A message from Richer Sounds

Originally posted by Zef
Moderators: can we all get a final stance on this subject please if only to clarify the situation and to hope that great contibutors to this forum like Nick keep posting..

As I said before.

I DOUBT VERY MUCH it has anything to do with the mods. As mods on this site we are only permitted oppinions, not a vote.

The decision is down to Spectre.

Regards
 
Even if it was down to the moderators, Spectre moderates the Special Offers forum on his own and people like Desticado and myself are ordinary members outside the specific forums that we moderate.

The old manufacturers forums didn't take off but maybe a retailers forum would and perhaps companies like Richer Sounds should have their own forum within that section as should the the retailer who complained and any other interested retailer.

It seems to work elsewhere.
 
As mentioned by Desticado, we Mods have our opinions but Spectre has the final word. Also as Ian has suggested, maybe its worth bringing back the Manufacturer/Retailers Forums. That way, everyone knows where they stand without contravening any Forum Rules.
 
Originally posted by stranger
Spectre, could you please clarify? is nick banned? thanks.

Ken

It doesn´t look like he´s been banned (under his log on name it would have Guest and Date Registered would show Not Yet). Just appears he´s not allowed to post re: products he sells etc.
 
If the latter are the rules then those are the rules albeit a shame for us buyers.That being said I partly understand why albeit a separate retailers space as suggested by others may be an idea ?

In terms of the thread in question as far as I'm aware no one asked for it to be banned but a clarification of what's allowed & what's not was sought which is & was fair enough.

Many retailers etc do already contibute with actual & potential news but if that can expanded & be improved in any way then obviously good news for Joe Public on here.
 
Originally posted by Mart
In terms of the thread in question as far as I'm aware no one asked for it to be banned but a clarification of what's allowed & what's not was sought which is & was fair enough.

It was a fair question, as Joe Fernand has helped many forum members with detailed solid advice and guidance. My guess was that it was not a case of wanting Nick Halliday stopped, but seeking a level playing field.
Is it not the case that Nick is still able to post genuine " special offers " and hasn't been banned at all. Richer Sounds being a big business, perhaps it was the case they should pay the proper rate for their support forum ?
Whatever, not having the benefit of Mr Halliday is a real loss to all the members interested in buying from RS.
 
Originally posted by Jase
Ken

It doesn´t look like he´s been banned (under his log on name it would have Guest and Date Registered would show Not Yet). Just appears he´s not allowed to post re: products he sells etc.

I think a moderator needs to clarify why Nick cannot post about special offers from RS, the number of times Ive seen those CRT projector guys offering a refurbed projector is numerous. Im glad that Gordon and Roland can offer their services to the CRT forum, but Im questioning why Nick has not been allowed to do the same...

Look forward to your reply..

/James
 
Originally posted by jrwood
I think a moderator needs to clarify why....


FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS, PLEASE READ THE THREAD BEFORE POSTING!!!!!

Regards
 
Originally posted by graham.myers
If you searched for Nicks handle in the body of posts in the last day you'll find who it was

You mean elmbeck?, his signature/profile doesnt say he is a retailer??
 
I can see why people are saying that Nick's offers weren't uniquely special or unusual (as opposed to being simply good deals) but remember that not all of us bother with Hi-Fi magazines and the numerous adverts therein so posting a list of RS deals is no bad thing.

Personally, I'd like to see an RS rep posting their ads as a pdf here once a month but that won't happen.

Mike.
 
Originally posted by Flimber
Personally, I'd like to see an RS rep posting their ads as a pdf here once a month but that won't happen.

Im sure that Spectre would be overjoyed for RS to do that if RS were prepared to pay for the advertising Space.

I think a key thing to bear in mind is that Spectre makes some earnings from advertisers PAYING to advertise. The idea of a company getting FREE advertising space is a boat that dont float.

Regards
 
Originally posted by jrwood
I think a moderator needs to clarify why Nick cannot post about special offers from RS, the number of times Ive seen those CRT projector guys offering a refurbed projector is numerous. Im glad that Gordon and Roland can offer their services to the CRT forum, but Im questioning why Nick has not been allowed to do the same...

Look forward to your reply..

/James

James

It´s not down to the Moderators to decide on this particular subject, Spectre (Admin) has the final word as these are his Forums. Have a look at the other Richer Sounds thread in this Forum and Spectre´s last post in it.
 
Ok no problem.. just seems that others can flog their services in the forums while some cant. Im not against anyone doing this because at the end of the day its to the benefit of everyone and I think most of us are adults and can make informed opinions on whether its a good deal/service or not.

Just my 2 pence.
 
Originally posted by jrwood
I think a moderator needs to clarify...

