• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

Non member product discussion

As an IT guy who has been an ISP/web developer in the past I appreciate the balance this board has between free content and PAYING THE BILLS!

I can imagine what the hosting might cost and the increase in cost as traffic goes up and I feel this board has done well.

As I’m on here all the time now, paying a few bucks to talk about bucks is worth it to me! :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
cspot said:
Yes Vendors only have to pay to post in the vendor area. I guess my point is if there is a thread in the vendor area about a new aerohunter saddle that isn't released yet. A new saddle enthusiast has a question on some new accessories for that saddle, I think that thread would be the best place and this would allow the vendor to discuss the topic with the poster.
Click to expand...

This site was not intended for anyone to provide customer service. Vendors should pay their own bandwidth fees to deal with customers. Since enough participants of this site indicated they liked interacting with vendors here, this is how the staff chose to compromise. If a vendor wants to interact with customers here, they can help support the site. If a user wants to interact with vendors here, it is another perk of supporting the site.

I think this site has a reputation of listening to its entire user base and acting in the interest of Saddle Hunters (not Saddle Hunter vendors).
 
pesqimon said:
This site was not intended for anyone to provide customer service. Vendors should pay their own bandwidth fees to deal with customers. Since enough participants of this site indicated they liked interacting with vendors here, this is how the staff chose to compromise. If a vendor wants to interact with customers here, they can help support the site. If a user wants to interact with vendors here, it is another perk of supporting the site.

I think this site has a reputation of listening to its entire user base and acting in the interest of Saddle Hunters (not Saddle Hunter vendors).
Click to expand...

I wasn't going to post on this anymore but want to clarify something. My point of what I was saying is that I think requiring members (non-vendors) to pay money in order to post in the vendor area is shooting yourself in the foot. When people google saddle hunting it usually has this forum near the top of the results if not the top. So a new saddle hunter finds a thread about whatever product and clicks on the link that brings him here. He reads a little and has some questions so he registers. Then he finds out that he has to pay $15 to ask a question. They are likely to go elesewhere then as they have nothing invested in this board. They will likely never come back to the board.

As far as vendors, I said before that I wasn't sure why vendors aren't charged a good fee for advertising. Alot more than the $15 membership fee in my opinion. Every hunting board that I have has some paid sponsors that usually have a banner at the top of the page. Most have some google ads along the side or bottom. Those ads in no way are a pain in the butt. I am not talking about pop-up ads or ads that you have to click thru to get to the board. These advertisements cover the costs instead of charging a fee for users to post in the certain areas. For the record I have no issue with charging a fee to post in the classifieds as that is a little different and the people posting are getting a monetary benefit.

Case in point of something that causes confusion .Tnbowhunter posted the thread "DIY “PhantoMantis” or sell my Mantis and buy a Phantom?" This thread got moved at some point last night or today and now he can't even respond to it since he isn't a member. Now he has to start a new thread if he has further questions or wants to comment.

I am not saying this as bashing of the site as I enjoy coming here. Not bashing the moderation or the owner either. It doesn't even matter to me as I know some of the vendor rep people on other sites so I can post there or simply PM them here if I have a question. I think the new membership requirements can likely turn off potential new members here and probably some of the experienced ones. Simply my opinion.
 
Last edited:
cspot said:
I wasn't going to post on this anymore but want to clarify something. My point of what I was saying is that I think requiring members (non-vendors) to pay money in order to post in the vendor area is shooting yourself in the foot. When people google saddle hunting it usually has this forum near the top of the results if not the top. So a new saddle hunter finds a thread about whatever product and clicks on the link that brings him here. He reads a little and has some questions so he registers. Then he finds out that he has to pay $15 to ask a question. They are likely to go elesewhere then as they have nothing invested in this board. They will likely never come back to the board.
Click to expand...

I mean this in the politest way possible, if there is a speed bump to people asking questions on this forum I think that is a good thing. It might actually have folks using the search bar and discover that the question has been asked and answered.

cspot said:
As far as vendors, I said before that I wasn't sure why vendors aren't charged a good fee for advertising. Alot more than the $15 membership fee in my opinion. Every hunting board that I have has some paid sponsors that usually have a banner at the top of the page. Most have some google ads along the side or bottom. Those ads in no way are a pain in the butt. I am not talking about pop-up ads or ads that you have to click thru to get to the board. These advertisements cover the costs instead of charging a fee for users to post in the certain areas. For the record I have no issue with charging a fee to post in the classifieds as that is a little different and the people posting are getting a monetary benefit.
Click to expand...

There are a lot of comparisons to other boards and forums, that they do things one way or another. I like most of what we do here and not so much what the others do. I suppose that is why I am here (also I am a gear junkie). It is basically 50-50 between people who are ok with ads and those that can't stand them (I can't stand them). Keeping this place vendor neutral is a top priority, so that is why you won't see any paid sponsors. A level playing field is the goal.

cspot said:
Case in point of something that causes confusion .Tnbowhunter posted the thread "DIY “PhantoMantis” or sell my Mantis and buy a Phantom?" This thread got moved at some point last night or today and now he can't even respond to it since he isn't a member. Now he has to start a new thread if he has further questions or wants to comment.
Click to expand...

