blonde poker forum

The Original Idea behind the blonde Forum

 The seed of the idea to start this Forum - my idea - back in late 2004 was that I was uncomfortable with the tone, flaming, rudeness, & general insensitivity, of the un-Moderated Poker forums as they then existed. I felt I wanted, and there was a demand for, a different sort place & that's what I, & then others with me, set out to build.

So it began. "Poker With a Smile" was the theme. As far as I, & my now collegues are concerned, (and we all agree on, & accept joint responsibility, for what follows), the goal, & the maxim, remains the same -

1) A fun place

2) A debating arena for subjects as light or as serious as can be.

3) A Forum which our families & children can peruse if we so desire, without fear of expletives, insensitivity, or plain rudeness. An outdated dream, perhaps, but that's what I wanted.

4) The Forum is designed to be free & independent, anyone can mention or discuss any Poker Site. Clearly, though, we planned & hoped many, or some, of our Members would migrate to our own Cardroom.  It is, after all, the Cardroom which pays for the Forum. Or should.

Where we are now?

Well let’s look at those items 1 to 4.

1) Yes, it's still, in the main, a fun place, the angle of the Forum remains mainly humorous & good-natured. There are of course a small minority who moan & groan about everything we do. This minority are tiresome to those of us who run the place, & contribute little or nothing, to the Community or Finances of blonde. The Members and stakeholders (such as moderators, staff, shareholders, updaters, sponsors/partners)are becoming disaffected by it.

2) It remains a good debating arena, but some Members don't know the difference between debating robustly, & arguing offensively. It is not necessary to be rude, or shout, when debating.

3) Family Forum. It's failed completely in this area. It's become rude, aggressive, & insensitive. Some days, it's just dreadful, & even I can't bring myself to open up the Forum. I'm not alone.

4) Does the Forum help with migration to our Cardroom - which is designed to pay for the Forum that we all use? No, not much. Furthermore it just happens that most of those who cause us the most grief don't currently use the blonde Cardroom at all.

What do we plan to do about it?

1) 95% of the Members understand it's a fun place & a civil place, & their Posts reflect this. Those who don't, who can only moan & groan, & contribute nothing except to lower the tone & spoil the atmosphere, will be reminded that they are not obliged to be Members, & we are not obliged to have them as Members. We owe each other nothing. They can feel free to cease Posting, & we will feel free to remove their Posting rights.

2) This inability to hold a civil debate is perplexing. If I want to have a natter with my neighbour or a debate, I do so, over the garden fence, openly. If I feel he's out of order on the way he conducts himself, I have the convo in private, indoors, not shouting down the street. Right now, the amount of open aggression on the Forum to the way we run blonde is not acceptable. If you don't like how we run the place, fine, either Post about it in a civil manner, or, if rudeness is your chosen weapon, PM us. Plastering it all over the Forum via rude &/or snide remarks helps nobody. The open insults recently to Members & stakeholders who are members just the same are a disgrace, & we will not allow them any more. If you want to insult any of the Members or the Mods Team on the Forum, as it now happening almost daily, often with side of the mouth smartarse comments, you will not be around for long because we will remove your Posting rights. We don't need to give further warning, or notice, this Post is the warning. Nobody has to be a Member of blonde, & blonde does not have to accept anyone. In the last 48 hours alone, I've counted a dozen gratuitiously offensive remarks to Members & stakeholders.  I remind you that in amongst those stakeholders the mods are voluntary. It has to stop. Now. On that note Mods are held to higher standard than other members, fairly by the other Mods, but sometimes unfairly by other members. They still have the same right of reply as other members, but usually refrain to keep the peace, this does not give anyone the right to use the clichéd "unsuitable behaviour from a Mod" if they do exercise their right to reply.

3) Family Forum? Right now, it's not. It's slid a long way down a slippery slope. You may not wish it to be a Family Forum, but we do. We have winced with embarrassment at the insensitivity of some recent Post, & threads. We plan to do whatever it takes to restore those values. It's almost predictable that we'll be challenged, hard, on this, & guessing by whom won't be difficult. Bans will follow, sadly, & there will be collateral fallout, & martyrs, from friends & allies of those Banned. A shame, a great shame, but too bad. We'll probably lose a good few Members. So be it. That's the price we have to pay. We pay for this Forum, we know what we want it to be, & we intend to go that route, even if it means significant downsizing. The storm will rage for a few weeks, but it will pass, nobody will die, & life in blonde will return to normal, albeit in better spirit & heart. And minus x% of the Members.

4) The Cardroom. If those who cause this grief were currently major blonde rakers, it'd be a right headache, especially for Tighty & Kev, who have the responsibility to make the Cardroom pay for the Site. Rich also has to monetise blonde - it costs a six-figure sum per annum to run it, & that money has to come from somewhere. So that would be a right dilemma. But It's a price we are prepared to pay though. Fortunately, the trouble does not come from current blonde rakers, so we won't miss them, financially or otherwise. Those who do not contribute positively to the community, or the finances, seem to think they have the right to say what they want, & how they want. They don't.

So, in summary.......

OK, there's the problem, the reason, & the solution.

Now we shall implement the solution, immediately. Bans, if needed, will be 7 days, 1 month, 3 months, 12 months, or permanent, as we see fit.

I can see some of you bristling with anger & rage about all this. We ain't too happy, either.

But we could, all of us, draw a line under the history, the bad blood, the sniping, the rudeness & insensitivity, & agree to a fresh start, & do a bygones is bygones thing. We are prepared to, & I hope you all are, too.

All you have to do is, before you Post, think carefully about those 4 points.....

Thank you to everyone who has supported blonde, & to the stakeholders who have had a torrid few months.

If you feel some or all of this concerns you then please think before you post. It is not the start of a witch-hunt, just a warning that things need to change to keep this the place we like to post on. We're not going to get in a nitpicking argument about acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.

