|
Post by Michael O'Brien on Nov 11, 2010 11:52:37 GMT
Maybe it is because you have not personnaly exchanged mails with Chris when HE does say HE IS UPSET by the lack of regulars as much as I Do... but he is not heard by Mithril leader Lars Edman.... even if Chris is the founder of Mithril himself... this does hurt... for someone passionate... Lets clarify that Mithril is not founded by Chris, it is founded by Lars Edman. Chris is an employee of Mithril, as I am. He is influential and a core part of Mithril, but Lars calls the shots. Chris would like more releases, as would Lars, if the customer base supported such releases, which currently it does not. We are expanding our marketing knowledge and will invest in getting a wider audience for Mithril. We are releaseing general releases, even through the WORST recession in Irelands history since 1930s. Just because they slowed down does not mean we stopped them, we simply had to cut our budget, as we have our staff.
|
|
|
Post by Michael O'Brien on Nov 11, 2010 11:57:39 GMT
"If members want M or MS releases, then let them submit them. We will vote on them. Isn't that fair?" Where on earth did you see we COULD vote for M releases and have them released... show me the thread please... oh sorry... I forgot, this thread DOES exist.... on MY forum...and directly addressed to Chris Tubb... not mithril... (sorry for the sarcasm.. but this is true) and sorry to say but THIS was not my idea but Chris idea who asked me to host those polls on MMP forum... not here... because the official mithril board.. is a passive board - not to say dead board - except for GF purpose... I'm not the only one who cares or understands ... there are lots of others... All MS, MX, MB, MV are M releases, just varients. Please give me a list of other miniature companies that gives customers unrivalled control over what is being released. It will be a short list, consisting of Mithril. 5 years and a LONG list of ideas have become reality, including your own ideas, but it seems unless we hand over the decision making completely to you its not enough. You say money is not an issue, trust me, money is ALWAYS an issue when running a business. The general forum was set up PRIOR to the Fellowship club really starting so most customers simply joined the GSF and so the GSF section is VERY active. Is there much point in someone who can post in the GSF section posting elsewhere? Why would they? Do we stop anyone from posting their ideas, or suggestions, NO. Do we look at these ideas, Yes. Does that mean we will follow every idea posted, No.
|
|
|
Post by Michael O'Brien on Nov 11, 2010 12:14:29 GMT
Well, I see it in a very simple way: if Mithril doesn`t want to move, they should be moved. It´s up to the company to give a sign in which way the train is rolling. I think a boycott is not the only or perhaps even the wrong way but I understand Gildor´s and many other´s anger. Are we mighty enough customers or are we only useful idiots for Mithril? Where did this come from? Have we ever threated our customers badly, we replace orders if lost, we host galleries for their collections, if any member visits us we give them a royal welcome. Ask Hwolf how we threated him when he visited us. We keep customers informed and up to date as much as we can. How is this treating them badly? Just because we do not always agree with a customer does not mean we disrespect them. We are human, and certainly not perfect, but we have ALWAYS tried to make our customers happy as much as we can. This leads to customers expecting more at times than we can provide. This is something we apologise for. Have we raised the price of single figures in MS releases in 5 years? No. Have we tried to catch up on the backlog of releases as Fellowship members demand? Yes. We are very close to having all suggestions released. We need 3 per mould now so that is the delay. Have we ignored customers demands for not theming the months? no. I make suggestions but never boycott ideas on that ground. Have we tried to cater for small budgets? We kept the Vignettes out of the Fellowship and tried to mix only occassionally more expensive releases like mounted or duel figures, but as requested we do them occassionally to keep you happy. With the MX release we added MULTIPLE payment plans to cater for any budget so not to exclude our loyal collectors.
|
|
|
Post by Michael O'Brien on Nov 11, 2010 12:17:03 GMT
any other suggestions to "move" Mithril are welcome master Iarwain, but mail "harrassment" was done before... by me, and by Chris... without any answers... Chris has not harrassed me with any inquiries, he simply phones me or emails me and I address it. Please stop making comments that are not true. You sent pms to me, not emails. I replied to all of them.
|
|
|
Post by Michael O'Brien on Nov 11, 2010 12:21:26 GMT
who would prefer see mithril DEAD. Ah, well this is certainly not going to assist the growth of Mithril, is it. Or provide us with the ability to release new figures, or expand or advertise or take your suggestions on board. I suggest you take a minute to think about how destructive such attitudes are. If you were in my place how would you respond to such comments.
|
|
|
Post by Michael O'Brien on Nov 11, 2010 12:31:33 GMT
mmhh, but this is not email this is the board, so I assume he does not read the board or can't access it.... how odd... a webmaster who would not check and manage his own forum from home if not at job? I don' know, other places other ways to work I suppose.... here we check forums (be they professional or personnal BOTH from our working places AND from our own internet connexion at home... this is the only way to animate and entertain the community all along) An admirable work ethic, but alas I have other duties than the forum, and prioritized them instead. I am the Printer, webmaster, email responder, photographer, warzone packer and labeller, shop assistant in a pinch, and ebayer along with duties that fall between the cracks as it were. I am not soley hired to watch the forums, especially as there is no reason for a sudden stream of personal attacks.
