Guys
Welcome to the super big, giganormus, incredibly BIG, Snuson announcement.
We have some really big things in the works for 2014 that have the potential to directly benefit both the site and its members. Thus I want to lay out what is going down, why it has the potential to be such a big deal and how it will look in the day in and day our running of the site.
First the What
As you all know it takes money to keep this site up and running. The future of Snuson depends upon covering the operating cost of the site. Therefore, ownership has decided to sell advertisements to those within the snus industry. This is an ownership decision and a done deal.
Now the why we should be excited.
The opening up of the site to merchant and producer involvement has also allowed us as mods to open up the vision we have for this site moving into the future. We are already the largest and best snus site on the internet with an international membership. We have already been privileged to have producers such as GN and Jimmy involved in the life of our forum. What the new scenario has presented to us is the very real potential to expand this outward. Our goal and vision for Snuson is for it to be THE place where industry leaders come REGULARLY …….. to discuss their products…..announce new releases…….get feedback from members…..alert us to upcoming specials and sales……folks like…… Jimmy from Gotlands.... AND... Roderick from Toque Snuff.... AND... Jaap from Molens Snuff... AND....GN Extreem/Odens…..AND the Vogal brothers from V2 ....AND....David from Mr. Snuff…..AND etc……..Thus snuson becomes the place where the whos who in the snuff/snus world come to meet with their customers under one roof.
What this has the potential to do is to generate traffic to the site. People want to hear from the leaders of the industry not just some smoe from South Carolina. And if they can find those leaders under one roof on a regular basis, the site will generate interest. Those of you here before Pact know all too well that an active site is a lot more fun to be a part of. Not only that, it is our hopes that the future will see special deals for Snuson members, special releases for Snuson members, and the opportunity to tests proposed products and offer feedback. Now all this will take time but we are already off to a good start.
How this will all look
There were two primary challenges set before the mods. The first was that ownership has decided to sell advertisements and therefore needs a site that is a marketable product to those potential advertisers. Simply put Snuson is getting a bath and going to comb its hair.
In reality the changes will not affect 95% of the posts and threads that make up our forum life. My bet is that someone who has been away for a month or so will not notice anything different. But that is in essence the whole issue here. The changes we will make are not for what you see but rather for what tools like Google Web Analysis see. Most of us are aware that the snus industry is fighting an uphill battle to recreate the image of snus. Therefore, it is vital that they carefully manicure that image and the things with which snus is associated. Right now the most hopeful battle ground for snus in the face of Congress and the EU is the battle over public perception. Harm reduction is quickly becoming an issue that law makers will have to confront. Image is everything. Public perception and product association are vital. We cannot be a site that adversely effects that perception.
OK so enough theory. The short of it is this……. cleaning up means no pot, porn, or unmannerly behavior on the site. Industry leaders have told people higher up the snuson food chain than me that they will not associate their product with a site that will adversely affect its image. In light of this Admin and ownership have put together a new Terms of Use (ToU) that reflect these changes. I have provided a copy/link of the new ToU at the bottom of this post. I encourage you all to read them when you get to there.
Which brings us to the second challenge the Mod’s faced:
The second challenge was how to implement these changes and the new ToU while still guarding the openness of our discussions and the personality of our site. After all, we are a Snus forum not a board room. Here the chat box provided the perfect pressure valve. Let me explain.
We have moved the chat box out of the public area (and thus out of view of the bots, guests, and whoever else may be watching). It will be a members only area. In the public area (i.e. the forums) we will ask that our members conduct themselves in a well-mannered, respectful, way. Disagree, speak your mind, cut up, have fun, critique a product or an opposing view. Just do so in a way that is clean, content oriented, and respectful. In the basement (i.e. the chat box) there is a bit more wiggle room.......Thus there will be occasions when a mod will ask member Bob to take his remark to the chat box……or when a critique/disagreement has become a flame out or a rant…….. a mod will ask the member to take it to the chat box or otherwise give us content/specifics....
I can live with that and I believe our members can as well........
Bottom line: we are going to polish up a bit, tuck our shirts in, and comb our hair. We want the world to be watching, listening, and coming to our site to have fun and to spread the word about snus. In return, the future looks very bright for our site and its members.
In the meantime, I and the other mods will be glad to answer any questions you may have.