To those who move on, enjoy yourselves, wherever you go. We'd prefer you all to stay, the loss of any Member saddens us, but please, just respect our values, & we can move on, together.

Enjoy.

good post tk, we can all say that we have taken a small part in the downward spiral of blonde, but I for one love the site and the idea of poker with a smile is a great place to get back to.

Nice post TK, now dont ban me pls.

Well update the Greyhound thread then.

Seeing them Friday, will update especially for you then mate! :)

You could have just PM'ed me this Tikay!

Don't forget the pics, too. Especially the bitch.

By the way, how's 'Ling?

PS, isn't this technically blackmale?!

Yup.

rotflmfao


How some words jog your memory of other things eh?

Cool, just wanted to make that clear!

I know not of what you speak.

Oh, ok... Must just be me who thinks of Ling when they hear the word bitch then...

That's the plan!

man do i have to fix everyones spelling today

I wouldn't expect to see "Get a Harder Erection in Minutes - Guaranteed" type ads on a "Family Friendly" forum!

Ban him, NOW.

I would if i were mod.

I was rather interested in the advert, as it happens. Harder? Medium-ur would be  result.

There'll probably be one advertising a semi soon...

I agree with much of what you say TK.  I think the issue is some folk don't get humour and don't realise a piss take and this in turn sets some people off, my only concern is over the "family forum" I think we have to remember that the game this forum is based around is a grown ups game and instigates grown up chat.

I say ban the boy band its all their fault. :)  Oh and Boldie for being German.

That's extremely valid. We all have differing senses, types, & degrees of humour.

And there are some who just don't have one - or one that we "get".

It's quite an interesting problem, that.

Dont take any before you get on the plane

QFT..we can't have our bread buttered on both sides.

I agree.

I don't post on Blonde much, though i read most days.

I have lots of blonde friends and i get far more from blonde than they get from me. I decided to post a message of agreement/support to Tony and the Blonde staff generally, but if i'm honest i can't quite find the words i want to say. So maybe just a plain Thank you will suffice and i hope this stance gets the result we all want (well who doesn't?).

Thank you,

Matt Tyler

+1....eloquently put

Just read through your Blondepedia profile sir, this post justifies all that Snoopy wrote for it.

 ;hattip;

Geo

fair point Mr K

cmon all group hug now and lets avoid a summer of discontent.

I felt I would my own blonde story to perhaps lift the sense of gloom and despondancy from the original post.

I first heard of blonde when I played in the side event of the Waterford Open in November 2007, I read all the updates on the site and regged and posted some replies. I also headed back over for the updates of the team event in Waterford in Feburary and again for the Irish Open. During the Waterford events I chatted with a few blondes and had some laughs, so while I was looking at the updates for the IO, I started browsing around the other forums. I stumbled across some of the 'In the Well' threads and also the Wednesday night tournaments with the extra blonde value run by Colchester Kev. I liked the general attitude of fun and by and large people who are v knowledgeable in the game.

Anyway I decided to make deposit of €100 onto blonde, played the Wednesday night tournament, and had good laugh with the banter etc in the thread, played another few and won a t-shirt on my 3rd attempt. Around this time I checked out the loyalty scheme and decided not to cash out the (decent enough) roll I had built on Blondepoker. Blondepoker is now my main client by a distance for playing on ipoker. True I dont post on the forum all that much, due to time constraints, but anytime I check it out I always find threads I enjoy.

Sorry if that post sounds a little braggy, its not meant to. Its just meant to let you know that some of your aims are being met.

KUGTW

Kev

+2

Hi there, Kev (Kev Kehoe for those who are interested). Thanks for that post, I'm sure Kev and everyone at blonde appreciates your support. Even playing the odd cash game here and there can make a massive difference to the company's stability. It's a highly competitive market out there, so we need all the help we can get.

When are we going to see you on the live scene again?

Well Kev and the guys run a good ship, previously when I had login details Kev went and sorted for me via PM.

Will be back on the big game live scene in Oct for the 250,000K guarenteed event in Killarney - wearing my personalised blonde shirt (assuming its arrived by then! :P))

Have actually looked into trying to make it across the water to a blonde bash, but with a new mortgage, foreign poker trips are off the agenda for the time being, but sometime soon! Dice will be with me (thanks to Laxie)

Good post Tony and some good responses (especially Matt's).

Can I just check something though (apologies if I'm asking stupid questions or being a bit thick) but is it just cash games on Blonde that help pay towards the forum?

Only I play quite a bit on the Blonde cardroom but mainly MTT's and STT's (very rarely cash as I'm no good at it, probably my main leak is cash so tend to only play very rarely and mainly just for fun if there's a lot of people on the table who I know).

Does playing MTT's etc. benefit the forum at all or is it really just the rake on cash games that pays?

I ask because I do enjoy the forum and would try to change my playing habits if it would be advantageous to the forum for me so to do.

Tourneys help as well. In a $10+$1 tournament, the $1 goes to Blonde (minus various deductions along the way).

All rake will count, mtt players don't produce that much rake compared to cash players and high volume stt players prob produce the most, sigh.

Oh right thanks Mr T and Longy, I thought that was the case but wanted to check.

Phew I am glad as really are poor at cash but not bad at STT's for some reason.

I have probably missed a lot of threads as hadn't picked up on the trend of the forum getting worse, or is it just a case of having enough of troublemakers and time wasters? As some of you know I am a mod elsewhere and hadn't appreciated up to now the stuff mods have to deal with. I find it odd that there are people out there that thrive on making troll like posts on forums and really can't get my head round why they waste their time and ours, but ever it is a funny old world.

My only other point on this thread is that the message is great if everyone reads it. Is it worth sending a pm to all Blondes to show a link to this thread? (or at least all of those that are on the verge of bans?)  

