SNOWEST FORUMS: Member Comments on "Letter to All Members"

[Sturgis Sledder]

i went to bed last night trying to figure out just why it was that i am so against the new changes and the fee schedule. As many have said, 10 bucks a year is not much in the grand scheme of things. There is certainly a lot of good information here. And even more humor. On the surface, 10 buck a year sounds like a bargain.

Then i started to re-read some of the responses from christopher and and several disturbing themes started to emerge.
The repeated statement that they were trying to enlist "real industry players" to join the forum to replace the members who chose to leave.
Not one reply to multiple requests for and open forum as to what changes we, the users, want or need.
Dissenters are labeled whiners by admin and (some)mods. While supporters, no matter how new or how few posts, are thanked and rated positively.
With a few exceptions, the majority of users that have supported the fees are low post newbies or lurkers who only use this site for taking information. I have said in the past that post count is not an indicator of value to the forum. But those with little or no posts have contributed little or nothing to the value of this site. If you are a registered voter and have never voted, don't complain about who gets elected.
It is obvious that user feedback is being heard. This thread is proof that, at some level, there is acknowledgement that there may be a problem.
There is a fairly large and growing group of us the feel, that christopher does indeed sit up in his "ivory tower and looks down on us with distain".
He has said that the industry "experts" have mandated these changes and that they know better than we what we want.
That may be true in the magazine industry. But this is an open forum and it has grown to this size solely on the merits of it's users.
People joined this site because it was the best place to meet and talk with knowledgeable "players". Real players like mountainhorse and a host of others who freely gave out valuable information.

The real players in the forum industry are the users. Ingore us at your peril.

On the bright side, it's dumping snow right now!!!!!!!!

yep ! ! !

 

[backcountryislife]

It's cool to see more of the low # posters on here finally. Agree, disagree, whatever, it's just good to see the opinions of those that don't spend 2 hrs a day on here.

The biggest thing I notice though, is that the ones saying they want to stay, in overwhelming numbers, are the lurkers, the guys that don't say much. It's been said before of course, but it becomes more & more obvious as this thread plays out, that the ones that will leave are the ones that matter because they're the ones that create content.

to be honest, it has already started to happen, I look at the two forums that I spend time in & they've seen MUCH less traffic (or, at least useful info/ interesting threads) than they had in the middle of the summer.


Also, on the revenue topic...

Why are the moderators not being used to force ALL the people hocking their wares on here to pay a reasonable fee???

If you charged all the mfg's of aftermarket products to hop on here & advertise the revenue stream would increase hugely.
There are people on here every day trying to sell EVERYTHING from rollers to lightweight parts to turbo kits. This is an amazing place for them to advertise & they currently get it for free, that's plain silly.

There have to be 50+ companies that advertise on here for free on a very regular basis, if you charged them $50 each (a PITTANCE to someone selling 6k turbo kits or whatever else), you'd make more than you will with the 200 people that will stick around as it is

 

[Steamboat-RN]

For fear of being redundent......... Why are the advertisers not covering the cost of running this site right now????

Here's an idea. One less IT guy. One more advertising sales person.

 

[mtboondocker]

wtf

I am also a small business owner myself and never in a million years could I charge people to look at my website. bullcrap i say! Whats that new sites address? This **** makes me sad. goodbye snowest!

 

[backcountryislife]

Has Harris considered a family rate?

Kiliki

Actually they have some provision for this, it was a few pages back that Christopher talked about it.

 

[AKSNOWRIDER]

For fear of being redundent......... Why are the advertisers not covering the cost of running this site right now????

so just curious...are all the other Harris forums that we are sharing servers with also getting charged or are those sites going to remain free?..and since all of these sites have been sharing equipment doesnt that mean that all of those advertising dollars from all those sites were paying for the same equipment?...seems to me 3-8 sites all on the same equipment would be a pretty good revenue as it is.......

 

[Sturgis Sledder]

Here's an idea. One less IT guy. One more advertising sales person.

OR one EFFECTIVE advertising sales person to replace 2 employees that don't seem to be "earning their keep".

 

[machz69]

Something I forgot to mention in my other post is, even though I don't post much on this site, I do come in and read, search or get the information I'm looking for. Just a thought. The forum junkies will always be here no matter what. it's become a way of life for them. You can offer a membership for members that want their name to stand out from all the others an send them a sticker or a hat. Something that affect, they will pay and go after the advertising on the site, they too will pay based on the number of people in and out of the site.

So i guess that would be my 4c

 

[MtnDoo]

650 Posts.

97% against Christophers' Grande Plan 2.0

Christopher: Are you still willing to KILL snowest for the sake or your ego?

