Horological Meandering

ThomasM
[PuristS]
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Other PuristSPro moderators, executives, and friends far wiser

and cooler headed than I have admonished me for "taking the bait"

Thank you for your wise counsel and I agree.

In my defense, if I need a defense, I can only say that I am indeed "only human" and feel I have taken far more shit than I deserve given how seriously I take principles and how much I have sacrificed for principle.

But then, maybe that is why I am such an easy, flourescent painted target.

:-(

So, on a parting note on this subject, I just have a few last things to "clarify" -

1. MTF, you did a good job of pointing out the "marketing speak" of Mr. Journe and his marketing machine.

click here

2. I really want to share the last offensive, arrogant piece of crap email from Mr. Journe to us, publically and in its entirety, "so as not to be cryptic" but I know you (MTF) and the entire PPro management team, my friends, and my family, strongly feel that it is better to be misunderstood than to violate one's own principles of decorum and civil conduct.

For once, I will be smart and heed your advice.

3. I do feel I have to clarify this statement from Mr. Journe's PR / marketing machine -

"  

ThePuristPro Forums have always been free of charge for the brands. Suddenly, The PuristsPro decided to charge the brands for a significant amount of money otherwise they would close the forum.

 "

Well played, Montres Journe. Alas, misleading -

The real history is that after 5 plus years of carrying the costs and other heavier burdens of running ThePuristS essentially by myself, with the kind assistance on the moderating front of an all volunteer moderator staff;

that after five years of carrying this burden, together with some very serious personal family matters that effected more than a few members of my family closest to me, I came to the realization that the "grand adventure" could not continue that way; it was simply unsustainable.

Thus I made the painful decision to evolve and try to find a more self-sustaining organizational model in a new entity, while reducing the original ThePuristS.com to a more, again, sustainable size.

Two important facts which are not widely known -

A. I made a "road show" 3 plus years ago to most / all of the brands we covered then, and I told them very clearly and in good faith: "I am here as a gesture of respect to give you a heads up - we are evolving; the old model was simply not sustainable.

If you feel we have provided something of value in the past, please have faith and hopefully you will find the new offering will be of even greater value and worthy of your support.

And if not, that is okay too and we will still be friends."

Francois-Paul and Natalia (I miss her dearly, she added a human touch to Montres Journe sadly missing today) were both present in my presentation to them, and both were enthusiastic about what I showed them. Though in fairness no firm commitments were made by them, and I didn't ask for any at that time.

At that time, the presentation was merely a respectful and considerate "heads up."

As an aside, I find it curious that our efforts to solicit monetary support has been characterized as "blackmail" or "extortion" - I wonder when the last time Mr. Journe or any other brand "gave" a watch away for free, or even bloody service for a god damned defective watch made by them; or how many readers here spend more than full time in an organization, with obligations, "for free."

Mr. Journe chose not to participate; we chose not to continue to underwrite a dedicated brand forum for someone who didn't see the merit enough to support it, while allowing, without prejudice, open and passionate discussions on Montres Journe, on the general HoMe forum.

What the hell is the problem?

Someone wiser than I reminded me that slavery has been outlawed in most countries and no one is "obligated" to do anything for free.

We simply chose to re-allocate scarce resources elsewhere.

Again, what the hell is the problem?

B. I also made it clear to all that I presented to those years ago: I did not feel comfortable "charging" for something which was previously offered for free, even if it was well worth paying for already.

Thus, I bore the expenses and risks, along with new founding equity partners of PuristSPro, to start and develop

i. a much more sophisticated and proprietary software platform which would then be able to offer a superior visitor experience, as well as offer many more services and features that the older platform simply could not, to both the brands and the visitors to the site.

ii. to roll out a paid moderator and writers' program.

As a matter of abstract principle, but also to protect the very real concern of keeping the moderators and editors editorially independent, ALL moderators and editors are offered compensation, whether the forums they moderate, or the brands they write about, monetarily support this site or not.

Only after PuristSPro was fully rolled out (development and improvements are, of course, ongoing) did we then go back and one by one, revisit the issue with legacy brands (those with brand forums already on ThePuristS) and new brands alike.

During this revisit, yes, we mentioned again sponsorship support (ie, monetary support) but we also discussed the other criteria of support as well, so well outlined by MTF.

As I have written before, assume that all brand forums on PuristSPro are sponsored. We are in a transitional period at this time, and in time, all brand forums will be sponsored. So until then, assume all are sponsored. This is the easier approach and takes the higher road, even if disadvanteous to PuristSPro during this transitional period.

But in all cases, editorial independence is guaranteed BY CONTRACT.

Thus, in the context of the above, I find this statement by Mr. Journe's marketing machine

" ThePuristPro Forums have always been free of charge for the brands. Suddenly, The PuristsPro decided to charge the brands for a significant amount of money otherwise they would close the forum. "

not only disingenously misleading, but downright offensive given the efforts I went to,

* to ensure fair advance notice of impending changes,

* how high a standard I set for myself which benefited only the brands,

* how long and patient we were in following up on it once things were in place (see B above)

and

* the fact that efforts to reopen a dialogue for discussion were met with complete silence and indifference from Montres Journe.

Again, for us it was not solely a monetary concern; issues of access and cooperation were of concern as well and were clearly mentioned in our efforts to re-establish an open dialogue.

Lastly, I find one of the specific statements very intriguing -

3. "significant amounts of money"

Mr. Journe, any and all readers - our proposal was and is in line with market competitive offerings; we feel ours is more than competitive, in fact, but I realize that is subjective and contextual, just as the price of Montres Journe timepieces are "significant amounts of money."

How you choose to allocate your marketing dollars is your perogative; how we choose to allocate our scarce resources is ours.

Again, how much is being asked for Montres Journe watches?

Mr. Journe, you are very proud, and very protective, of Montres Journe, and you have every right to be.

Please remember that we are no less proud and protective of PuristSPro.

Sincerely,

TM

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