I just bought a place in Hakuba, Japan

[Ocean11 0]

 Quote:

Originally posted by le spud:

TJ - how many rooms in your hotel? You could put in a titty bar. Hakuba could probably do with one of them

My thoughts exactly. At the end of a glamourous day swooshing through powder, I've often thought how well some stylish commercial sex would complement the scene. When women from outside Japan have posted asking about teaching jobs in Nesiku, I've very nearly suggested alternatives that spring to mind. Just trying to be helpful, as ever.

I have to say that I have found Fattwin's endeavours in Hakuba and now TJ OZ's very interesting and somewhat inspirational and would like to know much more about them. It seems like a wholely natural progression that people who are interested in the sport should then try to make a business of it (like SJ itself did). People who resent this enterprising spirit and complain about it need to review their positions and mind their own business.

Damn, wanted to say more on this topic but I have to rush off to my son's goddamn sports day!

More later...

[SnowJapan#Andrew 6]

If you look back you will see that SJ4 wished TJ OZ our best wishes in his endeavors.

We of course applaud this enterprising spirit.

(We are even in the early stages of planning a Feature on the subject for the site).

 

Did we edit or delete this thread?

Did we close the thread?

No, we did not.

We simply asked that people don't use the Forums to promote businesses, for reasons we have laid out in the past.

 

SnowConnection.

I presume you mean us of course, though I cannot recall this instance. Anyway assuming that:

It is very easy for you to post your side of such a story on here.

It is much harder for us to come back with a convincing response in public.

I do not recall any details, but one thing I am sure of. That is that there was a good reason why any comments might have been deleted, because we do it extremely rarely and only after careful thought.

 

I think you will find Snow Japan to be generally extremely responsive to readers ideas and comments. Many of the improvements that we make are based on ideas that have come from readers. One fine recent example is when someone suggested that we develop something for the site. We looked into it, decided it was a great idea, and have since gone ahead and are currently in the process of getting it done. That work alone will probably in total take up to 200 hours for us to complete.

 

If we were lacking certain information on remote resorts or whatever, and you felt really sad that readers might be losing out, then why not email us and suggest adding such information? We would very probably do our best to rectify the situation.

 

I really don't want to be posting on here, not least because we are currently flat out putting the finishing touches to 5 months of solid work making this website a better place for all our readers to be. I know first hand the immense

amount of effort that is put into this project - and it is way more than needs to be. And frankly I really do not appreciate SJ coming across as "the bad guy" in threads such as this. In fact, it makes me quite

 

If you have a problem with what we do there are two options. We much prefer the first one - contact us, off the public forums, and we will be responsive. (The 2nd option does not involve moaning about us on here).

 

Please.

 

Thank you.

 

[rach 1]

I often admire the restraint that is always shown in SJ responses to things like this. I can imagine that at times you must really want to just burst out with a lot of "colourful" language

[Ocean11 0]

I look forward to TJ OZ's article. Having said that, it's been fun watching the issue develop in the forum.

 

It would be nice if we could say "Hey mate, what's the name of your place? How much are you going to charge?" and other natural questions that a truly open environment would allow. It would be nice if SJ could say to people who get upset about that sort of thing that it's the policy to give people the freedom to discuss all aspects of snow sports. Not everybody wants to be just a passive consumer.

 

I understand that SJ wants advertising revenue if it's available, but there are probably businesses in Japan that can't afford to pay for it, but could benefit from some free discussion on a site like this. Of course the users of the website would benefit too. And it wouldn't hurt SJ either (surely?) The other forums I look at (biodiesel and skateboarding) have a section for business talk, and they're very interesting. It's not all spam, and if anybody wants to criticize a product or service they do.

 

This is not to say that SJ is a 'bad guy' - I wouldn't have written 9 million posts here if that was the case. But I for one think it's high time this particular taboo went by the wayside.

[SnowJapan#Andrew 6]

 Quote:

We are even in the early stages of planning a Feature on the subject for the site.

 Quote:

I look forward to TJ OZ's article.

Just to be clear, the feature we are planning is not a "TJ OZ article" - we are planning a general feature on the subject, with details yet to be finalised.

Sorry to disappoint you, but the "taboo" will be staying for the foreseeable future.

The issue is not about advertising revenue for SJ.

If anyone wants to add their place to our SJ listings they are welcome to, but that wouldn't change the way issues like this are treated on the Forums.

[Ocean11 0]

Well, you'll just have to worry yourself about the 'sneaky' people then, and your users will always have to tiptoe around certain subjects that are in fact key to the survival of your business here.

 

Shame, but if that's the way you want it, you're the Boss.

[SnowJapan#Andrew 6]

We know the situation and circumstances very well, and as is often the case it is more complex than it may look from the outside. We have discussed this issue numerous times and feel strongly that the policy is for the good of the Forums and the vast majority of people using them.

 

We will no doubt discuss this again as things change (and we may well change our position in the future). For now though, what we have in place is best.

[SerreChe 2]

 Quote:

Originally posted by SnowJapan.Com#1:
I think you will find Snow Japan to be generally extremely responsive to readers ideas and comments. Many of the improvements that we make are based on ideas that have come from readers.

