Does this site, Salon Geek, need an update?

[steve@nouvatan]

ive not been a member of this forum for very long but i do like the site lots i have found it informative fun and a great way to thank our customers publicly for there support of our product and we have i hope held constructive debates in some threads about machinery/marketing techniques that have helped other members.i recieved the email to join salon tweet and it made me think maybe geek could do with dragging into 2009 its so 2004 darlings!! lol how about an online chat room, music player,mini me type avatars items for sale wanted ect video player i prefer the site navigation system on this site to that off its new rival Home - Salon Tweet but salon tweet looks so much better/professional and has so many better features i am just thinking about how popular friends reunited was 5 years ago before facebook and my space took off and maybe its time for a refurb of this great forum it would be such a shame for it to go the way of friendsreunited and become a dinosaur :irked: salontweet is attracting more members every day at the moment it is in its infancy and is running alongside almost complimenting geek but how long will that last if the people who run this site stay with this forums formula i/we are members of both forums and i feel it would be a shame to split this online community your comments please can this site run alongside its rival in this current format or is salontweet the new kid on the block alternatively has the geek hierarchy had there day and are people switching forums as has been suggested due to over policing of this site i am genuinely not trying to stir up trouble and i am asking this question for the good of this community :!:

 

[The Geek]

OMG, SalonTweet spam. Are they that desperate?

 

[shel84]

I dont like all the "frills" of newer sites, its all the crap you dont need!

 

[steve@nouvatan]

OMG, SalonTweet spam. Are they that desperate?

no its not its just a genuine question dont delete it please !!lets just see if anybody else thinks this site needs dragging forward or maybe i am wrong i am man enough to admit it if i am!
some things are classics by design maybe this forum is
but maybe like the hoover its format has been dysoned by tweets lol

 

[champagne]

The only thing id like back is the chat room....I think the rest is perfect,,,,

 

[marioned]

Absolutely perfect as it is, although I too would like the return of the chatroom

 

[min11]

I like the 'no frills' approach here. I'm not instantly baffled by what I see and I can find exactly what I want right away. Pretty perfect

 

[nailzandbeauty]

I would only add the selling and buying room back x

 

[steve@nouvatan]

oh so there used to be a chat room why did it get taken off then? like i said i like the no frills navigation its easy to use but maybe it could be improved brought forward facebook or twitter style this is not a call for revolution !! lol

 

[The Geek]

I'm afraid I disagree that its a genuine question. It seem to be their method of attracting users are ads like this. Sure, there is the influx of curiosity, but where is the sticking power?

FWIW, I have been working for some time on an upgrade, but please don't mistake an upgrade for socialgo software. This is a very large community built around very active forums for discussion. Not a Facebook clone. If a music player is a make or break, then I am glad there is an alternative for you. We have had the chat room, it may be back, but it won't be tomorrow.

There are many different types of community software that you can get. Some better than others for certain types of communities. But I will share with you my fairly vast experience working with hundreds of on-line communities over the years: (and I'll paraphrase Bill Clinton here) "Its not the software stupid". I use the latest version of the number one community software in the world, but that isn't why SalonGeek.com is as popular as it is. I've grown accustomed to knock off communities that come and go at least once a year. The software sometimes changes with these knock offs, but the attitude and line is always the same ole droll.

SalonGeek.com is as popular as it is because it works, we have strict rules that prohibit company spam and its members from being used and abused. In short, we focus on the community and the professionals in our industry and foster an environment that encourages accurate information and debate on multiple levels.

So if that is outdated, then I am more than happy you have an alternative to the above

Best of luck. Please keep the spam off the site.

nJoy

 

[steve@nouvatan]

I would only add the selling and buying room back x

so as a new member i suggested the for sale and the chat site and this site did previously have them??

 

[min11]

:lol: In the past Sam has added things and we've all torn our hair out and filled topics trying to find where things have gone and what got added. Sometimes it might just be a case of 'if it aint broke, don't fix it'. I'm happy to be wrong but there is a very occasional post by some one suggesting things could be changed, improved, modernised and it always ends up that the very vast majority like things as they are.