AFAIK we are the only forum not to delete it, so far.


When I read the post above, yesterday (from the facebook thread) it struck me there was still a significant difference between BP and most other forums.

I support your desire to improve Mr K, but I think where you are now isn't so bad.

Many other considerations, like the live updates which we all seem to enjoy so much cannot be cheap and even with help from Willies I would expect still cost a fair bit.

I believe also that any added value on comps is paid by all skins on ipoker who run said comp. I'm sure that on occassion blonde may well have had to foot part of a bill which has been split between the skins for comps not reaching quota.

Without meaning to be too nosey, may I ask if this has been the case and if so, how costly can they be?

Geo

Yes it is the case, costs vary, but to a small card room like ours, they sting !

Yes, we're still a long way from tikay's chair lift though. Slowly but surely.

Hopefully the Blonde forum will continue for many years to come but I'm just a bit concerned about the family friendly idea and whether that means the end of norkage pics as we know them, this would be an awful mistake, I know for a FACT that Jeeves visited that Spearmint place in LV after seeing some of the T6 norkage and just think we wouldn't have had his wonderful diary if it wasn't for the Blonde forum.
Long live Blonde and if trouble makers have to be ejected so be it like Grandad TJ said the original goal posts were for a friendly atmosphere and that shouldn't have to change.

Mate, Norkage is a part of blonde ... snoopy doesnt do much, but Dana knows how to please the masses with a camera.  and I will always do my bit if I am at a venue ... NORKAGE STAYS ;)

Music to my ears.....Kev is da man..............
 ;kneelsucker;

FYP

Very good post Matt.

And Geo, Matt is every word of his blondepedia write up, and more. He is a top top guy and one of my favourite people I look forward to seeing when I play a comp away from home. Having him on your table (like I did at DTD), is a pleasure. Even if he did take my remaining chips - fish.

I met him last year in Drogheda, sharing a table again, and we both recognised each other through Blonde screen names than our own names!! Thats how big Blonde is, and how great it is.

I hope you do whatever is needed TK & Gang, to keep this ship sailing smoothly. Even if that does mean banning me :)







(pls dont ban me)

hi would like just to add my little bit dont post very often but read the forum most days and would say this place is one of the main reasons got so into poker and has helped me imrove my game a lot. friendly and welcoming with any questions that need be answered on a variety of subjects. long may the forum run and improve

I feel a bit guilty about not playing more on blonde. Sure, I play all the promo jobbies and the Wednesday Donkathon for the craic, but I would love to make it my main site. I only play one MTT a day so I'm not gonna make you a fortune but I'd like blonde to benefit from my pastime, as much as my leisuretime benefits from blonde.

Fact is though, I just can't bring myself NOT to play the Boss €22 Deepstack each evening. If iPoker had a similarly structured tourney (5000 chips, all levels, 12-30 minutes level times and antes) I would happily migrate - perhaps they have but I've not spotted one.

Also, please can we have a weekly, seasonal league - nothing I enjoy more than pitting my fishy wits against people I know (both actually and virtually).

Kev maybe you could arrange a Blonde norkage calendar to raise funds

Thats possibly the best idea ever, ever, ever

Old McTikay has a Forum,
Eee  II eee III oooo
and on that Forum there were some TW4Ts
Eee III eeee iiii ooooo

and he banned a twat here, banned a twat there
here a twat, there a twat

Everywhere a banned twat

old McTikay banned the twats

EEE iii EEEE IIII OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO







Please dont ban me, but I couldnt resist

LOL that just about sums up my feelings some days!

+1

I love this forum, and the group of people that are members of it. Even though I've only met some of them once or twice I can honestly say I almost see them as family (Very distant ugly cousins before you think I've gone all soppy ;) ) and my door, literally, would always be open to them.

Sure the occasional hiccup will occur where people argue a bit and someone oversteps the mark, as I have done on 1 occasion (that I remember), but that's what will happen sometimes when people feel passionate about certain things..Things can get a bit out of hand, in the end you make up and it's all good (At least that's my feeling on that sort of thing). For me it's not so much "We need to ban people if they can't have a civilised arguement" but more "People should realise when they've gone too far, apologise and get on with it and try to be a bit more sensitive next time".

As far as playing on Blonde is concerned..I do my best, I will probably never be one of Blonde's highest rakers as I simply don't have the cash to be..I'd like to think that if I did manage to win the lottery I'd use Blonde as my main poker playing site butthat's about as far as that goes.

Blonde not being around would be a massive loss to me because of the good group of people that are members here and also because I would need to find another forum where I can spend all day posting while I should be working.

In short,  Boldie would be bored at work without blonde

Holster those weapons boys!

I think Blonde is such a great community, with a really good mix of pro's and beginners. A lot of people on here have quite a dry sense of humour though, which suits me but does seem to rile up others.

I play all my cash on the Blonde site now, though I only play small stakes so don't contribute much.

If I have ever offended anyone on here then I apologise, though to the best of my knowledge I haven't.

Long may Blonde continue and prosper.

Never ever think like that ... the fact you play on blonde at all is much appreciated ... if we had more like you, I would be happy.

Thanks to you, and everyone else who does their bit.

Never mind all that - when does the banning start?

Having read the replies to date I've noticed 2 things.

1 - the mods get too distracted by the troublemakers which is to be expected. There's a far higher proportion of nice people & I'm feeling a lot better about things after reading the replies.

2 - We forget about the lurkers, some of whom have been brave enough to front up & say their piece (and we hope they decide to stay out of cover and post more).

Thanks folks, the mods lounge has been like a bad comprehensive's staff room lately, because we'd lost a bit of focus on the people that make this forum fun. The responses to this have reminded me at least of why I'm part of this board, even boldie, rookie and that muppet Billy ;)

FMP (Fixed My Post)

Rod's a MOD!!

