[TheForge] ETIQUETTE QUESTION

Wed Jan 30 02:22:00 2002

I want to address some of this.
As far as selling stuff, there is no reason not to do it here on TheForge
except that there are better places for selling with a lot more exposure.
http://www.keenjunk.com/scrapbin.htm comes to mind first off, it's all
that they do there. I don't think that they post pictures though.

The ABANA web site has the "classifieds" pages where you can easily
post something for sale and a picture. To paraphrase Dave Brown, 'if
more people would use it, then more people would use it'.

Now since we are talking about the ABABA web site, in January of
2002 the site had 350,770 hits. Yes over 350 THOUSAND hits from
all over the planet. So don't think that nobody goes there. TheForge is
a very small sampleing of blacksmiths, some 300 +/- .

Daniel, it's the posters (folks that have something to sell or buy) that are
the ones that keep the info timely and up to date. The "classifieds" runs
itself and doesn't require the webmaster to update it.

As far as the site being "content shallow" what is it that you would like to
see there? AND have you asked for it? OR have you offered up any
'content' yourself?

It is unfair to compare the ABANA site to others that are NOT non-profit.
ABANA has one paid employee/webmaster/everything-rolled-into-one person
where some other sites may have full-time webmasters. Some other sites
sell advertising where ABANA has a very small portion of the budget
dedicated
to the web site.

comments and input are welcome
dave mudge  [email protected]

----- Original Message -----
From: Daniel Crowther <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2002 6:33 AM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] ETIQUETTE QUESTION

> At 10:52 AM 1/29/02 -0600, you wrote:
> >But, Dan, if we started using it we'd be making the changes that you say
> >are missing.  At least for the classified's as far as this discussion is
> >concerned.  Going to the ABANA site for the classified's isn't any more
> >difficult overall than going to the  photo site.  Using the photo site
> >limits you pretty much to the subscribers of this list, whereas using the
> >ABANA classifieds exposes the FS for WTB stuff to non-subscribers as
well.
>
> True.  I guess part of what I was thinking (and left unsaid) was:  "If
> they're not updating the site regularly enough to draw a consistent
> viewership; do they really have the time, energy, interest, and capability
> to give timely 'for sale' and 'items wanted' info?"
>
> Or is the only reason the site is "content shallow" because they are
> content starved?
>
>
> Daniel Crowther
> Oak & Acorn
> http://www.oakandacorn.com
> Valley Falls, NY