** FORUM NOTICE **

[woodgnome]

as some forumites have noted, the 'British Girls' forum has of late become increasingly removed from it's original conception as a meeting place for fans with a common interest in british adult films and performers - to the point where a post is as likely to be by a webmaster or producer promoting their commercial wares.

in itself, this isn't a bad thing - after all, fans like to buy stuff - but it has blurred the boundaries of what the forum is supposedly about and this "blurriness" may be inhibiting new (and veteran) members from posting as frequently as they might.

to address this issue we will be introducing a 'Promotions' forum with the following user description:

"The 'Promotions' forum is for the posting of promotional material relating to the British adult entertainment industry, as well as the seeking and commissioning of work by models and producers working in the British adult entertainment industry. All references to escorting are prohibited."

the purpose of this rejig is to enable the 'British Girls' forum to return to being a fan's forum first and foremost, while the 'Promotions' forum will provide a dedicated environment through which the industry can bring to the attention of consumers their latest DVD releases, website updates, etc (btw, if anyone has a snazzier or more suitable name for this forum, we're open to suggestions).

we are also considering introducing an 'Industry' forum which will be viewable and accessible only to those working in the adult entertainment industry. bgafd would approve initial applications for membership. thereafter, any would-be applicants will require nomination by an existing member, subject to approval by ourselves (usually a matter of routine).

if a would-be applicant is unable to obtain a reference from an existing member they cannot join, as is the case with many "real-life" clubs whose membership caters to a specific interest group.

we welcome feedback from those in the industry to help determine the level of interest in such a forum. please post your thoughts/suggestions here, or send them in confidence to info@bgafd.co.uk.

[mart]

Whilst understanding the possible need for an "Industry" forum, have you considered the effect of resrticting membership.
The recent debates etc. about HIV/Aids and testing had some very informed input from at least one punter. If this or similar topics are posted on your proposed new forum such expert advice will not be available.

Mart

[David Johnson]

Hi Woodgnome,
I can understand where you are coming from with regard to the new boards, Promotions and Industry, but i think it is a. over the top and will cause confusion as to which board to post on and b. extremely difficult to enforce.

For instance, Person A posts on the Fans Forum a request "Anyone got some pics or a link to Actress XYZ. Person B posts on the same Forum a link to a membership website with pics of Actress XYZ. Is that promotion or not? Promotion/marketing has obviously many different approaches from the "Great new website - only $20 dollars a month to the more subtle "have you seen these great pics of blah, blah" Surely, this is going to be very difficult to enforce.

With regard to the Industry forum, I see limited benefit in having a separate forum and think it will foster an introverted, insiders type mentality. A number of issues affecting the adult industry are general, not purely related to this industry e.g. legal, medical, financial. People who may be relatively infrequent posters to this forum, but who have very useful knowledge/expertise in such areas may be put off posting because they don't want to go through the rigmarole of getting seconded etc. This potentially could reduce the overall effectiveness of the forum

Promotion/spam is a problem all over the net. Let people themselves decide whether to read it or not

Cheers
david

[mark cremona]

Im sure the intentions behind the idea of an "Industry forum" are Noble ones, but there is something of the "Groucho Club" about it, semi elitist and reeking of snobbery........................come to think of it its a Great Idea!!!!

[SimonD]

Again I can see the reasons behind the change, but by doing this it would loose that good blend of punter, producer actor and actress mix and could end up becoming more them and us style, which to me would make BGAFD less special.

I like it as is because I take notice of what the punter wants more and is the only place I know where you can get this kind of feedback and the majority of my posts are replies rather than 'Take a look at this' style

Also as David says there is a big grey area of when a punter asks for pics and info, at the moment we reply with links or pics and info, is that spam? maybe? but it's requested spam.

An industry only section could work and help lower the cock fights of the industry reaching the punter and therefore be a newbie friendly place.

Maybe a test period is required to see how it pans out?

[David Johnson]

Hi
Agree entirely with Simon that its the mix of producer/photographer, actress, fan etc. that makes this board particularly useful certainly for me and I suspect a lot of others.

