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Guys, guys... no need for hostility!
I have seen this issue growing over the summer, but my NS time was thin and I haven't spoken my two bits about it yet.
Small companies are mad because their trailers are getting deleted. Mods are mad, because we told them to delete all this stuff, and they're getting bashed like crazy.
First off, don't blame a mod. It's not their fault. Blame myself and cko because we made the call. So if you have a problem with it, please PM me or send an email to mr.bishop@newschoolers.com so we can take this discussion out of the forums.
Second, let me explain a little. For anyone who is angry about this issue, read this next paragraph or never speak of it again.
When running a business, where forums are a huge part of what your company does, there needs to be rules. Without rules, the forum would be anarchy, and completely annoying to read.
It is our fault that these rules are not properly posted and explained, and we will get on top of that. However, for the time being here it is.
When someone wishes to discuss a product, trailer, company, or anything related to skiing, they talk about it in the forums. This is fine. Say member X wants to explain just how excited he is about this trailer he saw and needs to share it. Totally fine.
Where the problem exists is when people take advantage of this service. Person Y at small company is sitting down and thinking "I need to get people to buy my product. How can I tell them about it?" This is good business. Where it is difficult, is when they also decide that they don't want to pay to market their business just like every other business in the world, they simply want to tell all the NS members about it for free.
Our ONLY income from this site is advertising, and the companies that properly want to grow talk to us first and offer to compensate us for the money our site will be making them. Newschoolers continues, because we have ads supporting us, the company makes money because people buy their movie. Everone is happy.
The argument that I constantly hear is "How are the little guys supposed to move forward? Why are you guys sold out and only catering to big companies who have lots of money?"
Nobody ever listens to us. When a thread promoting a small product is deleted, we go out of our way to explain time and time again to simply CONTACT US. Just get in touch with me, so I can let you know what your options are before you just try to get free advertising. You see, the small companies who need something to get a leg up could simply post their ads in the forums. However, with human nature, all other companies would start saying "Man, we don't have to advertise anywhere, we can get free ads in the forums of NS." Next thing you know, everybody and their cat is starting a company, and the only thing you can read about in the forums is companies trying to sell stuff. Then the argument turns into the fact that NS sucks because there's nothing but ads in the forums.
We support small companies. Any of them that have actually gotten in touch with us before attempting to steal ads in the forums will know that. We have STOPPED charging $65 for a press release, and created this section just so the small guys can get in the mix. We created the trailer section, ANOTHER place for a company to get FREE ads. Some people say the trailer section is too ghetto, and right now maybe it's not the greatest thing in the world, but we're working on it. We want our members to know what trailers are out there, so they can discuss them in the forums. We also are putting time and effort into creating the new section so that we CAN give FREE ads to small companies.
Imagine if you were at a small company and you contacted a magazine? Do you have any idea how much it costs to get even a quarter of a page? The fact that we offer FREE options for the small guy creates an opportunity for small companies to give it a shot. Once you've used our free options and grow a little, our ad rates are rediculously low compared to any other ski media you will find.
People have got to stop hating because they can't make money for free. That is not the way that the world works, and your business won't go very far if you're not prepared to spend some money. Plus, you don't even have to spend money with us, all you have to do is write one nice email.
The next person who is going to bitch about their trailer being deleted I have a suggestion: Don't post it in the forums. Send me an email. We'll develop a long-lasting relationship and we here at NS will help you grow your business as best as you can.