FFS WHAT WERE YOU THINKING !!!!!

I believe that was just to keep an eye on you Billy :)

Being a part of this forum makes my day ( in the most part) that bit better and bit happier than it could be, so for that I thank everyone.. as for playing on Blonde.. surely we just need to advertise Kev plays on it and it'd be flooded??

That too, and I made a profit ;)

Sigh.... i must be blind....


When are you in next Tikay?  ;nemesis;  ;bumwiggle; -

QFT - Finally got got this text spk licked.

With a special  ;topman; and "mwah" to Matt for his post

great post tk, i wish everyone had the blonde attitude the world would be a lot better place, there are so many people who post on here i look forward to reading,the latest jeeves thread had me in stitches everyday and hope you reconsider giving the poor lad the sack, but its the friendly atmosphere that makes  blonde so special for me, thanks

i blame boldie and llevan

Im not so sure its so bad now.

Maybe because im one of the culprits? dunno rly. I wish people well and stuff and have made a lot of friends through Blonde.

I enjoy the comedy side of blonde quite a lot & wouldnt like to see tht dissapear. I guess when people overstep the mark, they will just have to be dealt with as Tikay says.

A family forum does not need erection adverts other then that load of nonsense the forum rocks

I dunno, We want to add to our family, and things have been a bit "soft" lately. Yet again blonde provides where god fails.

lol, 5000th post? delivered.

arrgh what a waste of a 5000 post, ohh well its only a number, nothing to get hard about

I play on blonde. Be nice to win on blonde, though. :P

Probably the best 5k post I have ever read.

a limp argument i think, to me a family forum means nothing which will corrupt or embarrass, herbal remedies ,lol hardly a walk on the wild side

Why Blonde is a Family Forum for Me.

To say that my other half introduced me to Blonde, would be a massive understatement, Boldie and Blonde are an item and I knew that marrying into the Boldie family also meant marrying into Blonde.

On our first date, the chat was all about international economics and that really did worry me, so when, on subsequent dates, the conversation turned to poker and of course Blonde, this seemed far more acceptable and as the weeks and months went by I became intrigued….

Only a few months after we married, I was introduced to my first Blonde bash.  At that stage, although still intrigued, I had read very little of the forum and was, I don’t mind admitting, terrified at the prospect of meeting the family!  However, not only did I thoroughly enjoy the weekend, I really began to understand the reasons behind the obsession.  I met a lot of kind, friendly and fun people and from that day on have been reading, occasionally posting and even more occasionally playing on Blonde.

These days, you will quite often find us at either end of the dining room table of an evening both logged into Blonde, happy as Larry.

I never thought I would hear myself say that I would accept a Blonde/Blondes along with my husband into a marriage, but I have and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Tikay, I hope that your post inspires others to think of the positive effects the forum has on their lives as it did for me – perhaps that will make a small difference and dispel some negativity.

Wendy

She's an eloquent one, my wifey :)

I didn't think the forums were in such turmoil and would not have guessed that the mods were on Prozac due to the pressures that come along with looking after these small dwellings :(

I do believe however Blonde and in particular the mods seem to be very eager to be transparent in all their decisions and try and please everyone. It's sometimes best just to do something and not have to explain it in simple terms to the troublemakers that complain at every minor alteration and change. We must trust those who have put in the time and efforts behind blonde and not give them a hard time.

Carlsberg don't do poker forums.... but if they did

+1

I know i'm a newbie but this forum is by far the best.

I've been a member of a lot of forums and the general tone of this one is far far better than anything else out there imho.

So much so that i'll now be playing all my STT's and MTT's at blonde poker.

Yes, playing the forum challenge at the Virgin festival made a lot of us appreciate the fact we'd made a correct choice somewhere along the line in being here.

I've never had an urge to play live poker either until i joined here but am looking forwards to joining a blonde bash,playing some rubbish poker and having a laugh.

Who knows i may even offer some extra value at one of these Luton tourneys that i often read about on here.

That's just me and Kin mate..the rest of them actually try their pretty little socks off :)

Look forward to seeing you at Luton in september.

rotflmfao

Such a smooth talker is boldie.  

To be fair that'd be better than his normal patter ;)

I bet he was playing FTSE under the table.

Without a Guardian either!

It's all about getting the girl to have low expectations at the start...anything after that is an improvement and makes you look good, you see? :)

Luton September?

I feel i'm missing something?

Blonde Bash 7, September 20th (that weekend) :)

Thanks how do i go about putting me name down?

Not yet, look out for a thread early August

There will be a new thread created (beginning of August I believe Tighty said)..it's the one that will go to 10 pages within minutes of creation (and not just because me and Kin go nuts immediately....though we try to help :) ) you stick your name in there and you're good to go :)

If it'll be the first time you'll play live it will ruin all other live games that will follow for you.

Thanks guys.

one last hijack!

will i ba able to get hold of some blonde attire for the occasion?

It's like golddust. Only rarer, more valuable and more exclsuive. Ask a member called boltpp

Ty sir

as the latter could lead to the former,  the banner could be seen as a public service advert  ;)

anyhoo, there are much worse forums out there for flaming etc (just look at betfair, any sport!). blonde is still a very good place to visit!

I don't post ever! but i am a very long time lurker ( since the tanks 1st sit and go thread) i read other forums pocketfives mainly, but i have to say that this seems the most friendly and least aggressive of any forum i have read the Muppet per member ratio seems considerably lower here than anywhere else, i log in for a poker related read most days and it helps me while away many a lunch hour so for 4 days and 10 minutes of time logged in (and probably the same again when not logged in) i thank you all.

I know Blonde is more of a family forum than say 2+2 or Pocketfives, but the Blonde Logo hardly screams 'family forum'  ;D

Seriously the harder erection adverts really must go if this thread is to make any sense.

