Is Blonde becoming spam city?

[The Truth]

My tuppence worth

It seems perfectly logical for Blonde to promote its own events on its own forum. It might take time for those of us who are constantly frightened by change in any shape or form to adapt, but adapt we must. It costs a fortune to keep things up and running and why should people be concerned how much (if anything) others are making. Surely its a case of 'a friends gain is nae loss'?

Also if people are able to benefit from being gainfully employed thats a positive bonus in my book too.

[b4matt]

Is it really that bad?  I'd hardly say 'every other post' was about blonde tournaments/merchandise etc.  I've only been here for a few months, but am 100% behind the blonde ventures and hope they do very well.  The 'spam' doesn't actually bother me at all but, if it did, I would see a few advertising messages on the forum as a very small price to pay for everything I have got, and continue to get, out of being a member of this community.

I feel exactly the same.

This is a buisness tho, and Tikay and all the shareholders surely need to cover there costs... why would they run blonde otherwise.

The live updates which are enjoyed by hundreds of people must cost a fortune to run.

Tikay is one of the most frank and honest people i've ever met, and the success of blonde is a great testament to him, and to all it's members. For blonde to keep going i'll play on Blonde poker and support blonde in other ventures that help cover the running costs.

What's the alternative to Spamming-advertising? Do you want to pay an annual fee?

I for one would quite happily pay a usage fee, i get great pleasure from blonde and it's collective knowledge is amazing.

LONG LIVE BLONDE

[tikay]

Deary deary me, well I suppose we can't please all of the people, all of the time.

I am currently playing a comp, so will reply to all the comments, complaints & negative Posts one at a time, during the afternoon, & folllow it up with an overview.

But I fancy this is gioing to be a case of "agreeing to differ".

[ACE2M]

i don't mind it, i like playing the blonde tourneys and i'd as soon give my rake to the blonde owners than anyone else, especially as i have used their forum for free for a year or two now.
TK and DC are both business men who i am sure intended to open a card room all along and very cleverly built a strong customer base before opening it. Astute business and fair play to them.

[The Baron]

The most common misconception here is that "blonde did ok before" so why advertise now? Blonde may have seemed to have done ok in the past, but in actual fact the site/updates survived on the money ploughed in (yes ploughed) by Dave and tikay. Fact.

Although it would be lovely to think they have bottomless pockets, the fact of the matter is, like the rest of us, they dont.

I challenge anyone in their shoes (who isn't Roman Abramovich) to carry on with this site without making money from it to cover the costs.

These two guys built this place with their bare hands (and their own wallets) from the ground up. Perhaps this is a bit extreme... but would it really be fair to let them go broke running it just so we (the free members) don't see blonde being promoted here?

Live updates cost a bucket load. Ask one anyone who has bought their own skin how much that costs. I'm surprised blonde has gone this long without the promotion to be honest.

Now saying this purely as a poker player... anything/anywhere that promotes a place where I can play against my fellow blondes, Dave, tikay, Pot Limit Hold'em World Champions etc, can never be considered bad.

The ability to play Dave and tikay for $10 on a Monday night? US guys are luckier to be blondes now than we ever were in the past.

[b4matt]

The most common misconception here is that "blonde did ok before" so why advertise now? Blonde may have seemed to have done ok in the past, but in actual fact the site/updates survived on the money ploughed in (yes ploughed) by Dave and tikay. Fact.

Although it would be lovely to think they have bottomless pockets, the fact of the matter is, like the rest of us, they dont.

I challenge anyone in their shoes (who isn't Roman Abramovich) to carry on with this site without making money from it to cover the costs.

These two guys built this place with their bare hands (and their own wallets) from the ground up. Perhaps this is a bit extreme... but would it really be fair to let them go broke running it just so we (the free members) don't see blonde being promoted here?

Live updates cost a bucket load. Ask one anyone who has bought their own skin how much that costs. I'm surprised blonde has gone this long without the promotion to be honest.

Now saying this purely as a poker player... anything/anywhere that promotes a place where I can play against my fellow blondes, Dave, tikay, Pot Limit Hold'em World Champions etc, can never be considered bad.

The ability to play Dave and tikay for $10 on a Monday night? US guys are luckier to be blondes now than we ever were in the past.

