No! Nothing to feel bad about, I myself posted an early reply as I thought the initial post encouraged a discussion/debate. It's certainly opened up some good discussions and we have a few things to sort out.Originally Posted by Ian M
No! Nothing to feel bad about, I myself posted an early reply as I thought the initial post encouraged a discussion/debate. It's certainly opened up some good discussions and we have a few things to sort out.
Membership scheme now available - Just £10 per year - Regular Supplier Discounts and Special Offers!
Thanks Justin ;)
The forum seems fine to me too! Justin's doing a good job and I don't think any mods or decision makers are needed yet as it would turn out to be too many Chiefs and not enough Indians.
One change I would make, and i've said this before, would be to make it a paid for forum - this would sort out any revenue needed to pay for hosting, exhibitions etc. Donations work for now but if you do want to attract new members, from individuals to large companies, I think you're going to have to get out there and show them what they are missing. A stand at a trade show would do this but would cost a lot more money than the donations would cover.
One other thing I would do is a FAQ section that is posted near the top of the forum - new members are joining steadily and a lot of the time the same questions are asked over and over again. The ricoh questions have all been answered a few times along with syringing, bubbles, using standard ink to print mugs, which paper, which ink, image fading, best mugs etc. A FAQ list would be first port of call in emergencies, it could also include step by step tutorials on different methods of sub printing - then if help was still needed - do a post.
Just my two peneth worth.
I agree, although the size of the task means we all need to chip in.
Another big task, and I'm not sure how it would work is to have an A-Z of products and who supplies them. Maybe this could be down to each supplier to add themselves to each product. As much as 'How do I do that' is a repetittive subject the question of 'Where to buy' seems to be cropping up with more regularity.
Great feedback guys, many thanks. Paid membership is something that I havn't discounted completely. Of course it would be great to keep the forum free but costs are starting to creep up and to progress further forward I'll need a regular, all be it small income to cover such costs.
FAQ section would be great, I'll set some time aside to trawl through and make a list. Anyone else wants to help here I'd appreciate it. Yes, many of the same problems do get asked quite regularly.
A-Z is something I hadn't thought about, a list of blanks available again would be very useful.
How to's and Guides etc. have been on the list for some time but I simply havn't had time to get around to it.
Thanks again :D
Membership scheme now available - Just £10 per year - Regular Supplier Discounts and Special Offers!
Hi Justin, A times and temps list for different items such as t 'shirts, hi viz, mugs etc would be very handy too!
Keep up the good work - John
Just going to make a couple of quick comments:there is no doubt that BMS is great source of knolage and spent lot of time on here helping people. I love when I see martin answering all that questions etc.... but I thought it is as it should be ?! Coz as far I remember it was part of the deal to have suppliers on this forum.
regards discounts and benefits for forum members I must say its next to nothing compare possibility of advertisment here.
1. Re "suppliers on this forum" - implying the plural of suppliers. There have been several suppliers posting on this forum for the benefit of others but I appreciate that we've been the most prolific given the number of posts made. If the feeling is that we jump in too quick which stiffles other suppliers then let us know and we'll hold back with our comments/ posts, but that may not be to the general advantage of other users if posts aren't commented on swiftly or offers of advice made. Happy to hear comments on this (pm if you prefer).
2. Not sure of any "deal". We were invited to the forum as Justin mentioned and have made an explicit link from our website to the forum to promote the DSF plus spend a lot of time reading and commenting. Yes, we probably benefit from this, but equally from the kind words of other users who use us as one of their suppliers.
3. Re the discounts and benefits - we have posted some. Admitedly we don't do this weekly or regularly, but I've purposely not done this as there haven't been too many other suppliers posting. I didn't want it to appear as a "BMS offers section" and blatenly appear to be promoting our products which it could easily become. Coupled with that we don't have over inflated prices to offer great promotions. If we put our prices up then we could appear to offer some great "DSF only" promotions, but this would be to the disadvantage of all our other customers. It's a fine line to tread.
If there are some concerns/ friction, as I sense there may be in the thread, then please feel free to contact me directly. My first priority on here has been to help and to grow the forum, not to push BMS down forum members throats. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind an open and frank debate, but I guess that probably 90% of members just want good, fair advice and probably aren't that interested in the politics that is implicit in any forum. If there is some tension somewhere then I hope this can be discussed and resolved amicably. Please take this in a good hearted manner as I'd like it to be taken - I'm not ranting ;)
Hi Martin, just a quicky after your essay....I personally dont think you are jumping in too quick or ramming your products down anyone's throat. What you are doing is giving good sound advise to people when they really need it. The last thing I would want to do after posting a problem is wait for hours or even days for a reply! lol
So in a nutshell as far as I'm concerned and I'm pretty sure others are too...keep up the good work ;)
Just want to say I have no concerns for Bsm about jumping into quick, when I had to ask it is very nice to go and find a answer at the end of the day. I really don't care who's answered it but graful for the answer. I had concerns in the very begining but now with a few other suppliers answering questions it is becoming a fairer and broader forum. Plus there is a list of other supplirers It was never my intention to take this debate to where it is. I simply pick two suppliers of the list and recived a good service. I spent very little, but bms and listawood spent ages on the phone trying to help thats why I wanted to say thank you. Time helping was more important to them than the small amounts that I spent. I know that maybe they hope I'll be back to spend more later but thats the name of the game for all of us.
I also like the repeated questions because different people that answer the question put in a different way and then I get the answer :oops: So while I'm here I would like to thank everyone that ask question and those that replied. It what makes this forum.
I'm late to this thread but it surprised me to read of the bad experiences with Listawood and the perception that they only want big customers.
I'm certainly not a big customer of Listawood, but I only have praise for their service. They're prompt to reply to emails and to solve issues.
In March, I ordered 12 of their 10.5" ceramic plates together with other items. They were poorly packed and 8 of them were broken or smashed. After emailing them, they apologised and sent 8 replacements immediately. The replacements were packed the same and all 8 were smashed. I emailed again, and (unfortunately) ranted on a bit about what I thought of their packing department. :oops: They couldn't apologise enough and sent out 8 more replacements - this time they were better packed.
For what little money Listawood make out of me, they couldn't do enough to rush out replacements and apologise. They may not have the biggest range in the world, but they make up for it with the customer service that I've received.
This isn't to take anything away from any other supplier, I'm just adding my bit to the discussion.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote