The Banner Ad Criticism Thread that got deleted but now is resurrected

[WolfMoon]

Originally Posted by darkangel29

Where are the old owners? What were they like?

Well,he was a generally well-liked guy on the boards. He did his damnedest to keep it up and running and keep new literature coming in, bullshitted with the people here and was a participating member in the forums. He's also a very good writer and is just one of the people from here whose stories I hope to own, once they are in print.

[Morrigan_Dubh]

Originally Posted by WolfMoon

Well,he was a generally well-liked guy on the boards. He did his damnedest to keep it up and running and keep new literature coming in, bullshitted with the people here and was a participating member in the forums. He's also a very good writer and is just one of the people from here whose stories I hope to own, once they are in print.

So basically it seems like this was a labour of love for the old owner, but the new owners just took over the place because it is the first link that shows up when you google "Gothic".

[Draconysius]

Inner-corruption is now flooding over into THIS forum. I've seen it happen so many times in so many different places. 23, 23, will we ever rise above tyranny?

[horrorgirl]

Originally Posted by Morrigan_Dubh

So basically it seems like this was a labour of love for the old owner, but the new owners just took over the place because it is the first link that shows up when you google "Gothic".

That is actually exactly what I thought.

[WolfMoon]

Originally Posted by Morrigan_Dubh

So basically it seems like this was a labour of love for the old owner, but the new owners just took over the place because it is the first link that shows up when you google "Gothic".

Yes, which is why I always appreciated the fact that Darren let us use this place for free. We appreciated him, he appreciated us. He wasn't here all the time after awhile, but he was busy trying to keep authors here and run the site. It wasn't always accomplished, but he did his best.

I miss Darren.

[Ben Lahnger]

Well, one of the truths of this life is that it's hard to do something that's a labor of love and have it be profitable. So good ideas and noble causes fail, and success is reserved for those more mercenary types who rush in to claim the remnants of a dream.

I have no problem with the current owner's advertising choices, although I think the AFI banner is a bit silly. But I understand that many sites can't even generate enough advertising revenue to pay the rent, so I give the owners credit for being very good at selling banner ads.

But I'm really tired of hearing that they will not be accepting any writing submissions until sometime in the future when they have enough money to pay for submissions. There have been many offers to submit gothic stories for review and possible publication, from writers looking for no more payment than the exposure that publication here would bring. Oh, I'm sure there will be a logical or legal explanation for why that wouldn't work. The fact that there just is no evidence whatsoever that management has any focus or vision for how to rekindle the literary fires here is enough for me.

They should just change the logo ...

"BONE DRY LITERARY CULTURE"

[Sanctus Dei]

Wait...this is a literary culture?

[Morrigan_Dubh]

Originally Posted by Ben Lahnger

They should just change the logo ...

"BONE DRY LITERARY CULTURE"

Teehee

Well, even though I've only been here a short time I recognised that this place is nothing more than a banner haven and source of funds for the owners.

And now I see the owners get pissed with the members that frequent the place because they (we?) frighten away the less interesting, less intelligent, less individualistic - i.e. more suseptible to marketing - members.

I like it here because it is less tolerant of idiots than any other board I've been on, and full of strong, intellectually stimulating characters. You can see from my days as a member : post count ratio just how much I like it.

But I wish that it wasn't so high on google - a desire that the owners would probably disapprove of

[Solumina]

Originally Posted by Gothic.net

HorrorGirl is not banned. The thread is not gone. TStone's posts are still there. Trolls posting inappropriate messages are dealt with as best as the ownership and it's various moderators can keep up with them.

If this is true then why have you stripped the mods of most of their power and why is it that they had to go to you in order to control the last troll invasion even though those trolls went so far as to post child porn (which lasted for a full week before you did anything about it by the way)? Oh and why did you think that it would be a good idea to take away something as vital as the moderator forum? It is hypocritical bull shit like this that makes people want to spend less time on here and instead spend time on other forums. I love the people on here I really do, they are the only reason that I have stayed, but I really can't take my more of you admins, and I doubt that I am the only one, so you may want to rethink the way that you are handling this site or else you may just loose a bunch of members.

[Solumina]

well at least people are openly calling them out now so even the people that have no clue what goes on behind the scenes here know what is going on, hopefully that will get the admins to wake the fuck up

[Solumina]

I guess I missed most of that, I have only seen one or two post at a time that were directed at the admins...then again I wasn't on here during the transition to the new admins as well as for a while afterwards.

[Ben Lahnger]

Originally Posted by darkangel29

Sorry for the double post, but Gothic.net only seems to be responding to Ben and Tstone for whatever reason...

I'm guessing because they can't accept that they are condoning bullshit.

Well, I suspect that the reason they've responded to me is because I've tried to remain rational and even-handed in my criticism, and not let emotions sway me into stating generalizations or blanket accusations. In several places on this site I've made my twin complaints (lack of oversight / lack of literature) with as much logic and objective vision as I can muster. That doesn't keep me from utilizing my keen sense of sarcasm and finely refined wit while I am at it.

But I cannot in good conscience criticize their failings without recognizing their successes. There was an occasion not too long ago when a group of senior members were hazing a n00bie for an admittedly daft error, but the hazing went massively overboard. The admins had some part in setting that right. And I've seen them step up in defence of posters who were in the minority because of their opinion. So I do respect their tolerance of free speech ... the tolerance that allows this thread to exist.

And, I have tried to recognize that in some ways it's a miracle this place even exists at all after all this time. I think my frustration lies in knowing how much more it could be.

I don't blame any of you for your frustration. And I do think the AFI banner is kinda lame, after all.

[Ben Lahnger]

Tom, I defer to your knowledge and insight. I could debate with you about whether the posting of few decent quality amatuer efforts would be better than 7 months (that I've been here; it could be longer) of non-publication. The change in respect for this site both here and in related sites around the web has cost the site dearly if there are truly any aspirations of rekindling the literatary culture here. But of course, you are right: the cost in time that screening through an unfiltered slush pile of submissions would require would be daunting at best.

I really appreciate your suggestions about means to acquire new material, particularly the idea about previously published work. A cost effective means to bring different, high-quality writing to this site - nothing wrong with that plan at all.