2009 Annual Report to Members

[Brian Scherzer]

2009 Report To Members

January 2010 represents 8 years that TGP has been in existence. Counting the 5 years that its predecessor (The PRS Forum) existed, the forum has now been around for 13 years! At the end of 2008 I reported that we had 42,000 members and that I expected growth to reach 50,000 by the end of 2009. As always, I seem to underestimate our growth. We head into 2010 with over 56,000 members.....a growth rate of 25% in one year. To put this in perspective, in the past thirty days a we had 1,434,151 visits from 348,579 unique visitors who clicked on over 17 million page views. TGP continues to grow much faster than we expected. Our current servers are handling the increased traffic pretty well and we are prepared to add a third server as soon as it is needed.

During the past year we added the TGP webzine to our site and chose to build non-financial ties with both the Montreal Guitar Show and Premier Guitar. We added a software hack to allow cell phones to access TGP, put a hack that allows embedding YouTube videos in posts, and added two new emporium areas. We managed to have good uptime and fewer server disasters. I believe that the coming year will be one of consolidation, rather than of adding a lot of new features.

In terms of new features, based on the results of the current poll, we will be purchasing software to add a member review section to the website that ties in with our membership database (meaning that you don't have to register all over again to use the review section). Because we want the review section to be as meaningful as possible, we will not add it for several months so that we can establish criteria for members who want to post gear reviews. I believe that we will also fine-tune the emporium areas by splitting some of the larger ones into several smaller sections to make it easier to find things......and to help keep ads from falling off of the first page as quickly as they now do.

The model we had for running TGP when there were a few thousand members becomes more and more difficult to follow as the membership grows. For several years Scott and I paid for the site out of our own pockets and then added donations as a means of funding the site. When that failed to bring in the necessary money we added Supporting Memberships. TGP is now on solid financial footing and there will be no increase in the Supporting Membership fees for 2010. We will also do away with fundraisers because they are not needed. In essence, TGP has matured as a website and I'm happy to report that we are well-prepared for the coming year.

Trying to effectively keep the sense of community on TGP is our number one goal for 2010. A larger membership means that there are many more people posting every day and an increased chance for friction to develop between members. We have insisted from the beginning of the site that members be respectful of each other and that everyone “check” their attitudes and anger at the cyber door before posting. We make no apologies for the fact that members here are held to a higher standard of posting than on some other discussion sites. Perhaps many members have not actually read the rules here, or maybe they don't care. In either event, the sheer number of members pushes us to enforce our rules more than in the past in order to keep civility active. I ask ALL members to please read the rules and, if you already read them, please read them again. There have been some changes made.

As always, we try to deal with issues that cropped up the previous year by coming up with solutions that we can live with....and we hope you can live with them. Here are some of the problems we saw increase in 2009:

1. An increasing number of people have opened second or third user accounts. In some cases we found that those members used the additional accounts to bump their ads in the emporiums or to make up false “He's a good seller” posts. We even had some builders who opened second accounts to falsely state things like, “I bought xxxxx from this company and am very satisfied”. This is dishonest and it is not something we will allow. We have software installed that helps us stop people from starting additional user accounts or which detects when someone already has multiple “alter egos”. It is not fool-proof, but is pretty efficient. People who open additional user accounts are subject to suspension or banning. If, in our opinion, a second account is found to have been used for the purpose of bypassing our rules or to deceive others, the member will face suspension or a permanent ban. A number of people who were suspended this year tried to come back onto TGP with an alias account and those people received a minimum one year suspension. Please do not try to open additional accounts on TGP. If you want your user name changed, only an administrator can do this for you. Please contact Scott or I to change your user name. If you have a second (or more) user account that you did not ask permission to keep, please contact one of the admins. We will not sanction you and will allow you to keep whichever account you choose.

2. There were a number of people who continue to post about what they feel were bad experiences with companies, which violates our “deals gone bad” policy. In many cases those members simply wanted to inform other members so that they would not send deposits for items that might never be delivered. We then receive complaints from those builders/companies stating that the posts are untrue and are libelous/slanderous. This puts us in a tough position of trying to decide whose version of the facts is correct, something that we are usually unable to do and do not have the time or personnel to accomplish. A solution to help members who want to post about bad experiences with companies is for members to use the Better Business Bureau. Rather than put us in the crosshairs of deciding whether or not your complaint against a company is valid, please consider reporting problems to the Better Business Bureau (BBB) where the company is headquartered. Their job is to help consumers who are having problems with a company. Report problems to the BBB. We recommend that all members periodically check the Better Business Bureau BEFORE purchasing an item from a company. If you have a problem with a company you CAN post “Please look at the BBB report on xxxxxxxxx” and provide a link to the BBB page on that company. DO NOT post details other than what is stated in my quotes above! This allows you to let other members know how the BBB rates a company (basically allowing other members to avoid problems), while removing the liability from TGP.

3. If you see what you believe to be a trademark violation on TGP you should report it to the company that owns the trademark and ask them to contact Scott Peterson or myself. If contacted by a company regarding a trademark violation we will fulfill our legal and ethical obligation.

4. Members are no longer restricted to only posting one ad per day in each emporium area, or having no more than 2 ads at the same time in each emporium area, although the software-imposed restriction of no more than 4 ads in any one emporium area remains.

5. Our moderators have a thankless task and their volunteer work (unpaid) each day on TGP is necessary for this website to continue to function under the philosophy that Scott and I have. Do NOT take public shots at them in your posts. If you have a problem, contact one of the administrators or the moderator privately. Arguing with them publicly, or taking a verbal shot at them will get you an infraction.

We deeply appreciate our members and want all of you to have the best possible experience on TGP. We make no apologies for demanding civil posting and realize that TGP won't be everyone's “cup of tea”. If our rules do not fit with your own personal philosophy, I understand. You have the choice of many other discussion sites. In the end, TGP reflects what Scott and I believe in as regards how people treat each other. We have no intention of changing that.

[Blueswede]

A big "2 thumbs up" for you and Scott. You guys truly make this a great place to hang out. Thanks for all of your efforts. May 2010 be a truly blessed year for both of you, and for all my GP brothers! Steve

[DonW]

Thanks for the report, glad to hear the site is thriving.

[dbeeman]

Thanks Brian. Greatly appreciate all your work

[jerseydrew]

Keep up the good work guys!

[Zim]

Awesome!

It is so great to be a part of something so great. I'm glad it is working well.

[onemind]

By far my favorite place to be on the internet. Well run, and (usually) the most adult timbre to be found.

[daveS]

Great to be here !

[jimfog]

Thanks to you Brian, Scott, and all the little Moderettes who make this a groovy place.

[Jahn]

i like the new improvements, keep up the good work!

[Dexter.Sinister]

Thanks for all that you and the rest of the TGP management and moderation team put in. I'm proud to be here.

DS

[Zelmo]

Works for me. Thanks for y'all's efforts.

[ducatisteve]

Thanks Brian, Scott, and the mods. I stumbled in here last year and believe this is one of the best places on the internet. I'm glad to hear things are going well on your side!

[nsureit]

A hearty "Well Done"!

[Craig Walker]

13 years....wow.

Thanks for all you do.