Ghostbusters Fans New Years Resolutions.

General Discussion General Discussion
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Happy New Year everyone!

With the New Year, as always brings about some resolutions or goals that one would like to see for the next year. As with personal goals, I also have some things I’d like to see happen here at Ghostbusters Fans over the new year.

Here is a list of some of them:

-New moderators. As the site grows, and the user base changes, so will the moderator staff. We’ve already got a stellar moderating staff that cares deeply about the site and does everything they can to keep things moving smoothly. Starting soon, we will be announcing a set of new moderators that we think will add to the group and give a fresh perspective to the site.

-Increased emphasis on site content. Our site is enormous, but often times the actual content here on the site goes unchanged or even unnoticed. In the new year, I’d like to see every page of the site have an overhaul. All the wiki pages, all the fan specific pages (Props, Fan Fic, Fan Art… etc) should be checked, updated, edited and fixed. This will obviously be a huge undertaking, and I hope to have new Wiki functionality in place to facilitate the changes.

-Greater tie in to Social Networking sites. With sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube being so widely used, I’d like to see more options to blend those sites and GBFans together. One day you may be able to access the site directly from Facebook as well as update your status, post tweets, and share your videos from GBFans.

-Keeping the GBFans Shop stocked with high quality and hard to find parts. We have always had great parts at great prices. Though in recent years, items have been much harder to find. We will be working to provide the parts we have always supplied… and then some. Starting last year with the Elbow Pads, and now with the Crank Knobs, and GB1 Ribbon Cables… we have been kicking part supplies into overdrive. We would like to continue with this idea of supplying bulk quantities of parts well into the new year. Part runs will include: Crank Knobs, GB1 Ribbon Cable, Legris Straights, Legris Elbows, Banjo Fittings, Grey Elbow Pads, Soundboards, Light kits and more.

-Smarter interactions. With the creation of the new Search engine a few weeks ago… we’d like to increase other ‘smart’ interactions to help new visitors. We will have spots where the site will try to sense what the user is looking for and provide a way to find it. For example… new users who come into the chat room usually come in to ask questions with no regard to others in the chat room. This can often times cause conflicts between regular chat room users and new users. I’d like to make the chat room smarter, and try to answer questions privately to try and persuade new users to search for the answers on their own using the technology already in place. The same will be true for users coming to the site from Google, Yahoo or Bing. If a search term is found, the site will try and recommend links based on the query.

And finally.

-A friendlier environment. We have been working on several changes recently that should improve the way the site gets along. In addition to new Moderators, I’d like to see changes to the rules, and how they are enforced. There will be a more uniform and fair way of dealing with troubled users, and specific consequences for breaking a rule. (I think many people are afraid of being banned, when in fact only a few users out of nearly tens of thousands are banned each year! This fear needs to stop.)

Please let me know what you think… and feel free to let me know what changes you would like to see in the New Year.

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I for one am happy with how the site has evolved over the years. Is their room for improvement? Sure… but hindsight is 20/20. You guys do an excellent job with keeping everything up to date with social networking, online shopping, and the forums itself.

You’ve been dabbling with “Contests” lately, and I think thats great. Maybe do it once a month, have a random drawing for any overstock items you may have, and or contests for a highly “sought after” part, or item. Just an idea. But overall I’m very pleased with how the site’s been.

When it really comes down to it, GBfans is continuously growing. Its the internets one stop shop for anything and everything ghostbusters.

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There’s an old cliche’ that goes “The biggest room on Earth is the room for improvement” That being said, I’m pretty happy with the site and tha main thing that comes to mind you mentioned yourself, keeping the store better stocked. Us oldtimers know you’re just a dude running this out of your house and its hard to keep up with supply and demand, but I think it sometimes frustrates newcomers.

And to echo Corruptparadise’s comments on the contests…I think more random drawings (maybe for store credit rather than an actual item) would be good, and despite the debacle that one site member made of the Halloween contest, I’d like to see more photo contests. Maybe not monthly, but on the major holidays.

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keeping the store stocked and offering the hard to find items is all well and good, but i feel that you are effectively under cutting and eliminating other sellers who either have a product that they are currently selling, then you offer that same product within the store at the same price, or lower, or by seeing items being sold in the stores new comers might think that they will not have a large market to sell their goods because their item or one similar to it is already available.

would it be possible to “Feature” sellers in the store who are trusted within the community.

i think that this will give a better sense of community, because you will be able to see who you are buying your item from, rather than it just being the faceless store. this will also make prospective buyers more curious about other items that the seller has to offer which will hopefully boost their sales as well.