[rivered]

I'm more than happy with things the way they are - you don't have to read the promo / info messages if you don't want to.  The site provides a great wealth of information and entertainment all free of charge, and a lot goes on behind the scenes.  The only thing which would annoy me is pop-ups, which we don't get.

[Tonji]

I've been a member since the beginning of the year, & i've been impressed at how the site & the forum has evolved. Tikay & DC have stamped their personalities on the site, & IMO that is unique & must be applauded. The updates are without doubt the best there is. The forum is unequaled anywhere, the Mods put in fantastic work, the contributors are always interesting & entertaining.

No complaints from me. Keep doing what your doing, its working well, Great job Blondepoker.

Tonji.

[Sunday8pm]

it seems to me that these days every other post seems to be about "upcoming tournaments on blondepoker" even the live tournaments are spammed up with a message on everypage, not to forget "tonights up and coming $20 tourney only on blondepokerleugue.com etc...."

and now the blondeshop. selling hats t-shirts etc.... This site started as a forum, and i for one have enjoyed being a member for a couple of years, however i for one don't like the way it is going, maybe im being cynical or have got the wrong end of the stick but it seems on a lighter note that we are all (the members) being used as marketing tools and salesmen to promote the pokersite.

you were a blonde member before the forum was launched then?

[yt]

Whoever owns/pays for the site can do what they like.
We are lucky they run a forum for us.
If their numbers go down they will change soon enough.

Thanks Blonde for running a great site.

[tikay]

it seems to me that these days every other post seems to be about "upcoming tournaments on blondepoker" even the live tournaments are spammed up with a message on everypage, not to forget "tonights up and coming $20 tourney only on blondepokerleugue.com etc...."

and now the blondeshop. selling hats t-shirts etc.... This site started as a forum, and i for one have enjoyed being a member for a couple of years, however i for one don't like the way it is going, maybe im being cynical or have got the wrong end of the stick but it seems on a lighter note that we are all (the members) being used as marketing tools and salesmen to promote the pokersite.

OK, lets start at the beginning.

"every other Post seems to be about upcoming tournaments on blondepoker".

No it is not. Maybe "every other Post", we can agree, is a figure of speech, but consider this. I don't know if regular Members can access the Forum Stats, but they tell us this......

Currently, the Average number of Posts daily is 956.6. I don't have figures for how many blonde "spam" Posts there are each day, but I doubt if it's 5 a day, averaged over a week or so. (Tell me if I'm wrong). If I'm about right in my guesstimate, that's around 1%, or every 100th Post. Argue with me for a % or to if you wish, but I ain't a mile out.

The average number of new Topics daily is 44.5. Again, I don't know how many of those are blonde "spams", but, averaged over a week, I doubt if it's more than 1 a day. That, again, is around 2%, every 50th new Topic.

I don't feel that is over-cooking it.

"Live Tournaments (Updates, I assume you mean) are spammed every page..."

No they are not. Someone want to count them? We got it wrong - badly wrong - once, the first weekend we had the Cardroom, when we were at Luton. I apologised, & have not made the same mistake again. We DO spam them, but not, in my opinion overly. After EVERY live Update though, there are generally many "thank you" Posts from Members who have enjoyed them. Given that they (the Live Updates) are free, that heartens us. They are a work-in-progress, & we have improved them immensely so far, but we know they can get a lot better, & the plans are laid to do so. But they will always include some blonde spams, & some spams for our badging sponsors. They, after all, pay for that right.

"this site started as a forum". No it did not. The Forum was introduced, 6 weeks or so after the site opened, as an afterthought. It was never, ever, planned to have a Forum, & there was much heated argument amongst the Shareholders as to whether we should start a Forum.

The shop? Count the number of Posts made by Members asking if they can buy blonde Merchandise. There are hundreds of them. We will spam it now & then - today was the first time ever. The Merchandise story is this. We decided to give a bunch of it away, to promote the site, & we did, we spent a few grand on it. Then folks started asking if they could buy it, so we decided to open a shop. It's no big deal, it will probably fail, & we will shut it if it does. Better to have tried & failed....

More to follow.

[tikay]

it seems to me that these days every other post seems to be about "upcoming tournaments on blondepoker" even the live tournaments are spammed up with a message on everypage, not to forget "tonights up and coming $20 tourney only on blondepokerleugue.com etc...."

and now the blondeshop. selling hats t-shirts etc.... This site started as a forum, and i for one have enjoyed being a member for a couple of years, however i for one don't like the way it is going, maybe im being cynical or have got the wrong end of the stick but it seems on a lighter note that we are all (the members) being used as marketing tools and salesmen to promote the pokersite.

