Seeking recommendations on how to improve the FOG.

[Administrator_JSVN]

Brice,

My question was a general question.  We understand that our ownership of the forum can be a sensitive point for some members.  I want members to feel like they can voice their opinions, good or bad, about Festool including its administration of the site.  There is no intention to create bias, prevent negative feedback, use the forum as an marketing channel, or act in a way that is not aligned with the majority of the members.  My intent was just to make sure we are meeting everyone's expectations in that regard.

Thanks.

 

[score0matic]

My question was a general question.  We understand that our ownership of the forum can be a sensitive point for some members.  I want members to feel like they can voice their opinions, good or bad, about Festool including its administration of the site.  There is no intention to create bias, prevent negative feedback, use the forum as an marketing channel, or act in a way that is not aligned with the majority of the members.  My intent was just to make sure we are meeting everyone's expectations in that regard.

Shane
This answer represents a philosophy of stewardship that will show itself to be extremely successful for the Forum.
I was the one who bought up advertising, but my intent was the opposite way that is being discussed.

5  Incorporate  festoolownersgroup.com into your advertising and printed manuals. 
    5.1  What better advertising/referral can you ask for than having your potential/new buyers questions being answered by passionate enthusiasts.
    5.2  Providing super fast and direct feedback on problems, be they equipment or dealer related  through the Festool Problems Area,  can make angry customers  happy to drink the Green Cool-Aid 
    5.3  You would be inviting thousands of other users to come and add new ideas and insights to this forum

My Idea was to promote FOG in your other advertising  not promoting other advertising in the FOG. 
Forums are member driven communities and it would do double service to Festool USA  to enlarge the active users (and lurkers) here.
Craig

 

[sw1211]

Speaking of promoting the FOG, just curious why the FOG isn't listed under Website Resources on the Festool USA web site?

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

Speaking of promoting the FOG, just curious why the FOG isn't listed under Website Resources on the Festool USA web site?

Steve, I've added it.  Thanks.

 

[JeromeM]

Thanks for all of the feedback.

Obviously, we have connections within the industry and could try to offer members exclusive opportunities.  Examples might be a free woodworking plan or discounted magazine subscription.  I know there has been mention about advertising.  If members view that as advertising then we won't consider it.  I view it more as perks for being members.  Any other ideas are welcome.

To make life easy If you set up a forum specifically for offers members exclusives etc and provide an option for members to hide it on an individual basis. Then those who want can have it and those who don't won't see it.

 

[ForumMFG]

One thing I would like to add is that it would be nice if this forum had a feature you can turn on that allows "post titles" to turn blue if you have read it and black if you have not.  I've often thought it would be a nice feature because sometimes there are so many new posts and they are all the same color you can click on posts you have already read.

 

[woodshopdemos]

Shane,
  I have one thing to add: continue to try to get all members to show their address.

 

[justinmcf]

i agree with woodshopdemos.
i think it would be a great idea and not an invasion of privacy if we could ask all members to at least show which state/county and which country they reside in.
btw, woodshopdemos, whats your address?

regards, justin.

 

[sw1211]

btw, woodshopdemos, whats your address?

regards, justin.

check his profile, Hope, RI

 

[peter halle]

I agree about locations.  However I think that they should be viewable when someone posts.  If someone is asking about a tool that doesn't ring a bell I don't think that it is a reasonable expectation to have to go look up a profile to determine where they are, whether it be Antarctica or Mars.

i am all about privacy.  We are international in scope.  It would help.

Peter

 

[score0matic]

Maybe I am missing something
but i didint see anycheck box on the profile section to display your location
and only 2 of the folks who have posted on this thread didnt have it contained in their profiles.
what is it that you want

Shane,
  I have one thing to add: continue to try to get all members to show their address.

Craig

 

[peter halle]

Craig,

If you look at my post and look over to the left you will see where I am located.  For instance, I don't see that for you.  If you were to be asking for a good source for materials, wouldn't it be a lot easier to get an answer if we knew where you were located?

I went and looked at my profile and where I was located was under the location section.  It would be helpful - that's all. 