In addition it also encourages future sellers to offer their items, knowing that if they provide good service they too can and should be featured. And lastly it will eliminate the need for any buyers to use the store as a middle man if there is any issues with the product. for instance if i were to buy an electronic item, or casting and it was damaged i would need to contact the store, who would contact the seller and delay my response or solution to my issue.

i could be wrong about all of this, but you were asking for thoughts and suggestions, and that was my thought.

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Sorry, but in this instance you are way off. What you are suggesting is to effectively shut the site down, and not provide any more items for sale. We work very hard to be able to supply all the parts we do, it would not be fair to have our hard work punished.

Ghostbusters Fans sells 80% or more unique items that no one is selling in the community. The only items that are commonly available from other sellers are found items such as resistors, fittings, tubing.. etc. Generally the items we sell are slightly higher prices because the other sellers lower their prices to beat ours. We are one of only one or two people in this community that sells their parts year round, with high availability… so we’re not going to play a cat and mouse game of lowering prices. We always sell items for what we deem to be a fair market price.

Occasionally we will sell items for other sellers… such as Crix’s Ghost Trap lights. But our price is agreed upon with those individuals ahead of time. We certainly are not eliminating a seller by offering their item. They supply them to us, to sell. They are paid. In addition, all support is still done by us. If an item is broken, we can supply a new one.

As far as the suggestion of featuring other sellers in the Ghostbusters Fans Store. We’d be happy to be supplied with parts from other sellers to sell in the shop. However, we will not handle payments and have the seller handle their own service. That is what the For Sale forum is for. As anyone will see from the Feedback section.. even the most dependable sellers can have their problems. It should not be on GBFans shoulders should a seller flake out. We’d be happy to take that risk out of the equation by handling all parts of the service though.

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Wow I guess ill just go back to not offering suggestions.

I wasn’t trying to insult you or the store only giving you a buyers point of view.

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I feel that there is a click of whos who around the site and I really hate that. Theres been times that I would have liked to post but feel that I would get attacked for it. I have seen it and dont want it to happen to me. So yea being friendlier would be welcomed.

Yes this is a great idea. I know the halloween contest burnt you but dont let that ass win over the hearts and minds of ever doing another contest. I like the idea of store credit its simple and easy. Id be willing to enter another one with those kind of prizes.

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I don’t think AJ took that as an insult, I think he was just answering you.

I think this is just a perception…and its true in many cases perception becomes reality…but it wasn’t until a few years back that I even knew this secret society (of which I was accused to be a member) was perceived to exist…“the Heavies” they called them. It is true a few of us have been around longer than the others, and that many have met each other in person and hung out. But that doesn’t make anyone else’s viewpoint less valid. Of course because of the same repeated questions and lack of use of the search function there IS a low tolerance for some questions, but that’s true of any long running site. But I assure you, the vast illuminati, mass media, zionist, conspiracy of the “GB MAN Tryin’ to shut you down” is not real…or maybe that’s what they want me to say…who knows.

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Personally I think you have a pretty good plan of what you’d like to update, misconceptions to debunk and just overall make it the best it can be, i too would enjoy more photo contests, maybe a build off or another group project… I remember there was a time when there was a huge group pack build that took it a step at a time and allowed people to sign up and build together and help each other, i think that would be a wonderful community building opportunity… Doesnt have to be a pack either, start with something small.

Im excited about thesite getting its wiki complete among all the other projects, if theres anything you want help with, hit me up , im here to help : )

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I think you are coloring it too darkly. Its basically just a very vocal minority that enjoys poking fun at people for their own mutual amusement with inside joke, memes and the like. The thing is, because they are SO vocal, it becomes what looks like being ganged up on.

Its not really much different than the groups that always formed back in high school, if you think about it, and picked on other kids who were not of like mind.

Unfortunately, it also happens very frequently to new people who have just joined or who don’t participae much and don’t know the ropes.

I’ve seen things improving here in the past few months, and look foreward to seeing that trend continue.

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I’m happy you do the social networking since that’s what reminds me that you exist sometimes.

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I would suggest some sort of “Mentors” section. A place where more experienced people who like to encourage new builders can moderate and help grow your community. Literally make a beginner section that has -

Getting started - What makes a accurate uniform.

Proton Packs - Building on a budget, Tips and Tricks, Lights, Ask the experts

Props - Everything else you need to look like a real Ghostbuster.

