Is the escapist going bankrupt?

[Jedamethis]

If youre saying the advert is shit, then doesn't it go without saying that you think they should get rid of it? I don't see how your argument has changed.
Their adverts don't need protecting. If you hate an advert, yet they need it to keep the site up, then tough luck, of course they're not going to take it down. It's not like adverts have ears which The Escapist needs to cover to stop them hearing mean things you're saying about them...

Well clearly they think they do hence why they warn you for saying that.
Otherwise why do they warn you for saying such things?

It says in the Forum Rules: "Constructive criticism is welcomed; negativity for its own sake is not." Saying adverts are bad is not constructive criticism now is it.
It also adds nothing to discussion, classing it as a low-content post I believe. It is not because the ads need protecting.

 

[Jimbo1212]

If youre saying the advert is shit, then doesn't it go without saying that you think they should get rid of it? I don't see how your argument has changed.
Their adverts don't need protecting. If you hate an advert, yet they need it to keep the site up, then tough luck, of course they're not going to take it down. It's not like adverts have ears which The Escapist needs to cover to stop them hearing mean things you're saying about them...

Well clearly they think they do hence why they warn you for saying that.
Otherwise why do they warn you for saying such things?

It says in the Forum Rules: "Constructive criticism is welcomed; negativity for its own sake is not." Saying adverts are bad is not constructive criticism now is it.
It also adds nothing to discussion, classing it as a low-content post I believe. It is not because the ads need protecting.

Even if you add in anything to do with how they should advertise, you will get a warning.
As for the low-content post, that is just bullshit spin from the mods. You can have hundreds of " What if your last character...", which is the epitome of low content drivel, but you can't say " Advert sucks, please get rid of it. Post here is you agree".

 

[Jimbo1212]

Fine then, you make a thread and call the adverts shit. Of course you're going to get warnings, that's the same if you make a thread and call Yahtzee shit and that the Escapist should remove him.

.........which proves my point.
Why does the moderation have to be so protective compared to so many other websites? As it requires more time, there must be a financial gain in it somewhere otherwise why bother?

 

[FalloutJack]

I'm not saying this isn't bravado but I am saying that we don't know all the facts. Not one thread has ever provided information other than the contributors scandal to show that The Escapist may be having money trouble. I wouldn't be surprised if The Escapist disappeared from the face of the Earth, but I see no credible evidence to warrant our concern.

When have you ever heard of a business that took the advice of what they consider a mere consumer in a financial area? If anyone found out about them taking advice from consumers then they'd lose far more credibility regardless of how good it was. Any investors would be gone and the competition would be fighting over the carcass before it was even dead. In that case, not making ends meet for a few months is, by far, the better option.

It is true that we do not know all of the facts. I, for one, am theorizing based upon what I DO know and what patterns such information lead to if things remain unchanged. That said, pattern recognition is something more businesses could use if they wanted to avoid situations like this in the first place.

As for concern...well...that's more everybody else. You might notice that I'm not what you call invested in the Escapist in any serious capacity. True, I made alot of posts here, but that's because the board became an excellent time-waster for me while in-between something else. Five or six minutes and I've gotten an installment of Yahtzee or Unskippable or whatever under the belt. Ten minutes and I've made perhaps a few interesting or funny answers to things for my own personal entertainment.

Anyway,regarding advice, not only am I certain that listening to consumers is half of why businesses stay afloat (i.e. because they're the money in the bank and the business is the bank), but I don't see how credibility can suffer if they take advice that couldn't actually hurt, but in fact help. You can SAY it's damaging, but I don't see how. Neverminding the fact that {A} this forum has numerous ways for regular people to voice themselves for this purpose if nothing else and {B} I tried this myself literally because it was suggested to me that I try, by someone who WORKS HERE.

And you know what? I was doing it all the users of this damn board, to try and make things smoother, less strict, and overall more fun if it could be made possible in some way. I maintain that it's not 'they can't withstand a blow to their credibility', because that is a joke, but rather 'they just simply cannot be helped, period'. It'll all end in tears, for everyone that holds a job on this site.

