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Pay for submiting on Armorama's features??

05Sultan

#037

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Posted: Monday, March 06, 2006 - 06:58 AM UTC

Quoted Text

We have pretzels now??

Dave

I'm with ya,Dave! Somebody's holding out out on us,mate!That's really sad action!

cheers!

Alpenflage

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Posted: Monday, March 06, 2006 - 07:46 AM UTC

Robin has a good point. If I actually knew how to submit a better quality article or review I would. Getting a sample kit to build and/or review is in fact a form of being paid (in a sense).

My big problem is I dont own a digital camera, or know how to initiate a review if I did have one.

Do you have to be a staff member (or editor) to recieve a sample kit for a review ? If this is true what exactly is required to become one ?

Cheers !!

Alpen

Tarok

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Posted: Monday, March 06, 2006 - 10:17 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Do you have to be a staff member (or editor) to recieve a sample kit for a review ?

Anyone may submit a review. Go to this page http://www.modelgeek.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=submit&req=write_review
There is a link to the Review Guidelines on the afore mentioned page.

HTH

Rudi

staff_Jim

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Posted: Monday, March 06, 2006 - 11:01 AM UTC

Rudi obviously read your question wrong.

Yes we routinely send review samples to non-staff members for writing reviews. Specific knowledge or experience with the subject matter obviously has a lot to do with who we send some items to.

For the most part the managing editors of each area make these decisions.

Thanks,
Jim

Tarok

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Posted: Monday, March 06, 2006 - 11:13 AM UTC

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Rudi obviously read your question wrong.

Oops... thanks for pointing that out Jim... that'll teach me to put finger to keyboard before my morning coffee...

AndyD

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Posted: Monday, March 06, 2006 - 12:15 PM UTC

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Why do I have a strange feeling?????

Gas? :-) :-)

Alpenflage

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Posted: Monday, March 06, 2006 - 06:54 PM UTC

Actually, I asked more then 1 question. Rudi answered my "how do I submit a review" question, or at least headed me in the right direciton. Thanks for showing me that link, Rudi. I will look into it.

My other question was how does a member become a staff member ? Is it like the Military, time, grade, and meritorious mast ?

One of the things that irks me about these free samples is, that alot of them are reviewed before I ever get them in my shop. By the time I get the kits in, all the hype is gone, or someone finds a flaw with an otherwise excellent kit. This is from a dealers point of view (me) and how I have to deal with it.

I know it sounds like I'm whinning a bit here, but I'm a builder just like everyone else. I always get the "jones" when word of a new kit is coming out, and when the reviews come out, 9 times out of 10, I'm crawling out of my skin until that kit arrives at my shop

Guess I need to get my feet wet on a review. I just dont want to step on anyone elses toes, or steal some other members fire for a peticular kit review.

Armorama is the best modelling site out there, and I'm proud to be a member !

Cheers !!

Alpen

Gunny

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Posted: Monday, March 06, 2006 - 07:04 PM UTC

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Guess I need to get my feet wet on a review. I just dont want to step on anyone elses toes, or steal some other members fire for a peticular kit review.

Alpen

Hi Robert!

If there's a certain kit, book or product that you would like to give a review on mate, then by all means, jump in and get busy!

No need to worry about stepping on others toes either, because there are duplicate reviews here on the site of the same product, and what's really nice is that most are linked together so that readers can get different opinions about said products...
Gunny

AJLaFleche

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Posted: Monday, March 06, 2006 - 07:15 PM UTC

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My other question was how does a member become a staff member ? Is it like the Military, time, grade, and meritorious mast ?

I became a moderator in figures when there was a call for volunteers and I stood up.

Quoted Text

Guess I need to get my feet wet on a review. I just dont want to step on anyone elses toes, or steal some other members fire for a peticular kit review.

The first couple reviews I did were kits I bought for my own use. Jim S then offered me a few of the Streets of Laredo kits to review. So my first were already well in hand of dealers when they were posted here while the others may have preceeded general availability.

jimbrae

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Posted: Monday, March 06, 2006 - 08:10 PM UTC

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a lot of them are reviewed before I ever get them in my shop. By the time I get the kits in, all the hype is gone,

Robert, that is an assumption many people make.. As long as a kit or figure is in production (or otherwise available) then a review is welcome!. Sometimes we do tend to have more reviews of 'New' releases than anything else - that's pretty typical though..

