With this blog post, Voice123.com announces that they have started a new set of forums available only to premium members of their service. The forums are now integrated into the Voice123.com site as a whole. Meanwhile, the Voiceover Savvy forums have been shut down.
I find it interesting that no notice of this was previously given to the standard membership.
I’m also wondering whether or not this is a spin move on part of V123 due to the many problems that had been identified with V123 by various talent over the past few months. Since the board was controlled by Erik Sheppard, and not V123 themselves, this would provide a greater means of control of the information which is sent out.
While I doubt that this was done with any maliciousness, you have to admit that the manner in which this was handled is quite poor.
Greg,
I am not surprised that Voice123.com has created a new Premium Members forum. I am, I admit, surprised that they decided to completely shut down the Savvy forum.
Be well,
Bob
I’m not. And the more I think about it, the less surprised I am.
Remember that back when Alex had more of a hand in things, that he shut down portions of the forums because they were critical of V123 and customer service response. If nothing else, over the past year Voice123 has shown a remarkable ability to dodge/ignore the tough questions, and do one thing while saying another.
I think the real question to be asked is whether or not this new forum will be as successful as savvy was, since so many of the contributing members were standard subscribers? Additionally, will this move, coupled with some of the other recent things which have come to light (ranking system, exclusions from SmartCast, sudden deletion of accounts, tagging used as SEO, etc.) permanently hurt the credibility of the site?
Maybe someone ought to tell Alex that when it comes to VO, the drama is best left in front of the microphone.
Greg,
I have to say that so far (okay, it’s day ONE), the V123 people have been responding pretty well to the questions and concerns.
There are some sticky messages in the various topics that warn heavily that anyone caught leaving nasty, vitriolic messages will be censured from the forms or (in severe cases) dismissed from the V123 roster.
I’m sure that the truly nasty messages will never see the light of day. However, as I posted on the new forum, at least they’ve taken the bull by the horns, and attempted a move in a fresh, positive direction.
We’ll see how long they’re able to maintain their new customer service posture…because with all that isn’t exactly right about V123, they’ve got a lot of ground to cover.
One more thing…they’ve said they have NOT deleted the content of VoiceoverSavvy, and that it will reappear soon. My guess is they’re going to broom all the vitriol and keep the valid stuff, like the gear section, etc. I guess we’ll see.
Greg and Craig,
Thanks for the excellent comments, guys. I really appreciate your insights.
Be well,
Bob
Craig,
I’m in total agreement with you on this. Primarily they can use the existing stuff from savvy to further expand their SEO, so letting it die and whither away is not what I would call a smart move.
I think that what I find saddening is that, while there was more than a bit of vitriol on the boards, that a lot of the criticism was well founded. If there’s one thing I’ve come to expect from Alex & crew at that site, it’s that they have this habit of glossing over problems instead of tackling them to make a better product. That’s probably why the reputation of their major competition in the P2P market is so different.
There’s an old Navajo saying that you cannot wake someone who is pretending to be asleep. I think the adage often applies with these sites.
This should serve as a reminder to those who work in this business, that you can’t rely on sites like Voices.com or V123 to do the job for you. Good, old fashioned techniques, pounding the pavement, etc. are still some of your best methods towards getting work, and recognition within the field.
Greg,
I especially love your final two paragraphs above. I’ve not heard that Navajo quote before. And it’s so very true that no place, no one, certainly no agent is going to do the work for us. We are responsible to do the work necessary to find the work we love doing.
Be well,
Bob
I was booking quite a bit of work from V123, even getting some great long-term clients.
Now that those leads have only been trickling in due to the changes in SmartCast, it has forced me to rethink how I’m working…no longer is the inbox just filling each day with paying jobs.
So! New postcard, some new demos, more networking, lots more marketing to come, and a renewed energy and focus.
See? There’s ALWAYS a silver lining! 🙂
Craig,
Excellent thinking, and even better action.
Be well,
Bob
Thanks for the compliment Bob. I need to take my own advice on the marketing front, but that’s a thread for another time.
What I’m taking away from this is how they treated their volunteer staff that had been running the savvy boards. While there was more than enough vitriol to go around there (often, my war cry was “Bitter, party of one… now seating bitter, party of one.”), Erik and Colin did a good job of keeping folks in line, but letting them speak their peace.
If this is how Alex and company treat their friends, and they’ve already acknowledged that quality of service and experience is not their priority toward the paying talent, then I can’t see any reason to pay for their services. There are enough people and outside forces in the world who you have to compete against, so why would you ever entrust or fund a company that actively states that they’re not working toward your benefit what so ever?
With friends like that, who needs enemies?
Greg,
Thank you again for your candid and cogent thoughts. I very much appreciate your contributions, here and elsewhere online.
Be well,
Bob
LOL! Sorry Bob, subtlety is not a strong point of mine.
I wish that I were wrong with this, and maybe time will show that I am, but some of the more recent stuff coming to light (particularly the mass e-mailing from V123 regarding SAVOA) is disappointing me in that I was hoping to be incorrect in my judgment.
Greg,
Subtlety isn’t required here. Though I’m grateful that you’ve been unfailingly polite in all of our interactions.
I will freely admit that I often have a rather naive and even rosy-tinted view of people. Alex has been polite, clear and forth-coming in all of my conversations with him. I’m not here to serve as his advocate. He can do that for himself. But, I’m waiting to see how things continue to develop. I do think there have been some positive developments, as well as some less than optimal, in the last 24 hours.
Be well,
Bob
On that I think we can both agree.
There’s nothing wrong with your outlook. I often wish that I had the same, but for certain reasons I look deeper into things than I normally should, hehehe.
As with most things, this too shall pass. My biggest disappointment is that I have allowed it to take as much time out of my day as it has.
As always, you remain a gentleman. That’s something which more of us ought to remember during this discussion.
Greg,
I am grateful for the acknowledgment. And “this too shall pass” is one of my favorite phrases from the Bible. Words to live by, indeed.
Be well,
Bob