Quote:
Originally Posted by kjs
I pay $99/mo. for this forum https://stmforum.com.
$20/mo. for this one https://afflift.com
Both of these forums have helped me grow my business. A lot. They help me generate new ideas and the vendors are constantly providing discounts on their services.
Other than connecting with a few industry people here GFY has been worth about what I pay for it.
If you want to breathe new life into GFY you will have to kill the "remember when" culture that seems to be so prevalent and start focusing on people making more money today. |
Exactly.
You pay because its an equitable exchange of value.
The vast majority of people in this biz have zero clue whatsoever what actual marketing looks like. It's insane that someone from Bangladesh, Pakistan or India on a few of the other big mainstream forums can put together a compelling announcement and presentation, with incredibly well designed graphics and very well thought out pitch, making you exclaim "holy shit, i need to try that tool, that looks fucking awesome!!" and do so while English is their 3rd or 4th language and yet people here can't even master the paragraph or period... much less explain a coherent idea, feature, function or benefit.
People in this biz stood around selling water in the desert and patted each other on the back for years as being "marketing geniuses" and as more people sold water, they started blaming the water for their failure.
And now, here we are once again... for what??
The 20th time?
30th time??
"The ban hammer is out, just try me fuckers!" coupled with "hey we're looking for ideas".
How many times since 2001 has this forum been at that EXACT place?
Each time, all that happened was that it died a little each time. In fact, there is no example of this forum showing increased activity by banning users, by cracking down and by putting out the suggestion box.
How many times has every dying forum done the EXACT same thing before they died?
And because this industry is what it is, no one has asked the only question which MUST be answered,
"If i am a webmaster, why should i choose GFY and not another forum"...
It will never be answered.
It should be answered from the start... It should be a clear, concise and compelling answer,... but again, it's come down to a half assed attempt at doing "things"... right before the next cycle of neglect and slow decline begin.
If you ask 100 webmasters "what is gfy?" you will likely just get answers like "i go there for the nostalgia", " i go there out of habit", "its 1/2 business and 1/2 shit show" but one thing is for certain, there will no be a consistent answer which expresses with any real clarity, its value to the target market. "The best adult marketing forum online" will never be the answer. In fact, no one even knows what the answer should be.
Asking for suggestions is the most pointless action for any business. It simply exposes a truth... "there is no leadership here and this is not a real business"
Businesses which thrive and endure, do not do "things"
They are not reactive
They don't have a suggestion box
They don't work by consensus
They are not unclear in their focus and offering
Gates, Bezos, Jobs etc etc etc never asked what someone wanted. They built what was needed. They build what WILL BE needed. They had vision. They built. They built with passion. With purpose. They executed. They built what we needed before we knew we needed it. They are never reactive, they are forward thinking. Each thing they create is one small part of a much larger experience and even identity/social status.
This forum will never change because as this thread demonstrates, it will never be treated like a real business, with a real plan, a real vision, with real leadership to bring that vision to fruition etc etc.
It will ultimately, as has always been the case, go back to being an afterthought after the usual week or two of chest pounding, saber rattling and feel good "suggestion" threads.
the more things change, the more they stay the same.
