Events Group

[naturalnails]

If you are having an upcoming event - some examples may be Axiom Waxing Workshop, The Wax Queen in Spain etc. etc. Please feel free to place it in the new group I have created.

We are trying to keep the board free of advertising but when does information giving and advertising become blurred.

The guidelines for this group need to be quite clear and in line with the Geek Commandments.

If you place details of an event you must ask for PMs or emails rather than posting direct information on the thread - this then will be construed as advertising.

Let's see if it works successfully for all concerned.

http://www.salongeek.com/group.php?groupid=34

 

[Bagpuss]

Just a reminder about the new Group for events...

 

[Tracey Park]

what a great idea fiona. makes sense !!! well done u

 

[Cathie!]

Great idea...I always forget about the groups though as they're kind of buried in the background and not something I think about when I log on.

 

[Nailsinlondon1]

Just bumping this up, so nobody forgets to read this......
You can even make Social Groups your favorite in your browser menu, this way you can go directly to it and see which event is not to be missed by geeks....
To find the events forum, go to your profile link, click it on and choose from the drop down menu Social Groups .....
HTH

 

[Danger Mouse]

I always forget about the groups though as they're kind of buried in the background and not something I think about when I log on.

Hmmm not sure its its a great idea personally for this reason. Does this mean comps will be listed in this section too, as they are events?

 

[naturalnails]

If you all read my last sentence on the above post.

let's see if it works successfully for all concerned

This is a trial to see if it works - if it doesnt then we will look at something else.

We are damned if we do and damned if we dont!

We were trying to have all events in one place rather than spread about on different forums.

If someone is looking for a waxing event, for example - they have to put waxing into the search and then trawl through the pages and pages of threads to find what they want. Is it not easier to come to the events group and find it there?

Or am I missing something, would you all prefer to search pages?

 

[Chameleon]

If you all read my last sentence on the above post.



This is a trial to see if it works - if it doesnt then we will look at something else.

We are damned if we do and damned if we dont!

We were trying to have all events in one place rather than spread about on different forums.

If someone is looking for a waxing event, for example - they have to put waxing into the search and then trawl through the pages and pages of threads to find what they want. Is it not easier to come to the events group and find it there?

Or am I missing something, would you all prefer to search pages?

Er,no i for one do not want to use search pages....it gets the thumbs up from me!

 

[mikem]

If you all read my last sentence on the above post.



This is a trial to see if it works - if it doesnt then we will look at something else.

We are damned if we do and damned if we dont!

We were trying to have all events in one place rather than spread about on different forums.

If someone is looking for a waxing event, for example - they have to put waxing into the search and then trawl through the pages and pages of threads to find what they want. Is it not easier to come to the events group and find it there?

Or am I missing something, would you all prefer to search pages?

... I'm just not sure why you've used the group functionality to do it. As all the users on the forum are comfortable with the operation of the forum functionality, my suggestion would be that a forum called events would be a simpler, easier and better way to do it.

The great thing about forums is open discussion and sharing of ideas and differences of opinion. Groupss and using pms all the time seems to undermine all the benefits of a forum.

I've seen a number of posts and had several PMs from geeks who are afraid to post and the first thread I got involved in was when a load of geeks ganged up on someone.

Maybe it would be worth the moderators canvassing opinion from the users on this. A simple poll on groups vs forum would be quick and effective.

It's great to see moderators working together to make the site easier for users and I have found that when you canvas opinion and offer options you can get a better outcome - you end up being less damned

Regards

Mike

 

[mikem]

Having a look at the forum page and Events Forum would fit well in either Cafe Geek or features.

What do other geeks think ?

Mike

 

[becki x]

Having a look at the forum page and Events Forum would fit well in either Cafe Geek or features.

What do other geeks think ?

Mike

With all due respect this is what i think

This is damn fine forum and comunity,Sam and the mods work tirelessly using their own time and money so that we members have access to such a wonderful site.

The fact that their is now an events group means that if we professionals can't be bothered to move the cursor and check what's going on,are we really that bothered in the first place :?:

Anything new takes a while to get used to and every time Sam updates i'm cursing him,cos i only just figure out my way round and he changes things :lol: we should embrace change and progression in my honest and humble opinion

:hug:

 

[ValencianNails]

The whole idea of using the Events Group isn't to discuss them, but to make members aware of them, no point in having them listed as a discussion forum in that case.
The only difference between listing events as a 'Group' as opposed to on the 'forums' is that the awareness is contained to registered members of the site as opposed to direct marketing that's viewable to the whole of the world wide web (without registering first)... if there's no hidden agenda re advertising then surely there's no problem using the Events Group to promote individual events?

 

[Snugglepuss]

I think the creation of an event group is a fantastic one :green:

It's like having a calendar of upcoming events in one place and can be easily checked out opposed to searching lots of posts IMHO!

This way, the discussion of procedures etc are kept to the forums (which is where they belong again IMHO) and the purpose of the group is notification of an event is just that - for us users to be informed of an upcoming event - all details of what is required would be contained in the thread and therefore the only question that is needed to be responded to is "are you coming or not?":wink2:

That's how I have understood the thread anyway and well done mods for your flexible, inventive thinking and for trying to make our geeking experience even more enjoyable than it already is :green:

 

[mikem]

The whole idea of using the Events Group isn't to discuss them, but to make members aware of them, no point in having them listed as a discussion forum in that case.
The only difference between listing events as a 'Group' as opposed to on the 'forums' is that the awareness is contained to registered members of the site as opposed to direct marketing that's viewable to the whole of the world wide web (without registering first)... if there's no hidden agenda re advertising then surely there's no problem using the Events Group to promote individual events?

