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That thread gave us the opportunity to open communication with Peach, which we did. There were proposals which would've given the forum a new channel to work with...which is absolutely necessary in this day and age, because for small players like ourselves diversification (within a narrow field) is pretty much the only way to guarantee longevity.
In any case, it's a moot point now. However, the whole "Well, I didn't get any free stuff, so good riddance!" attitude is precisely why all efforts to expand the forum's reach and influence are pretty much doomed to failure. Shit like this is exactly why this forum doesn't have the deals that you're talking about.
I'm happy to be shot down for saying this, but I don't think you can allow folk the freedom they currently have AND expect perfect behaviour.
If you want a "better" forum then the mods need to clamp down on a lot of things and make the place more business friendly.
Get rid of posts that involve politics, religion and anything else that clearly gets people taking distinct sides.
Delete the whole of Behind Closed Doors.
Stop people using foul language regardless of whether they do it at home.
Make the rules far more specific than Rule 1 and enforce them without any exceptions.
Ban people who break the rules repeatedly and make it clear that this has been done, so that people know how to behave. (I know this is already done, but nevertheless I felt it worth including)
Be prepared for a lot of grief until things settle down.
Welcome to the FretBoard.
Many companies have their own FaceBook groups these days and some are quite active in them. Deals can be given directly to people in these groups, for example how Plugin Alliance work - they do deals which are advertised by email to existing customers, and to members of their closed FB group where the owner posts (not the main business FB page as far as I see).
By a company not posting on here it’s unlikely many would miss a public deal. In fact a lot of the time it’s members reposting publicly available deals here, not the businesses.
So when it comes down to exclusive deals my question is what is thefretboard offering and why does that beat what the business can achieve for themselves?
Why would a company post deals here vs offering it to their own customer base first?
Especially considering many want a situation where ‘we’ hold all the cards regarding ‘free speech’, or at least tone of discussion. That does seem to be part of the USP.
To me the two ideals are kind of mutually opposed to some degree, so a decision needs to be made. The time factor being the longer a decision is not made the less likely it is that it’s possible to involve businesses, as thus far they eventually seem to get driven away.
I honestly would be ok with either option, but I get the feeling we are in no mans land right now.
So the TL;DR version is that one of the 10,000 members of this forum (who may also be a member of the Caravan Club and the Dagenham Girl Pipers for all we know) had an argument with Peach ON THE PHONE, and Peach have now bailed on a vague, intangible "deal" with The Fretboard before completion, leading to the other 9,999 of us being called (with moderator backing no less) a bunch of cunts.
So now all the members hate each other, the moderators hate the members, and Peach are crying all the way to the bank.
I think I'll sign back out again tbh, and I've only been back for a day!
One active FB community I’m in has a no trash talk policy, but it doesn’t censor people who say they don’t like things as long as it’s worded constructively
Although it has been said that the forum is a poorer place without Peach, that might be true; however, we, the majority, make this forum. Maybe if we took a step back and viewed things a bit more objectively, we might have a better chance of resolving such situations positively. Because if I were a guitar retailer thinking of joining and had read this thread, I’d quite quickly change my mind. Seriously, we’re not going to gain popularity with threads like these.
Amongst the multitude of deals that I was doing at the time, it endures in my memory as being particularly satisfying on all levels. I have no reason to believe, from feedback of people who's opinions I value, that the current crew at Peach have deviated much from the ethos that I was met with.
Similarly, the vast majority of people that I've dealt with here, buying, selling, discussing, arguing...have all shared a similar world view. We may not all be dancing to the same tune, but I think we're all trying to stay in the same parade.
This Forum can and will survive those intent on pissing in the well.
Name and shame this dick? Why? All that would achieve is a load of pitchforks at dawn. Haven’t we had enough aggro on here already? Ban the member if his/her identity is known by all means, but there’s no real need to make it public is there?
It’s a shame that Peach have gone, and not because “we could’ve got deals through them”... we simply lose their knowledge and input. The more members and expert knowledge we lose, the poorer this place becomes.
It was neither vague nor intangible, we're just not saying what it was right now because we're clinging to the hope that it may be resurrected in some form or another, possibly with another retailer.
Can you show me where we backed that up? I can't see it. Simply posting in a thread doesn't imply support for the exact sentiment expressed in the original post. Neither does not deleting it, as evidenced by the fact that the forum actually exists as more than a blog for Tony and I.
The forum isn't a school for etiquette, so you can only expect it to reinforce decency. 13 year old gamers gave @gringopig a hard time about what they were going to do to his elderly mother, but the game developers wouldn't give a toss if he told them, although you could get them banned via an admin (same as here). Would it stop you playing the game? No - you'd just shoot em up 'long dick style' etc.
For that one sweary phone call, Peach made a haul! Circa £100k, because Gibson were informed of an undisclosed charity raffle and they donated the R8s for free (so I 'eard)
And can that sweary person walk out the office and down the stairs on a Sunday morning, in gown, pipe and slippers, to a saloon full of Vigiers, Eggles and Atkins? No...So that's 2-1.
I'm sitting here wearing a cricket cup while the low balls come through gumtree, so feel sorry for me instead. I want a bass and welcome some one-off phone call abuse in exchange for one. Gimme a right verbal spankin', you Nancy you.
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
The sad fact of commerce today is transparency, real-time critique,Trip advisor type online reference and reviews .You can't even advertise your retail product without the internet throwing up 6 alternative options and 4 cheaper deals from warehouse Amazons to further destroy your customer base and spoil your potential sale. Put that together with the the traditional problem of difficult customers, rude customers, serial complainers bad-payers and complete time-wasters and it's easy to see why it's a tough battleground.
Restaurants and Hotels now have to take this in their stride (especially trip -advisor type abuse.)
Sadly that is the stage for retail today."If you can't stand the heat ,get out the kitchen "
I completely agree with them saying ' sod it, don't need this ' .......it's their business and they can do as they please ...they are a business not an obligated public service and are entitled to say "get out of my shop "to anybody who is a nuisance or withdraw themselves from a forum .(which they did politely and gently without fuss which was very professional.)
On a personal level I don't think that one unpleasant incident poisons a forum or that it is a barometer of the membership nor should they expect their presence to be divinely beyond any kind of downside as that would be commercially naive. Hopefully the good outweighs the bad on both counts.
That's business..........as they say. Thicker skins all round.......