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oldboot
16-09-2007, 10:27 PM
I'd just like to bring to the attention of the members the power of buliten boards such as this, in influencing suppliers, retailers and possibly government.

I am a regular on one of the woodworking buliten boards and I know from speaking to people I know who work for various well known industry companies that many of the suppliers monitor the buliten boards, some contribute openly.

I was astonished to find one year at the woodshow that a lot of people who I had never met "knew me well" as my buliten board alias.
Even more astonishing there were "people I knew well" who knew I was that other bloke on the forum.

I have seen there many responses from suppliers about " certain issues"


now to the reason for this post
I was reading a little while ago a thread that mentioned pliers for dealing with split rings on lures.
I notice BCF have such pliers listed in their latest flier.
Is this a coincidence........?
I mean this sort of plier is a bit obscure an item for retail fishing, not something you would expect to be put into advertising without a reason.

anyway
the point is that forums like this are very public and it is quite likely that all sorts of people read them.
So value it, and measure what you say and it can have direct effects.

cheers

loophole
16-09-2007, 10:32 PM
ahhhh the wise oldboot......, too true i say my friend for he who has noticed;) ..

Flattie Assassin
17-09-2007, 06:44 AM
Very good call old boot. I would say every tackle shop in SE qld are browsing ausfish.. As well as large retailers.. Maybe Berkley should pay 5 grand per thread about nuclear chickens.... LOL maybe they are........ :D

subzero
17-09-2007, 07:26 AM
I know of at least 1 Redland Bay Shire Councilor and 1 Federal member whom regularly check out this forum. (Both good blokes whom have discussed the site with me on a couple of occasions). I also know from personal experience that Ministers have staff whom check out important chat rooms such as this one and can and will react on occasion.

A while back I was to say the least a little disparaging in my comments of a couple of the Ministers regarding poor support of Emergency Services (Being VMR's and Coastguard's) and within 24 hours of the post being made very unofficially the two Ministers concerned had filtered their displeasure back to me through my association with VMR. (At least they were aware of my feelings). :-X

This site is a valuable tool for getting the word out there. I have said it before and I will say it again.... this site in particular is far more heavily monitored by interested officials and groups than what most would believe and expect.

The pen can be mightier than the sword ;)

Cheers Lloyd ;D

finga
17-09-2007, 07:41 AM
If so then if the people that can make a difference please read this ....

Fix the price of petrol once and for good.....we all know we're been ripped off!!!! >:(

and

Build some more dams....we need the buggers for storing water when it gets around to raining again. It's hard to water 100 head of cattle out of a bath tub and the SE of QLD is getting to that stage with the population explosion. :-/
Just think of the extra money that'll come to the 'affected' districts just with fisho's. ;)

There...that'll fix the problem :D

oldboot
17-09-2007, 09:42 AM
Nice try finga....... but I was thinking more fish related;D

perhaps........... petrol price rip off.........this has far ranging effects on the economic viability of recreational fishing...........::)



you prety well got the fishing slant right on the dams thing though.

Increase in fresh water fishing in stocked impoundments is probaly one of the most significant changes in recreational fishing in queensland in the last 50 years.

The yanks and the europeans are big into fresh water fishing...... lets get em over here show Em a good time and take their money;D ;D

cheers

rayken1938
17-09-2007, 04:52 PM
If any of the the redlands councillers check the forum it is a pity they cant get their head out of the sand and do something like the progressive pine rivers shire and open up Leslie Harrison dam to recreational use.
The spend all their time fighting between the green and developer factions and accomplish nothing for the shire.
Ray

hodges4
17-09-2007, 05:59 PM
I hope some of the retailers are monitoring Ausfish.
I bought some gear recently from Tackle World at Tingalpa and enquired as to any discount for Ausfish members and received around 10% which I thought was pretty good.
Other tackle stores should take note of this as publishing comments like this on Ausfish can have a big influence on where people shop.

jtpython
17-09-2007, 06:42 PM
CRUISECRAFT 685 EXPLORER IS THE BESTEST BOAT IN THE WORLD
Please follow the links where you can send me a free new one
PLeaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
LOL
JT

Chas & Clarry
17-09-2007, 08:30 PM
Hey Oldboot and other ausfishers...if you want some evidence take a look at this thread...Sundown Marine replied to it so I guess they are reading, and I doubt they are the only ones.

Interesting potential leverage for people power. Arr yes the democracy of the web

http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthread.php?p=680343#post680343

choppa
17-09-2007, 08:36 PM
i've replied in a dozen or so threads over the time with the same message at heart,,,

you can spend $1000 or tens times the amount on advertising per month through media,,tv,,pamphlets,, etc etc etc

word of mouth and forums such as this is priceless,,,

it hasn't really come to light just how much damage that long lasting post on a certain retail chain actually incurred through this forum,,,, i know quite a few still shop there,,,, theres also quite a few who don't

choppa

Lucky_Phill
17-09-2007, 08:58 PM
Make no mistake, this site does not only hold the people power in the fishing related industries.

