skinless Posted June 29, 2006 Report Share Posted June 29, 2006 any chance of giving it another go? seems like it should be one of the major reasons for a regional forum. it is only word of mouth (not even) and opinions, so whats the big deal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanker Posted June 30, 2006 Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 The big deal was often the opinions, and the fact that not everyone has the same one. It was a mess, a liability, and an accident waiting to happen... that happened. If The Boss wants to give it a chance... I guess we'll see. I wouldn't hold my breath, though... nor am I sad to see it go. I just had an idea for a nice 'middle ground'... I'll run it by the Team first, and maybe it will happen... it will fulfill your wants for an idea of the various LFS around, and keep everything 'even' across the board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pat Posted June 30, 2006 Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 Vendor reviews are there. Just not under the 'Vendor Review' section. e.g. There is an endorsement in the live stock section just today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunl Posted June 30, 2006 Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 They're talking about an actual vendor review section. Easiest way to explain it is to ask the members to put themselves in our place, and think about how easy it would be to moderate this type of thing. Just a touchy subject with no easy answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinless Posted June 30, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 i see how it can definitely be a sticky situation, but i would hope most members could determine which critics are "on tilt" when reading the collected reviews of lfsX. thanks for the info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midgetwaiter Posted June 30, 2006 Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 I was disapointed when the vendor review closed and vocal about it but I think I was probably wrong. I outlined my ideas for how to build a useful and fairly robust review section but the guys weren't interested. At that point I started to do a little looking around at how sites that do this manage it. I found that nobody does it very well. The thing I liked about the vendor review forum is that it gave me a chance to talk to customers who were unhappy about something they saw in the store an explain either why we were doing something a certain way or why we were unable to handle a certain situation better. People jump to conclusions pretty fast, especially in this hobby where the LFS people are not thought of very well. Things like "I was there yesterday and all the corals look horrible" may in fact be true. It may also be true that an airline lost some paperwork and the shipment was held in a warehouse for 2 days until the papers could be replaced (really happened). A forum like that gives LFS people a chance to clear up these things. I still think that a place where people can talk about what they saw in a store is a good thing. The problem is how people talk about what they see and this is where the potential for legal trouble comes in as well. If you can manage to keep things factual you are in good shape. "The fish were sick and looked bad" is not the same as "there were some platys in one of the tanks with ick when I was there last week". Which one will people post though? That's the problem. I actually saw a post somewhere where somebody asked about the store I work for and somebody said "I got some bad fish from them 9 years ago and haven't gone back, it is a bad place". Seriously how is that relevant? Is it not likely the place has changed in 9 years? See i thought to myself, if these guys don't want to take this on I can do it. Build a site that has a regional focus and provides solid information on stores in the area. People can talk about what they see, owners can respond as they see fit. I spent a lot of time looking at this idea before I shelved it and have a ton of bookmarks that show why it won't work. What it boils down to is people cannot be relied on to behave in a rational manner. There is a culture of bashing the LFS in this hobby that will never be subdued, you can hold it down a bit but it always surfaces in the ugliest way you can imagine. Look at what happened here with the Big Al's closing threads, it was awful. Some of it is explainable, somebody is having a bad day and vents a bit or hits the submit button a little too soon, I do it myself on a regular basis. The rest of it though, it's just inexcusable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunl Posted June 30, 2006 Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 And that, my friends, is one of the most well-written explanations I've seen on the subject. :bow: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pat Posted June 30, 2006 Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 They're talking about an actual vendor review section. What I am trying to point out is yes you can remove the vendor review section, but you can't never stop people from voicing their opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midgetwaiter Posted June 30, 2006 Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 They're talking about an actual vendor review section. What I am trying to point out is yes you can remove the vendor review section, but you can't never stop people from voicing their opinion. The problem is though that you can count on many of them to jump into a good old bash fest and behave poorly when the opportunity arises too. If you could get people to stick to a decent standard it would be possible but they just won't do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanker Posted July 1, 2006 Report Share Posted July 1, 2006 Just a little thought here... if an LFS has a poor shipment (as your lost paperwork story, for example) then maybe they would be in their best interests to place a small sign on the tanks with the affected corals, or like, and explain this to the clients. "We had a long ride to be here" or "Our flight was delayed, please excuse our dull colours" would be fun, informative, and stop a LOT of the 'negative' comments. There may be 1% of your clients on a daily basis who are members of a forum you also are a member of, and have the time, energy, etc to actually post about it, anyways. I just think it would be a bit better to be a little more proactive twoards all your clients, than reactive to a few grumpy pants. Not meant to be taken as anything other than "I would appreciate a store that did 'this'". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midgetwaiter Posted July 1, 2006 Report Share Posted July 1, 2006 Just a little thought here... if an LFS has a poor shipment (as your lost paperwork story, for example) then maybe they would be in their best interests to place a small sign on the tanks with the affected corals, or like, and explain this to the clients. "We had a long ride to be here" or "Our flight was delayed, please excuse our dull colours" would be fun, informative, and stop a LOT of the 'negative' comments. There may be 1% of your clients on a daily basis who are members of a forum you also are a member of, and have the time, energy, etc to actually post about it, anyways. I just think it would be a bit better to be a little more proactive towards all your clients, than reactive to a few grumpy pants. Not meant to be taken as anything other than "I would appreciate a store that did 'this'". I think the people on the forums are important not because it is a large part of the customer base but because they are potentially "opinion makers". Some guy at work asks where to go for stuff because they know you have a lot of fish etc. The sign thing is a decent idea and I've considered it. It just falls into the another thing that needs to be done category, depends how busy you are in the first place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edmguy Posted August 1, 2006 Report Share Posted August 1, 2006 well my 2 cents is that that just might keep the lfs's on thier toes alittle more. the review resturants in newspapers and magazines every day. some get good reviews some dont.........after a few bad reviews a lfs may think about doing something. mabey a edited vendor review section would work. one where as stuff isnt instantly posted but read by a moderator and edited for legal display. whats the difffrence if i bad mouth a store to everyone i know or i read it on the net? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinless Posted August 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2006 an unbiased mod filter seems a good suggestion. good point with the food reviews and such. mmmmm harvest room Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunl Posted August 2, 2006 Report Share Posted August 2, 2006 And who would you pick to be the 100% unbiased moderator for such a job? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinless Posted August 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2006 nevermind lol ......impossible what i said. more like honest? someone who doesn't have blind loyalty to a fsX? someone who can read a post and realize its kinda like a restaurant review and can hit that add reply button without feeling guilt? i've never understood the big deal in the first place. it would be a great resource for the hobbyist. and it will end up rewarding the more responsible shops/dealers locally. not a big deal regardless, just had to explain my stupid unbiased post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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