In a previous post on this thread

Originally posted by Desticado
I doubt its anything to do with the mods. Was most likely a decision made by Spectre...

Whilst in another post on this thread...
Originally posted by Desticado
I DOUBT VERY MUCH it has anything to do with the mods. As mods on this site we are only permitted oppinions, not a vote. The decision is down to Spectre...

And in yet another post on this thread...
Originally posted by IanJ
Spectre moderates the Special Offers forum on his own and (moderators) like Desticado and myself are ordinary members outside the specific forums that we moderate....

And it doesnt end there...
Originally posted by Jase
we Mods have our opinions but Spectre has the final word....

are you starting to get the idea yet?
 
Originally posted by Desticado
In a previous post on this thread



Whilst in another post on this thread...


And in yet another post on this thread...


And it doesnt end there...


are you starting to get the idea yet?

I was replying to nhallidays original message that it was a retailer....I thought it might of been spectre but he isnt a retailer..

HTH
 
Just to clear up any confusion regarding my "silencing", I have not been technically banned, just told not to post any more responses to your queries/problems regarding Richer Sounds.

As far as I'm aware, this was brought about by a retailer posting the following:

Spectre,jont,codlord - new rules!
Guys

Is it just me or have the rules and stewardship on the forum changed?

I get a hard time for even mentioning my company name and heaven forbid my website and now a large and well known High Street retailer is all put posting live - 'what we have in stock this week' bulletins.

Regards

Joe


__________________
The Media Factory
Home Cinema and AV Dealer
[email protected]

The following was posted an hour or so later after by "Spectre":

Ok, this is a forum for special offers. Real bargains.
It's not a Richer Sounds support forum and so this thread is being closed.
If any retailer wants to rent their own forum here to make announcements and provide support then they should contact me for details. The cost is very reasonable.
If there are any other real bargains then anyone can create a thread announcing them for the benefit of forum members. But they must be real unusual bargains.


__________________
Stuart Wright, M2N, website developer and manager. My Home Cinema.

These are the facts, draw your own conclusions. I'd like to keep contributing, but it appears that my posts are not welcomed by the people who run the forum.

Anyway, thanks for all your words of support.

Cheers,
Nick
 
Originally posted by nhalliday
Just to clear up any confusion regarding my "silencing", I have not been technically banned, just told not to post any more responses to your queries/problems regarding Richer Sounds.

As far as I'm aware, this was brought about by a retailer posting the following:

Spectre,jont,codlord - new rules!
Guys

Is it just me or have the rules and stewardship on the forum changed?

I get a hard time for even mentioning my company name and heaven forbid my website and now a large and well known High Street retailer is all put posting live - 'what we have in stock this week' bulletins.

Regards

Joe


__________________
The Media Factory
Home Cinema and AV Dealer
[email protected]

The following was posted an hour or so later after by "Spectre":

Ok, this is a forum for special offers. Real bargains.
It's not a Richer Sounds support forum and so this thread is being closed.
If any retailer wants to rent their own forum here to make announcements and provide support then they should contact me for details. The cost is very reasonable.
If there are any other real bargains then anyone can create a thread announcing them for the benefit of forum members. But they must be real unusual bargains.


__________________
Stuart Wright, M2N, website developer and manager. My Home Cinema.

These are the facts, draw your own conclusions. I'd like to keep contributing, but it appears that my posts are not welcomed by the people who run the forum.

Anyway, thanks for all your words of support.

Cheers,
Nick

Too bad people here cant talk about offers and ways of getting stock in the warehouses to their local stores anymore.

:(

You could start posting in the power-buy forum. Im sure there would be people interested in some Richer Sounds powerbuys of say 5 A/V amplifiers or speakers? at a discounted price :D

http://www.avforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=79

guidelines are at http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=41184 ;)
 
Originally posted by jrwood
Too bad people here cant talk about offers and ways of getting stock in the warehouses to their local stores anymore. :(

The rules are there for a reason. If not these boards (and many like them) would soon become bombarded by every company on the web filling the site with adverts for their products.

Adverts are welcome but should be paid for in the relavent advertising section.

Equally the spirit of the special offers forum is for members of the public to recommend special offers they are aware of, rather than for companies to post whole sale their current price list.

My personal oppinion is that Nicks first posting of a complete listing of stock and prices etc was contrary to the forum rules and should have been deleted.

Many of his subsequent replies, however, I thought were helpful and informative in a manner that directly benefited members of this board and advanced the visibility of RS without directly advertising. I personally would be delighted to see more of these kind of posts from all retailers where they are ANSWERING QUESTIONS put to them by members and NOT POSTING BIG ADVERTS which ammount to little better than SPAM.

