Fishing Forums V Magazines ?

[matt fraser]

nigelr, I fully agree, its awesome!

Mike,

I've seen it on another forum that was sponsored heavily by one tackle company. It turned it into a farce as moderators were continuously editing posts, to promote the sponsors products in a good light.

People saw through the mods pretty quick and the forum went downhill.

I would think that Ausfish sponsorship would be a good investment of advertising dollars to many tackle companies. But I don't like to see things edited because of sponsorship arrangements.

Murf,

I agree, sometimes its a fine line between trying to pass on genuine information, or giving someone a free plug. A few things get XXXXXXXed when they don't deserve it and other things get through? I wouldn't like to be a moderator sometimes.

Tunaticer,

Forums do cut straight through the crap, and people tell it as it is. There is a lot of info here not worth reading - same as some magazine articles. At least you know most of the time people aren't getting paid to talk up their tackle/boats/etc.

Maybe people would stop partaking if they to pay, but when I look at how much I spend on fishing mags a year..........crikey,

My main aim of this thread is to see if there is a way that contributors (with valued contributions) can be rewarded for the time they put into posting a report, or replying to a post with helpful info or positive feedback. I think it would see the quality of the content here improve dramatically. If there was a way of encouraging more positive sharing, it would be good!

Cheers,

Matt

[nigelr]

I see your point Matt but not everyone is equally as articulate or extroverted as others or even own quality camera gear, and some are in a better position of being able fish more often and or in more productive locations than others.
Just purely for example, not all of us can get amongst the reds like Reefmaster, let alone write a good yarn or take superb pics. I don't agree that 'lurkers' or other users should be in effect penalised for this fact; I'm sure we all appreciate RMs' and others' posts equally.
In my own case I've been fishing for a long time (45 years+) but don't get at it as often as I like let alone catch anything of note or post over, but I'm happy to help from experience and participate with an opinion in a debate.
What I really like about this forum is that we are all equal, whether we put up superb reports/posts or not. Perhaps an avenue for your suggestion, which I believe does have merit, would be in the private members' section?
Going back to mags, correct me if I'm wrong but I think they welcome freelance reports and certainly plenty of those I've had the privilege of viewing here over the years have been well worthy of payment by publishers.
The few times I have put up a report just doing so has been sufficient of a buzz by itself.
Cheers.

[PADDLES]

i don't fish as much as i'd like to at the moment but we go family boating a bit and i also like boats, so for me i buy boating mags like modern boating to check out what's new in boating and steer clear of fishing mags, but troll around on here for any fishing or boating info. forums, especially this one, give a more personal experience because most guys/gals on here are from se qld and face similar issues and boat/fish in similar areas. i think paying to participate will narrow the diversity of opinions expressed on here, excessive moderation to keep sponsors/advertisers happy would do the same.

[NAGG]

A user pays system will generally kill a web site unless the readers / members get true value out of it - how can they do that ?
Sponsorships well .... its a no brainer particularly that Magazine sales would be declining. I can see tackle companies , guides , boat companies paying to join these sites - then using them to advertise new product , their business or even sell their product. Now it gets interesting .... E Trading sponsors sell limited product through the sites at a discount - Now imagine if you could obtain a 10-15% discount or obtain product pre release , discount guide fees , discount custom rods etc - would you become a premium member - you'd have to think about it - hey ?

