Cheapskates, sale flooders and others...

[JMOT]

Put up or piss off - simple.

Amen. Totally agree.

This thread is another prime example of Acorn turning into a trolly bitch fest.

Sorry Edwin but I've found this entire thread totally unnecessary. Its a childish witch hunt/bitch-out shrouded with the veil of some statistics to try validate your point.

If you wanted to be a man about it you should have just called out those people you felt are free loading off this community and backed it up with your stats. Either way you've IMHO stirred up a load of ill feeling towards yourself here.

If admin wants to do things differently thats his call and we'll either individually choose to pay up or not.

Edwin I've bought several domains off you, I find you an awesome seller and person to conduct business with but I think you have too much time on your hands and I'm really baffled by your motives on this. Perhaps start implementing all those pages of notes for maps.co.uk & focus on your own business rather than trying to point fingers at a group of people who are trying to make a living.

Personally I'm fed up with wading thru all the shit being routinely pumped here. I dont really disagree with you that much but I certainly wouldnt post an expose on the subject. Why??? Who does it serve?

I just see the junk as being part of the deal plus I'm lazy and just want the gems to fall into my lap plus every now and again an awesome laugh with like minded folks....

I'd been off acorn for a month or so, I came back this week, spent over £4k with members here, beaten my head against a wall at the storeburst thread, tried to educate some folks but really perhaps I should follow my own advice and get on with my own to-do list...

People like me and others here are the reason so many folks push so many domains for sale ALL THE TIME. I personally over the last 12 months have probably spent over £30k with members on this forum. Edwin, unless I'm wrong here, I've never seen you post SOLD in a thread?? (happy to be corrected, just my own observation)

If anything happens to curb the free market mentality of this forum it will dwindle into a nothing. Theres a lot of cross over between Acorn and forums like a4u. Acorn stands out because its core is domainers selling to each other and sitting around chatting about stuff.

Be careful what you wish for edwin...

 

[aZooZa]

Maybe folk are taking all this far too seriously; and some, too personally. I've already chucked my oar in, and to summarise my own view: just do what you think is reasonable and what you can afford. No more and no less. As I mentioned before, and to which a subsequent poster alluded, I wouldn't have a business if it wasn't for Acorn, but everyone's mileage is bound to differ. Let's just chillax on this one.

 

[Bailey]

Yes indeed -time to put the matter to bed. there does indeed seem to be a "holier-than-thou" attitude here on Acorn at times. Blimey I'm guilty of it myself (usually find it's with a 3am time-stamp) But I do tend to wake-up with a genuine feeling of remorse and ban myself from posting for a day or two.

I think a lot of us tend to talk-up our successes on this or any board - which may not paint the real underlying reality of actually getting - by. I can assure you i certainly would think long and hard about committing to "another" £100 pa subscription. That would bring my yearly totals to just under £300.

In fact breaking it down I see i would be hovering around £1000 pa for everything I 'Choose' to subscribe to (and i don't have Sky/cable tv)

 

[fish]

Abridged quote

My view:

Thanks.

 

[cc976a]

Could set up a gentlemens agreement to make a donation to admin if you sell a name on the Acorn forums. As examples:

£5 - if domain sells for £50-£100
£10 - if sells for £100-£250
£20 - if sells for £250-£500
£50 - if sells for £500+

Can do more tiers of course - and sub £50 Market is probably worthwhile to stay free. This way your donation is not more than 10% of sale price and Admin gets some donations that may supersede membership revenue.

It seems to work ok when people post FTR names and ask for donations. I've always done so and believe most probably do.

If Alan is not going to force memberships - and I think most appreciate that he doesn't - it may become something we all just fall in to.

If we talk about restricting areas, charging memberships to post, stopping people bumping threads and keeping to domain only talk (all recent comments I've seen) - I think the forum will become one of few members, little posts and eventually die out.

 

[BREWSTERS]

Had a quick skip through the posts and soon found the only one that matters;

Interesting read.

I appreciate those of you who do upgrade to Exclusive which really is a "thank you" to me for the site and goes towards hosting etc. I make a bit too from paid ads and Adsense but it's not huge.

I have never been in this for the money but of course I'd be silly not to want to make money from something that takes so much of my time (and plenty of sleepless nights / rows with my partner over the years).

There are different ways to look at it but I don't look down on anyone for using the forum a lot to try to sell their domains. It's probably worse seeing people using it a little and then selling 6 figure domains here without even a thank you!

When I have tried to monetise the forum with mandatory subscriptions, such as asking £5 to post a domain for auction, a few people are happy to pay but most it seems are not to the auctions died off pretty quickly.

I take pride in the site which is rewarding in itself... and am glad to see when people profit from it especially in these more difficult times. We are a community and that's how I think of it rather than a website I can charge people for.

I'll look at all your inputs but I don't plan to make the sales forums pay per post. I'll see how it goes with my new email subscription list idea, as I can make from that if domains sell. I'm looking how I can push the list to get subscribers well away from Acorn as people here can already sell to each other.