:hug:

 

[steve@nouvatan]

I'm afraid I disagree that its a genuine question. It seem to be their method of attracting users are ads like this. Sure, there is the influx of curiosity, but where is the sticking power?

FWIW, I have been working for some time on an upgrade, but please don't mistake an upgrade for socialgo software. This is a very large community built around very active forums for discussion. Not a Facebook clone. If a music player is a make or break, then I am glad there is an alternative for you. We have had the chat room, it may be back, but it won't be tomorrow.

There are many different types of community software that you can get. Some better than others for certain types of communities. But I will share with you my fairly vast experience working with hundreds of on-line communities over the years: (and I'll paraphrase Bill Clinton here) "Its not the software stupid". I use the latest version of the number one community software in the world, but that isn't why SalonGeek.com is as popular as it is. I've grown accustomed to knock off communities that come and go at least once a year. The software sometimes changes with these knock offs, but the attitude and line is always the same ole droll.

SalonGeek.com is as popular as it is because it works, we have strict rules that prohibit company spam and its members from being used and abused. In short, we focus on the community and the professionals in our industry and foster an environment that encourages accurate information and debate on multiple levels.

So if that is outdated, then I am more than happy you have an alternative to the above

Best of luck. Please keep the spam off the site.

nJoy

are you suggesting that i am connected to tweet because i can assure you apart from my membership of both forums i am not this is just a thread about some of the applications available on another forums that are not/no longer available on geek i congratulate you on this forum it is superb
and i hope by starting this thread/debate it helps moderators and members get what we want from this forum after all it is OUR community is it not and this is a democracy
as has already been said people would like the for sale /chat rooms back as a distributor you could put restrictions on my/our use of said rooms i have no problem with that your reaction to this thread has somewhat shocked me to be honest !! lol

 

[glitz]

SalonGeek.com is as popular as it is because it works, we have strict rules that prohibit company spam and its members from being used and abused. In short, we focus on the community and the professionals in our industry and foster an environment that encourages accurate information and debate on multiple levels.

Totally sums up this site in my opinion and a bloody good site it is too.
I never used the chat room, so cant say I miss it also I think things can get messy when you start adding buying & selling, I can see myself still surfing this site in years to come. :hug:

 

[The Geek]

are you suggesting that i am connected to tweet because i can assure you apart from my membership of both forums i am not this is just a thread about some of the applications available on another forums that are not/no longer available on geek i congratulate you on this forum it is superb
and i hope by starting this thread/debate it helps moderators and members get what we want from this forum after all it is OUR community is it not and this is a democracy
as has already been said people would like the for sale /chat rooms back as a distributor you could put restrictions on my/our use of said rooms i have no problem with that your reaction to this thread has somewhat shocked me to be honest !! lol

hehe, not suggesting that you are connected to them just pointing out the ad was a little ott and that the spirit of your posts in this thread are somewhat, er... lame? Just because you disagree with policy here or that you want a feature that isn't available doesn't mean that the policy/feature set isn't as is for good reason.

I also do not understand wanting to start a debate about features that you want, yet already exist elsewhere? Hang out over there where the features you are after are and swing back by when you want our whistles and bells which (apart from a farrrrrrrrrrrr superior forum system) are content, community and usability.

And no, this isn't a democracy whereby you start demanding features to be introduced or returned and I obey. I have always taken all suggestions seriously and implemented those that add value to the site and are doable. Yes I could have introduced a media player and radio player years ago, however what is the point? Is that what this community is about? Nyet.

So far, (music player aside) the only features that I can really make out that you're asking for are chat rooms and buy/sell forums (both of which we have had). The chat rooms have a technical problem that requires a lot of my time to correct so that is temporarily shelved. The buy/sell thing doesn't work. We had Geekbay for a number of years, but the reality is that people do not really use a community to buy/sell/trade as there are far better avenues for that (in community terms: if it doesn't get used, it dies). And frankly I don't have the time nor desire to chase up lost parcels, people not being paid, people getting the wrong thing, etc... So in a nutshell, I killed Geekbay before it killed me (but not before we gave it the all American go).