I didn't realise that groups were for registered users only , so I can see the sense in that. I don't really understand what point you're trying to make re hidden agendas . Any promotion of events on here would be about raising awareness and interest in the event within this community. Why would someone put an event on the geek with the hope that non-geeks and unregistered users would see it ? The Google webcrawlers have so much stuff to munch that the chances of a non-geek hitting on an event would be very low. that's why a lot of geeks have their own websites.

What I think you lose by using groups is one of the fundamental benefits of a threaded discussion forum - interest generates interest :hug:. It almost parallels natural selection in it's simplicity. Threads that are of interest get responded to, float to the top and generate interest. threads that don't have interest don't. Threaded discussion also gives the community feedback. If you relegate interest to PMs geeks lose out on knowing what others are interested in because it is all hidden in PMs :cry:. You miss out on debate (like this), differences of opinion and discussion:Kissing:.

What big bad and nasty thing happens if like minded people discuss an event ? :Scared: If a geek goes on an event and thinks it's fab, can she now no longer discuss it as really it is the promotion of a potential future event ? Should all geeks be banned from having their websites in their signatures as technically we are all promoting ourselves ?

I'm just a bit concerned that the path we are on will end up where the only discussion that goes on is about big brother 23 or here are pictures of my new puppy as all salon related discussion would be self promotion.

Let's see how it goes.

Mike

 

[mikem]

I think the creation of an event group is a fantastic one :green:

It's like having a calendar of upcoming events in one place and can be easily checked out opposed to searching lots of posts IMHO!

This way, the discussion of procedures etc are kept to the forums (which is where they belong again IMHO) and the purpose of the group is notification of an event is just that - for us users to be informed of an upcoming event - all details of what is required would be contained in the thread and therefore the only question that is needed to be responded to is "are you coming or not?":wink2:

That's how I have understood the thread anyway and well done mods for your flexible, inventive thinking and for trying to make our geeking experience even more enjoyable than it already is :green:

A Calendar of event would be a fab idea. Does the group sort everything in date order then ? I thought it was just a linear list of stuff :-(

 

[angel fingers]

Great idea...I always forget about the groups though as they're kind of buried in the background and not something I think about when I log on.

i'm the same cathie !
also i think sometimes you may not really be looking for an event as such and seeing others discussing them might inspire others to attend an event that they would not have otherwise considered.
actively having to search a group might mean others that dont understand all the functions of the site may miss out too. at least if its in a forum, it comes to notice when you hit the "whats new" button.
training events may be of benefit to the provider, but they are also benefiting our industry , and that is something we are all for.

 

[ValencianNails]

Why would someone put an event on the geek with the hope that non-geeks and unregistered users would see it ? The Google webcrawlers have so much stuff to munch that the chances of a non-geek hitting on an event would be very low. that's why a lot of geeks have their own websites.
This site is constantly crawled by the search bots/spiders, you can see them by viewing the Who's Online pages.

Go to Google (search the web as opposed to UK only) and type in:
waxing training - this site is the 2nd link
waxing workshop - this site is the 2nd link
wax training - this site is the 3rd link
wax workshop - this site is the 6th link
...and that's just using 'wax/waxing', so yes, there is an extremely high % chance of promotional threads being picked up by unregistered users.
Those results will obviously change day on day, but at the time of this thread those were the rankings.

Should all geeks be banned from having their websites in their signatures as technically we are all promoting ourselves ?
Unregistered members can't see our signatures, the same as they can't view the Groups, Blogs and profiles.

hth's explain it a bit more.

 

[mikem]

hth's explain it a bit more.

this is the third time of writing, the previous two have been lost when submitting due to the ********** wireless :evil:

That does explain it better and it's making more sense to me now. Sometimes decisions without the context can seem bizarre, but when you get the background it makes more sense. I'm very much a 'whyer' in that I need to know why to process something.

I'd never thought of using the geek as a method of advertising on the internet. Maybe I'm not as astute as I'd like to think

Has the idea of closing the forum to registered users only been explored and if so what was the thinking and conclusion ? I can see pros and cons and am not sure where the balance point is. Closing access would satisfy the advertising thing, allow the rules to be relaxed and make moderation what it should be - a privilege and a pleasure. I'm sure that sounds attractive :wink2:

Mike

 

[naturalnails]

Although this is slightly going off the topic but I will try and answer your questions re the access to unregistered users. Unregistered users can read the posts on the forums as far as I know but they cannot see certain things, like blogs, profiles and signatures (I didnt know this).

I am unsure as to your meaning behind your last statement about closing access satisfying the advertising thing - are you saying that giving information solely to geeks will not be construed as advertising?

If I can get the thread back on track as to the thought processes behind the Events Group.

We have so many complaints from members about posts mentioning events as being advertising, we will reply along the lines of one is free and the other is not - but there are varying degrees of free in some views. I think that was done to death yesterday.

The Events group was introduced as an Information giver and not a discussion giver - list the event and if people want to ask you a question then they can PM you as their question is for one person.

This was my thought process, rightly or wrongly and it was a trial which we may decide doesnt work. But please lets give it a fair try rather than condemning it before it gets started.

 

[adelekeegan1]

Well put Fiona