I had thought about marketing this email subscription to all 10,000 plus members with a one-off email. I would use a tool that would also tell me if each members email address is still valid as I know many will be dead by now.

In summary it's a tricky one for me but I don't think mandatory charges is the way to go.

Admin

Just wondering; any of you guys trying to run the forum...have you tried buying it or are you back seat drivers?

 

[rob]

My view:

1. Every user wants what they can get out of the forum, be that sales, knowledge or entertainment.

2. Currently this is the forum that is far and away the main venue to discuss .uk domain names. I don't really know of anywhere else. However most things don't remain the same and one day someone else may see an opportunity and decide to open a forum. This occured once before, when Alan went and set up this forum because of a disagreement with the owner of "detagged forum". There were two forums for a while, but detagged eventually had a hardware failure and the forum was closed. By then they'd lost interest in continuing it.

3. I've never met Alan, and never spoken to him by telephone but my perception is he's not a front man and doesn't want to be. I suspect he actually finds running this place a bit of a bind sometimes, given I suspect he makes very little out of it. I hold this view because he, nor any other users that I can identify as moderators, appear to contribute a huge amount within threads. This is in contrast to other (worldwide) forums which I know about, that are run by people who have a very strong interest in monetising domain names and at a high value. He doesn't exude "personality" or "confidence" to me and I imagine him to be polite but quiet and unassuming.

4. In recent months I've seen Alan attempt new features, such as the improved auctions. However for whatever reason it doesn't carry through and, to me, the forum seems rather stagnated. However I think some people are quite happy with that.

5. I've said my pieces about a number of users on here in the past. It's probably well known what I think of certain users. I'd have no qualms with stating who I felt made larger numbers of "bollocks posts", or stating who I felt used the forum as a vehicle to vent about personal issues in their lives, perhaps because they are lonely or have had unfortunate situations occur, or stating who the kooks, or ones that cannot control their temper after they've had a few drinks, were.

6. I used to be Exclusive, after paying the £100, but I didn't renew it because I've never sold through this forum. Not once. I would pay if it was mandatory and I'd rather pay than see the donations button on the front of the forum because, in my opinion, that looks a little bit sad. In my opinion that shouldn't be there and, ideally I'd charge a subscription. £10pcm even! I contributed 50% of the original vBulletin fee (but so what) and I contribute my knowledge which I know has had some value, at least in the past. I didn't make use of the exclusive sections, from memory.

7. I don't see much incentive for Alan not to turn around one day and state that he's had enough. I wonder why he doesn't look to derive a better income from here (it's obvious he doesn't make much or he wouldn't be commenting about his view on those who make £100k sales through here and don't say "thank you"). I wonder if he thinks most of the userbase would disappear and/or other forums would pop up. I think it is also obvious that he doesn't have all of the technical skills to develop some of the things on this site, because he's previously asked for technical help before to do things. Clearly he doesn't have the incentive, or even perhaps just the funds, to pay others to develop things here.

8. I think there are a lot of bored users on here who are here because they've nothing else to do. I believe that because of the poor quality of some of the posts I see banged out so quickly by those I believe are obviously bored.

9. I think there are probably users of here that would have a problem paying their bills each month if this forum disappeared. I wonder how they must feel to be reliant on here as a vehicle, and one that doesn't in itself appear to make much money.

10. I suspect a change is due eventually. That could be Alan giving up or selling up for whatever reason. It could be other forums springing up and competiting, and eventually a potential survival of the fittest. It could be the userbase declining.

No offences intended above. Skim read it twice, but haven't spell checked given the current timestamp.

^ says everything I would say really so wont rehash the same stuff. great points.

Just wondering; any of you guys trying to run the forum...have you tried buying it or are you back seat drivers?

I have spoken to admin before about this, yes.

One idea was to make acorn a co-op style setup but that requires bigger stuff than just being able to do some php code

 

[rob]

This is the car boot sale of the domain industry

I think that is the key - it didnt used to be.

Could just be 'good old days' and clouded vision on that front though likewise if the users themselves moved on or if it was forum has moved on

 

[expertc]

I think that is the key - it didnt used to be.

Could just be 'good old days' and clouded vision on that front though likewise if the users themselves moved on or if it was forum has moved on

Users or industry? This is the key question. Last year I've sold few domains to members here (more than I have "traders" for, but that is different question). Not for big money though, the highest sale was at about £200. This year it looks like there are much more sellers here than buyers. People are starting to lighten their inventories, I guess. I also bought one name from a member but in a private transaction outside the forum.

This year things are different, I have an impression that most of the buyers are now moved to A4U. Things are changing and probably this is how it should be.

Sales threads: I don't mind them, honest.

Will it stay this way? I can't tell. Maybe it's August and situation will change later in the year. I am not going to say "good old days", let's see what happens next

 

[scooter]

A full set!
Rob, Edwin & Invincible.