Yeh .... I could imagine change

Chris

[STUIE63]

I think ausfish is a lot more than a fishing forum for sharing info . it is a community . that is something you can't get reading a magazine . I have met a lot of people through ausfish . I have had answers to many varied questions not at all related to fishing . the magazines just cannot compare in my opinion
Stuie

[matt fraser]

I see your point Matt but not everyone is equally as articulate or extroverted as others or even own quality camera gear, and some are in a better position of being able fish more often and or in more productive locations than others.
Just purely for example, not all of us can get amongst the reds like Reefmaster, let alone write a good yarn or take superb pics. I don't agree that 'lurkers' or other users should be in effect penalised for this fact; I'm sure we all appreciate RMs' and others' posts equally.
In my own case I've been fishing for a long time (45 years+) but don't get at it as often as I like let alone catch anything of note or post over, but I'm happy to help from experience and participate with an opinion in a debate.
What I really like about this forum is that we are all equal, whether we put up superb reports/posts or not. Perhaps an avenue for your suggestion, which I believe does have merit, would be in the private members' section?
Going back to mags, correct me if I'm wrong but I think they welcome freelance reports and certainly plenty of those I've had the privilege of viewing here over the years have been well worthy of payment by publishers.
The few times I have put up a report just doing so has been sufficient of a buzz by itself.
Cheers.

All good points nigel, especially "we are all equal" and it is a buzz to put a report up especially when you've had a great trip that you want to share.

Cheers,

Matt

[matt fraser]

i don't fish as much as i'd like to at the moment but we go family boating a bit and i also like boats, so for me i buy boating mags like modern boating to check out what's new in boating and steer clear of fishing mags, but troll around on here for any fishing or boating info. forums, especially this one, give a more personal experience because most guys/gals on here are from se qld and face similar issues and boat/fish in similar areas. i think paying to participate will narrow the diversity of opinions expressed on here, excessive moderation to keep sponsors/advertisers happy would do the same.

Yeah its awesome free local info, but I think new members now have to pay if they want to post, can someone clear that up for me?

Matt

[matt fraser]

A user pays system will generally kill a web site unless the readers / members get true value out of it - how can they do that ?
Sponsorships well .... its a no brainer particularly that Magazine sales would be declining. I can see tackle companies , guides , boat companies paying to join these sites - then using them to advertise new product , their business or even sell their product. Now it gets interesting .... E Trading sponsors sell limited product through the sites at a discount - Now imagine if you could obtain a 10-15% discount or obtain product pre release , discount guide fees , discount custom rods etc - would you become a premium member - you'd have to think about it - hey ?

Yeh .... I could imagine change

Chris

? but I think fishing forums will continue to evolve to take over from the mags. Where does this leave fishing writers? and their relationships with sponsors?

[STUIE63]

Yeah its awesome free local info, but I think new members now have to pay if they want to post, can someone clear that up for me?

Matt

Matt
I think there is an option to be a premium member but you can also sign up for free and start posting
Stuie

[Aussie123]

I had a mate join here about 3 weeks ago and he cannot post on the forums unless he pays a fee first.
He left and joined the other free forums after that and hasn't been back.

[STUIE63]

Aussie
I think your mate has done something wrong as there are still new members here and the paid members are called premiun members
Stuie

[Camhawk88]

No Stewie- costs $10 per annum to join now and be able to post responses or open images etc. I think about $50 from memory for Platinum. Only if you have been a member since 2008 do the fees not apply

[STUIE63]

No Stewie- costs $10 per annum to join now and be able to post responses or open images etc. I think about $50 from memory for Platinum. Only if you have been a member since 2008 do the fees not apply

thanks I wasn't aware when it first came in they said it was voluntary
Stuie

[NAGG]

? but I think fishing forums will continue to evolve to take over from the mags. Where does this leave fishing writers? and their relationships with sponsors?

They will no doubt be writing reviews or posting reports and stories (pluggin away as they go)
It happens now to some minor extent

Chris

[Nic]

Magazines and newspapers are increasing their online presence, for example putting past articles/issues online. If you can't get a satisfactory reply/search result on a forum, it can be good to run a search on a mag website to get results from past articles. Sometimes you have to pay (e.g. for international titles like New Scientist) but most of the time it's free.

On another note, I know lots of blokes like to take a fishing mag to the dunny, but does anybody take their laptop? (Hang on, I don't want to know the answer to that...)

I'm biased though, so I don't want to talk up mags too much!