I guess you'll have to forgive me if I have been a little insulted by your comments that the technology behind this site is somehow outdated because we had the things you were looking for but have since 'moved on' or that SalonGeek.com risks extinction because we lack a music player (huh?). I guess being a programmer for 25 years and a professional for 20 years, I take great pride in this (award winning) community and the technology behind it

So sorry if we don't cut it for you. Always nice that there is a choice I guess

nJoy

 

[steve@nouvatan]

ok i take the music player bit back it was a stupid idea lol !! but i would love somewhere i could link the folding tent video!! or cleaning a spray tan gun/ a spray tan training video ect
or for salons to sell stuff to each other
i visit loads of salons and hear of back washes barbers chairs nail stations sunbeds ect for sale all the time and this forum would be a great way for me to put people together its not about me making a profit its about goin the extra mile people remember that
i had 24 pm s the other night if there was a chat window it would be so much easier
as geekmaster i respect you are runing the show and it is your site and all was suggesting was do people want a fresher snappier appearance to the site sounds like they dont!! if i have upset/insulted you i give you a heart felt public apology
but( here comes the double edged sword) if this sites appearance was a salon it would be back combing and blue rinse for philys and gladys

 

[sknight]

can I add my 2 pence? FWIW I would hate for this site to change I think we all are here for one reason "it works so well" that is my quote LOL. I love it here and I certainly dont think it is over policed. The mods do a wonderful job in keeping the salon geek tidy.

I just wanted to say it as I am sure most of us think the same and the figures for visits and members must speak for themselves.
Well done Sam I am sure you dont need me to say that though as I guess you are very proud of this place and so you should be.

 

[bombini]

In answer to your question..........errrrr no. I like it how it is

As for salon tweet well you have to wonder if they have obtained half their members via this site ! I only joined because the sites 'owner' has the same username as one of my friends on here and I thought it was her new business website it was only after I joined I realised it wasn't, wonder how many other people fell for that.

Now I am going to have a moan but this is not about the site more the users and I probably am going to pi** some people off but if it weren't for this thread I wouldn't have the courage to write it.

I am SICK to death of the amount of people using this site to try and entice people to use their business. When I first joined a few years ago the only business promotion going on was each others salons now its training, products, design etc. etc. I am so bored of it (and i know of others who feel the same)

I can almost see the sharks circling when a question on training, waxing, certain products are posted. I wish it could go back to the times when the only links going on were to our personal websites of nails, beauty etc. I know times have changed but thats my opinion.

Other than that this site works which is why its so sucessful. I don't know of any other forum that is so well laid out all the others look the same !!

One 'change' I would love is to bring geekmolians back !!!!

 

[Klassy Klaws]

This site is exactly what the members want and you wont find a genuine member disagree.
As said before this site does what it says on the packet with no frills, whats the point on changing something that works perfectly??

There seems to be more and more people coming on here to poach the members why because we are the best :lol::lol:

I dont ever want this site to change it is fine the way it is Sam is a genius and puts so much time into keeping us conected:hug:

 

[naturalnails]

OK as one of the original members of Salon Geek I have seen many changes over the 6, nearly 7 years - some good and some not so good.

We have had all the things you have suggested, except the music, but then you can have radio 2 playing in the background via iPlayer so that could solve that one LOL.

The sale/wanted board as Sam said was a PITA so been there and done that - The Guild have a classified section so we direct people there - sorted!

The chat room - well IMO not many people used it but it seems to be missed when it is not there, but then there are so many alternatives - sorted!

The things that this site has that no other site will ever have is the community spirit and wealth of knowledge and expertise.

We have had "rival" sites open up on the back of someone who has been ticked off by a moderator decision, they have spat the dummy and decided to start their own site and ruin Salon Geek - never happen!

To those who want what we dont offer, well there are alternatives!