When members post saying "recommend me a place to buy X from" they should get responses from members of the public advocating (or not) specific vendors. We dont want a dozern responses from AV-Retailer.com etc saying "buy from me, buy from me".

As was previously suggested, following the failure of the manufacturers forums, the idea of a Retailers forum is a good one. Whilst I cannot speak for him Im sure that Spectre would welcome companies having their own little spot on the boards for answering any questions that might be put them (subject to a minimal monthly payment of course).

Regards
 
after his mistake (advert) nick went on to advise and give welcome information so what's the problem now and who's next-uncle eric? (god forbid)
 
Thanks Desticado for correctly defending the situation as it is.
Let me make some points, here.
First of all, Nick H has not been banned. Don't know where that came from. On the contratry he, like all other retailers, are more than welcome in the forums and I sincerely hope he continues to visit and post.
The special offers forum is there for the benefit of forum members. If someone finds a bargain, rather than post in the TV forum or DVD talk forum etc., I created the bargains forum so all bargains could be located in one place. It seems silly to positively stop retailers from posting in there as this would be helpful to forum readers. A retailer with a bargain would, after all, be the first person to know about it. And they could just ask a friendly customer to log in and post about the bargain anyway. So instead I positively invited retailers to post info about bargains.
However, to prevent 'spamming' and abuse of the forums, I have asked that the bargains be unuasually good. Not just good prices which can be found at many highstreet retailers.In that respect and on reflection perhaps I should have deleted Nicks thread initially. I'm not familiar with the prices, however, and I gave him the benefit of the doubt, assuming they were uniquely good prices. Perhaps I was wrong. Maybe it would be easier if we dispensed with the Special Offers forum altogether?

Understand that it is important that we do not let retailers advertise their services and goods for free on the forums for 2 good reasons:
1) we want to protect forum members from spam
2) it undermines paid advertising. And it's forum sponsors who keep the forums going.

Now we move on to retailer support. Nick's thread soon turned into a support thread for Richer Sounds. I like this kind of thread. It's useful to forum members. However, it does give a hell of a lot of free publicity to the retailer in question. When does this break the rules? Hard call. But Nick's thread clearly did, eventually, since in helping people out with stock queries, retailers are inevitably announcing when they do have stock of this and that.
What is for certain is that the Special Offers forum is no place for a support thread.

So what DO I want retailers to talk about on the forums? General product queries, specifications, reliablility issues, pricing and availablility (while keeping a close eye on the rules) etc. There is lots they can talk about.
What do they get out of it? The respect of forum members. Which will inevitably lead to sales. Whether this is financially worthwhile for retailers (time spent in the forums worth the financial reward of sales) is not an issue. If retailers participate it should be because they enjoy it.

So how do I have retailer support threads (like Nicks's thread turned into) without underminig current advertisers? Easy. Charge for it. For a small fee (£100 + VAT a month), a retailer can have their own forum here where they can post pretty much anything they want (libel laws permitting). Adverts, product queries, announcements etc. So far no retailer has done this - mainly because the service isn't advertised anywhere.
If people don't want to read the retailer support forums, they don't have to - so they are proteted from spam. While those people who do want to ask questions - and it's clear that for Richer Sounds at least - there is an audience here - the support is available for as long as the retailer's representative is here.

Running the forums correctly while building a viable business out of their existance is a complex job with lots of difficult issues.
Not everyone will agree with my decisions, but that's life.

So if people want to have a Richer Sounds support forum, PM Nick asking him to contact me with his credit ard details and I'll be happy to set one up.
 
Originally posted by Stuart Wright
I would like to ask Mr. Holiday if Richer Sounds will be supplying any Newcastle Sherwood DVD recorders in the nears future as I am very much interested in purchasing one.

:D you've got to be kidding man :D

Spectre,

I whole heartedly agree with your stance on this. That thread was THE most gratituous advertisement I've ever seen here.

While I agree it's good for retailers to post here, it should be ONLY for support/genuine offers.

RS don't (IIRC) sell anything at RRP, so does that mean that everything they sell/stock/will stock is warranted on the special offers forum? I think not.

& I do agree with Joe's comment that it was turning into a "live RS support thread".

RS can well afford a modest monthly fee for ALL the business they WILL undoubtedly derive from these forums.

Just re where the "banned" thing came in, I'd say this had something to do with it:

Originally posted by nhalliday
I have now effectively been banned.....

..in the very 1st post of this thread.

Originally posted by nhalliday
hopefully, I've helped a few people out

I don't think altruism was your only reason for posting.

I know you've helped many here, but also helped "up" RS's good name & advertise much stock (both now & forthcoming).

Come on Nick, if you really care about customers as well as sales, take Spectre up on his offer & become a forum sponsor/paid up advertiser.

Simple solution - it's up to you.
 

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