|
|
|
Post by Turambar on Nov 11, 2010 12:38:12 GMT
And you are also a model, too, Michael. Wearing these cool mithril sweat shirts . . . lol. Well at this time I would like to say THANK YOU for your time to answer all this.
|
|
|
Post by Michael O'Brien on Nov 11, 2010 12:38:37 GMT
Ok, I think I have addressed each and every comment from the concerned collectors, in a accurate and fair manner. Please note that EMAILing me is always preferred to PM, IF you want my attention. If you see that I am not on the forum, then pming will not suddenly change that fact. I have to be ON the forum to answer those. The upcoming White Council will be released as soon as I can arrange time with Dan-Joe to design a assembly instructions that will assit members in getting the maximum pleasure from the release. This requires that Dan-Joe has the moulds ready to cast unprimed examples for me to photograph and that requires that he has enough materials and time to complete these steps. Our spin caster is also helping with packing orders (not just Mithril) and spins metal bars for orders or tries to cast up more mithril or prince august figures to satisfy orders and then will get around to casting the white council. As you can see there is a LOT behind the scene that slows things down. Remember the Ents like saying 'Don't be hasty'.
|
|
|
Post by Gildor on Nov 11, 2010 13:38:14 GMT
so ... it seems we have some informations...
still as it seems that PM is now the wrong way I will use mails... directly to Lars...
in all those answers, I have seen NO answer to all the suggestions for Mithril I have proposed...
so you repeat what we already know... thanks for answering at last... that's all I can say... but I see no solution to be found among all that have been suggested...
Maybe you need someone else to help you manage the forums and online mithril activities... since it seems online activity of mithril is the ONLY way for mithril to "survive" this crisis, I think... honestly this should be your PRIORITY... above other things. Indeed who am I to dictate anything... I am nobody... I just say it from experience.
I know Chris doest not support my boycot but he also did not forbid any act from me. Heasked me to provide help in my internet expertise to help Mithril... Chris IS the co-founder of Mithril he sold back his parts in the society years ago and is now a "simple" employee but he used to be more than that...
None of us want to see mithril dead, but Mithril has to open their lines of communication far better than they have in the past...
I still consider the problem comes from a lack of communication... maybe the forum is not the good media then... I'll use mails then... but mails are not a good media to manage a community... I may have made attacks, only to get answers (which I could not have had due to technical problems we were not even aware of...)
a strong forum is important.. and for that it requires moderators/administrators to be present almost constantly...
hint : being a moderator does not require being an employee.... it only requires having communication established between the two parties...
and Remember that on this case.... even the Ents said 'one must not be hasty, but when time has come to move, nothing can stop the ents.... and our ent here, Theobald, has been on the move too...
Remember that all of this could have been avoided if communication had been better... between mithril and us all...
|
|
|
Post by Gildor on Nov 11, 2010 13:42:47 GMT
oh and to end up... it's not about being patient... we can be patient...
it's about not being answered when we make suggestions that we think could SAVE something we love... it could be easy to say 'this suggestion won't work BECAUSE...." or "we could try this one..." Do you want me to email (outside of the forums, ) once again all the strategy plans I proposed in the last years? Instead of having a "we'll discuss that" , having straight answers to straight suggestions could help us progress in finding OTHER suggestions to adapt...
Don't understimate the capacities of VOLUNTEERS who are ready to take on their personnal time, expertise, and money to help mithril get out of the crisis... for FREE
|
|
|
Post by Michael O'Brien on Nov 11, 2010 13:53:03 GMT
oh and to end up... it's not about being patient... we can be patient... it's about not being answered when we make suggestions that we think could SAVE something we love... it could be easy to say 'this suggestion won't work BECAUSE...." or "we could try this one..." Do you want me to email (outside of the forums, ) once again all the strategy plans I proposed in the last years? Instead of having a "we'll discuss that" , having straight answers to straight suggestions could help us progress in finding OTHER suggestions to adapt... Don't understimate the capacities of VOLUNTEERS who are ready to take on their personnal time, expertise, and money to help mithril get out of the crisis... for FREE Certainly email me the ideas. Appointing moderators is a possibilites, I have never shared responsibilities with the forum, as others were happy to leave me do it all. However what would moderators do? Its one thing if we were a technical company that the mods would quickfire answers on how to fit a hard-drive or to check the manual, but as collectors, most questions are about new releases, and I give ALL data to collectors anyway through the newsletters, twitter and blogs. In regard to the few days of downtime, well I did not see it as a huge problem for our customers, as the suggestion thread was not due to expire, no releases had been released prior to the problem, and any orders would be only slightly delayed. So what responsibilities on the forum would a mod have that would not result in those mods simply passing the issue to me anyway. resulting in more work, rather than less. This is an honest question. All info I can post I do, so what can a mod do, that a member cannot. All GSF members can start threads. I do not believe I need to have a watchdog deleting threads (other than the odd spammers), and as a mod will know exactly what the members know (and I know that I can share) then what else is there?