Some of you will know about my 4 x 4 issues and one in particular concerning a business in Brisbane that charged me a lot of money for something that wasn't necessary. We sorted it all out, and I thank them for being professional about it, but I was amazed to hear them ask me to place the result on this Forum, as a staff member was aware of me posting the progress of the problems.

Yes choppa, I have been a part of the construction industry for 30 years and the few business's I have worked for and my own business, I have never advertised, as such, word of mouth is the highest form of recommendation and often the best.

Phill

oldboot
17-09-2007, 09:32 PM
Yeh....... um....... a little subtlety..... perhaps;)

Most business owners are rightly immune to expectations of discounts and free stuff without some expecation of customer loyalty.

As BCF has its own loyalty programe I would be most surpriesd if they would give anybody a discount for nothing.

remember if a retailer working on normal full retail margins gives you a 10% discount he has just lost near half his profit on that sale.
So if the service is good and the price is fair.... don't push your luck or that shop may not be there when you need it.


We also need to be carefull about publishing legaly.....volatile...... statments on the board as I'm sure the administrators are not going to be left holding the can should there be legal action.
On the WW BB the admins have had to hose down a number of "legal problems" such that the whole BB was read the riot act.

I am sure if push came to shove the admins here would cut you free and let the sharks have you...... so be carefull this is a public, permanent and legaly admissable record of everything you post..


cheers

oldboot
17-09-2007, 09:40 PM
Oh... re the leslie harison damn thing.

I live very close to the dam.

I can understand why the redlands wont allow recreational use of the dam.

it is significantly smaller that most of the other dams and it is generaly shalow and very shalow in parts...... I can see that it wouldnt take too many people using it to stir it up and make the water undrinkable.

That said I've wonered how it would fish;D
I believe ther are a few perch in there and a lot of talapia.

If there was a contract going that involved a small boat, a fishing rod and a DC powerd hobart mincer...... I'd take on some pest control;D

cheers

nigelr
18-09-2007, 06:38 AM
Aye old boot, certainly some of those who access these boards are not above using them for some form of manipulation or another...........
Such is human nature.............
Cheers.

rayken1938
18-09-2007, 07:36 AM
Re Leslie Harrison i also live in the Redlands. The dam is larger than Ewan Maddox and baroon pocket where restricted boating access is allowed.
What is their excuse for not allowing public access to the foreshore? My local counciller will not answer a email to this question.
Ray.

oldboot
18-09-2007, 09:11 AM
A few years ago I was at a neibourhood watch meeting where a few people had a chew on Tony Bowlers ear about a number of matters concerning the dam.

It seems the issue is the size of the dam combined with its shallowness.
The engineers at redlands water are....... very conchy....... about sediment disturbance and nutrition levels in the dam.... aparantly there are algal blooms from time to time that mean they have to suspend pumping and rely on water from stradbroke.
redlands water are very protective or our water...........that is why the dam is the lowest I have ever seen it AND we are still only on level 2 restrictions.........when the rest of SE QLD is piddling in a bucket to water their plants.

I can see their point and understand their position.

there are two other issues
all the land surrounding the dam is zoned "habitat/water catchment" or something similar that would seem to infer some sort of "nature reserve status" for what its worth..... remember we have a strong " green lifestyle" lobby in this area.....
secondly there are a lot of resenditial properties that have a direct boundry on the lake, there are a variety of issues associated with that.

I think the view is that it is so much simpler all round to simply keep every body off it.

will this change under the new state government plan.... hmmm.....I doubt it.

I think the attitude is........ if you want to fish.......there is the sea go knock yourself out

well at least that is the way it reads to me.

cheers

the gecko
19-09-2007, 01:46 PM
It was me who started the thread on the split ring pliers. Id say BCF do their advertising and artwork some weeks before the flyer came out tho, so its coincidence.

I did see the flyer and went down to BCF and bought some, so it works for everybody concerned. They had about 6 brands of split ring piers in stock and I got the shimano ones.

Spent a hundred dollars on other stuff too, as usual.

Andrew

Timfishin4fun
19-09-2007, 06:45 PM
Very true oldboot, but best about this is when people don't reliase and put up true post from there heart and not doctored to get a response from government, etc.

oldboot
19-09-2007, 08:20 PM
Arrrr ye speaks the truth Tim lad....... I be thinkin' any hearty worth his salt would spend time to watch the crew aboard and would certainly recognise when ye are being fed a bucket of chum.