Those of us who review DML products (for example) are getting them around a month before they're released - in most cases, we're the first on the web to review.

So in a nutshell, we're ALWAYS looking for new review material!..Jim

Grumpyoldman

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Posted: Tuesday, March 07, 2006 - 03:07 AM UTC

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My big problem is I don't own a digital camera

Use film, have the photos put on a CD when you have them developed.

Major_Goose

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Posted: Wednesday, March 08, 2006 - 10:28 AM UTC

payed hah? well you get somuchmore thanmoney beeing an armorama member...that money is really meaning less...believe me my friend.

Armorama member ...priceless!

fanai

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Posted: Wednesday, March 08, 2006 - 11:48 AM UTC

I agree with all the above posts on the non monetary price that is Armorama, The question about pay though is worthwhile as I do know that some Specialist Mags do pay for articles - I would email them as to the requirements - as for this site as Jim s has said not at the moment. great news is that at least Jim recognizes the value and I appreciate the reviews just a pity I never need them ( I make my own to paint or get given one in return for a sculpt if I ask)

drabslab

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Posted: Wednesday, March 08, 2006 - 02:58 PM UTC

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If I write an article,can I get paid??

It's the other way around. You are paying when you submit an article.

Just consider that If you are in a position to write an article (not everybody is that gifted in writing or modelling to do this) then in fact you are only paying a fair price for the generosity of so many others that share their knowledge for free with you by posting articles, digital diamonds, photos, ... on Armorama or other sites.

Eagle

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Posted: Thursday, March 09, 2006 - 01:48 AM UTC

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And to be honest it may not be that far off when we do pay a small amount for high-quality feature submissions

I don't like this one bit..... Armorama grew to what it is today with the help of numerous (staff) members.... a lot of the (former) members put in a load of time and effort and all of this for the love of our site..... we got where we are today without paying a single dime for an article.... no need to change that imho.... better invest that money in the site, the hardware, and other stuff for the larger crowd. I know that good or perfect quality will benefit the site, but I think we can get it for free too.

Perhaps this is another thing that belongs to the process of growing, but I'm not attracted by it.

Sorry, just my two €urocents

Grumpyoldman

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Posted: Thursday, March 09, 2006 - 10:20 AM UTC

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And to be honest it may not be that far off when we do pay a small amount for high-quality feature submissions

I don't like this one bit..... Armorama grew to what it is today with the help of numerous (staff) members.... a lot of the (former) members put in a load of time and effort and all of this for the love of our site..... we got where we are today without paying a single dime for an article.... no need to change that imho.... better invest that money in the site, the hardware, and other stuff for the larger crowd. I know that good or perfect quality will benefit the site, but I think we can get it for free too.

Perhaps this is another thing that belongs to the process of growing, but I'm not attracted by it.

Sorry, just my two €urocents

I agree..... what makes this site so great is that 1. all members are encouraged to submit articles, not an elite few. 2. that by paying some, and not others, it would surely cause friction between the factions, and stop the free exchange of ideas and help, and encouragements. 3. Over inflate a few over-inflated egos to bursting point.

OK... now I will no longer be Mr. Popular with some....
and more popular with others..... for me the best thing about Armorama is trying to stay an equal opportunity contributor site.

Just my super deflated .02USD

staff_Jim

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Posted: Thursday, March 09, 2006 - 10:42 AM UTC

I was going to extend my original remarks above but didn't have time when I posted earlier. What I was going to add was that I believe (and if anyone knows this for a fact please speak up) that many of the magazines operate on a very similar format. Much of the content is freely submitted (with full transfer of ownership, etc.) but some is actually paid for by the publisher (also with full rights to use perpetually, etc).

The primary difference right now with Armorama is that 99% of our content (in other words everything I didn't write) is copyrighted and owned by the contributor. At any time they can ask that their works be removed. Paying for content (or making submission a contractual process where the submitter does transfer some aspect of ownership) is a whole different ballgame. And to be a "serious" publisher that *may* be an area that this site will get into. I doubt seriously that it will change the ability for people to contribute freely or publish things that aren't 5 star quality. That is not my wish.

