CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

donaldk · Joined: 17 Jun 2008 Posts: 308

Spanky Ham · Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 5643 Location: Comedy Central

mr_ro_co · Joined: 08 May 2006 Posts: 1643 Location: Santa Fe NM

My thoughts echo most of what Mike and Dave have said. The "noise floor" on your site is really obnoxious. My frequency of visits to your site dwindled precisely because of exposure to your off-topic forums where I made the mistake of engaging in huge time wasting arguments. They are an exceptionally unprofessional and counterproductive distraction to your business objectives. You say it's easy to ignore them, but how about when I log on, the first thing I see are the most recent listings with subject lines like "OBAMACARE FOR COMMIES"? Getting rid of the off-topic discussion areas will not alienate anyone of any consequence to your livelihood. Those folks will simply go elsewhere for their non-CRT related arguments and will still frequent your site for CRT contributions.

It's an association thing. A distinctly negative one. One that does not serve you in any beneficial way. You accommodate it out of a misplaced sense of friendly accommodation. You have a business to run. There is simply no downside to your business by excising the off-topic portions of your website and emphasizing the professional.

As others have said, I would emphasize only the cream of the crop 8" and 9" sets.

Emphasize service and sell warranties or service contracts for these sets.

Make it as easy as possible to either get service for or learn how to set up and calibrate these sets. That is, get comprehensive professional and/or DIY informational resources for this know-how on your site.

Promote mods and upgrades and spare parts to help guys like me keep their sets alive for many years. I am willing to pay to do this. There are others like me.

Emphasize the high-end nature of this exclusive hobby. There are plenty of guys like me with turntables and behemoth class A power amps. It's a boutique market that you could easily monopolize given your positioning and reputation and industry connections.

Promote the longevity of CRT. I absolutely don't care that the digitals now reportedly look "better" than CRT. It's irrelevant to me if over a 10 year time frame my projector works well while friends toss $2000 digitals into landfill after their first unserviceable failure. I simply am not interested in keeping up with the latest greatest consumer landfill junk and I suspect there are enough others like me who will happily support a competent, professional, niche CRT business.

Steve

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 6:03 pm Post subject:

Good points Steve. I appreciate your forum comments, and I agree 'Cliff, watch this sh*t' is a bit 'off'putting when it comes to the forum.

I believe however that very little business comes from the forum. Most CRT owners looking to buy a set won't come to me via the forum. They either come to me via email, the mailout, or through eBay, as one new (to me) CRTer did this morning, looking for a 9" set.

Also, anyone new to the forum won't see the top 10 list of recent posts, so unless they go into the 'off topic' area, they won't see any of the noise.

I do think a bit of toning down of thread titles is in order. I personally choose not to participate in most OT discussions, partly because I know diddley about politics, especially US politics, but no question that throwing random questions out there about computers or cameras has not only gotten me assistance of stuff not related to projectors, but I've also gotten money and sent money to other forum members for stuff unrelated to home theater.

No question that the emphasis here and on my mailouts is on the high end sets. I agree, the CRT market is a niche market,and it is indeed surprising the number of people that agree with your (and my) disposability statement.

I've convinced myself that knocking 20-30% off pricing does not result in sales, so I'll always be on the high side of CRT pricing, but with a thorughly worked over set with a warranty and tech support.

Cheers!

leigh · Joined: 02 Oct 2009 Posts: 3

Hi Curt,

May I ask if the products list on ebay sold by seller audiovideotechnician, which I assume is you, will have the same warranty period as sold by your site?

http://www.curtpalme.com/Links.shtm

By looking at following url, I did not see anything related to warranty.

http://cgi.ebay.com/AmPro-4600-HDTV-CRT-projector-1080p_W0QQitemZ320504179823QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4a9f89ac6f

TIA

Regards
Leigh

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2010 9:03 pm Post subject:

Yes, same warranty, no issues there.

leigh · Joined: 02 Oct 2009 Posts: 3

Hi Curt,

Thanks

Regards
Leigh

**kal** · Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2010 9:55 pm Post subject:

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2010 10:03 pm Post subject:

That's a really good idea, I like it. Seems like the most popular category these days is the OT area...

**kal** · Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 1:50 am Post subject:

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 3:19 am Post subject:

Nashou66 · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Posts: 16171 Location: West Seneca NY

Its not that bad, only one political post right now. Some off topic posts are fun, like the Joke of the Day etc, well i think the Political posts are fun Smile

Athanasios

greg_mitch · Joined: 03 May 2006 Posts: 5320

Please keep all forums in the recent posts list.

Or if you have come up with a way...let each member choose which forum appears.

Nashou66 · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Posts: 16171 Location: West Seneca NY

greg_mitch · Joined: 03 May 2006 Posts: 5320

WanMan · Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Posts: 10270

Mark_A_W · Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 12:55 pm Post subject:

I would prefer the Off Topic threads did not appear in the recent post lists.

God knows I shoot my mouth off when I stray in there. I try not to, but I just get mad. I never go in there deliberately, but I see the headings in the recent post list.

Also, the list of recent posts appears in the e-mail. Sometimes that's entirely inappropriate.

I'd just get rid of the Off Topic forum, it just starts arguments (yes, I know it's usually me versus everyone else), and drags the whole tone of this site down.

That said, the number of CRT posts has plummeted. It's really getting down to "enthusiasts only" now. Hell, I bought a plasma, replacing my 1080i CRT TV, and I can see a digital projector in my future (to do 3D well).

greg_mitch · Joined: 03 May 2006 Posts: 5320

Sparky015 · Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 2:36 pm Post subject:

I would also prefer that it not show up in the recent post lists. I enjoy reading up on home theatre topics. I'm not really in to the political scene, and would rather see those not listed. My two cents!

**kal** · Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 5:06 pm Post subject:

I started a separate poll to see if off-topic threads should be removed from the Recent Posts list. See: https://www.curtpalme.com/forum_archived/viewtopic.php@t=20809.html

At first I thought that only Club Members should be able to vote since they're the only ones who see the list, but figured that some people possibly are choosing not to be members because they don't want to see off-topic posts in the list.

Kal