Shadowman wrote:This is Sabrblade we're talking about. His ability to store trivial information about TV shows is downright superhuman.
Caelus wrote:My wife pointed out something interesting about the prehistoric Predacons. I said that everyone was complaining because transforming for them mostly consisted of them just standing up-right. She essentially said, 'So? That's what our ancestors did.'
Seibertron wrote:anyone else getting really tired of these 3rd party products? i think the amount of these 3rd party UNOFFICIAL products is getting way out-of-hand. i'm starting to think we should stop reporting this stuff as news here on seibertron.com.
Counterpunch wrote:If we don't, everyone else will.
Seibertron wrote:Peer pressure is definitely not a reason why we should keep doing it. I don't care what the other sites are doing in regard to promoting unofficial products that Hasbro and Takara Tomy didn't sanction and are a violation of copyright laws.
Seibertron wrote:Let me ask this: why do we promote bootleg / KO / unofficial toys but we don't promote bootleg DVDs, Bittorrents, etc.? What's the difference? Should I start selling bootleg copies of the entire BWII and BW Neo series on Seibertron.com because it's all of a sudden a free-for-all? Where do we draw the line?
Seibertron wrote:I guess I'm torn because we post images of supposedly "stolen" prototypes, which I think is OK because I don't think these are as "stolen" as everyone seems to think, plus I also think Hasbro and Takara Tomy need to just put in some real security at their factories to prevent this problem if they truly are "stolen". We apparently have a very strict rule about not posting information about bittorrents or bootleg copies of Transformers media, which I'm OK with. We don't really promote KO toys anymore such as the G1 stuff, which I think is great. But we do promote 3rd party unofficial products, which to me are generally piss-poor quality, extremely over-priced and are really no different than a KO, which is more-or-less just an unofficial product from a 3rd party company.
Seibertron wrote:I think the real solution is that I take Dead Metal's (one of the incredible staff members that make up the Seibertron.com News Staff) advice and create a new News category called "3rd party products" or something along those lines. I could block news from that News category from display on the homepage and create a new menu option for it under the "Transformers News" dropdown. That way it gets it off the homepage, keeps it in the general news section, removes it from the Toys section (or at least create a new 3rd party news link option/page/thing for the toys section), and keeps me as a happy camper. That way the news is still available for those who want it but it doesn't kill valuable real estate for "real" news -- the news that I believe the majority of people are here to see.
metaphorge wrote:If you do that you should also do the same for any "news" about custom items, as I don't feel there's really any difference between a third party product and a custom, as neither are authorized by HasTak.
You should also ban anyone from using copyrighted photographs or other images as avatars without permission from the copyright holders, as this also violates intellectual property laws, and this abuse is much more widespread than bootlegs/knock-offs/third party products.
Why play favorites with any sort of violation of intellectual property law?
capellamusic wrote:I'd just like to add to the discussion that I think the warnings about "near perfect" KOs like the G1 KOs from Zhong Jin, the smaller MP Optimus Prime and the MP trailer from IGear, should still be posted in the main news, but as warnings instead of advertisements (unlike what has been done for the iGear products that are KOs). If you keep those out of view to the general public many people may not see about them and end up being con on eBay or other auction/store site and buy bootlegs instead of originals due to lack of knowledge. That's especially important for the G1 toys.
Convotron wrote:metaphorge wrote:If you do that you should also do the same for any "news" about custom items, as I don't feel there's really any difference between a third party product and a custom, as neither are authorized by HasTak.
You should also ban anyone from using copyrighted photographs or other images as avatars without permission from the copyright holders, as this also violates intellectual property laws, and this abuse is much more widespread than bootlegs/knock-offs/third party products.
Why play favorites with any sort of violation of intellectual property law?
Seriously? Are you saying that if the site doesn't manage all the information that goes into the waters of IP violation, the only alternative is to manage none of it?
metaphorge wrote:No, just that I'm kind of tired of how up-in-arms many in the fan community have gotten over potential IP-usage abuses from third-party manufacturers when most fans don't think twice about abusing IP themselves, especially with the abuse of copyright within forum avatars and signatures.
Casting stones, glass houses etc. etc.
In any case, too much ethical hand-wringing quashes journalistic integrity. Isn't seibertron.com primarily a news site, not an extension of HasTak's marketing department? Where do we draw the line between honoring HasTak's primary contributions to our hobby and senselessly (and needlessly) kissing their butts? (I don't think HasTak needs us to work very hard "protecting" them.)
Obviously the site owner can do as he wishes, but I don't feel it's in the interest of the fan community to "bury" news concerning third party products because of personal biases. Should the Associated Press, for example, refuse to cover subjects that its owners find personally distasteful?