"(I) have been a Member for a couple of years".

blonde went on air January 7th 2005, that's 16 months ago. It crashed the first weekend, & the Forum began a few weeks later, as I recall, maybe early February 2005.

[thetank]

Easy tiger

[matt674]

it seems to me that these days every other post seems to be about "upcoming tournaments on blondepoker" even the live tournaments are spammed up with a message on everypage, not to forget "tonights up and coming $20 tourney only on blondepokerleugue.com etc...."

and now the blondeshop. selling hats t-shirts etc.... This site started as a forum, and i for one have enjoyed being a member for a couple of years, however i for one don't like the way it is going, maybe im being cynical or have got the wrong end of the stick but it seems on a lighter note that we are all (the members) being used as marketing tools and salesmen to promote the pokersite.

OK, lets start at the beginning.

"every other Post seems to be about upcoming tournaments on blondepoker".

No it is not. Maybe "every other Post", we can agree, is a figure of speech, but consider this. I don't know if regular Members can access the Forum Stats, but they tell us this......

Currently, the Average number of Posts daily is 956.6. I don't have figures for how many blonde "spam" Posts there are each day, but I doubt if it's 5 a day, averaged over a week or so. (Tell me if I'm wrong). If I'm about right in my guesstimate, that's around 1%, or every 100th Post. Argue with me for a % or to if you wish, but I ain't a mile out.

The average number of new Topics daily is 44.5. Again, I don't know how many of those are blonde "spams", but, averaged over a week, I doubt if it's more than 1 a day. That, again, is around 2%, every 50th new Topic.

I don't feel that is over-cooking it.

"Live Tournaments (Updates, I assume you mean) are spammed every page..."

No they are not. Someone want to count them? We got it wrong - badly wrong - once, the first weekend we had the Cardroom, when we were at Luton. I apologised, & have not made the same mistake again. We DO spam them, but not, in my opinion overly. After EVERY live Update though, there are generally many "thank you" Posts from Members who have enjoyed them. Given that they (the Live Updates) are free, that heartens us. They are a work-in-progress, & we have improved them immensely so far, but we know they can get a lot better, & the plans are laid to do so. But they will always include some blonde spams, & some spams for our badging sponsors. They, after all, pay for that right.

"this site started as a forum". No it did not. The Forum was introduced, 6 weeks or so after the site opened, as an afterthought. It was never, ever, planned to have a Forum, & there was much heated argument amongst the Shareholders as to whether we should start a Forum.

The shop? Count the number of Posts made by Members asking if they can buy blonde Merchandise. There are hundreds of them. We will spam it now & then - today was the first time ever. The Merchandise story is this. We decided to give a bunch of it away, to promote the site, & we did, we spent a few grand on it. Then folks started asking if they could buy it, so we decided to open a shop. It's no big deal, it will probably fail, & we will shut it if it does. Better to have tried & failed....

More to follow.

So if i wanted to buy a blondepoker t-shirt where would be the best place to visit?

[Nem]

The most common misconception here is that "blonde did ok before" so why advertise now? Blonde may have seemed to have done ok in the past, but in actual fact the site/updates survived on the money ploughed in (yes ploughed) by Dave and tikay. Fact.

Although it would be lovely to think they have bottomless pockets, the fact of the matter is, like the rest of us, they dont.

I challenge anyone in their shoes (who isn't Roman Abramovich) to carry on with this site without making money from it to cover the costs.

These two guys built this place with their bare hands (and their own wallets) from the ground up. Perhaps this is a bit extreme... but would it really be fair to let them go broke running it just so we (the free members) don't see blonde being promoted here?

Live updates cost a bucket load. Ask one anyone who has bought their own skin how much that costs. I'm surprised blonde has gone this long without the promotion to be honest.

Now saying this purely as a poker player... anything/anywhere that promotes a place where I can play against my fellow blondes, Dave, tikay, Pot Limit Hold'em World Champions etc, can never be considered bad.

The ability to play Dave and tikay for $10 on a Monday night? US guys are luckier to be blondes now than we ever were in the past.

Very good post!