I have just posted a poll on the English site homepage that will allow users to vote for their favorite completed Spash diorama. There are only 4 and I am making an assumption here that this was the final count as that is all that is uploaded to the gallery. If there should be more NOW is the time to tell me obviously.

I am going to use this moment to gripe a bit about myself and the campaign completetion process in general. First about myself. I don't complete every request that everyone sends me once. I complete about 75% of requests that are followed up on. I complete about 90% of requests that are followed up on multiple times. And I complete about 99% of all requests where the person just plain doesn't give up. See a pattern here?

I get a lot of requests. So if you are a campaign leader who needs your award ribbons posted FIRST... Send me the list of names. I am NOT going to research and create this list for you. Nor am I going to check to see who on the enlistment list has completed their project. It is up to the campaign leaders to be responsible for ALL things regarding their campaign. This includes getting me to finish all elements of the campaign. I am not trying to ride anyone's actions in the past, I am however trying to change the perception that "Jim shouldn't be bothered again". Bother me. Please. Otherwise it's not going to get done.

This may be a a typical thing in the hobby world. You would not believe me if I told you how many times I had to call a particular vendor to get them to follow-thru on a delivery for the site. 20 phone calls and 20 emails sounds about right.

If any campaign leader is unsure of what the process is for campaigns then simply ask. You can always post your question here or email Gunnie or myself.

The Campaign process is broken. I understand this. I am working as fast as I can to fix the process and allow for a smoother one where Leaders can do a lot of the needed campaign functions in REAL-TIME. A process that does NOT involve me going into the database manually and editing individual records.

I am asking for continued patience on this process. It has taken 2 years to get the site to where it is. Campaigns are about a year old. Hopefully it won't take another year to get it sorted out correctly but I KNOW it's going to take another few months. That is unless someone want's to pay me a salary? hehe

Thanks,
Jim

Jim I understand the problem if there is anything I can do to help please ask.

I terms of the big picture Jim, I really don't think the campaign deal is broken at all. I know I have said this before but I will take this op to say it again: If it wasn't for the campaigns on Armorama I probably wouldn't be building anything much, let alone actually finishing anything. There are some of us out here who do not get to go to shows and throw things on the table to have them judged by our modeling piers. The RRB and the camps at Armorama are as close as we come. Be it financial, time or travel constraints, for some us Armorama is the only game in town.

So I am missing a ribbon or two. I actually finished something. Dammit, that is good enough for me. If the people who check my profile (like that ever happens) after I answer a question in the forums and see that I only have one campaign ribbon and disregard my advice, so be it. Their loss.

Thanks again for the great site and getting me fully back into this great hobby. As Roo said, if you need any help, please don't hesitate to ask.

Rant not off.

Shaun

Jim--when are you going to send that $75,000 you owe me?
Jim--when are you going to send that $75,000 you owe me?
Jim--when are you going to send that $75,000 you owe me?
Jim--when are you going to send that $75,000 you owe me?
Jim--when are you going to send that $75,000 you owe me?
Jim--when are you going to send that $75,000 you owe me?
Jim--when are you going to send that $75,000 you owe me?
Jim--when are you going to send that $75,000 you owe me?

Steve
ps: Folks, I'm just kidding----Jim does not owe me anything---I on the other hand owe him a lot for providing the best modeling site on the Net!!!!!

Hi Jim

I totally agree with Keenan. :-)

Before joining Armorama, I had virtually given up on ever finishing kits.

I dived straight into the Battle of Britain Campaign and was so inspired that I actually finished the model! Ditto for the Age of Aces... :-)

Regardless of whether ribbons are awarded, my modelling has benefitted enormously from entering campaigns, and I'm really grateful to everyone involved.

As the others have said, let me know if I can help.

Rowan

Guys,

Wanna see an example of follow up on Campaign status ....just stay tuned .... The Remember Market Garden Campaign Headquarters is preparing a "Campaign to Remember".......

Builders who start a Campaign are supposed to finish it.... That also counts for Campaign Leaders....when they start a Campaign they should finish it too .... when something comes up in a Campaign Leaders life that he can't be there until the end ...then he should let a second in command take over the Campaign.

Campaign Leaders (to be ?) think twice before you start something big as a Campaign....
* Think over WHY you want to have a Campaign....be COMMITTED.....
* Think over with WHO you want to do it (a second in command, liasion officers etc.) ......
* Think over HOW you want to do it......
* PEPARE the Campaign in the background ....
* Form a Headquarters ........
* Make a plan to keep people MOTIVATED to finish and to enter their contribution...
* and then go to battle, but only then if all previous questions are answered

Look at the Remember Market Garden Campaign ....... I spent hours and hours of mailing, chatting, researching with the Second in Command (FAUST) and multiple others, before we actually said to eachother "YES...this is something we can pull off....let's go guys"....

To the outside world the RMG Campaign only has two people visible ......Faust and me, but we have some more .... After the Campaign has finished, I'll write my memoires about preparing the Campaign ..... you all will be surprised of what we thought of during preparations........

Have we, in the RMG Campaign, thought on how to keep people motivated to stay in and finish what we started...yessireeee we have ..... just keep your eyes wide open for something called the "Hartenstein Gazette"......

Hour plan for the end of Remember Market Garden .... ooooh yes, it's there .... In the first week of April 2005 we have a big "Forum Ceremony" where we hand out the ribbons to the participants ..... After we handed out the ribbons....the official list goes to Jim and he can take his time to add them to the profile pages of members....

