everybody has thoughts, ideas they believe will really work. has anyone noticed how conflicting these ideas are??? how can we possibly come to a consistence on anything???? throwing out ideas w/o giving any thought how each one can be given fair consideration is ludicrous. some sort of data information gathering needs to be in place for any of these ideas flying about to be given any real consideration. think people, come on, think. how can we present our ideas in the most effective way? less

I will be going through them. The ones that are possible (aka I will not be putting in bring the point system back the way it was as that wont happen) and that appear most often and will be putting together a letter. I will then post the letter and ask people to vote yes or no on it in a poll. Fred can obviously see it, but i will take suggestions and edit it as needed and give him a final copy.This is a way to flush out ideas. less

This might not be a popular idea but how about not only a once a month cap but points could also expire after X amount a time. That would make it harder to bank them up and would also drive people to actually order more perhaps as they tried to use them before that date. Sorta like some of the rewards programs that grocery and department stores use. Or even a cap so that people couldn't save for months and months and end up doing a $600 order with all points.

BTW also love the idea of points for a single toy only. less

It's a good thing you said this. That got me thinking. This is the problem with the whole "let's brainstorm solutions" thing. We're customers. How many of us have formal training in business related things?

We suggest stuff based on what we know - which is limited to what bits and pieces we can gather from what the staff says, and is sometimes conflicting information. There is a line to be drawn between taking community input into consideration and expecting to do the community to figure out all your problems for you, write reviews for you, write articles for you, figure out a successful business model for you, etc etc etc (for little or no compensation) and then complain and blame said customers when it doesn't work. That's already happened several times. I don't think anybody here wants to see that happen again.

We aren't going to be given the really important information that we would need in order to make effective and informed suggestions; all we can really do is make a list of requests. What would probably be the best route at this point is for Fred to hire some sort of consultant who knows what they're talking about, discuss numbers with them, come up with a sustainable business model, and then run some of the "tweakable" points by the community and get our input on those specific things. Fred already knows what all of us want, by now, so there's not much else that can be said. less

I do. I own a retail business that has a nationally known name. These stores are individually owned & operated but the name and goodwill is paid for up front and certain standards need to be followed.

I write a new business plan yearly-along with my long term plan-review it monthly and add or remove what does not work, set up my monthly budgets, rework my PR and advertising to be effective monthly and an a member of two local business groups. I have also helped rehabilitate a few businesses and develop and sell business models--complete with business plans, budgets, advertising, logos and signage needs. There is more....but it gives you an idea. less

This might not be a popular idea but how about not only a once a month cap but points could also expire after X amount a time. That would make it harder to bank them up and would also drive people to actually order more perhaps as they tried to use them before that date. Sorta like some of the rewards programs that grocery and department stores use. Or even a cap so that people couldn't save for months and months and end up doing a $600 order with all points.

BTW also love the idea of points for a single toy only. less

The first step to fixing Eden would be for Eden Fantasies to admit that they, as a company, have wronged the community.

I don't see any possibility for genuine trust until after that has happened. Without this crucial ingredient, everything from this point onwards will be built on a foundation of mistrust, with company and remaining customers warily using each other for business purposes only. less

Sorry to post again immediately--I answered an earlier post above.

First and foremost--Budget.
--There obviously is an issue with the amount of cash flow going out of the business and not enough coming in to offset the expenses. As with all businesses, there is an overhead here at EF. The budget needs to be separated...EF/Retail & EF Community.

--Any debt for Retail needs to be addressed prior to the Community. This includes new agreements for payments/grants/hardsh ip funding.

--The Community budgeting needs to be held in its own area, separate from the Retail. Cutting costs, rewarding useful & necessary contributions and designing a membership plan is also necessary.

Second--Retail/Cash Customers.
--Using free, quality advertising.
--Cash incentives.
--Frequent buyer rewards program.
--Referral program.

Third--Membership/Cont ributor Program.
--Contributor to customer interaction programs.
--Utilizing member talents for onsite work.
--Re-design membership advantages/points(?).
--(If points still used, NO free gift!)
--Lucrative benefits for ranking members.(Ranking system re-designed to reward EU reviews, length of membership and contribution to site.)
--Earn your way up to the better 'perks', do not give them away to everyone.

Fourth--Delegate!!
--Community 'officers' who can deal with non-administrative aspects of the community area.
--Rewards system for high achievements, panel for community aspects, etc. USE the community to better the community. Make it self-sufficient and responsible!!

(By giving out gift cards for everything--it is the same as the points system...how about a cap for an item depending on the task--BUT you have to review the item. IF points still in place but revised, if items purchased with points, review is mandatory.) less

Just to know Airen and JR DO NOT work for EF. So while you may feel you are owed an apology I certainly believe we do from JR, not sure what Airen did to you. You can take that up with the directly not the company. And please do not turn into what you do not like in others. This is a kind forum, hold back your tone please less

Okay, Airen does not work here, but then she needs to be treated like any other contributor would be. Airen told TheSinDoll to go die, which is completely unacceptable. Airen was not banned for this; in fact, her comment is still there. TheSinDoll, who did not tell anyone to go and die in her postings, was banned, and I believe quite a few of her comments were deleted.

