Forum contingency plan.

If they shut us down. We riot.

Scotchy will instigate it.

Tallen will provide gas masks

Whale, media relations.

Plenty of service positions open, sign up.

I am willing to be a grunt/meat shield.

I say we pillage and invade the OMHW forum. 

Edited by SSOK - 16 November 2012 at 2:44pm

I don't see the forum closing any time soon, but it is definitely decaying over time.

HOWEVER, the first link is to a fan page which does not function well as a public platform/ forum. I've created a group, and suggest you join this one instead.

We are going the way of the 'Twinkie', and the forum is soon to join the collectable and memories of better times. Bottom line, poor economy, poor sales, low descretionary income for hobbies, yep the forum is a cost Tippmann will cut, rest assured.

impulse418 wrote: Uh oh. And now the power grab begins. I'll join who ever offers the best gifts.

Eh not trying to undercut at all, just make it easier/ more functional for everyone.

agentwhale007 wrote: They do different things, too. One's a public setting with more functionality for longer updates, the other is/will be private and is better for more conversations.

Good point

I joined both because I'm a fence straddler.

As forum President I must step in . . .

. . . and offer my support to whomever provides the best campaign contributions.

Edit:  On a serious note, I am an optimist and don't believe the forum will go away.  Here's my thinking, some of which is just common sense and some of which is based on my degree in business. 

Tippmann is going to have an IT infrastructure no matter what.  In reality a forum like this is a minimal additional expense as pointed out above.  However, from a marketing standpoint it makes sense to keep the forum because eventually the economy is going to turn around and when it does there will be people who put off making discretionary paintball purchases and kept renting or didn't play.  There will also be people who have been interested in paintball but are just reaching the age where they can buy their own equipment.  These will be members of IT savvy generations who have done research and found this forum among other things.  Getting rid of the forum would be the equivalent of getting rid of a ready-made market when the economy turns around.  When benefits are weighed against costs I just don't see flushing the forum as a sound decision.  Granted, there are businesses that make poor decisions; a classic example from my classes being cutting marketing expenditures because sales are down and they wish to save money.  (This is widely considered a "let's cut our own throats" move, but it does happen.)  However, Tippmann has a history of making very good business decisions so I can't imagine anyone doing something like that.


Edited by Mack - 16 November 2012 at 5:11pm