I think the quality of all domain forums has decreased and its pretty obvious why. 6 years ago you could pick up good domains on the drop daily. That's long gone now. In terms of numbers, its all dried up. Never to be the same again.

Most are now developed or parked and the owner has no interest in selling unless it's to an end user. So now we are left with the leftovers getting pushed about with the occasional nugget arising. It can never be the same again Rob. The good days are long gone.

I think "car boot" is very good description.

..................


With regards to the rest, this is the second time Invincible. edwin and your own views have been expressed within the last few weeks.

I take it admin is not interested in selling?

Are you trying to gather public support? It did not work the last time and it will not work this time. As stated in the last thread about this, the majority of posters here like the tolerant style of the forum. That is why the forum still flourishes. Even with the not so good names because on this forum, it isn't all about names.

"Most users ever online was 3,131" this year. I think this speaks volumes.


Here's my reply to the last time this was brought up.
http://www.acorndomains.co.uk/business-discussions/86872-being-you-8.html#post321252



.

 

[rob]

I disagree that the good days are long gone.

Its an adapting area as always, and thats why forums move with the times.

There are two other forums I now check before acorn because they have more relevant info and IMHO have real active useful stuff on.

Acorn is a 'whats cheap for sale' and the odd funny video site at the moment. There is not even any debate on here on Nominet stuff anymore, even though that directly impacts be it policy or DRS etc.

It does a job and people make money, and there it probably no incentive for those nabbing bargains to raise awareness

 

[rob]

Incidently there is no ulterior motive here, Invincible is right in terms of how acorn came about.

Check out experianced people for a new forum that fits a niche and has grown from nothing in months.

I wouldnt be posting on this thread if I didnt care about acorn.

 

[Alien]

My opinion is that the current £100 price tag, for most, is too expensive for the exclusive yearly membership, I've said it before.

If it had monthly pay options (tenner a month for example, admin makes a profit that way too and covers some PP fees over the full year if members keep subs up) and quarterly amounts (£25), more members would be inclined to sign up and spread the cost more easily.

Most of us only make £XXX on here on average, not £XXXX(X)+ like some of the big boys (and good luck to them I say. ).

 

[rob]

Incidently its worth saying 'users online' is misleading.

One busy forum I run has about 300-400 users online usually, 6000+ online last month was peak up from 1,200 peak of all time. Was a search issue

 

[Alien]

Incidently its worth saying 'users online' is misleading.

It sometimes includes search bots, etc too.

 

[anthony]

By their very nature, forums are geared (rightly) as hang-outs, not commercial entities. Admin is to be praised for making Acorn what it is, but any talk of cashing in on a forum in any other way than Adsense and banners etc is frankly a knife to its heart.

'Domaining' is not a main stream subject, therefore it's easy to see why people would like to see Admin get a return for his efforts, but in reality this thread reads more like an effort by the old school elite to form a kind of domainers Masonic Lodge to dictate to the newer members how they should conduct their business in forum!

 

[Admin]

I disagree that the good days are long gone.

Its an adapting area as always, and thats why forums move with the times.

There are two other forums I now check before acorn because they have more relevant info and IMHO have real active useful stuff on.

Acorn is a 'whats cheap for sale' and the odd funny video site at the moment. There is not even any debate on here on Nominet stuff anymore, even though that directly impacts be it policy or DRS etc.

It does a job and people make money, and there it probably no incentive for those nabbing bargains to raise awareness

If Acorn is becoming irrelevant to UK Domainers then I must be missing something.

I can ban the "funny" threads posted in the general forum pretty easily but I assumed people like to share their sense of humour as well as the serious stuff.

I think there are lower quality domains at lower prices because the .UK Domain market is much more flooded with people trying to sell domains than when I set the forum up. The Premium section is there for quality domains and free to post in so what's stopping people if they have the good names to sell?

Admin

 

[Alien]

If Acorn is becoming irrelevant to UK Domainers then I must be missing something.

I can ban the "funny" threads posted in the general forum pretty easily but I assumed people like to share their sense of humour as well as the serious stuff.

The funny threads are a staple requirement of any forum community, they should stay IMO.

Alan - please, please consider monthly subs, I for one would subscribe.

 

[FagEnd]

Edwin, you must have too much time on your hands to count those up. Your geos must be making you too much money

I've no idea if I fall in to the cheapskate category, I don't think so.

I was exclusive before but let it expire because there was no real benefit of being exclusive. The exclusive only area is hardly buzzing with activity. The only real reason to upgrade to exclusive is to give admin some cash to help running costs and show your appreciation of the forum, or to lord it over non exclusive members by feeling superior to non exclusive members by posting irrelevant sales thread stats

 

[Admin]

Are you overly concerned that a compulsory £10pcm subscription to contribute here would scare too many users away?

Yes. Also on the 2 points of having a paying model and trying to improve the quality of domains for sale - there is already a "Exclusive Domain Marketplace" for Exclusive Members but no one posts anything there. I don't see what the difference is between what I have now and what you are asking other than scaring off the people who don't wish to pay.

Admin