I also think Woodgnome that having two extra boards would greatly increase the work of the moderators. There are still instances of you posting to this board stating that a post has been moved to the O/T forum months after the split and when it is clear what the difference is. I can envisage a huge number of people either by accident or on purpose posting to a Fans Forum as opposed to a Promotions forum for the reasons given already i.e. the difference between subtle promotion and responding to a fan's request can be very, very minor. This would then lead to a number of seemingly endless discussions/arguments like the one recently between Tomsk and NeilUk as to who was spamming or not.


Why change at all? I can only assume that this is the result of the activity that the British seem to excel at - the moan. "Its not like the good old days, blah, blah, blah." "If only we had blah, blah, blah, it would be so much better"

If people are spamming too much than surely the role of the moderators in this situation is to give them a warning? If they ignore that warning, then ban them.

Cheers
David

[Lizard]

Why not split the forum into BGAFD forum Industry, and BGAFD forum fans,
the first being a place where talent, producers, promoters, can spam thier arses off, and the second, a place where fans can make Intelligent thought provoking posts, like " Moths" and such like!
In my humble opinion, there were some really interesting topics/debates etc re the original subject matter, when there was just one forum, sometimes things got a little crazy, but everybody seemed to mix well!, what seems to have happened, nearly every topic on the o/t forum has nothing to do with British Girls anymore, and every topic on the BG forum, has become an advertisment for someones venture, so why not revert to just one forum, and just change the rules of posting, ie using the o/t before making some comments not pertanent to the subject, but still allowing some lee-way for humour, as long as the subject is about British Girls etc, and not just anything, I will be the first to admit to some rather 'obscure' postings, but this is mainly because, I cant have a decent conversation with anyone anymore on the main forum, and still have a laugh, like we all used to!

[Number1]

I think David is correct in his comments about "Anyone got some pics or a link to Actress XYZ....etc" especially when the person requesting is a first time poster with a hotmail address. I don't think any of us are fooled by those posts.

Secondly I would in theory be in favour of an industry only section, and would join if this was introduced, BUT I believe the thing that fills the forum is often the industry outsider's input or questions. People within the industry speak to each other easily enough not to need a specific forum to do it in.

And lastly, anything that complicates a forum seals it's doom. There's nothing worse than approaching someone's message board only to find there are different sections for phototgrapher seeking models, models seeking photographers, photographers talking to other photographers, and so on and so on, turns reading anything into a tediously drawn out proceedure.

I think the way a forum is used tends to be the way it should stay, unless that becomes unacceptibly against the general ethos. I don't really believe that segregating it up into more sections will bring in more users to any particular section

[NeilUK]

One of the great things about this forum for me is that it puts the punters in touch with the people in the industry. An industry alone forum could stop this, there is nothing better than asking a question about a model or producer and seeing a reply from the person in question.
I have had some very useful advice and help from people in this forum and am worried this would be stopped as I certainly wouldn't get access to an industry alone forum. I also thought of the problem that was pointed out by David J, if someone asks where he/she can see pics of a model and I or other people with websites post a link purely to help out will the post be blocked as promotion ?
Also what about a new model who wants to ask if anyone is willing or interested in hiring her/him. If all the people in the business have their own forum will they necessarily even see the question? Isn't it more likely her post will be missed by the very people it is intended for. If this forum isn't about helping new models then it really is missing something

NeilUK

[Riley]

There are far more readers than posters on this forum and the balance of information posts can't be that bad as the amount of posters complaints are very limited unless complaints are being made off the board to the moderators about Spam / Announcements.

The facility to put links into signatures, post promotional pics which in a lot of cases lead to useful discussion has been on the forum for a long time and all because some make more use of this than others the facility is there for all to use and the moderators to bend ears if abused either on or off the board to the abuser.

Another useful issue in allowing announcements / Spam whatever you wish to call it also brings to the forum the credibility of the poster, regular posters are less likely to put themselves up to be flamed and see their product albeit web site / DVD's / photo services / models etc ripped to bits by the critics / posters who do make the effort.

A traders forum will become a mass dumping ground of fly posters who give very little back to the forum or in the promotion of the British Industry. The pirate industry will like that facillity especially which is detrimental to both UK legit producers/suppliers and the buying public.

Personally I like the balance of this forum and the degree of fairness of the moderators so why make more work for yourselves. Plus many of us send traffic to the forum from our site links which we place as requested to be listed on the forum and are pleased to do this but not sure if I would be happy to send traffic to a free for all traders section.