Thanks,
Jim

Plasticbattle

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Posted: Thursday, March 09, 2006 - 11:59 AM UTC

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not everybody is that gifted in writing or modelling to do this

Having registered as a member here, building your own kits and having an opinion is all that is needed.
If you have read the reviews here, you can see that they follow a standard .... and with the help of the moderator/editor, anybody can write a review. As fellow modellers, we are all interested in an opinion ... might not agree 100% of the time, but its your review/your opinion.

jimbrae

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Posted: Thursday, March 09, 2006 - 01:19 PM UTC

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don't like this one bit..... Armorama grew to what it is today with the help of numerous (staff) members.... a lot of the (former) members put in a load of time and effort and all of this for the love of our site..... we got where we are today without paying a single dime for an article.... no need to change that imho.... better invest that money in the site, the hardware, and other stuff for the larger crowd. I know that good or perfect quality will benefit the site, but I think we can get it for free too.

I think the keywords in Jim's response were 'MAY' and 'FUTURE' ...

Personally, I have no problem with paying for submissions at all. Nor, following the example of many other areas do I see anything wrong in (a future period) paying for 'Premium' content. Those of us who want high-quality TV (for example) do it all the time - the world has changed completely (even here in Europe

) . It may well come a point that this (and other sites) get into the position where they are 100% professional, perhaps, similar to the PROFESSIONAL modelling magazines. On an 'ethical' level, I can't understand the reluctance some people have in accepting this. This site is privately owned, and as such, the logical reality is that the owner should get a return on their investment.

We have to be careful adopting the 'moral high-ground' with some belief that making money from a professional site (which is what Armorama ultimately is) is somehow ''tainted' .

I suppose that the majority of people work for some kind of salary? Ultimately, one's talents are a negotiable item.

No doubt I'll get flamed for this attitude, but, at the end of the day, we aren't communists, are we?..Jim

Grumpyoldman

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Posted: Thursday, March 09, 2006 - 04:33 PM UTC

I completely understand your copyright concerns.

drabslab

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Posted: Thursday, March 09, 2006 - 06:58 PM UTC

Quoted Text

This site is privately owned, and as such, the logical reality is that the owner should get a return on their investment.

We have to be careful adopting the 'moral high-ground' with some belief that making money from a professional site (which is what Armorama ultimately is) is somehow ''tainted' .

I suppose that the majority of people work for some kind of salary? Ultimately, one's talents are a negotiable item.

Making money an honest way is not wrong, on the contrary, its a motivation to keep the site alive and improve the quality of the service provided.

And there are many threads in the forums of which the content is just crying to be assembled to high quality articles leading to "a Big A guide to perfect modelling".

But this does not happen, simply because the reality of life is that we all need an income and work for it, which limits the time for hobbies and work for free.

Imagine what an professional writer could achieve if funds would be available to employ that person full or parttime.

THE difficulty is the "business model" and how to balance professional input without alienating the armorama community.

Sabot

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Posted: Thursday, March 09, 2006 - 07:11 PM UTC

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not everybody is that gifted in writing or modelling to do this

Having registered as a member here, building your own kits and having an opinion is all that is needed.
If you have read the reviews here, you can see that they follow a standard .... and with the help of the moderator/editor, anybody can write a review. As fellow modellers, we are all interested in an opinion ... might not agree 100% of the time, but its your review/your opinion.

Several years ago when I was one of the Armor Editors, some of the submissions were so poorly written that it was easier to write one yourself than to edit the submission into a usable review. I've seen some that look more like one run on sentence. I've seen many with minimal use of punctuation.

We've come a long way since 2002-2003. Many of our reviews are from folks who started out with simple reviews and worked their way to the quality content we have today. Writing reviews is just like any other skill set. The more you do, the better you get.

Even among the natural born English speaking members, writing is still an art that many have not mastered.

drabslab

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Posted: Thursday, March 09, 2006 - 07:46 PM UTC

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[Even among the natural born English speaking members, writing is still an art that many have not mastered.

Adding to this, there is a reason why there are special year's long intensive courses for journalists and writers.

With this I do NOT want to minimize the importance of the input by so many Armorama users. The community is the real wealth of this site and I do not mind a bit of twisted english as long as the message gets across. Heck, I am not english native and even those that are make mistakes.

But when the site keeps growing then generating revenue will become (if not already is) a factor impossible to ignore. For those that don't agree, just visit an on-line store of a computer manufacturer and look at the prices for the kind of hardware needed, or the price for a bit of decent bandwitdh... This ain't the kind of money one can still consider as "hobby expense".