So bottom line.... it's their site (Zibbet) and they can pretty much do what they want with their forums and venue...most have pretty much figured that out just like Etsy and eBay can do what they want and make whatever rules they want to apply.
I prefer to keep things simple and feel that too many rules just creates more problems...but that's just me. I mean you take a thing like the Ten Commandments..... something that a lot of people try to live their lives by. Throughout time many changes have occured since those commandments were written down but those basic rules are enough to try and follow. If you mess up and break one....are you shunned or cast out ? Nope.... you learn from your mistakes hopefully and try to be a better person. Most people have a sense of right and wrong and those who are going to cause trouble and cross the line will do that no matter how many rules or regulations are in place.
There is nothing wrong with being positive or being a cup cake. Heck I've been known to fart a few rainbows in my life time :=) .
The fall-out in the Zibbet forums to me had nothing to do with people being too positive..... but instead what seemed to happen is that a few people used the guise of being positive whilst they carried on some very negative snarky comments towards others...and yet would tell themselves.... "Oh they don't like me because I am too positive...or they are picking on me because I am a positive person". And I didn't see it that way at all. The problem was the people who were negative to others they didn't feel were being positive enough and in my opinion they created more negativity by their actions and words. You also had some people who feel it is okay to attack others with their words but cry wolf the minute they think someone might be saying something negative towards them.
The thing is that the majority of people on any selling venue do not hang out in the forums. But they do check out the forums upon first arriving to the venue.... I would think they do at least....and many at this point might even base a decision on whether to stick around or whether or not to ever post anything upon their first impression of the forum. And although I really like the fact that so far Jonathan and Andrew have the time and ability to be very hands on with Zibbeters... it seems that lately every time Andrew makes an announcement in the forums that he alienates more people... and as someone stated "They're damned if they do and damned if they don't."
One thing that does happen on any forum is that often the closed threads and the "muted" ones end up being the most vocal and garnering more attention. The google searches on some closed threads show up way higher in the ranking than the most popular viewed threads that are still running. It can not be an easy job for either of them trying to stay neutral in forum situations and to not take sides----- but to me the site will fare much better if they can find a way to stay out of these situations and to stop adding fuel to the fire.
The thing is... if you look back at places like Etsy and eBay....when they started out and were growing...what made them grow? Basically it was the sellers meeting and forming relationships and buying from one another. If that had not occured neither site would have grown like they did. So at this point... when new people come to Zibbet and list their items and if they are not selling much or haven't sold anything yet.... what is the one thing that would keep them hanging around? Well... the forums for one just might do the trick if they were having fun or just feeling a bit of a connection.
And I would imagine that Andrew probably gets his feelings hurt when people don't agree with him. Being a pastor and all he's probably used to hearing "Amen!" and having total support when he speaks. You would also have to think that they started this venue with the intentions of making $ and selling it someday to an interested venture company. So people are not only looking at the sellers on Zibbet....they are also looking at the owners and the direction the site is headed.
And the good thing about one step forward and two steps back is that you can still go forward. I'm not sure if they will ever see a huge influx of people like the one that happened after that Town Hall meeting.....
but making the site more user friendly and sellers having sales there will surely be the thing that will make more sellers become more active in promoting the venue. Still have fingers crossed and waiting for the rebuild to roll-out.....and in the meantime I am hoping that a happy medium will be found in the fora land there =)
Nicely put.
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