No matter which way the wind blows handin' a trusted hearty some pieces of eight to watch the way the wind blows will be cheap and effective market research.

cheers

edited for talk like a pirate day.... Arrrrrrr

goddy100
19-09-2007, 08:42 PM
Most definitely monitered by companies.
Another site I haunt, http://whirlpool.net.au/, is currently being sued by a company claiming that losses resulting from negative comments on their website. Whirlpool is a computer forum and broadband website visited by a massive online fraternity. Members have rallied around to support the owners of the site.
Just something to remember when bagging a product online.
The message I want to get across is not "don't bag a bad product", but to be prepared to support the site if something like this happens.

Goddy

Lovey80
19-09-2007, 09:11 PM
"Spent a hundred dollars on other stuff too, as usual."

I think we've all been guilty of that before Gecko :D

goddy100 or anyone, can you please enlighten me on how a site can have litigation taken against them for a members comments? If I feel I have been hard done by in a matter relating to fishing I would think that as long as my comments are truthfull then I should be able to enlighten others as to my experience.

Should my comments hold a level of BS in them I could understand litigation being taken against myself but the site didn't make the comments so how are they liable to litigation.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers Chris

mik01
19-09-2007, 10:07 PM
the way of the world unfortunately Lovey...

just another way that big business is trying to stop any form of bad publicity (whilst encouraging the good of course!!!).

ya gotta have it both ways I say...

now, in my humble legal opinion, should (alleged) slander or defamatory comments be posted on a site, the site can be held to be complicit in said (alleged) activities solely by association (ie - providing the forum for one to allegedly post such alleged remarks).
take, for example, the napster flogging (sorry - I mean warranted action). Napster provided a forum for (alleged) illegal activities (copyright infringement) and knowingly (allegedly) allowed such activities to continue. Therefore they were (allegedly) complicit in said activity.

same goes for forums and bloggers etc... your word is your soul - ie you (allegedly) type too much of a bad thing and they attempt to take it.

just another form of mind control over the masses - make sure we can't say anything bad, yet make sure we always say the good!!!
because they can't control the internet and the sharing of ideas, they attack the poor site owners (sorry - I mean legitimately protect their interests by taking action against the owners of the site).

arrrrrrrrr...... screw them I say

joeT
19-09-2007, 11:50 PM
It is illegal to defame someone, and it can be by posting on a forum or by just telling other people. However, there are exceptions under Australian law, such as for satire and for the public good (which newspapers like to rely upon).

Forum owners themselves can find themselves in the firing line because they technically publish the content on the forum and are therefore publishing the defamatory material. However, they have a good defence that they cannot control all that is posted on the forum and defamatory material posted is probably against the forum rules. The extent of control they exert over the forum and posting also adds to culpability. For example, a tightly moderated forum that allows defamatory material to remain for extended periods is more culpable than a forum with few moderators and little control.

Of course, forum members themselves can be prosecuted for defamation, although identifying individuals is difficult.

All in all, litigation is expensive, and only where there is some seriously defamatory and damaging material posted would anyone sensibly pursue any action.

Interestingly, because of the inherent accessibility of the internet, its quite possible to fall foul of the law of other countries by posting something on an internet site. There have been cases where an article published on a website in another country, have been found guilty and penalised for breaching defamation laws in Aust.

goddy100
20-09-2007, 08:11 AM
Lovey80,
http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/lawsuit-over-forum-comments-withdrawn/2007/09/19/1189881557140.html
Goto this link and have a quick read. The lawsuit has now been dropped, but in essence they claim that they made a loss of $150k per month after posts rubbished their product, and they wanted the posts removed and the posters identified. They website refused so they went to court to get the losses plus another $150k in damages, plus legal expenses.
Legal beagles said they had no chance, but if it was successful, no forum would have been safe, as the threat of litigation would mean very heavy handed moderation. If for example, I posted that i bought a Shabuwia reel, and it was garbage, and other posters agreed, the moderators would have to delete the post for fear of being sued by Shabuwia tackle. Free speech on the internet effectively dead.
Goddy100

oldboot
20-09-2007, 10:50 AM
There is also the factor that large well financed companies will threaten and persue legal action that has little or absolutely no chance of succeeding in the expectation that the smaller party will respond to their bullying tactics and roll over.
A few hundred thousand is nothing to these guys.
Fortunatly money doesnt buy a verdict here nearly as easily as it does in certain other places.