+1

Got to agree with this.

I have the forum up on my PC at work and it's been made a little bit awkward with this add popping it's ugly head up all the time.

It just doesn't look good.

Is it just a wind up to see who clicks it so that you can have a laugh?

I don't know how much they pay to put this on here but if it's not an absolute fortune then it needs to go.

+ a lot more than 1

because a lot of people have brought it up.

lol, nothing to do with looking at poker forums in work then, just the banners!

I duno, the 2nd guy looks like Michael Owen.

what really tilts me is you have to pay £2.50 p&p to get your free sample of erection stuff

 rotflmfao, world line.

Yeah - who'd have thought you'd get screwed by an erection advert.

anyone seen the magazine ads for Swank Poker?  Don't think we'll be seeing their banners any time soon :D

no but I just signed up for their email updates

:)  should point out even though website not up and running yet, what is there is NSFW!

anyway, avatars on the site are naked women, and there is a tag line along the lines of 'get your woman to play how you tell her' ::)

No but google just became my friend lol.


As for the ads at the top of the forum, Tighty does Blonde earn anything per click or do purchases have to be made for Blonde to earn some money?

Do they do rakeback  ;whistle;

Is rakeback better than loyalty payments lol
 ;boldie;

I tried to make a deposit but they insisted I withdraw instead.

dunno but mind your keyboard when you make a deposit

edit: damn that andrewt!

Woman says AndrewT is far too quick ldo.

To everyone who has PM'd me with questions regarding the card room, I am working through them and will get back to you later this evening...

I didnt expect quite so many, but thanks and I will answer them all.

just got in

I'd better clarify the advertising points as there are questions

Very occasionally the ad deals are negotiated direct with the advertiser, but a while ago I recognised I needed expert help to assist blonde in making the most of its fast growing traffic, and in the last six months we've come to a couple of arrangements with two media suppliers

The need to do this became clear earlier this year. Our card-room was beginning to struggle, it wasn't acheiving the revenue for us that was needed to a) pay staff...(and none, absolutely none, of the staff earn what I would describe as "fair" rates for the job they do..for all of them to some extent its a labour of love) and b) cover the costs of the forum, doing live updates, promoting the company, putting bashes on, adding value to card-room leagues etc . The reasons for this struggle are referred to elsewhere but over and above anything else I suppose competition in the marketplace for big rakers became even more intense than before, and the top end of our rakers disappeared elsewhere as we couldn't match what they were being offered..

I mananged to get some sponsorships and board tenancies in Jan and Feb, but it didn't do everything we needed money wise

So the next step, and it was one taken a bit reluctantly, was to monetise the traffic on the forum

With specific regard to the ads, we're paid (our will be when we fulfill the deals, often they are post-paid) on a Cost Per Impression basis....ie at £x per 1,000 impressions. If you have a forum with for the sake of illustration only 1m impressions a month at £5CPM then that's worth £5000 and this might be over typically a number of months. Don't take this as a figure we're earning per advertiser, its less..its an illustration

So to answer one question, you don't need to do an "action" by ordering a product for us to get paid (you would do if it were payment on CPA, Cost per action). An impression on the forum page is enough. What does help though is the ratio of clicks to impressions on an ad...if we have a good % of click throughs then we are more likely to a) get renewals and b) charge higher rates. Unique users are important too. A characteristic we have (I call it the Boldie effect) is that we have some users that impress a lot, but the more uniques we have the better as some deals are on frequency cap..ie only your first few impressions in a given period count for the deal, and thus rewards higher numbers of uniques compared to comparatively few people who look at a lot of pages.

One media seller handles our business for gambling related advertisning and another handles our business for non-gambling advertisers.

Specifically for the latter we have a rate card, and the supplier a list of customers prepared to pay that rate and the agency chooses from that "pool". The fact that there are currently "Erection Product" ads in their two slots is not a conscious decision of mine, or anyone at blonde its from the "pool" of advertisers.

I'm a bit embarrased by it, not because of the subject matter as such but because I don't think, as a number of people have pointed out, that it sits too comfortably with our community ethos. Indeed I've asked my contact if ads of a suitable value from another advertier could be used instead.

On a wider issue, blonde isn't rolling in money. Far from it. At the moment our costs are way higher than our non advertising income and the ads are a means to an end. In an ideal world we wouldn't promote third parties, and we'd have a card-room that made us self sufficient. It doesn't, despite an awful lot of hard work to help it happen. We could reduce costs, whether that be people, bashes, live updates, whatever. I'd like to avoid that because I believe all areas of blonde have a good future, and potential.

I'm acutely conscious that commerciality doesn't always fit with a community. Its a tricky balance to strike especially when I have shareholders who need a fair return on their investment. If they don't get that then logically I'm not here, and someone else will have a go. Or the shareholders decide that the company needs to go in a different direction.

hope that helps

Pele has erection problems - don't see what the problem with the ad is myself.

me neither tbh - it's not in any way explicit.  better than some of the ads we've had in the past as far as 'family friendliness' goes imho

So, essentially, what Tightend is saying is that it's all Boldie's fault.

That makes a lot of sense.

I mean far be it for me to say this but is it really fair that we keep blaming the German....maybe it is time to move a little way forwards

they started it........

Lets cut through the crap for a moment, What fella here does not enjoy achieving a good stiffy and further more what woman does not enjoy a large stiff one.

Now blonde may have a few floppy fellas here in need of some assistance in the tent pitching department.

Live and let live I say, If you need to remedy that new nickname of "Mr Softie" get the harder medicine i say.

Everyone enjoy a stiffy I say

+1

yeah but he makes up for it all with ball control.

Apologies - couldn't resist!!

ban!