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

It is true that we do not know all of the facts. I, for one, am theorizing based upon what I DO know and what patterns such information lead to if things remain unchanged. That said, pattern recognition is something more businesses could use if they wanted to avoid situations like this in the first place.

I would hope that The Escapist is doing some cash flow forecasting, it's common business practice to do it. If you don't then... well, you can end up in these kinds of situations, like you said, and they'll eventually just get worse.

Anyway,regarding advice, not only am I certain that listening to consumers is half of why businesses stay afloat (i.e. because they're the money in the bank and the business is the bank), but I don't see how credibility can suffer if they take advice that couldn't actually hurt, but in fact help. You can SAY it's damaging, but I don't see how. Neverminding the fact that {A} this forum has numerous ways for regular people to voice themselves for this purpose if nothing else and {B} I tried this myself literally because it was suggested to me that I try, by someone who WORKS HERE.

I didn't say the don't listen to consumers entirely, I said they don't listen to consumers regarding financial matters. If wind got out that they were taking the advice from just any random guy then they'd be considered lying in a pool of their own puke and blood. A business that isn't in control of it's own finance is doomed to fail from day 1. That's how it's damaging.

Those systems may be in place but either they aren't being used by the staff or they don't take financial advice from someone they consider to be just some guy on the internet.

 

[FalloutJack]

Those systems may be in place but either they aren't being used by the staff or they don't take financial advice from someone they consider to be just some guy on the internet.

Oh, come on, that's not true. They have Yahtzee. He be in Australia, Russ be in America. Unless one flew to the other, that's 'take advice from some guy on the internet' right there.

Even still, I know what you MEAN, but I don't see it that way. Good advice is good advice. And if it was freely-given, then it can hardly be considered risky. If they weren't actually interested in what is essentially 'consumer input' they wouldn't have mediums for it.

So, here we are at a crossroads. You don't believe the Escapist will tank and I don't see how taking advice from others is harmful in this situation. Let's call it here, alright? I don't think either one of us is gonna make any headway here.

 

[Jimbo1212]

Fine then, you make a thread and call the adverts shit. Of course you're going to get warnings, that's the same if you make a thread and call Yahtzee shit and that the Escapist should remove him.

.........which proves my point.
Why does the moderation have to be so protective compared to so many other websites? As it requires more time, there must be a financial gain in it somewhere otherwise why bother?

No, because you're breaking the, don't offend others rule. And the fact that there is no discussion value with "ADVERTS ARE SHIT" .

Urgh, but why are the rules there?!
Many other forums don't have them, so why does the Escapist have more harsh rules and follow them so strictly when it comes to criticism of the website? Besides desperately protecting itself financially , there is no other reason.

 

[Jimbo1212]

To maintain order and intellect. That's why many people come here, because there are rarely any trolls nor flamers. Thus, order.

4 years that was true.
Now, not a chance.
You get shouted down by fanboys and mods, then banned for telling them where to shove it for making inane comments.

Bet back to the point at hand...

For the mods to come down do heavy on even passing statements about adverts combined with failure to pay employees shows that the cash flow is struggling or someone is getting a bigger car this Christmas for being a dick with the money.

 

[Jimbo1212]

I'm going to make one more statement. The mods are just normal people. They never even knew the Escapist was having financial issues in the first place until EC came and quit.

Well of course, that is pretty obvious. I am just stating about the rules they have to enforce and whom ever is making the policies is the one which we all have a bone to pick with.

 

[balanovich]

The escapists rating increases with web traffic and they make money off ad revenue. So very much a business.

A normal business exchanges money for services or products. It's a direct and simple exchange. Sites like the escapist give free stuff for free hoping to attract customers, who aren't really customers because they don't pay anything. And then they charge a third party for the permission to advertise on the website.

It's not a "normal" business like I said. I do agree that it a business and that it can go bankrupt. You pay for stuff and you manage to get money for something else and hopefully more money comes in than out. If not, you're in trouble.

Did the escapist start as a profit oriented endeavor? I don't know it's history and i don't know it's people. I do know that many websites started as a fun thing to do. Sure, you put Ads to pay for the servers and maybe for your time. If it get bigger you put more ads to hire professionals or pay yourself because everyone needs to eat. It's not going to stop or be sold whenever it stops being profitable enough. They just continue living on... until there's absolutely no money and no will to make it go one.