I fully agree with that statement.

I am also fully supportive of SJ's policy regarding the promotion of commercial ventures on this site. I like it the way it is. I think it is on the safe side or we risk this site becoming a spam fest.

Personnaly I do not like it when I see somebody post their opinion about a place in general and then see quite agressive responses from peeps who have commercial ventures in the said area trying to defend it by any means. They feel like they have to defend their bread and butter. I understand where they are coming from, but their opinions will be biased regardless of the way they put it. In my view, the less commercially driven posts we get the better.

[scouser 4]

Me too, definitely.

 

But I don't even think they are strict anyway - it's only when people are either blatently plugging or being rather obviously doing a plug.

[thursday 1]

While risking hi-jacking this thread, what you have observed is the antitheses of what I see.

 

You only have to express that you like a certain place and people come out of the woodwork to dis it. Now is that protectionism or is it just good old fashioned prejudice

 

Now back to the tittie bar discussion.

[Yuki's Passion 1]

I like Niseko because its a rad mountain

[Ocean11 0]

> Personnaly I do not like it when I see somebody post their opinion about a place in general and then see quite agressive responses from peeps who have commercial ventures in the said area trying to defend it by any means.

 

Try ignoring them. They usually give up after a while. It seems to work smoothly on plenty of other forums. Pretending that there isn't a business side to an er, business, is rather limiting.

 

 

> I understand where they are coming from, but their opinions will be biased regardless of the way they put it.

 

Bias is unavoidable. I'm biased. You're biased.

 

 

> In my view, the less commercially driven posts we get the better.

 

When 'innocent' posters of several years eventually get into the business, it seems very limiting to say, right, that's it, watch your mouth. Asking TJ OZ how many rooms he has isn't being 'commercially driven'.

 

Once when some horrible lout posted a 'plug' for skimboards, I went and had a look at them because I happen to be interested in board sports. I could have ignored it if I wasn't.

 

 

> it's only when people are either blatently plugging or being rather obviously doing a plug.

 

That's when you go to Google images and find a nice picture of a plug to post.

 

 

> I think you will find Snow Japan to be generally extremely responsive to readers ideas and comments.

 

Well, except when you're not. I'll find what I find, not what I'm told to find. But yes, for when you are extremely responsive.

[bushpig 0]

[Ocean11 0]

[bushpig 0]

 

[snosurf 0]

It's on, it's on like donkey kong....

[SnowJapan#Andrew 6]

Enough is enough.

 

In the last few days related to this thread we have had, amongst other things, someone post a new thread that existed solely to “takes the piss” of others (only to be asked to reinstate the thread when we deleted it), been accused (rather sarcastically I may add) of being non-responsive to reader comments in public, and received an abusive mail on the subject of this thread.

 

I strongly feel that we just don’t deserve to have to deal with all that.

 

Everyone has their own opinion, that is totally not what this is about. People should be and are able to talk about their lives on these Forums. It has worked 99.9% of the time so far and apparently most people don’t seem to find a problem with it.

 

Our policy is that we do not allow ads or business promotions on the Snow Japan Forums. That policy is not something that we decided overnight. We believe (and it seems the majority of our readers also believe) that it is for the good of the Forums in the long run and for everyone using them. If we allowed anyone to come on to the Forums and promote their businesses, it would soon become an unruly mess.

 

I just want to be very clear about a few things:

 

While we are open about many things, and as said before hope that readers would usually find us to be extremely responsive, this particular policy is not up for discussion – especially in public on the Forums. This discussion has, rather than persuade us to be more lenient on this policy, made us (if anything) more wary about it and we intend to keep a close eye on the situation.

 

If you just simply cannot accept our policy for whatever reason, that is fine – but do not post those objections on these Forums.

 

To those people who think that this is a major injustice and still feel the need to post that on our Forums – please do not do that. And please also note:

 

>> do not post a new thread asking why this thread has been closed;

>> do not “test our resolve” by posting a message that is clearly borderline of our policies (some people do that you know!);

>> do not post sarcastic-laden messages in other threads.

 

The above actions will get the posts deleted and you will be banned from the Forums without notice.

 

If you cannot accept our policies, please just do not post on these Forums – it’s as simple as that.

 

To what we are sure is the vast majority of people who are reading this.... We are very sorry to have to take this action, but with everything that has happened on this subject (both in public on the Forums and off the forums as well) we feel that it is necessary and hope that you can understand why. Occasions like this on these Forums are in fact very rare, but they always become this “huge issue” and get a lot of attention!

 

We’re almost certain to get one or two angry emails in response to this action. While we welcome comments (words of support too please!), we are currently extremely busy preparing updates for the site and so we will not be entering into any discussions on this particular subject. Any other comments or mails though will get the usual attention from us.

 

This thread is going to be closed now. I think maybe it will be the 2nd or 3rd time in our history (6+ years) that we have ever closed an active thread, and it doesn’t make me happy to do it. That’s not what we’re about…..

 

Thanks for your understanding.