One goose-step at a time :)

yes it is 100% fair everything,  that goes wrong is all Boldies fault even when it rains=Boldies fault, every family must have 1 member that they can always blame  ;)

Typical, pick on the little German fella...it's been that way throughout history!

always 1 runt in every litter

dam didnt spell check my last post..

 rotflmfao

Fair comment on all of the above, and whilst I whole heartedly agree with with the sentiments in this and Tikay's initial post on this thread, I just think its ironic that this thread has started with the advert in question on the site.

It isnt an offensive ad, its hardly porn related or anything but it aint an advert I would expect to see on a 100% "family" site either.

I dont have an issue with the ad, and having read your post I completely understand the financial predicament.

Maybe the timing of Tikay's post could have been better, thats all.

All we ever hear is cardroom struggling, cardroom suffering, we need more of you to play there, we need rakers etc. etc. etc,
If HAS to be making money or it would be gone, FACT.
Ok, no probs ask folks to help, less of the guilt trips though eh?
The cardroom problem is the network, it was crap before blonde joined and it now it's worse (not related i don't think) so you were never going to set the world on fire.
This of course without the handicap of advertising every other cardroom and their better promotions!
I hate the ads and i'll moan about them, same as every extra board because they all move away from the original ethos, yes they are a necessary evil but they are horrible.

We all complain dear, it's because we care.

(http://coolaggregator.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/attention-whore3.jpg)

LOL! I am so stealing that for my facebook profile pic.

We have been obliged to remove a number of Posts from this thread, following a serious "flame" of one Member by another, & the subsequent exchanges.

Subsequent action will be decided later today, until then, that Members Posting Rights have been withdrawn.

As I said earlier, promoting partners sites came after we'd had a real run at being self sufficient

the choice was stark, cut costs (not easy for several reasons eg no updates?) or get more income. Advertising, sponsorship and promotion was the best route to do that given the well documented network problems you refer to and the absence of any funding to compete on high rakers incentives.

blonde isn't a charity, it has to make a net profit after costs...to survive first and foremost and satisfy shareholders second. All the time with an eye on its maina sset, the community of members.

to be fair, with a body like that she's got every right to be.  Wow - almost enough to make me turn :)

True, and most of us are glad she is!

Damn..missed all the fun again. Tell us more :-)

Just a thought but have you considered a bad beat thread where instead of donating a virtual 50p you have to click on a link to donate before you post?

Win win all round  :)up

I miss tribeca.....i think we all do....don,t worry im sleeptyping.

Playtech/ipoker must be bad if folks are getting nostalgic for Tribeca :)

Testing, testing...1.....2.

PMSL


The long winter nights must just fly by in your house boldie.

 rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao

ditto

Missed it all :(

"phew"

Just a point with regards to the shortage of money - was there really a need to cover the WSOP? I mean, it was availiable on the net anyway, and before it was posted on blonde in most instances.

What exactly did this "trip" cost Blonde?  - Do you really think Blonde benefit from this sort of update because I dont.

Same goes for the EPT - the ones that are abroad.

This would be the first thing I would cut to save revenue.

Maybe you should balance the "we are not making enough money, please play at our cardroom" posts , with "Do you want us to spend £xxxx's to cover xxxxx event? or do you think the money could be spent more wisely"

Also, where is "blonde" company registered please?

Did Blonde cover the WSOP?

*Edit I'm not being clever here..but there was one thread about the WSOP2008 and that was mainly chip counts and all that. I thought everybody out there was there on account of already working for somebody else, no?

No. I thought most of the blonde people there were working for pokernews and sky? just snoops letting us know the winners?

indeed...(sorry mate eddited my above post while you posted this)

Blonde didn't cover the WSOP. Snoopy and I were working for other sites, he was still doing his blonde stuff on top of everything else whilst I occasionally chipped in. Last year's WSOP coverage had some of the biggest hits of 2007, but Tikay, Tighty and myself were all agreed that because of the restrictions in place (1 post an hour, poor access, photos to be deleted with 72 hours) that we would not be able to provide the updates to a standard that people are use to.

For a site that prides itself on it's update quality, and blonde is very highly thought of in the poker media world and in online poker in that regard, you cannot be perceived as having that if you don't cover the big events. Secondly, our sponsorship deal with William Hill requires us to cover the EPT's. I can accept that some people aren't particularly enamoured with EPT's, but we also receive good traffic for these from sources that generally wouldn't have found blonde, it's just that at the moment they haven't necessarily been converted into cardroom signups.

P.S

Why are you trying to lose me my job? ;)

Thanks for all the comments & feedback.

I shall reply as appropiate, hopefully, later today. Please bear with us unil then.

Paul

Chris has covered the WSOP and EPT points.....


blonde is registered in the UK, the card-room is licensed in Curacao.


On a general note we (I) think long and hard about costs, and the value for money of particular costs with regard to revenue, traffic etc

Not wanting to particularly re-open a debate we've had before, but I think we'd be a less comprehensive site, with less traffic, if we didn't do all the updates we do.

Albeit of course I could ask all the updaters not to go 5 star, or take limosines, not use Platinum Amex cards and not to expense the hookers.

(Joke!)

Wasnt aware about the situation re WSOP - ty

Nor indeed about the EPT situation - ty again.

I'm going to Curacao this Autumn.  Just thought I'd share that with everyone...

Is that near blackpool?

I hate you....just thought I'd share that with everyone. Really mate, I'm stuck in freezing Bathgate doing my shitty work and you're telling me you're going to Curacao? Ban him someone, please!


Before you're banned though, you going on holiday, playing poker or smuggling drugs?

TY, what is the registered companys' name?

You thinking of buying shares?

I'm there tomorrow.  

Here's where Curacao is for those who are interested who didn't already know:

(http://www.aruba-travelguide.com/map/photos/caribbean_map.gif)

Wonder why they chose to license the card room there?