Favoritism needs to end. Especially when it's this obvious. less

Being in the Avertising-Retail business, I have seen many of my customer's businesses fail. Some of my customers have restructured and learned from their mistakes, others have not. There are some basic rules for businesses. The major ones are:
--Take responsibility for your policies and actions.
--Integrity, honesty and customer service above all else.
--Stick to your budget...if you overspend and have a loss, it is your own fault for not paying attention to the health of the business. Recoup the losses gracefully and revise the business plan.
--Profits are made to reinvest diversify. Reward the clients for making you profitable.
--Keep the different aspects of the business separated. Revise the ones that have lower numbers, delete the unnecessary.
--Never delete or cause a malfunction/dissatisfa ction in an area that directly impacts your clientele base. Make it viable and workable.
--Your customers are your most valuable assets--NEVER a liability! Treat them as such.
--Representatives of the business need to be professional and respectful at all times(non-negotiable!) . If they act in a way that hurts the reputation and trust of the company--they are a liability.
--One happy customer leads to new customers. One angry or dissatisfied customer tells hundreds=liability.
--The business aspect stays within the business. The employee/retail aspect is professional and open to the public. The loyalty rewards/social aspect is open to the community and public.
--You can be honest and still be fair to the business.
--Treat everyone with respect...the person you turn away today might be your biggest competitor tomorrow. And they will know your weak points and how to use them by your example towards them.

(I have found this works in many aspects of my life, not just in the business portion. There are obvious adjustments for adapting this to personal uses--but the gist is the same.) less

In my inbox-

"I have asked nicely and I have warned you. i agree that what Airen said on the OTHER forum was not appropriate. I know because I flagged it for removal as I did all posts that were inappropriate, which in the end sadly included some of my own. However, unlike the attitude you have brought to the table airen does seem invested in making eden work. I have been nice up until now. But I am proud of the fact that I got a thread going wear we are working to find ways to build eden up and actually have a dialogue WITH FRED. Maybe you don't understand how big that is, but in fact it is huge. If you are only going to re-hash the past and not work on moving forward I would kindly ask that you no do it on that specific forum. There are plenty of places to be upset on this site, that specific thread does not need to be one of them. I have taken issues with things JR, Stormy and Airen have said up with support tickets and direct messages to Fred, not that any of it matters as I'm pretty sure stormy is the only person reading any of them but I tried.

If you really want to stick around please constructive ideas only, no more ranting about what has already happened.

Thanks


Indiechick"


No, thank you, I will NOT just back down. Just because you said you wanted a "positive reaction" doesn't mean you own this thread and I that can't give my honest option on things. My point was relative to his discussion and I will not be silenced just because you ask me to. I have just as much right to talk about these issues as you do.

Fred thanked someone for their support that had told another user to go die. I take that offensively and I felt the need to share my opinion since I know, from events in the past and now, that he does not even read half of our responses and yet just leaves that work to other people.

Adrien had nothing happen to her and after the other thread is closed I'm guessing still nothing will happen to her. You want to know why? Because she likes playing for the other side so no matter what hateful stuff she says she, unlike other users, are here to stay.

What kind of site are you really trying to save after you know they screwed us over, the staff talks back or blames us all for the problems THEY SET UP, and they ban some users but not the ones telling people to die and related getting points to getting raped? Financial problems aren't the only ones here, it's the site itself (with the people behind it) that is making it a place no one wants to be in. less

I don't like this idea, because with programs like that I end up not using the benefits at all because I don't shop there that often. And people will place a lot of orders around the expiration date. Plus it might not give people the chance to save up for things around certain times of year when they would most like to buy something or can better afford things. less

I agree on a lot of things said here. This is what I came up with when reading this:

I think that the points should be used in a percentage based way (could possibly be linked to ranking, number of reviews, previously discussed 'tiers,' IDK) but that maybe once every few months there could be 'full point order' events, the same way that there were 'double point' events. These events could totally be capped at $150 or something, which would prevent people who abused the system from making $1K orders and bailing, but would still allow those of us with significantly large amounts of points to slowly but surely use them up WITHOUT having to spend an immense amount of cash. At the same time, $150 is enough for one fancy toy on the site, for those of us who like splurging on one thing.

Other than those several-times-a-year events, I think that the 'if you buy something with 100% points, you have to review it' idea works well. This will allow people to get toys they want, will let you guys get more quality reviews on expensive products, and will also help us to get rid of the points we're 'stuck with.'

This is all separate from the mentoring and editing programs. I believe that those programs should get gift cards that can be spent on full orders, as it's a LOT of work to edit reviews/mentor 5-10 student reviews. Those things shouldn't have the same store credit limitations because they're not exactly 'abuseable' actions.

Just my two cents! I am glad that Fred responded to this thread since the other was shut down. It's calming to see that people are discussing solutions, even if we don't all agree on what they should be. less