Vendor Forum/Poll

[Guy Mancuso]

Well we have grown quite a bit and along with that we have many vendors here. Been thinking maybe it is time to give them a home on there own forum to list there services, promotional announcements and things as such. We have retail stores, dealers, company executives, repair services and so on. I know who needs another place to look, Yes i am lazy too. LOL But be interesting to hear your thoughts and make a vote yes/no. The one nice thing is it gives this stuff a place as a resource instead of in the threads as a place where the info gets lost because of the many threads.

 

[TRSmith]

I voted in favor, but with one reservation. I think it's a great idea to have a place set aside for things like special promotions and new product announcements. However, I really enjoy the fact that professionals from every segment of photography participate in the conversations that take place in the various forums. I hope they'll stay active in all the forums and continue to contribute in the personal way they have up until this point.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Absolutely agree Tim. This is just a place to dumb your stuff and go play in the forums and help folks. i will certainly make that a request as we do today. Thierry, Steve , Lance and everyone else know we want them to be a part of the whole forum. They all totally agree to that no question . But i do agree with you this is a must. No free rides for any vendor they need to be a part of the whole forum and help folks.

 

[ddk]

I voted no.

I love the fact that vendors are welcome to promote themselves openly here on this forum. I liked them mixed in with us and not segregated, they might end up not posting only there and not joining in the forum conversations like now. We know who they are and one can just easily do a search of their posts without having to go to a separate forum. I don't mind if you want to open a commercial FS forum so they can list their goodies but would be a shame to lose them as participants in daily Q & A, then its a definite YES!

 

[Terry]

I voted no because the offers in and of themselves often lead to good discussions that are useful to keep within the forums. I think the volume of special deals will ebb and flow with new product rollouts and clearing out the old stuff. There just seem to be a lot right now because there are so many gearheads (I used the nice terminology ) spending so much money.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Good points. Folks keep it coming just trying to get a feel for what everyone wants .I do like the idea of a separate vender buy and sell. They will be in other forums helping out as they always do. I was just thinking of giving them a home for promoting there wares . They do actually feel guilty sometimes about posting there promotions and worried about members thinking the only reason there here , that is not what they want you to think and reason why I thought of this. They have a lot of promotions going on and are just worried about to much. if they had there own space than there free to dump and go help out elsewhere. But keep the idea's coming Jack and I want to do right by you members on this.

 

[ddk]

They do actually feel guilty sometimes about posting there promotions and worried about members thinking the only reason there here , that is not what they want you to think and reason why I thought of this.

Personally I have no problem if that's what some were here for, fact of the matter is that a knowledgeable dealer is providing a valuable service and should be proud of it. In time the good ones will hopefully prosper and bad the ones will be weeded out, if only that was always true...LOL

I'm all for a commercial for sale forum too for those interested in gear only. I agree that would make it easier for them to promote all their gear, demo, special, used, consignment, etc., I'm changing my vote to a YES! So please go ahead and change it for me please.

david

 

[johnastovall]

I like ddk's idea of a commercial for sale forum too for those interested in gear only but what about services, like large format drum scanning, or high end printing or custom profiling.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

John it would be open to all those service folks also. Like repair shops and such. I see it as a resource holding tank. Eventually at some point we are planing some banners for folks but they will be for pay . This is free for our vendor friends and it will be moderated and if a cell phone ad comes in it will be gone in a heartbeat. Truly photo only related stuff.

 

[lance_schad]

I think it is great idea to keep the true sales/promotions in a separate area away from all the excellent technical info that is shared. I have found from experience that there are just some folks may not wish to be aware of promos and such, so this area would kind of just be an opt in section for those who wish to comment and be advised of pricing and such.
Don't worry Chris, Doug and I are not going to just focus our efforts in that area, in fact it will be used just when there are announcements that are applicable and are straight Ads/Promos. You will see regular posts from all of use in the other areas.
Some conversation that may have some good tech info that may interest the masses, may them be able to be migrated to a thread w/o the sales part.
I and the others at CI enjoy being active in various threads here and are looking forward to assisting you all in the future for whatever platform you use.
It is great to see the forum evolving and having the active management of both Jack and Guy. THANK YOU BOTH
Lance Schad
Capture Integration - Miami/Atlanta
305-394-3196 cell | 305-534-5702 office
Capture Integration
My Blog
[email protected]

 

[PeterA]

I voted yes - because I think that a separate place for advertisements is a great way to store information for reference. Of course, I think that the knowledgeable dealers often present useful technical answers to questions in normal threads. Having a separate advertising space - should not mitigate against other participation.

Also it is a great way to set up a public record of what each manufacturer is offering at any point in time and as a time line history developed over time - very useful.

I have enjoyed the participation of dealers in normal threads and I have learned a lot about the culture and attitude of many dealerships from just watching the way people interact in normal threads.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Well sounds like some in favor of this . Let's hear some more and we can do something positive . I agree i look at this as a reference in many ways

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Well I made a executive decision. Hate wearing a tie , but the Commercial Vendor forum is born.
http://forum.getdpi.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=37

 

[LJL]

Sounds like this will work out for most folks. My only other comment on this topic has been covered to some degree, but still worth mentioning. As long as the various vendors continue sharing and participating in the regular discussions, it will be great for everybody, and I think they could easily link to this new forum and vice versa from threads that would benefit both ways....good tech and photo discussions and sales/service opportunities.

Noticed that we no longer have the Business of Photography forum. Realizing that it was not heavily participated in, that is understandable, but there was a lot of interesting discussion about how the business side of things may or may not be working, especially when dealing with clients, job scoping, legal stuff, etc. Has that been lost or moved someplace else?

LJ

 

[Jack]

Hi LJ:

The Business Forum is not gone per se, just merged with the Sunset Bar. You are correct in that it was not heavily used, I think there were 5 threads total, so for the time being we merged them to keep the appearance of the main page a little less cluttered. Feel free to post any business related discussions there. If it gains interest, we can certainly create it's own spot again.

Cheers,

 

[LJL]

Jack,
That is sort of what I thought had happened, but was not sure. Completely understand the streamlining. Just did not want to see potentially valuable info "lost". Some of the more sensitive legal stuff might be better to NOT post (like that one deleted thread), but stuff related to permits, licensing, rentals, insurance and things like that would be good to keep track of. If the search engine works, should not be too big a problem ;-)

All is good. This great forum is maturing nicely on its own, and continues to be a wonderful place for folks to learn about so many aspects and gear in a very non-threatening, helpful and non-hostile environment.

LJ

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Thanks LJ comments like that make it all worthwhile for us and exactly what members want also. This is my homepage everyday my computer fires up , we want it to be everyones.