Fun while it lasted
For those who haven't heard as of yet, Voice123 decided to kill their forums yet again. Last year, the company decided to shut down parts of the forum, in response to criticism that their system wasn't working properly and that they appealed to various bottom-feeding methods. However, they'd decided that it was probably smarter to just let volunteers run the board and use it as an SEO generator rather than to kill it outright.
This morning they apparently changed their minds and instituted a new forum, accessible by paying members only and controlled solely by their own staff. From the other boards there is already talk of massive deletion of critical posts and editing of user posts by board moderators.
I don't think I can say anything from a personal perspective on this save to say "ouch!".
I get the sinking feeling that things might have just gotten worse for the folks using that particular service, and that the online world of VO just took a major hit in the credibility department.
I'm viewing this as proof positive that this is why, as a talent, one might want to utilize a service such as V123, Voices.com, etc. But that your best best is the same as it's always been. To pound the pavement, and market yourself. Nobody will ever know your brand as well as you do, and frankly, if you're not willing to market yourself and provide that bit of faith and trust in yourself to put it all on the line, then why should anyone else?
On a semi-related note, I finally have a graphic artist for the site. It's been one hell of a ride trying to find one who didn't flake out or produce "clippy" work (bit of advice, avoid thelogocompany.net like the plague; very poor work), but I managed to find a good one and we signed the contract for logo and related stuff about two weeks back. A lot of this is being done by hand, so it'll be another week or so before I see the initial drafts. I won't go into too much more detail save for this: think swinging 50s, Rat Pack.
This morning they apparently changed their minds and instituted a new forum, accessible by paying members only and controlled solely by their own staff. From the other boards there is already talk of massive deletion of critical posts and editing of user posts by board moderators.
I don't think I can say anything from a personal perspective on this save to say "ouch!".
I get the sinking feeling that things might have just gotten worse for the folks using that particular service, and that the online world of VO just took a major hit in the credibility department.
I'm viewing this as proof positive that this is why, as a talent, one might want to utilize a service such as V123, Voices.com, etc. But that your best best is the same as it's always been. To pound the pavement, and market yourself. Nobody will ever know your brand as well as you do, and frankly, if you're not willing to market yourself and provide that bit of faith and trust in yourself to put it all on the line, then why should anyone else?
On a semi-related note, I finally have a graphic artist for the site. It's been one hell of a ride trying to find one who didn't flake out or produce "clippy" work (bit of advice, avoid thelogocompany.net like the plague; very poor work), but I managed to find a good one and we signed the contract for logo and related stuff about two weeks back. A lot of this is being done by hand, so it'll be another week or so before I see the initial drafts. I won't go into too much more detail save for this: think swinging 50s, Rat Pack.