Team Snuson
Welcome to the super big, giganormus, incredibly BIG, Snuson announcement.
We have some really big things in the works for 2014 that have the potential to directly benefit both the site and its members. Thus I want to lay out what is going down, why it has the potential to be such a big deal and how it will look in the day in and day our running of the site.
First the What
As you all know it takes money to keep this site up and running. The future of Snuson depends upon covering the operating cost of the site. Therefore, ownership has decided to sell advertisements to those within the snus industry. This is an ownership decision and a done deal.
Now the why we should be excited.
The opening up of the site to merchant and producer involvement has also allowed us as mods to open up the vision we have for this site moving into the future. We are already the largest and best snus site on the internet with an international membership. We have already been privileged to have producers such as GN and Jimmy involved in the life of our forum. What the new scenario has presented to us is the very real potential to expand this outward. Our goal and vision for Snuson is for it to be THE place where industry leaders come REGULARLY …….. to discuss their products…..announce new releases…….get feedback from members…..alert us to upcoming specials and sales……folks like…… Jimmy from Gotlands.... AND... Roderick from Toque Snuff.... AND... Jaap from Molens Snuff... AND....GN Extreem/Odens…..AND the Vogal brothers from V2 ....AND....David from Mr. Snuff…..AND etc……..Thus snuson becomes the place where the whos who in the snuff/snus world come to meet with their customers under one roof.
What this has the potential to do is to generate traffic to the site. People want to hear from the leaders of the industry not just some smoe from South Carolina. And if they can find those leaders under one roof on a regular basis, the site will generate interest. Those of you here before Pact know all too well that an active site is a lot more fun to be a part of. Not only that, it is our hopes that the future will see special deals for Snuson members, special releases for Snuson members, and the opportunity to tests proposed products and offer feedback. Now all this will take time but we are already off to a good start.
How this will all look
There were two primary challenges set before the mods. The first was that ownership has decided to sell advertisements and therefore needs a site that is a marketable product to those potential advertisers. Simply put Snuson is getting a bath and going to comb its hair.
In reality the changes will not affect 95% of the posts and threads that make up our forum life. My bet is that someone who has been away for a month or so will not notice anything different. But that is in essence the whole issue here. The changes we will make are not for what you see but rather for what tools like Google Web Analysis see. Most of us are aware that the snus industry is fighting an uphill battle to recreate the image of snus. Therefore, it is vital that they carefully manicure that image and the things with which snus is associated. Right now the most hopeful battle ground for snus in the face of Congress and the EU is the battle over public perception. Harm reduction is quickly becoming an issue that law makers will have to confront. Image is everything. Public perception and product association are vital. We cannot be a site that adversely effects that perception.
OK so enough theory. The short of it is this……. cleaning up means no pot, porn, or unmannerly behavior on the site. Industry leaders have told people higher up the snuson food chain than me that they will not associate their product with a site that will adversely affect its image. In light of this Admin and ownership have put together a new Terms of Use (ToU) that reflect these changes. I have provided a copy/link of the new ToU at the bottom of this post. I encourage you all to read them when you get to there.
Which brings us to the second challenge the Mod’s faced:
The second challenge was how to implement these changes and the new ToU while still guarding the openness of our discussions and the personality of our site. After all, we are a Snus forum not a board room. Here the chat box provided the perfect pressure valve. Let me explain.
We have moved the chat box out of the public area (and thus out of view of the bots, guests, and whoever else may be watching). It will be a members only area. In the public area (i.e. the forums) we will ask that our members conduct themselves in a well-mannered, respectful, way. Disagree, speak your mind, cut up, have fun, critique a product or an opposing view. Just do so in a way that is clean, content oriented, and respectful. In the basement (i.e. the chat box) there is a bit more wiggle room.......Thus there will be occasions when a mod will ask member Bob to take his remark to the chat box……or when a critique/disagreement has become a flame out or a rant…….. a mod will ask the member to take it to the chat box or otherwise give us content/specifics....
I can live with that and I believe our members can as well........
Bottom line: we are going to polish up a bit, tuck our shirts in, and comb our hair. We want the world to be watching, listening, and coming to our site to have fun and to spread the word about snus. In return, the future looks very bright for our site and its members.
In the meantime, I and the other mods will be glad to answer any questions you may have.
Team Snuson
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