Convotron wrote:As far as I understand the suggested method for handling 3rd party product news will not involve "burying" news, it's going to simply not be listed on the front page of the site as a head line. Again, looking at newspaper management, not every bit of news hits the front page, just the most important deemed by the editor(s).
Secondly and more importantly, 3rd party news would be put in its own News section forum. Now, I don't know about anyone else, but to me, that actually gives 3rd party news more of a platform because you're not sifting through the main Toys forum looking for 3rd party specific threads out of the hundreds of threads posted.
So if the speculated method were to be taken, the actual changes are:
1) No frontpage headlines for 3rd party products.
2) 3rd party products get their own dedicated News section.
Burying news implies handling the information in a way so that it is hidden and unusually difficult to access. Taking 3rd party product news from the front page headlines doesn't hide news, it just doesn't advertise it on the front page. People will say, "But isn't that the same thing? How will we know about 3rd party news?!". Well, considering that part two of the suggested method for 3rd party product news is giving 3rd party products a section devoted to their news means there is no hiding of news and actually dedicates a media section to 3rd party products, granting us a concentration of 3rd party information and making it more convenient to access.
I ask anyone who sees negativity in speculation of a change to 3rd party product news management here to please re-read Seibertron's post in this thread where Dead Metal's suggestion is mentioned. This solution is far better than a total stripping and restricting of 3rd party product news on the site.
My first post in response to Seibertron's feelings on 3rd party products in this thread was a defense/counter point to the view of 3rd party products being all alike and equally objectionable. I strongly disagree with the notion that a knock off/counterfeit product should be viewed as the same as a 3rd party product that serves a unique purpose and does not copy an existing product design. The fact of the matter is that he read my post and responded by saying that while the decision is up to him, he wants to do what is fair for the site, community, and fanbase in general. The community is welcomed to have input, staff members are also involved in the decision process. Am I the only one seeing this as a positive thing?
Also, this is just speculation at this point but I'm confident that if changes are made, and that's a BIG if, they will be fair to the community as well as the site management.
This site is a fan oriented and news site.. and should not be treated as an extension of Hasbro/Takara.
skywarp-2 wrote:as well thought out as this suggestion is, I still go back to my original statement and sentiment..This site is a fan oriented and news site.. and should not be treated as an extension of Hasbro/Takara.
skywarp-2 wrote:that said, I don't own or manage this site, so what ever I think is moot...
skywarp-2 wrote:once again, that said, I don't own or manage this site, so what ever I think is moot...
Seibertron wrote:Ultimately, this whole thing does come down to what I want to do with my site, but I want to do what is fair to the community, to the site in general, to the fanbase, listen to what the general community thinks about this topic, and really hear what the staff has to say about the pros and cons about this since they will ultimately be the ones who decide which stories get newsified and which ones don't.
skywarp-2 wrote:it seems like a lot of work to go to lengths to segregate discussions based on manufacturer.. what is next, spearate Takra Tomy from hasbro news, separate forums for each, or Botcon Merchandise??
skywarp-2 wrote:I can see putting 3rd party stuff into it's own forum..within the toy section.. which is in effect a way to minimize their popularity since you have to go to the toy page listing and then find the 3rd party listing then find the post you want to examine..
Honestly, I would prefer that the main page news listings stay, and the top section is officially licensed news only, and then a bar of some kind and the 3rd party news listed below the official stuff..
skywarp-2 wrote:that way we are hip to the new official stuff and the new 3rd party stuff..but if I have to dig through a thread in a specific forum to try to find news on what is coming out from FP and I miss the opportunity to get it at a good price via preorder, then I would feel like I could have gone somewhere else and gotten that info from the front page and bought it sooner, which reflects on other things about this site.. does that make sense??
Convotron wrote:skywarp-2 wrote:as well thought out as this suggestion is, I still go back to my original statement and sentiment..This site is a fan oriented and news site.. and should not be treated as an extension of Hasbro/Takara.
I definitely agree with that statement. However, I feel that Seibertron is a fan(obviously) and as a fan, there must be some feeling of wanting to support the main brand over 3rd party producers. Does that really equate to being an extension of Hasbro/Takara? Honestly? I mean, let's stop for a moment and consider priorities. The main brand is the reason 3rd party producers exist in the first place.
Convotron wrote:skywarp-2 wrote:that said, I don't own or manage this site, so what ever I think is moot...skywarp-2 wrote:once again, that said, I don't own or manage this site, so what ever I think is moot...
Not at all! I'll refer to this:Seibertron wrote:Ultimately, this whole thing does come down to what I want to do with my site, but I want to do what is fair to the community, to the site in general, to the fanbase, listen to what the general community thinks about this topic, and really hear what the staff has to say about the pros and cons about this since they will ultimately be the ones who decide which stories get newsified and which ones don't.
If our opinions didn't matter, I wouldn't have gotten a thoughtful response by Seibertron and/or this thread would have been locked after my first post on the matter because I hold a fairly lenient view on 3rd party producers.
