Shut it down? (POLL)

[JofZ]

Should we shut the Hub down?

[PeeWee]

I vote to keep it up and running.

C'mon all you lurkers! What are you afraid of?? You won't be chastised for becoming a member and you've the opportunity to help this community grow. The only way to improve upon what's here is to participate!

[sliding-tom]

Keep it up, I say. Seems to need a lot of patience. I'm with ya!:)

[MelvinDale]

I check in about 4 or 5 times a week. No, I don't post much, but I do enjoy the site.
Keep it up - just slow to grow.
That ain't a bad thing - so was I.

[soulsonic]

What I don't understand is why no one posts here. There's alot of members and some of you guys look like you have alot of posts, but there's almost no content to be found here. Its very strange. I'll post something up and get no response at all. How does a forum have over 1,000 members, yet no activity? Did something happen to scare everyone away? I don't get it. Can someone please give me a clue why no one posts here?

The main thing a forum needs to attract and a participating audience is content. Interesting content, and lots of it. The reason why Freestompboxes was able to grow so much was because the administrators constantly add new content to start new discussions. It's about starting threads that have valuable information in them. Information is key - that's what people look for on the interenet; information. So, if you make it a hot place to constantly visit to learn new information, it may help shake it out of its doldrums, because if people start hanging out here to get this information, then they'll surely begin adding more content of their own and engaging in discussions with each other.

[JofZ]

What I don't understand is why no one posts here. There's alot of members and some of you guys look like you have alot of posts, but there's almost no content to be found here. Its very strange. I'll post something up and get no response at all. How does a forum have over 1,000 members, yet no activity? Did something happen to scare everyone away? I don't get it. Can someone please give me a clue why no one posts here?

The main thing a forum needs to attract and a participating audience is content. Interesting content, and lots of it. The reason why Freestompboxes was able to grow so much was because the administrators constantly add new content to start new discussions. It's about starting threads that have valuable information in them. Information is key - that's what people look for on the interenet; information. So, if you make it a hot place to constantly visit to learn new information, it may help shake it out of its doldrums, because if people start hanging out here to get this information, then they'll surely begin adding more content of their own and engaging in discussions with each other.

BRAVO!!!!

I guess there is no harm in telling everyone my opinion of what happened. We had a fairly large group of owners when we launched. Everyone was dedicated to making this forum work. The group included numerous people from various backgrounds, but all of them were involved in the boutique side of the industry. As the weeks turned to months not one of them were doing what they has said they would. There was no support for this place. They refused to get the word out, they refused to post and they refused to help me with the ADMIN. As time went by, the 2 of us that remained (due to a relationship and the same ideas about this board and other business ventures) bought out the others and decided we didn't need the dead weight.
People like Dean Farley, Bjorn Juhl, and others vanished.
We had agreements with those who advertised here, we didn't charge them a dime. In return they agreed to support us, but as we all know that didn't happen either. They were happy getting free advertising, free Demo Boxes and free reviews to help them sell product without helping us with the board. We decided the only way to motivate the advertisers was to charge them and one by one they all dropped off except for Destroy All Guitars, Bob Burt and Skreddy. If it were not for Marc, Bob and Cliff I would have shut this place down months ago.
To give you an example, we helped launch the Fetto Pedal. The demo box and marketing resulted in the Fetto becoming a pretty popular pedal. Joakim basically thought nothing of this.
I could go on and on and put all sorts of names up here with the story behind it, but I think you all get the point. People didn't live up to their obligations.
As you can see, Dean who used to own a part of this board stopped participating back in August and has not even bothered to check his Snake Oil board once since, nor will he return calls or emails. He didn't like the fact that he had to actually do some work around here to get the ball rolling. He refused to get the job done and we moved on. His board will sit idle as a reminder that this is probably how he runs his business as well.
We launched some boards for others, just hosting them here. Once they saw the benefits of a message board they launched their own with out telling us and asked us months down the road to remove the ones we had here. Ceriatone, etc are examples of this.
We had an agreement with a major publication to co-market our board with them, once the traffic died so did the agreement.
The thing that really bugs me about the whole situation is that after all the pleading, the begging and reminders to post (none of which we should have to do) only a very select few members told others about the board. It is really dissapointing when you see other boards getting spoken about and yours is not. The members have to grow this place, they have to place the content up. They have to tell others!
I have done all that I can!
I run 5 companies and I do this out of my love for the guitar. My life is so busy that I work 20 hour days just to keep up with email. On top of that I also have writing obligations for my industry. I am proud of the fact I have monthly columns in 3 different magazines. So I guess it has come to a point where I will no longer put in the time because only a few appreciate it.

So where do we go from here?
At this crossroad you all get to decide and the results of the poll are pretty tell tale. If people do not start posting, building content, telling others in other forums about this place then we will SHUT it down.

We have asked for suggestions, we got none.
We asked for help, we got none.

Now we are telling you we no longer want to see 12 guys chat.
Build it or its gone!

Maybe I will add a section to the board called things you always wanted to know and spill it about all sorts of stuff that I know people would be furious about and happy at the same time to finally see in print. If that gets the traffic up so be it.

[gururyan]

What we need is something that would have to be discussed HERE and not simply taken to another board to discuss. Having been and still currently a mod on a few gear forums, it really is a slow building process. Once you can get about 50 people to post a few times a day, that gives you a decent foundation. Getting to that point though is tough, very tough.