The bottom line of my message : Future Campaign Leaders : Think Twice before you propose a Campaign.... it's a beautiful feature our site has to offer....don't waste it by bad preparations or by bad finishing....BE COMMITTED !!

NOT AT ALL - Jim, you and the rest of the staff do an AMAZING job.

Be very proud of having the BEST modeling site on the web. The whole campaign process is not broken, just a work in progress. It's been a great incentive for me to focus and complete projects, learn new techniques, and have more fun in sometimes maddening hobby.

Keep up the great work!
Peter

Jim:
After seeing which Splash dio. we were to vote for I sent a p.m. to guntruck asking him why my splash entry has not posted with the rest of the completed dio. which I first sent KFMagee back in May and several mor times until June 15 when he wrote me back and said he got the pictures and would post them the following weekend-that never happened and to this day I have never seen my entry anywere.

re- Whitrook's post...

Are we going scrap the existing ballot and vote again? Better sooner than later if that's the plan...

Rowan

Whiterook - I haven't found photos of your entry yet - but that doesn't mean KFMagee didn't send them forward to us. I give him the benefit of the doubt - I hope you can too.

Rowan - I don't have a tally for the voting from Keith, so my initial thought is that it might be okay to scrap the ballot when we find Whiterook's entry. It would be great for you White rook to just send another photo or two to help this out.

Gunnie

He has sent them to me. We will restart the voting when it's posted.

Jim

From where I sit as a relative newbie the Campaign process is in fine shape! Ribbon, schmibbon. I didn't join Cold War Cook-Off for a ribbon, I joined for the comaraderie. I joined for that sense of belonging, the obligation that comes from being part of a group, of owing it to the other guys to finish!!

What did I get out of it? A LOT!! I finished a model! My first in MANY years! I felt good with my accomplishment. I learned a lot! I made several virtual acquaintances that I never would have made otherwise...H*LL what more could I want??

To you all who take on a Campaign-I salute you! To those of you who hunker down in the trenches in a campaign- give 'em h*ll, have fun!

This site is great, the campaign process does NOT seem broken from my point of view! Is it a process of being changed, tweaked- GREAT!

Staff_Jim, Gunnie, Sabot, EVERYONE who puts forth that extra measure of effort to make this place what it is- THANK YOU!

Well, I don't want to ramble any more...You guys who do the work to make this place happen- THANKS!

Whiterook... I read above that you were frustrated that I never posted your pictures... and so an explanation is in order.

When the campaign started, Jim had set up an area for me to post photos for the campaign photos as they came in. By the time we figured out yours weren't included, Jim had already shut down my "submit" tools... so I forwarded your photos to him to have him include them.

Now Jim is a VERY busy guy, and I have been regularly bugging him for three months to post the photos, issue ribbons (which are no big deal to me personally), and to get the voting done. If you read the gist of his memo that started this thread, he is bascially referring to me "beating him up" forever to get this done. I don't know if he'll ever post another article of mine after all the memo's I've sent him!

Sorry if you feel I let you down... so few poeple participated in this campaign, and I did try diligently to get the same type of exposure and participation that I put into the Winter campaign, which was a huge success... Over 20 people signed upfor "Splash", but over the summer, people just seemed to have other things to do. Only 5 completed the campaign.

It had nothing to do with a lack of effort on my part, nor Jim - he is swamped and had to prioritize the small participation level against other projects that were more pressing and affected more people.

Hope you find my response rationale and acceptible.

Why don't we all stop pointing in eachother's direction on this subject, post (or don't post) the ribbons, select (or don't select) a winner for the context (which is no big deal to me personally) and get this whole thing over with. Do it or don't, and let's burry the subject before the end of this month.

There's a new campaign about trenches and foxholes, and in January there will be the Market Garden campaign on the Dutch forum (where EVERYONE is welcome !) that will knock your socks of. Guaranteed.




CAMPAIGNS AIN'T DEAD. WE JUST STARTED !

AHMEN to that !!

oh and ahhhhh.........




to that too

i just completed my first campaign here, and in doing so built my best ever model, ive liberally splashed pics of it all over this site, not because im big headed, but because, 1. i learned to post photos as a side issue to the campaign,thats a good thing to learn new skills on the computer and 2. im applying the motivation to other kits im working on i.e. im permantly in campaign mode,another good thing. if this is the end result of campaigns they can do nothing but good,on a personal level youre all saying "HEY! i finished a kit" on a bigger level working as a group allows us to bounce ideas,problems,solutions off one another,one of the reasons my kit came out so well. i can,t wait to join in another ( when ive cleared my backlog!) :-)

Hi almonkey

Being in permanent "Campaign Mode" sums it up for me too. :-)

The only "competition" is with myself... I've made a comittment to build a certain model by a set date. As a total "never finish a model" person, this has brought about a sea-change in my outlook on modelling.

I don't care whether it's a Campaign or Group Build - the important thing is the sense of acheivement that comes with completion. :-)

All the best

Rowan

Hi again

A big thankyou to everyone involved in organising the re-count on the Splash vote so swiftly. :-)

Reacting so promptly to Whiterook's problem is a perfect example of what makes Armorama such a wonderful site... we really do care about each other. What hurts one of us, hurts us all...

Armorama and the folks here make me feel really proud! :-)

Rowan