|
|
|
Post by Gildor on Nov 11, 2010 14:09:57 GMT
well the fact is there you focus on the "suggestion thread" of the forum... that's the first thing that should change... the forum should live in all its parts, not only the Gold fellowship category but everywhere, that's the use of moderators who are also there to entertain and keep topics alive and living... this generates activities and buzz... and strengthen the communities and attract more people!! a moderator can create categories, sections or subsections, he could open polls, animate and why not make games, other suggestions threads some of those things you do already but as you say it yourself you LOTS of things to do other than the forum that keep you from being here too often... also there could have a use of "international" threads other than only german, and only in the GF section... Mithril has to grow international and think about translating... well all of these along with other things are among my suggestions Look at the MMP forums, they are alive , and VERY alive... we have ebay threads, we have Picture threads, we have Trade threads, we have rarities threads, we have general Roleplay discussion and we also have news directly from Chris, or ideas given to Chris directly because I am in close contact with him... I built the MMP forum (as it is today) in 2008 and in two years it has generated thousands of posts, pictures and new members and is more active than mithril forum has ever been, in only 2 years... it's also psychological.... the fact that someone who is in charge of the forum POSTS often of the forum let people think and know the forum is entertained and looked after by its "carekeepers"... and when there will be maintenance or non-availability due to technical issue, this is warned in advance so people are informed about the day to day life. and there are several moderators in MMP. lots of "internet" psychology... (don't think I ask to be moderator, I don't!! I just say what is the role of such person) Mithril is now a small enterprise and I think it could act as a family between its employees and its community until it grows a BIG figurine industry once again... I think that implicating the "active contributors" more could only be good...
|
|
|
Post by Gildor on Nov 11, 2010 14:11:45 GMT
oh and.... please consider I do not remove anymore my Lurking Gollum suggestion...so that Grond will be happy
If we can now communicate, and achieve productive discussions.... I think now things can only be positive... let's put an end to this and try to build things up altogether...
with CO MMU NI CA TION...
|
|
|
Post by Michael O'Brien on Nov 11, 2010 14:39:15 GMT
well the fact is there you focus on the "suggestion thread" of the forum... that's the first thing that should change... the forum should live in all its parts, not only the Gold fellowship category but everywhere, that's the use of moderators who are also there to entertain and keep topics alive and living... this generates activities and buzz... and strengthen the communities and attract more people!! a moderator can create categories, sections or subsections, he could open polls, animate and why not make games, other suggestions threads some of those things you do already but as you say it yourself you LOTS of things to do other than the forum that keep you from being here too often... also there could have a use of "international" threads other than only german, and only in the GF section... Mithril has to grow international and think about translating... well all of these along with other things are among my suggestions Look at the MMP forums, they are alive , and VERY alive... we have ebay threads, we have Picture threads, we have Trade threads, we have rarities threads, we have general Roleplay discussion and we also have news directly from Chris, or ideas given to Chris directly because I am in close contact with him... I built the MMP forum (as it is today) in 2008 and in two years it has generated thousands of posts, pictures and new members and is more active than mithril forum has ever been, in only 2 years... it's also psychological.... the fact that someone who is in charge of the forum POSTS often of the forum let people think and know the forum is entertained and looked after by its "carekeepers"... and when there will be maintenance or non-availability due to technical issue, this is warned in advance so people are informed about the day to day life. and there are several moderators in MMP. lots of "internet" psychology... (don't think I ask to be moderator, I don't!! I just say what is the role of such person) Mithril is now a small enterprise and I think it could act as a family between its employees and its community until it grows a BIG figurine industry once again... I think that implicating the "active contributors" more could only be good... Then can anyone who wants to be a mod please contact me and I will see what we can do to start them off next week. How is that for action. I will look at our settings and see what permissions are needed to arrange. With your advise on what a mod should and should NOT be allowed access too I am willing to open that door. Of course I need those willing to take part in this new venture. Having alternative language threads is something I would like, and have been happy to let the German thread run and run. however as I do not speak other languages this has been something I only trust GSF members to take part in, or we could end up with all sorts of spam. I had to restrict posting to forum members as spam was being an issue before. So EMAIL me if you want (not just Gildor) a chance to be actively part of growing the forum. Tell me what you want to take charge of (the spanish or German or French thread or how to use our figures with wargaming (but we don't officially saction wargaming of course). Fill me with ideas.
|
|
|
Post by Gildor on Nov 11, 2010 14:47:54 GMT
now that's very positive (as for me I will write the big email later tonight as it is ... big and requires some paging setup to be productive) I could take the french threads in charge if you want. now it would first need to be created lol
|
|