Convotron wrote:skywarp-2 wrote:it seems like a lot of work to go to lengths to segregate discussions based on manufacturer.. what is next, spearate Takra Tomy from hasbro news, separate forums for each, or Botcon Merchandise??
The only problem with this line of thought is that Hasbro and Takara are the official companies and Botcon seems to be supported by Hasbro to some degree as the company has had a presence there for many of the Botcons in the past.
Convotron wrote:skywarp-2 wrote:I can see putting 3rd party stuff into it's own forum..within the toy section.. which is in effect a way to minimize their popularity since you have to go to the toy page listing and then find the 3rd party listing then find the post you want to examine..
Honestly, I would prefer that the main page news listings stay, and the top section is officially licensed news only, and then a bar of some kind and the 3rd party news listed below the official stuff..
Your idea of using the top section for official product news and a separate bar/section for 3rd party news is a great idea and actually a variation on the original suggestion by Dead Metal. It's simply a way to get official product news top billing on the front page.
Convotron wrote:skywarp-2 wrote:that way we are hip to the new official stuff and the new 3rd party stuff..but if I have to dig through a thread in a specific forum to try to find news on what is coming out from FP and I miss the opportunity to get it at a good price via preorder, then I would feel like I could have gone somewhere else and gotten that info from the front page and bought it sooner, which reflects on other things about this site.. does that make sense??
skywarp-2, my G1 brother on this forum, I type this with sincere respect... I just don't think that several extra clicks on a mouse is significant unless one has physical issues hindering their use of a mouse. How much of a delay can one have on 3rd party product awareness if one must go three steps into a site(go the site, click on the forum listing for 3rd party products, check posts) instead of two(go to the site, click on a headline to read the news listing but you still have click one more time on the "Discuss" link to actually join the thread to post comments).
Unless you don't check the forums for weeks or even months, you're not going to miss out on pre-order deals. The front page headlines shouldn't function as the primary source of 3rd party product news as this is not a 3rd party product site.
The amount of 3rd party product news that I see in the Toys forum far outnumbers the headlines that make it on the front page and, correct me if I'm wrong, the headlines aren't updated in synch with forum postings. That means the headlines aren't updated in realtime as someone posts potential news in the forum.
One way or another, even with our current setup on the site, you still have to cruise the Toys forum to keep up-to-the-second on 3rd party product news. Even if the suggested change was made and implemented to the letter, we would not see a significant change in the way that we access news of 3rd party products. A few more clicks at most, a sub-section devoted to 3rd party products in the Toys forum. That's pretty much it.
skywarp-2 wrote:so Botcon gets Preference because it's toy products have been supported at the cons? well what about fansproject?
http://www.tfcon.ca/gallery/TFcon-2009
they were the main focus at the TFCON in Canada were they not? to me there is no difference..
Convotron wrote:The main point of the situation is the questioning of promotion of 3rd party products on the front page of the site. It is more of a desire to limit possible promotion of 3rd party products than a strict endorsement of official products. However, looking at it in the light of placing official product news as the most important news for front page headlines, it is by its nature at least a partial promotion/endorsement/support of official product news, which ultimately should not be a bad thing. We're also dealing with placement of 3rd party product news rather than elimination of the news from the site.
I understand what you're getting at with the McDonalds vs Wendys example but it doesn't quite work because, first of all, the concept of the "hamburger" is not owned(as far as I know) and the concept of fast food restaurants can be traced back to various food merchant stalls found in many cultures. Two business can make identical "cheeseburgers" without infringing on each other unless they have similar traits such as naming convention such as "Large Mack" vs "Big Mac". Also, again, it's not about personal support of a product or part of the market that's in question, it's how it is handled by a web site/news source.skywarp-2 wrote:so Botcon gets Preference because it's toy products have been supported at the cons? well what about fansproject?
http://www.tfcon.ca/gallery/TFcon-2009
they were the main focus at the TFCON in Canada were they not? to me there is no difference..
Well, it's not the fact that Powered Commander was supported by TFcon, it's the fact that Botcon has had significant Hasbro presence in at least several Botcons that I am aware of and by extension, there is a degree of support for Botcon and some of its exclusives. The Official Transformers Toy Collectors web site store also offers Botcon exclusive items...that tells me there's some degree of support and that's what distinguishes Botcon from most other Transformers conventions.
All I can say, as I don't want to belabour the point here with a thread dedicated to 3rd party product discussion now started in the main Toys forum area, is that ultimately, 3rd party products are not the driving force of any general Transformers news site so unless there is an outright restriction of 3rd party product news, I don't see a problem with looking for room to work in how the site is managed. All Transformers related news, including 3rd party products, should be covered but how it's covered is where the problem lies.
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