Peter

CORRECTION:  Mine was entered under the personal text section.  Otherwise it won't show up in a post.

 

[score0matic]

CORRECTION:  Mine was entered under the personal text section.  Otherwise it won't show up in a post.

That was my question,  how do you "Show" your location

Shane,
could you make a check box that when checked would display location (as intered in the profile) in the post under the avatar?

Craig

 

[AlexThePalex]

Shane,
  I have one thing to add: continue to try to get all members to show their address.

Depends on what you mean exactly by 'address'. I'm fine with telling you what country I'm from, and what city. But I'm not going to post my home address ANYWHERE on the net. It's too easy for people with malicious intent to give you problems. If people need my address for something specific like a visit or a mailing, then I will assure myself that I can trust them before I give it out to them via a private channel like a pm or an email.

 

[ForumMFG]

CORRECTION:  Mine was entered under the personal text section.  Otherwise it won't show up in a post.

That was my question,  how do you "Show" your location

Shane,
could you make a check box that when checked would display location (as intered in the profile) in the post under the avatar?

Craig

To add your City and State:
    1.) Click on "Profile" at the top in the menu bar
    2.) Once on the profile screen, click on the "Forum Profile Information" link on the left side menu
    3.)  Then enter your address under "personal text" and hit save

Hope this helps.

Alex,

I don't think Peter was asking for your street address or GPS coordinates but only for your City and State for reference.  I just added mine because I think it will help with some of the responses to my questions.  Thats why I added it.

-Dave

 

[justinmcf]

i would like to clear my point i made earlier.
i am not interested in knowing what house number you live in, nor do i want to know what the name of your street is.
i would like to know which country you reside in, and maybe which state/county you come from.

i am from county tyrone, northern ireland.
i now live in the gold coast, australia.
i certainly dont see this as an invasion of my privacy.

i do have trouble with some addresses i can see on the left side of the screen below a members name.
a few examples would be....Littleton, CO and Powhatan, VA.
i assume the former is the town and the latter is the county, but i am only guessing, i certainly have no idea what CO and VA mean.
sorry, i dont mean to offend anyone, i only want to show my point of view.

maybe the administration needs to make this an easier process when signing up as a new member.

regards, justin.

 

[peter halle]

Justin,

You are correct, even my location would be difficult for someone outside the US to understand.  I have made adjustments.  I assure you that in no way do I advocate giving out detailed personal information on the internet.  In no instances would I even suggest that someone give detailed address information.

I myself try to stay as far under the radar as possible, but in the last few years that has proven to be more difficult.

A city, town, state, or country would help out because different Festool products are available in different countries, different materials are available in different countries, and even words have different meanings in different regions or countries.  We are here to provide help to each other thats all

Hope that this clears up any misunderstandings that my previous posts created.

Peter

 

[ForumMFG]

Justin,

I don't think you offended anyone.  I fully understand what you were tryingh to get at and I like the Idea.

 

[bill-e]

i certainly dont see this as an invasion of my privacy.

Justin, it's not your privacy people are worried about, it is their own and only they can determine what that means to them.  In this age of identify theft many people are worried about the information they make available on the internet and rightly so.

While I'm a proponent of real names and wouldn't mind seeing where someone is from I would never insist on it.  Having a real name  and location requirement might just be providing too much information, though I'm not worried about it myself.  After all if you really wanted to know you could PM the user.

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

I realize, based on requests for location information many times in the past, that this has been something members have been interested in.  I had placed a provision in the member guidelines that we reserve the right to enter a members country only based on their IP address.  My hope was to take care of the need for location information while not infringing on privacy.  Listing only the country would be broad enough that I would suspect members would not feel like their privacy is being compromised.  I should be able to modify the forum's code to show location information beside a member's posts from their profile.  I will add that as time permits.

Of course, I urge members to provide their feedback in the guidelines thread if they are for or against this provision.  Here is the actual verbiage...

Country of Origin
This forum serves an international community of members.  Because products, services, terms and conditions vary from location to location, please provide your country of origin in your profile.  The FOG reserves the right to add the country of origin to your member profile based on your internet IP address.  This will help other members understand whether a post is applicable in their region.