one example was a certain fast food chain that sued a small local solicitor for putting his own name on a football teams jursey..... just happend to be the same scotts name as the fast food chain.
His defence was simple and cheap and he won costs.;D

cheers

johnlikes2fish
20-09-2007, 11:49 AM
This is a great post and shows how consumers can wield a little more power, as soe businesses have the attitude of oh its only one customer they can get stuffed.
But the other side of the coin is do manufacturers retailers etc use this as a form of advertising (guerilla marketting), imagine if berkely had a team of people posting on forums (or just a distributor who had 15000 cartons of worms in new penny or camo that he couldnt shift or even better those clams/pippies), I know if I saw a post regarding a person catching 5kg plus tailor using some new lure I would be interested and if I saw sevreal posts I would be more than interested.
A good example would be the ecogear range are they better than whats out there or are they well marketted and then used more often than other products thereby catching more fish simply because they are in the water longer.
Not picking on any company In use all there products just an interesting thought.
ps does anyone want to buy 5000 cartons of berkey 2" clams they are great on big Jew honest::) ;D wanna see a pic?

oldboot
20-09-2007, 12:35 PM
I thing the edge we have as forumites is that to a greater or lesser extent we know each other.... at leat by our on line persona.......there are enough of us who know each other as real people too.

Spin doctors and fly by night shissters will be quickly identified.

I'm only new to this forum but I know on the WW forum we regularly get idiots come in and put one over......first various members will either play with them or heap scourn (ther is a better word) on them.......at this point they often give up......& thats before the mods get hold of em and run em out of town on a rail.

I know it sounds a but pompus.... but the advantage we have is community.

cheers

mik01
20-09-2007, 06:00 PM
Lovey80,
http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/lawsuit-over-forum-comments-withdrawn/2007/09/19/1189881557140.html
Goto this link and have a quick read. The lawsuit has now been dropped, but in essence they claim that they made a loss of $150k per month after posts rubbished their product, and they wanted the posts removed and the posters identified. They website refused so they went to court to get the losses plus another $150k in damages, plus legal expenses.
Legal beagles said they had no chance, but if it was successful, no forum would have been safe, as the threat of litigation would mean very heavy handed moderation. If for example, I posted that i bought a Shabuwia reel, and it was garbage, and other posters agreed, the moderators would have to delete the post for fear of being sued by Shabuwia tackle. Free speech on the internet effectively dead.
Goddy100


also interesting that by actually threatening legal action many, many more people got to read the forum and the issues!! hence more people found the action repulsive and more people instinctively chose to avoid that product altogether (potentially). hell - it even got international exposure!!!!

the storm that they whipped up around this only did themselves a disservice, and damaged their reputation even further.

any of you businesses out there that ever consider similar action - be warned!!!

Lovey80
20-09-2007, 08:48 PM
Thanks for the heads up guys. A very interesting read on the Whirlpool case Goddy100. I think that the key word in all of it is "defamatory" in note being that comments have to be rubbish to actually be considered defamatory in the first place. If comments are always truthfull then they aren't defaming anyone but mearly stating a fact.

At the end of the day don;t talk s**t and you'll be right.

Cheers Chris

QuinnyII
20-09-2007, 09:54 PM
I have noticed a number of posts from members regarding the liability of a forum such as this one, for the posts of members of the forum.

Peter Black, a Law Lecturer from QUT is giving a free public lecture on this exact issue on the 28th of November at 5:30, may be of interest to the mods of the site.

Cheers Quinnie

oldboot
20-09-2007, 10:17 PM
can we have the details of that lecture posted as an anouncement...... there are posibly a lot of people who would be interested.

cheers

nigelr
21-09-2007, 05:49 AM
Good point Lovey, very good point.................
Cheers.

Chas & Clarry
21-09-2007, 10:32 PM
Peter Black, a Law Lecturer from QUT is giving a free public lecture on this exact issue on the 28th of November at 5:30, may be of interest to the mods of the site.

Thanks for putting this info up Quinny, I'm keen to know a bit more specific info re where and when...well where at least (you've been pretty clear about when!!)

Can you post any more details please:)

C&C

joeT
21-09-2007, 11:54 PM
He he, I went to the same school and uni as Peter Black...

QuinnyII
22-09-2007, 02:09 AM
The best way to get information on the lecture is to go to the QUT Law School Website at http://www.law.qut.edu.au, there will be a link to the Free Public Lecture Series, where information on the lecture will be posted.

I became aware of the lecture through an email sent to al law students that include a bit more detail, unfortunantly however i hav since delecte the email.

If you keep checking back to the free public lecture series page, there will be more information about venue etc, closer to the date.

Also of interest may be a few links from Peter Blacks profile which can be accessed from http://www.law.qut.edu.au/staff/lsstaff/pblack.jsp, which deal with the legal issues of the internet and inparticular blogs and forums.

Hope this helps.

Quinnie