[soulsonic]

nope, nevermind

[B Vance]

Wow JofZ, it sounds like you got screwed big-time. Maybe a little "outing" of those dealers and builders who've been less than honest could stir up the kind of excitement you need here. If you've got some inside info about certain people's business practices that are not on the up-and-up, then I think it's some good stuff for peope to know. I know I've witnessed some bad stuff first-hand while I worked for Weber.
For example... you know those Scumback speakers sold by Southbay Amp Works? Well, they do freely admit that they are made by Weber for Southbay, but did you know that you can easily order the exact same speaker directly from Weber for about half the price? I mean the exact speaker. Did you know that the mystical "Pre-Rola" treatment is nothing more than a bunch of doping and fabric softener? Did you realize that perhaps the Scumback speaker is nothing more than a Blue Dog with the aforementioned extra doping and fabric softener on it? Do you realize that when it says that one has a 55hz cone or whatever, you can easily (and cheaply!) get a Blue Dog done that way?
It makes me wonder why anyone bothers buying speakers from Southbay.

I was not aware of this soulsonic. Thanks for the info. I'm a huge fan of the Weber Blue Dog I have in my 2x12 cab and was considering giving a Scum a try...

[soulsonic]

nope, nevermind.

[firebird]

Wow! Already we have the beginning of something very interesting which should draw discussion and more people here IF WORD WILL GET OUT about this. Folks love certain truths being revealed, which is of course what we're dealing with here ......... it's a very far cry from unsubstantiated gossip printed for the sole purpose of selling some trash-rag.
Bring it on, you guys in-the-know. We need to hear about these less-than-ethical endeavors going on in the musical instrument industry. There's nothing like the truth.

[tonefinger]

While I am not a music industry insider as most on here seem to be, i enjoy talking about all things guitar. The problem is, I very seldom get a response to any of my posts. This leads me to not check in very often anymore. I can talk to myself anywhere. No offense to anyone, but it seems that there is a bit of an elitist attitude from some of the members. I love the boutique gear as much as the next guy, but realistically can't afford much of it. The average musician won't be able to afford alot of this gear, and I think maybe that makes them feel like the don't belong. I have an interest in alot of this gear and would probably buy from some of these manufacturers, but there doesn't seem to be much interest in talking to us. However, I hope that it doesn't get shut down. It would be nice to get a response once in awhile, I feel kind of stupid when there is a post I made weeks ago and not one response has been made.

[gururyan]

Wow, this Scumback gossip is exactly what this place needs. That's huge, looking forward to more info on this!

[PeeWee]

OK people -

We have a total of 163 views on this subject and only 8 votes??
If you view the thread, please cast a vote. Active participation is all we're looking for here and being apathetical accomplishes nothing.

It doesn't take much. Got a question? Post it in the appropriate forum. Want to share some info on a gear purchase? Post it in the appropriate forum. Again, all we're looking for here is active participation.

If I didn't spend so much time deleting spam posts and watching for spammers trying to sign on I'd be a bit more proactive myself. This place exists solely for you to enjoy and to share info and ideas with others. The poll closes in @ 24 hours.

[sliding-tom]

Well put, PeeWee! :)

[tonefinger]

Preach on , brother.

[Greg_G]

I'm another who was disillusioned with the lack of posts and responses...
I now vow to come here and post as much as I can ! (first thing is to add it to my Links, so I can just click on it)
This place has a nice friendly vibe.

We're gonna need more smilies though - the selection just isn't there...:)

Keep it open, lets make it work !

[bloodlemons]

I have to take my lumps as someone who hasn't been posting. I do check in here from time to time, but I haven't seen a lot of topics that seem to "need" :) my input and so I move on. Mostly it's just that I'm busy and tend to stick to one or two forums at a time (lately TF and HM). Plus, I'm just a consumer, not a builder, so I generally only have my opinions to offer; I can only wax Hallmark over my Pink Flesh so many times before people start to get sick of it, right?

But, to keep it short, I appreciate what y'all are doing and I will try to stop in more often. I think the boutique pedal community has grown so quickly, but is still so relatively small, that it may be hard to keep all of the forums (if not the builders) afloat.

That being said, I really do love my Pink Flesh!

M

[Boogieman]

I don't want this site to go away, I just found my way back.

BTW how do you vote? As soon as I clicked on this post it gave me the vote totals with no way to vote.

[PeeWee]

I don't want this site to go away, I just found my way back.

BTW how do you vote? As soon as I clicked on this post it gave me the vote totals with no way to vote.


Welcome back, Boogieman!

Voting has ended but don't let that stop you from being active on the boards; your participation is valuable to the longevity of The Hub. :)

[Steve Lowe]

Hey guys - sorry I've not been around, but I've re-added the hub to my daily list.

[jerseydrew]

Maybe I will add a section to the board called things you always wanted to know and spill it about all sorts of stuff that I know people would be furious about and happy at the same time to finally see in print. If that gets the traffic up so be it.


I'd like to see this. Why not?
I'll admit, I haven't been around here for a long time. Honestly, it's boring. Maybe some juicy information will spice this place up.

One of reasons why I'm not around is because I belong to a TON of other forums. This forum is nothing special. Why should I post here than other places? Seriously, why?

Ok, I could have said nothing and never came back. The reason why I did post this was to give MY opinion to hopefully make this place better. Yes, perhaps it's not too late. I think this place has potential but hasn't lived up to it.

Perhaps WE need to find a special niche? Let's put our heads together :)