;carlocitrone;


Boldie - holiday.  A friend (yes, I have one) lives over there.  He has a nice house with a pool, etc.    You've only just come back from Cuba - so what's your problem anyway?

blonde Poker Web Limited.

Please don't tear the accounts apart. They took long enough to make up.

I thought it was a drink  :dontask:

I came back from Cuba..nice sunny, relaxed...to Scotland, raining and not soo relaxed...Just jealous mate...I need another holiday :)

Hope you can swim kinboshi.

Wouldn't fancy landing a plane on that!

I'm wondering where the 'Domican Republic' is.

its a suburb of the Vatican

lol

wow!

internet down for a couple of days and i miss all the fun lol.

just read through the whole thread (though gutted i missed the deleted posts), very interesting reading.

as someone who is considered by many to be in the "twat","stirrer","troublemaker" department of blonde posters i will post my twopenneth's worth at some point soon after i have digested all that has gone before me.

It's written on the map FFS!

::)

30/06/07 accounts a little overdue :(

That was a message just for you Paul!

its in hand, thanks. I do a good chase!

Get cracking that whip Richard! ;)

I've been there Kin,

Won a Sat for £40 ( i think, not much more anyway) that's where I met Lucky Scrote, he dominated all the games. I said then he would continue in poker success. I wasn't too keen on the place mind but for nowt it was good.

FYP  ;)

Whoa! None of that, please, smiley or not!

I'd like to spend a little time replying to some of the comments, make an apology or two, & explain a few things.

Before I do, can I just remind everyone of this part of my initial Post;

But we could, all of us, draw a line under the history, the bad blood, the sniping, the rudeness & insensitivity, & agree to a fresh start, & do a bygones is bygones thing. We are prepared to, & I hope you all are, too.

All you have to do is, before you Post, think carefully about those 4 points.....

If you feel some or all of this concerns you then please think before you post. It is not the start of a witch-hunt, just a warning that things need to change to keep this the place we like to post on. We're not going to get in a nitpicking argument about acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.

To those who move on, enjoy yourselves, wherever you go. We'd prefer you all to stay, the loss of any Member saddens us, but please, just respect our values, & we can move on, together.

I'm a noobie here.

I used to look in at this place when TK started going on, and on, and on about it during his various tv appearances.

As long as blonde doesn't pay for all his tv makeup, I don't see where all the money can be going.

Sorry, back to topic.

I've actually signed up on recommendation, and I think I'll get on well here.

Everywhere on the net has it's dweebs and twonks ( you've just got one more than you used to ffs ).   But I've always though that most serious arguments are between people that 'see' each other frequently, so they get that feeling of knowing everyone on the forum, but are then annoyed when not everyone has the views they are expected to have.

It's a case of live and let live.  I have some ( many ) views that I know if I ram down the throats of you you lot, some of you would jump up and down on me until my poor old bones turn to dust.

So I tend to limit what I say.

And when someone posts something I don't like, I believe in taking a deep breath, and reading through an answer before I hit the post button.  If it's something I wouldn't say to someone face to face in a pub, I delete it and start again.

Sometimes the simple fact of typing it gets rid of my anger, so I don't feel the need to post anyway.  I mean, if everyone agreed with me, it'd be a pretty dull place to hang out ( very dull many would say ).

Sorry for an early post to be a ramble.  Nowt wrong with disagreeing, but is there a need to incite ? 

Anyway, back to the money side of things.

Chelsea have Abramovic, Blonde have Tikay.  If Chelsea sell Lampard they can afford new talent.  Who have blonde got that they could transfer for a vastly inflated sum ?

And anyway, if Tikay sells one of his oilwells, surely theres a few million quid there to go round.

PS a forum where everyone agrees can easily turn into an internet clique, where noone new is invited, unless you can toe the party line.

And where's the fun in that.

great post Shatner!  welcome to blonde :)

The Member has now been Banned.

We can only assume that deliberately flaming another Member on this thread was designed for just that purpose. We had, after all, specifically said, "think before you Post, please".

As I stated earlier, please think before you Post, & let's let bygones be bygones, & move on together.

Someone told me a lovely story this morning.

He used to frequent a pub, his "local", & the regulars were a great bunch, & it was a decent place.

A handful of troublemakers arrived, & started causing trouble on every possible occasion. And so the regulars stopped going there. Because they no longer enjoyed it.

We have to avoid that syndrome.

We don't object to people disagreeing. What we do object to is people who disagree flaming each other just because they have different opinions.

I agree

I think people staying away from the football threads would help alot, for some reason there the ones prone to cause problems. 

I been guilty in the past but uncle Kev had some words of wisdom and i 'try' and respect all on the forums. Just a little blip on this thread last night shouldn't derail it :)

Is that the place where there is a very high proportion of women to men?

nice work


not near blackpool though

OK, a few points.

Many of the replies say something like "thanks tikay/tony da de da".

This suggests I may have worded the OP clumsily or badly - because it's not me, the Post was the collective work of all the Mods. I just Posted what we'd all agreed. Yes, blonde Forum was "me" for the first few months of '05, along with Iron, but since then, it's been as whole bunch of us that run it. In fact, these days I hardly do anything, the Team do most of the work.

Some background to the Thread.

The tone & mood of the Forum had been slipping for a while, & it worsened just as I went to Vegas.

It was agreed I would do a sort of "State of the Nation" Post. But I was a bit blown away with work in Vegas, so I asked the Mods to draft it for me. They did, I said I'd use it as a draft, & work it up from that in my own words.

Of course, I never got round to it, kept putting it off, too busy etc.

Meanwhile, the Forum mood lurched further south, & The Mods kept saying "well, once tikay drafts up his Post, it'll be OK, until then, we are  buggered". So I had to sort it, the day before I left Vegas.