I agree with you on the confusion. That thread was a casualty of the new rules and everyone getting used to it. Should we have deleted it? Moving it seemed like the best compromise since there is some very useful information there. Should someone start a new thread? Maybe. They could also sign up for a membership if they would like to interact with a vendor.

cspot said:
I am not saying this as bashing of the site as I enjoy coming here. Not bashing the moderation or the owner either. It doesn't even matter to me as I know some of the vendor rep people on other sites so I can post there or simply PM them here if I have a question. I think the new membership requirements can likely turn off potential new members here and probably some of the experienced ones. Simply my opinion.
Click to expand...

Thank you for taking the time to write all this. Keeping it fun, while remaining safe, is the ultimate goal here.
 
sureshotscott said:
With adoption of the new rules our plan is not to move threads especially when started by non SH members we realized that would not be cool.
Click to expand...


Hate to bring this issue back up but

New kite.

Ordered my 1st saddle on january 4th. The kite size 2. Kinda big guy. 6'6 and 290lbs. Well just got an email saying that my order will be shipped around the 1st week of april. Lol. Glad i didnt wait till closer to season before i ordered one. Now just need to order me a ridge runner platform and...
saddlehunter.com

Thread started by new non-paying member, that I commented on, moved to a place where he nor I can comment.

Sorry @Scottstepp1124
 
Last edited:
The "Tethrd" thread started by a brand new user today was also locked, because a vendor rep said they'd PM the user.

Meanwhile an entirely different conversation had started in the thread and was going back and forth to welcome the new user, if a little gruffly, but in good humor.

Another thread asked about the release date for a new saddle and got a non-answer from a vendor rep. Sure enough that one got restricted as well.

I don't really understand the purpose or justification unlocking a new users thread, or a thread that simply contains a response from a vendor without it being specific information... But I do know that it's killing any enthusiasm I might have for this board.



Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
Tr33_n1nj@ said:
Hate to bring this issue back up but

New kite.

Ordered my 1st saddle on january 4th. The kite size 2. Kinda big guy. 6'6 and 290lbs. Well just got an email saying that my order will be shipped around the 1st week of april. Lol. Glad i didnt wait till closer to season before i ordered one. Now just need to order me a ridge runner platform and...
saddlehunter.com

Thread started by new non-paying member, that I commented on, moved to a place where he nor I can comment.
Click to expand...
The vendor section & classifieds are member access areas: if you want to sell/trade things or discuss how long til I get my blank, there are sections for that. The thread was just moved to appropriate place.
 
Bigterp said:
The vendor section & classifieds are member access areas: if you want to sell/trade things or discuss how long til I get my blank, there are sections for that. The thread was just moved to appropriate place.
Click to expand...

So where is that place for non paying members? Because that thread was started somewhere else and moved to the members only section
 
Tr33_n1nj@ said:
So where is that place for non paying members? Because that thread was started somewhere else and moved to the members only section
Click to expand...

There isn't one. There are some parts of the forum that will cost $15 per year to participate in. That is a benefit to the members who pay the $15, and are 'keeping the lights on' in a sense, for the rest of the forum. If a person doesn't want to spend the $15 they are free to post in any of the non member sections of the forum.
 
GCTerpfan said:
There isn't one. There are some parts of the forum that will cost $15 per year to participate in. That is a benefit to the members who pay the $15, and are 'keeping the lights on' in a sense, for the rest of the forum. If a person doesn't want to spend the $15 they are free to post in any of the non member sections of the forum.
Click to expand...

Until a rep responds and gets it moved


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
So is that the rule? Only paying members allowed to review products and discuss shipping timelines? I thought those type of things started by non-paying members would be allowed and not moved into the members only section. I guess I misunderstood that, my bad.
 
Tr33_n1nj@ said:
I thought those type of things started by non-paying members would be allowed and not moved into the members only section. I guess I misunderstood that, my bad.
Click to expand...

They are until a vendor responds. At least that’s my understanding


See you in a tree, Ricky
 
The thread I mentioned in post #28 had no vendor input. And I assume it got moved because I derailed it in the 2nd post by mentioning Aerohunter’s shipping timeline. Anywho, just trying to figure out the boundaries.
 
Last edited:
Tr33_n1nj@ said:
The thread I mentioned in post #30 had no vendor input. And I assume it got moved because I derailed it in the 2nd post by mentioning Aerohunter’s shipping timeline. Anywho, just trying to figure out the boundaries.
Click to expand...

Idk buddy. I don’t see that one getting moved.


See you in a tree, Ricky
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top