with the problems you’ve already identified.
I doubt that the Reader will allow any screwing with the status quo, however. Within a month or so of a group which gives a shit taking over, the obfuscation by the former keepers of the keys would be woefully evident to all but the most ardent brown-nosers. If you had a steady stream of money coming in, for which you didn’t have to do dick, would you take kindly to boat-rocking?
If you come up with a new angle, please let us know. Damn near anything would constitute an improvement.
danceswithcats, you asked a perfectly good question here. Sadly the thread got closed with yet another “we have no new information” instead.
Is there not a single person in the organization that could just ask? Even returning an answer like “due to circumstances beyond our control it’s not going to happen anytime soon” is better than “we [still] don’t know.” It at least conveys the message that someone bothered to find out.