Christopher: Do you hear what people are telling you?

HINT: You can garner our support, but you need a RADICALLY DIFFERENT APPROACH.

MtnDoo (on behalf of 97% of posters on this thread)

 

[Diceman]

Bye bye SW

You keep all the upgrades latest downloads and fancy electronic gismo's. I'll keep my money. As with all the latest electronic upgrades and the like.....just more problems and bugs. I live by the rule "keep it simple stupid". As far as all the *****in on the forum... thats easy to avoid...just don't pay attention to the ones doin it. (I see stupid people, there everywhere).

As far as snowest.... I know how it works.....it just comes down to the bottom line....money. Hope it works for you but it won't for me.

See ya.......

 

[helmethair]

I for one will be staying, and paying. Snowest is an excellent resource for those of us who use it responsibly. A lot of the new features seem like great ways to benefit everyone that comes here to get information and learn as much as they can, not just bash other people other brands or max post. The new features will keep the good members sharp and give us more useful information. The cost will seperate the wheat from the chaff so to speak, which will make the site more efficient. The Snowest answers, and webinars features should be great and some of the good posters will get a chance to show off their knowledge in better ways. TEN DOLLARS A YEAR IS NOT SOMETHING YOU SHOULD BE FREAKING OUT ABOUT.

 

[Steamboat-RN]

It's not about the money!!!!!!

Even Christopher has acknowledged that.
Read the posts. MOST people are unhappy with either some of the new changes, some of the new mods, or the new attitude of some of the admins.

Again, and I will type this slowly so even people from UT can understand.

IT'S NOT ABOUT THE MONEY

 

[Sturgis Sledder]

I for one will be staying, and paying. Snowest is an excellent resource for those of us who use it responsibly. A lot of the new features seem like great ways to benefit everyone that comes here to get information and learn as much as they can, not just bash other people other brands or max post. The new features will keep the good members sharp and give us more useful information. The cost will seperate the wheat from the chaff so to speak, which will make the site more efficient. The Snowest answers, and webinars features should be great and some of the good posters will get a chance to show off their knowledge in better ways. TEN DOLLARS A YEAR IS NOT SOMETHING YOU SHOULD BE FREAKING OUT ABOUT.

Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: coming to a mountain near you


another old timer errrrr not so much, heard from.

 

[HOBB-Z]

I for one will be staying, and paying. Snowest is an excellent resource for those of us who use it responsibly. A lot of the new features seem like great ways to benefit everyone that comes here to get information and learn as much as they can, not just bash other people other brands or max post. The new features will keep the good members sharp and give us more useful information. The cost will seperate the wheat from the chaff so to speak, which will make the site more efficient. The Snowest answers, and webinars features should be great and some of the good posters will get a chance to show off their knowledge in better ways. TEN DOLLARS A YEAR IS NOT SOMETHING YOU SHOULD BE FREAKING OUT ABOUT.

10 DOLLARS IS NOT THE PROBLEM

I'll say this one last time, I WOULD GLADLY PAY 50.00 TO HAVE OUR FORUM BACK



OVER

 

[MtnDoo]

Likewise!

I'd gladly contribute $69.95/yr for an "Old Dog" membership if CHRISTOPHER WOULD LISTEN TO US!!

It is NOT about money!

 

[MtnDoo]

Check out this:

CLICKY: POSITIVE THREAD ON WHAT WE WANT A SNOWMOBILING FORUM TO BE

Please add constructive comments and we'll get them to HP.

MtnDoo

 

[helmethair]

didn't claim to be an old timer although this is my second account here detective.

 

[Sturgis Sledder]

didn't claim to be an old timer although this is my second account here detective.

THAT'S the part that you don't understand, it's the guys that have been here for YEARS and YEARS that share their expertise, that make this site successful, NOT the newbies that ask "what oil is best?" "What is the loudest can?" or "my 550 fanner will whoop up on you!" every fall.

 

[helmethair]

THAT'S the part that you don't understand, it's the guys that have been here for YEARS and YEARS that share their expertise, that make this site successful, NOT the newbies that ask "what oil is best?" "What is the loudest can?" or "my 550 fanner will whoop up on you!" every fall.

i completely agree with you and i certainly hope you're not trying to lump me into the latter category because of my join date. not everyone that appears to be a noobie is useless and not everyone with 500,000 posts is useful

 

[barkbuster]

Well worth it for me... Sign me up.

And for all those belly ache'n out there, maybe you would be happier starting your own forum and forking over cash out of your pocket so people can save thousands of thier dollars for free.

They have already done that, it's called B-a-c-k-c-o-u-n-t-r-y-r-e-b-e-l-s-d-o-t-c-o-m.