I drafted it overnight in Vegas, the night before I left. I woke up next morning, & the Mods have fiffed & faffed with my draft, added bits, removed bits, corrected lots, & agreed it was fine to go. So they said "ok tikay, Post it".  So I did. It's our Post, our view, not mine. We are all 100% of the mind that we need to straighten blonde Forum up a bit.

I'm flattered that so many thanked me personally, but embarrassed too - it was a collective thing. (Code for, "I blame the Mods").

Some of your replies refer to the business as a whole, &/or the cardroom specifically.

I've decided I will do a "State of the Cardroom" & "State of the Business" thread, too, because I think letting everyone know where we are is a good thing, & this thread has had a much more positive effect than we dared dream.

The "Forum" thread was the responsibility of all the Mods.

I shall write a Cardroom thread, the joint responsibility for which will be Rich, Kev & myself.

And for the Business Thread, responsibility will sit with Rich & I.

It's good to talk.

The "erection ads" have been mentioned by several Posters.

We got caught bang to rights there, but it was not planned or intended.

Rich explained it all, but in plain language, we did a deal to sell advertising space to an Agency which pledged to "pluck" unspecified ads from a Pool of ads, using their skill to match ads to forum types. They thought erection ads would suit a Poker Forum. They were right in broad terms, but not this one.

We are trying to sort the situation, but it's proving a bit tricky. We got, & get, no prior notice, or right to know, what ads they plan to put up - they put them up themselves, via an adserve doobie thing. Next time we do such a deal, we'll know better. We got caught with our pants down this time.

We apologise.

No wonder the ads went up.....they saw the evidence.

I may also have over-eged the importance of the Forum in relation to the Cardroom, insofar as the idea of the Post was not to promote the Cardroom, but to straighten up the Forum. I say this, because Kev's been flooded with enquiries (well, more than a dozen, if not actually a flood), & I've had a bunch of PM's to the same effect. That was not in the plan, but happy days!

It was not the intention to promote the Cardroom in the Post. But it's relevant, & had to be mentioned.

There was no planned "guilt-trip" by anyone, or for anyone. The blonde Forum remains free & independent. But of course we'd prefer more of you to play on blonde Cardroom. Of course we would!

I shall do a seperate Cardroom Thread as soon as time permits. Please hold off on Cardroom comments until then.

Someone said.....(in jest, of course....)

I say ban the boy band its all their fault.   Oh and Boldie for being German.

And that's interesting. Well, it is, to me......

The Boy Band have a bit of edge & attitude, & they often sail very close to the wind, in fact, I imagine one or two of them have had the occasional spell in the blonde "cooler". But they are the most terrific bunch of lads, well-meaning, funny, just high-spirited lads enjoying themselves, & entertaining us while they do so. They are golden, & are exactly what this forum needs. You don't have to be good to be good. They are perfect blondes. My point, badly made, is that they often push the limits, but not maliciously, side-of-the-mouthedly, or sneakily. My only problem is that LeKnave fella - how can someone with the name "Dave Jones" call himself that?  And he's way too good-looking, albeit a tad effiminate. In their terminology.....

[ x ] boy band, world.

As to boldiie - I agree.

I plan to BAN all female norkage. I am going to ask the Mods to decide, we will have a show of hands.

Hang on .... does that mean Male norkage will NOT be banned ??  I worry about you sometimes !

And Both my hands vote for Norkage ... and so do Janes !!

I have one hand free, and it votes for norkage.

Good Post, & no arguments from me.

I'll have a word with Kev & Rich about the League. Playing against mates is the best fun to be had in poker.

As to the Boss Tourney, you have to play where you find the game to suit you. Hopefully, that will include blonde now & then.

Kev has a league planned for August and months after. We also have two seats for the APAT World at the Vic to give away in comps before the end of August. and Sportsman, Equal Chance and I hope one other festival venue main event sats coming each month

FYP

Sorry  ;surrender;
am sure ITB took it as the way it was intended

Instaban for TK, surely?...either that or a T-shirt for me :)

no problem at all cia i can take it im a big boy you know  ;) ;D

its the same as in the real world, you learn quickly who you can joke around without them taking offence, and you say to some what you wouldnt say to others.

Hi guys just realised ive been on this forum over 3 yrs now. All the blondes ive ever met in person or I have personal messaged as always responed in a positive way and are a great set of guys and dolls. The majority of us have got a dry sense of humour and like ribbing other members on the site. Always great support when railing Blondes in tourns too. As for the boyband all have always answered my messages even though i have never met them.( Although we do rib in the sporting games). My wife who as only ever posted on this site about twice really enjoys it too and was grateful for all the help when how youngest was in hosp. However, I noticed in recent mths some new posters  have posted and some of us have jumped down there throats although most tongue in cheek stuff. Surely we want to encourage new members to the forum and blondecard room for the prosperityof us all. We dont want to get like 2+2 forum where there are strict guidlines at the top of each topic. I appreciate all the mods work which must be very time consuming. Just wanted you all to know my view on some of these issues. Lets keep this family together instead of trying to tear it apart.
all the best loyal blonde member steve

Just read this thread through.
Haven't noticed it recently getting worse, just thought it was same as usual i.e. some posts/posters you read but don't bother responding to as you know certain people will take it the wrong way, or will just want to argue.
As for the ads, have noticed the increase and while I wouldn't necessarily vote for them if asked (would anyone) they don't bother me and are are needed.
I hardly play any internet poker at all now,  a mixture of lack of time, apathy and tiredness, and i'm a very low raker. However, I have tried to play on blonde sometimes, and now play most of my stts on blonde.
Doesn't need me to say that most of the problems appear to originate from a very small minority.
Keep up the sterling work mods, it's not a job I would ever envy

[X] ban op

Tikay, that is a tremdous analogy, and one that many other forums should heed.

+1 this is soooooooo true.