Post by bruce on Sept 8, 2019 17:24:18 GMT
In the previous thread referring to Forum Updates in the General category, Sho made reference to The Miniatures Page (TMP) “committing suicide”. So I visited and found a lively discussion on banning posts related to products from all of their dozens of boards and pushing them to their Hobby News section. The idea seems to be to get more producers to pay for advertising rather than posting product announcements into various regular posts.
TMP is a huge operation with paid staff and a very diverse group of posters, not all of whom get along at various times. Controversies of all kinds have occurred over the years, not always related to the main topic. A matter of personal taste, but I prefer this Forum. By miles.
ProfJohn is right though that TMP has a great deal of detail if you can get through some of the other stuff going on. I dont think they are going anywhere soon, but they will likely lose participants with their new policy.
I enjoy and find very interesting Sho’s product posts here showing the evolution of his sculpts, and I am glad that he can ask questions here of his potential customers and get feedback. Do we want three figures in a stand? Is the size of the bayonet correct? Is this horse good for heavy cavalry? These do not seem like intrusive commercial advertising posts at all. And when there is a new product, I am glad to hear from Sho or Bandit at The Wargaming Company. I don’t believe they are making vast fortunes on free advertising.
In the end, this is a policy matter for the forum hosters to decide. It is not an issue here because our scale and scope is much smaller than TMP. But as usual, we retain our relaxed, helpful, informative approach no matter what may be going on elsewhere.
The argument on TMP again makes reference to Facebook as the place to go for info and connections, as well as the concerns over Facebook’s lack of depth and threats to privacy.
If Richard of Perfect Six agrees to some of the proposed changes here, I think we will continue to be an excellent place to go in comfort and with assurance of useful and friendly conversation.
Bruce