Gareee already does a bang up job on this for you imho.

It’s fine that you have your noob forum and introduction threads but as much as you guys dislike / want to avoid the “Halloweeners” you have to know that this is a major source of members to your site. Sure, you will have people that post October 20th looking to buy a pack for $50.00 because they don’t understand the logistics of making a full uniform. But you also get people like me that make a pack / props for Halloween, realize that they can do better and start on pack and uniform v2. Also I have seen posts where the elders of this site say they avoid it during October so they don’t have to see the circus that it becomes. If you make a prominent section for those people to get started then those people may not have too see the posts they dislike.

If you go to your site, open the community section and look at it through the eyes of someone who has never been here before where is the FIRST place you are going to go? PROTON PACKS. Who are the first people you are going to meet? People who have spent two plus years and thousands of dollars making the best screen accurate packs they can. To me this is a recipe for disaster. It’s October 20th and some poor guy from Tuscon Arizona is pumped to be a Ghostbuster and live out his childhood dream of owning a Proton Pack and the first silly post he makes is in someones build thread about how can he get one for under $100? The community will crush him and he will go back to last years BMX armor painted green to be the Master Chief and never return. But if he can get some mentoring, some neat ways to get started who knows? He might start laying down some real cash for next year. I’m already starting on my next pack. I replaced my uniform with a real Nomex one and am planing to buy my patches from your shop. Another member of our crew just purchased ribbon cables and hoses.

jmho…

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That’s a very good point of view Alan, and its exactly what we want to do with the updates to the site pages.

We have a lot of information spread out, and making it organized is a very important task.

One very important thing moderators will be doing with the new rules is deleting offensive posts, placing trouble users on post approval, issuing warnings and the like. We want to stop problems before they happen, and if they do happen… stop them immediately after.

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Thanks for the compliment, Alan. I’m officially on the mod team now, and I’ll do my best to help the community out here.

I was originally a Halloweener as well, joining to learn how to make our gear originally for halloween costumes. We liked it so much we stuck with it, and hopefully we can encourage others of like mind to do the same.

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Promising concepts. Looking forward to seeing the overhauled updates. I agree that ongoing collaborations with fresh perspectives should help freshen up the air and make the site more enjoyable and usefull to all more and more as time goes on. A step in right direction

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Congrats Gareee!

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Pretty much Gareee has hit the problems with GBFans. Outsiders and non-prop makers are looked down on by this group. Everyone is here cause we love ghostbusters in one aspect or more. It’s time to deal with the gang which usually trolls posts with memes and comments to stab other posters. If your not with them, you have to fight with them. I myself have battled a good many of them here. You don’t get this at Ghostbusters.org forum or Ectozone. That is why I post at those places. I don’t like having to worrying about being attacked. Sadly GBFans feels more like Nightsquad at times. Whenever I post here, I have to go out of my way to watch everything I say.

But GBFans has been getting better the last 3 to 4 months. Maybe the lack of a lot of new people which is happening across the boards at all Ghostbusters related sites is why. Who knows. But I hope GBFans will move to be more open to everyone and less a clique.

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I think that’s Awesome! Congratulations!

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I’m sorry. But what you just described is one or two users whom you have a personal problem with, and have a personal problem with you. Yet you just vilified the whole entire site for it.

This is the kind of thing that needs to stop.

Sure you don’t get it at Ghostbusters.net or Ecto Zone. Both sites have fewer active users. You are less likely to find people that disagree with you when there are only a few active users. (And this is not a jab at Ecto Zone, or other sites, Ghostbusters Fans has between 40,000 and 70,000 users visiting here every month).

That should be the norm anywhere and by everyone. If you are complaining about others attacking someone unfiltered, a lot of the problem comes from when other users also post unfiltered. It just depends on whether or not the person posting understands what they are doing, or if they do not. When they do not, they feel like they are being attacked. When they do they are accused of being a “heavy” and ganging up.

Ghostbusters Fans is open to everyone. Everyone has the same opportunities. Anyone can come into the chat room, join in discussion and become friends with everyone in there. The only thing preventing that is usually personal posting issue or reservation. Cliques are formed, more accurately known as circles of friends when people become sociable with one another. Those who don’t get along usually do not get along no matter where they go. Its not a matter of the site being more open, its about a few closed off users being more open. If you are closed off in real life, you are likely to be closed off here.

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What can others do to help with the wiki pages? AJ, you had posted a couple of months ago about updating the Marty figures. I soul like to take an more active role in the wiki stuff.