I'm pretty sure the concern of the OT is more about the forum than the website itself.... the articles and videos can always be found elsewhere.

 

[Jedamethis]

If youre saying the advert is shit, then doesn't it go without saying that you think they should get rid of it? I don't see how your argument has changed.
Their adverts don't need protecting. If you hate an advert, yet they need it to keep the site up, then tough luck, of course they're not going to take it down. It's not like adverts have ears which The Escapist needs to cover to stop them hearing mean things you're saying about them...

Well clearly they think they do hence why they warn you for saying that.
Otherwise why do they warn you for saying such things?

It says in the Forum Rules: "Constructive criticism is welcomed; negativity for its own sake is not." Saying adverts are bad is not constructive criticism now is it.
It also adds nothing to discussion, classing it as a low-content post I believe. It is not because the ads need protecting.

Even if you add in anything to do with how they should advertise, you will get a warning.
As for the low-content post, that is just bullshit spin from the mods. You can have hundreds of " What if your last character...", which is the epitome of low content drivel, but you can't say " Advert sucks, please get rid of it. Post here is you agree".

Because it's not a discussion provoking post. It's a useless one that the staff will probably never see. That kind of thing is what the Feedback page is for, along with reporting bugs, submitting news, and other things.
No, that thread allows for a ridiculously huge amount of creative posts. " Advert sucks, please get rid of it. Post here is you agree" will only get posts that say. "Yes." or "No."

 

[Jimbo1212]

Because it's not a discussion provoking post. It's a useless one that the staff will probably never see. That kind of thing is what the Feedback page is for, along with reporting bugs, submitting news, and other things.
No, that thread allows for a ridiculously huge amount of creative posts. " Advert sucks, please get rid of it. Post here is you agree" will only get posts that say. "Yes." or "No."

Please explain how " What if the last charter you played..." is a discussion provoking post.
That is not creative, but one line reply drivel which has been done to death on this website.

As for "Advert sucks, please get rid of it. Post here if you agree", it does not have to be one line answers. You could say that you like or dislike it and why. You could also say what you think is better or what could be worse.
The only reason they do not allow them is because it would put companies off advertising on this website rather then due to rules which they are very relaxed with when it comes to other topics.

 

[JoelChenFA]

So the escapist is a business? Are we the customers... because we don't pay anything.
You can't treat this website like a normal business.

Anyway the post isn't about business strategy or principal, it about a community member trying to save the community.

OT: You want to start a fundraiser... go ahead.I don't see how anyone is going to complain about more money.

The escapists rating increases with web traffic and they make money off ad revenue. So very much a business.
If you do not think websites can be businesses then I suggest you look up a little thing called "google"

Google is not a portal. Yahoo is one. Yahoo lost its former glory. Google has not. Escapist is more like Yahoo than it is like Google.

 

[Jedamethis]

Because it's not a discussion provoking post. It's a useless one that the staff will probably never see. That kind of thing is what the Feedback page is for, along with reporting bugs, submitting news, and other things.
No, that thread allows for a ridiculously huge amount of creative posts. " Advert sucks, please get rid of it. Post here is you agree" will only get posts that say. "Yes." or "No."

Please explain how " What if the last charter you played..." is a discussion provoking post.
That is not creative, but one line reply drivel which has been done to death on this website.

As for "Advert sucks, please get rid of it. Post here if you agree", it does not have to be one line answers. You could say that you like or dislike it and why. You could also say what you think is better or what could be worse.
The only reason they do not allow them is because it would put companies off advertising on this website rather then due to rules which they are very relaxed with when it comes to other topics.

That's a very good point which I hadn't really though about before now, but the Red Guard have informed me that they are actually classed as forum games, and they move them to that section when they see them.
If I saw 'Post here if you agree' I would not bother with that. It sounds like you're just looking for numbers, statistics of who likes adverts, not a lengthy post. If you made a thread about adverts with a good discussion question then I don't see why it wouldn't be allowed.