Some more 'minor' changes.

[griffin]

Now then. The big idea...
I've been wanting a proper main-page for our TFs site for, well... a few years now. And in the last 12 months, with help from Jaydisc and Kurdt the Goat, I managed to find something that best suited our forum and its software.
But that stalled for a while because I couldn't get the darn thing to work.
A couple weeks ago, I finally found out what was wrong, and got the page operational.

I also figured that with the upcoming AUS Toyfair (in March), I could use the website to get Hasbro more willing to throw us info and maybe even more coverage at the Toyfair (most of the TFs will be hidden out the back like in 2007).

But there had to be an incentive, or leverage even...

So I asked myself, 'what is holding back Hasbro from being more keen to promote their products though us?'
Easy - we are just a non-website forum centered on just one of their hundreds of product lines. Sure, we may be their biggest selling (or one of) product lines, but for them to INVEST any resources into our little corner of the web, we have to give them an incentive.

So to get them to promote their Transformers Products through us, as a free public service, we need to also allow for them to promote their other toy products. As a Transformers Community, we just 'skim the cream off the top' (the Transformers info), and let the rest of the toy product info go to who ever else is interested. Even if only 10% of the product info was Transformers related, that is still more than we would be getting from them without this project.

That means having a separate webpage and forum for 'All Toy Lines', in addition to our Transformers Community and Forum. And if the interest grows, any other toyline that has a collector following, forums could be generated for them.

But the focus is (and always will be while I'm the admin) the Transformers side of things, and we can't get Hasbro to *want* to invest more of their resources into our community (and conventions/fanmeets), if we are just a single toyline forum.
And since this would be aiming to cover all toylines, not just Hasbro ones, the additional incentive to Hasbro will be maintaining a competative edge over its rivals. If we get some of the other toy distributors intersted in using this free (for now) promotional tool, Hasbro would be under more pressure to use it as well. And as with the example above, any small portion that is Transformers related, is a bonus to our forum.

So for a little while, there will be an expanded section on our forum for other toylines, as a transitional means to generate interest from the Toy Companies, and collectors, to then be set up as its own stand alone collector forum.
So the more popular it gets, the quicker it will be moved from our TFs forum into its own. And having it part of this Transformers Forum for now can help prove to the Toy Companies that there is collector and public interest in an Australian Toy Collectors Website.

It would also be a substitute for the Toy Companies who don't see any value in setting up their own localised product websites (or keeping their websites up-to-date). That would be another incentive to them, as it would be a cheaper alternative to setting up their own localised product websites.

Okay, so now for the technical problems I've been having in the last 4 days, that prevented the website from being launched on the same day as the re-arrangement of the board.
The software for the website wouldn't allow me to generate completely separate pages for 'Transformers', 'General Toy Collecting', 'Lego', etc, so I had to resort to having a main 'Toy Collector' page, with our Transformers page being a sub-page of it.
This was why I had to change the banner to the small thing we have at the moment, because it had to have the word 'Transformers' removed, and, I am going to try to insert a header underneat that main banner on each sub-page and forum, to make it more obvious what each page is about.

I also had to strip out most of the default modules of the program, as they were mostly redundant, and I need to generate new ones to cover info and topics we need on our front page.

I'm probably forgetting some stuff as well, but as I said in the last post, this is still a work in progress, and by no means makes this a toy forum that has a Transformers section. It will remain a Transformers forum, with a temporary hosting of a general toy section, until such time that it can stand on its own, or, will be scaled back because of lack of traffic.

[roller]

hmmmm kinda like doing a deal with the devil i kid i kid


so one day, maybe the other toy line sections will be gone? If no interest from say LEGO is garnered

[Kyle]

Sounds like a GREAT plan! A big thank you to Bossbot~!

[Robzy]

Sounds interesting!

Hope it's still cool to promote stuff from toy companies other than Hasbro... Mattel for example!

[griffin]

Had to remove and edit 4 posts here, because a certain member of this forum had asked me not to have his place of employment made public. Many would now know, because it was here for 6 hours, but this just prevents anyone else from seeing it. It wasn't Robzy's fault for posting it, if that other person didn't mention it to him at the meeting.

hmmmm kinda like doing a deal with the devil i kid i kid
so one day, maybe the other toy line sections will be gone? If no interest from say LEGO is garnered

Yes. If the other sections end up being like the Damn Toys forum, and just don't have any interest, I won't spin off a separate website and forum, and just integrate them back into the one 'non-TFs toy' section.

If on the other hand it's support grows overwhelmingly, it will be split off quickly. So the more popular it is, the faster we can get it out of the TFs forum.

Sounds interesting!

Hope it's still cool to promote stuff from toy companies other than Hasbro... Mattel for example!

That's kinda the point. If a rival company gets onboard with the Toy Collector website, Hasbro will either compete by utilising it as well, or cut all ties to prevent any leakage of info to their rival. Since we have very little tying us to Hasbro at the moment, and the Q&A thing seems to have lost its momentum and interest, it wouldn't be a huge step backwards if that happened. We existed and grew over the 4 odd years they had us blacklisted, so that sort of thing doesn't worry me.

The problem I will anticipate at first will be, most of the bigger toy companies won't be too keen to get involved in a website that leads back to a forum for a Hasbro product (the non-TFs sections are still part of a TFs forum). When I can get it split off (if it has enough 'legs' to stand on its own), the other toy companies will be more inclined to work with a more nuetral website.

It will be a balancing act, but I'll only do whatever won't jeopardise the continued existance of the TFs forum.

[iceburn]

It will be a balancing act, but I'll only do whatever won't jeopardise the continued existance of the TFs forum.

Total support.....

[sanbot]

Sounds like a rather innovative idea!

I was wondering though, is it really necessary to have Hasbro's other toy lines "promoted" through the website? Wouldn't it be enough for Hasbro that the website will generate further interest in their TF toyline if they get involved? I mean, my impression is that TF's arn't doing that great in Australia compared to other toys (from other companies), so for Hasbro to increase sales in TF's alone wouldn't that be incentive enough? And for their other toys, I would have thought Hasbro would much rather invest money into websites that specialise in individual toylines of theirs rather then a website that covers all their toylines? Or have I got it completely wrong? I must admit, I don't know the complete history of this website so correct me if my thoughts are off.