Old Project Avalon Forum (ARCHIVE) - View Single Post

Pierrot · 11-20-2008, 05:58 PM

Hi All,

some months ago a friend told me about this forum, I had a look, found all the points of view interesting, then I subscribed, posted a bit, and I like it here. Now I discover some changes are coming next week, I didn't decide yet if I'll stay around or not - and talking about it with my friend it appears I maybe don't understand the situation here, so she suggested I post my point of view here. Here it goes -

First - a forum has it's owners and moderators, and those subscribing and posting are invited here sort of, that makes a community, friends, etc and the owners have the rights and privileges to decide whatever they want about the place. When I'm invited to a party I usually, lol, don't try to move the furniture around or if the owners ask for some pparticipation to cover the costs I don't discuss it. One can come in or leave.

Second - I love internet forums and participate on some of them for about 10 years. Those with free access mainly, because even if the fee is very low, multiply that by 20 or 50 forums.... my budget wouldn't allow that. AN d I don't limit myself to one forum.... otherwise which one to chose? So my choice is to participate to free of charge forums mainly - would I pay to write on a forum I just discovered on the net? not sure - it takes some weeks to get the atmosphere of a place, find how many people there are one can share with. Then decide - so I wonder when the Project Avalon will become a paying forum if that will not cut out some new arrivals and thus lose potential?

I have seen that happen on some sites - some regular posters go away, the level drops down, and the site becomes a desert. It's not a question that the owners have to offer a free service, no, as I wrote above. In fact just some time ago on another forum the administrator opened up a thread saying she had trouble to finance the forum with personal money, suggesting a monthly fee, she put there a paypal button, and in about a month there was more than a 1000$ raised by a community 1/10th as big as the Project Avalon one. So the question might be about "how to get the money?" rather than find a solution that might be a problem.

Further considerations - I confess I didn't have yet the time to read about Project Camelot...

I'm familiar with some data for years, and am interested in, but too busy to study it now. And reading the threads here I understand or misunderstand that the Project Avalon Forums should finance that activity (?) - which sounds a bit weird to me and looks like a mis-managed marketing attempt, I might be wrong but that's how it looks from the outside.

Normally every section of an organisation should finance itself. Or exchange one with the other that brings the money in. If project Camelot has books or DVDs or t-shirts, those should bring in enough money to finance further projects, further interviews, travels, books. I understand the wish to let that work free so it's widely knowns, though. But maybe the "how" again is mis-managed?

Internet marketing is a very interesting tool. A lot to learn there - for instance I know one guy in "relationship" business, who sells his DVDs, CDs. His products are widely known, in his area, he has a terrific mailing list that grew above 1.000.000 subscribers. He sends regularly summaries of what's in the DVDs, courses etc, carefully written so the data are widely available, but leaves enough mystery (yeah, it's a marketing glue, lol) so people buy more and ask for more. And the forums pertaining to the subject are free of charge.

The communication lines of the community are free and for free. And that makes the subject grow and become widely known.

Well - that's just some thoughts, maybe useless maybe not. I feel the freedom to communicate should be protected. And on the other hand guys who do the work, like the owners of this site, should earn plenty of money too. I don't think otherwise - I'm a management consultant too ;-)

And to put it really simple - from my maybe uninformed as yet point of view it looks like this: let's say there is a car company that produces the best and environment friendly cars. It wants its products widely known and used. It organises also free seminars and parties where customers and potential customers meet and exchange points of view (some of which even to build better cars). They all have a great time. And now the company decides to charge the parties and seminars to finance the costs of the whole production of all cars... well, probably I got something wrong ;-)

But then I only write because I feel it's a pity when I hear people (want to) leave such a great place of communication like this.

Friendly
Pierrot

11-20-2008, 05:58 PM	#203
Pierrot Avalon Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Europe Posts: 5	Re: The Goodbye Thread / Options To stay Hi All, some months ago a friend told me about this forum, I had a look, found all the points of view interesting, then I subscribed, posted a bit, and I like it here. Now I discover some changes are coming next week, I didn't decide yet if I'll stay around or not - and talking about it with my friend it appears I maybe don't understand the situation here, so she suggested I post my point of view here. Here it goes - First - a forum has it's owners and moderators, and those subscribing and posting are invited here sort of, that makes a community, friends, etc and the owners have the rights and privileges to decide whatever they want about the place. When I'm invited to a party I usually, lol, don't try to move the furniture around or if the owners ask for some pparticipation to cover the costs I don't discuss it. One can come in or leave. Second - I love internet forums and participate on some of them for about 10 years. Those with free access mainly, because even if the fee is very low, multiply that by 20 or 50 forums.... my budget wouldn't allow that. AN d I don't limit myself to one forum.... otherwise which one to chose? So my choice is to participate to free of charge forums mainly - would I pay to write on a forum I just discovered on the net? not sure - it takes some weeks to get the atmosphere of a place, find how many people there are one can share with. Then decide - so I wonder when the Project Avalon will become a paying forum if that will not cut out some new arrivals and thus lose potential? I have seen that happen on some sites - some regular posters go away, the level drops down, and the site becomes a desert. It's not a question that the owners have to offer a free service, no, as I wrote above. In fact just some time ago on another forum the administrator opened up a thread saying she had trouble to finance the forum with personal money, suggesting a monthly fee, she put there a paypal button, and in about a month there was more than a 1000$ raised by a community 1/10th as big as the Project Avalon one. So the question might be about "how to get the money?" rather than find a solution that might be a problem. Further considerations - I confess I didn't have yet the time to read about Project Camelot... I'm familiar with some data for years, and am interested in, but too busy to study it now. And reading the threads here I understand or misunderstand that the Project Avalon Forums should finance that activity (?) - which sounds a bit weird to me and looks like a mis-managed marketing attempt, I might be wrong but that's how it looks from the outside. Normally every section of an organisation should finance itself. Or exchange one with the other that brings the money in. If project Camelot has books or DVDs or t-shirts, those should bring in enough money to finance further projects, further interviews, travels, books. I understand the wish to let that work free so it's widely knowns, though. But maybe the "how" again is mis-managed? Internet marketing is a very interesting tool. A lot to learn there - for instance I know one guy in "relationship" business, who sells his DVDs, CDs. His products are widely known, in his area, he has a terrific mailing list that grew above 1.000.000 subscribers. He sends regularly summaries of what's in the DVDs, courses etc, carefully written so the data are widely available, but leaves enough mystery (yeah, it's a marketing glue, lol) so people buy more and ask for more. And the forums pertaining to the subject are free of charge. The communication lines of the community are free and for free. And that makes the subject grow and become widely known. Well - that's just some thoughts, maybe useless maybe not. I feel the freedom to communicate should be protected. And on the other hand guys who do the work, like the owners of this site, should earn plenty of money too. I don't think otherwise - I'm a management consultant too ;-) And to put it really simple - from my maybe uninformed as yet point of view it looks like this: let's say there is a car company that produces the best and environment friendly cars. It wants its products widely known and used. It organises also free seminars and parties where customers and potential customers meet and exchange points of view (some of which even to build better cars). They all have a great time. And now the company decides to charge the parties and seminars to finance the costs of the whole production of all cars... well, probably I got something wrong ;-) But then I only write because I feel it's a pity when I hear people (want to) leave such a great place of communication like this. Friendly Pierrot Last edited by Pierrot; 11-20-2008 at 06:18 PM.