Member / Stake-holder?

[Fairynuff]

This post is going to (necessarily) have a lengthy preamble before it gets to the point but bear with me . . .

The crux of this post is - do you (member) have a stake-hold in this forum?

I play Bridge in a Bridge Club and I also play on-line at BBO (Bridge Base Online). All Bridge Clubs are closed (obviously) and that has caused the numbers playing at BBO to explode. For example, I play in a Club within BBO which, before CV19 had about 30 tables each evening (120 players) that shot up to 100 tables (400 players) in less than 7 days. That sudden massive swamping in numbers is causing havoc. That is impacting (detrimentally) on my enjoyment and caused me to question - what is the (BBO) objective. BBO has a forum and I was about to ask that question on the basis that I am a member, I have a stake-hold in this Club and I am not happy with the 'organisers' allowing a sudden massive influx of new members. Knowing (from experience of people and people on forums) that ANY criticism of anything is immediately crushed, I have not (yet) done that. I don't know but I presume that BBO is a business, I presume that someone owns it and is somehow (advertising) making money out of it and I presume that when their membership went up from 200,000 to 400,000 they make more money. I them ask myself the question, do I (a member) have any right to criticise or ask any questions about anything done at BBO - do I have a stake-hold in the Club / Forum?

So why am I posting this on here? This forum has some similarities; it is owned by someone, it makes money for that person, it is his business . . . do you (member) have a stake-hold in this forum, does membership of any forum / on-line club give members the right to criticise / complain / suggest changes or are we just pawns?

[Paul]

Fair and interesting question.

I’ve been a member on here for quite a long time and have no financial interest, paid no joining fee and don’t receive any money. There are no barriers to entry (or exit)

The guy who owns / runs the forum clearly runs it on a commercial basis and will earn revenue through the various adverts / pop-up / click throughs etc.

He has many similar forums, all running the same platform so clearly a business model that works for him.

You are able to suggest changes / modifications and he is receptive to any sensible requests (in my experience)

But clearly, as with most forums, success or failure is down to the continuing interest and usefulness of posts as perceived by the membership.

[Rob]

I can't speak for every forum out there but this one is run by me in my spare time. It does have advertising on it but I have a full time job elsewhere.
A massive influx in numbers (jumping from 200,000 to 400,000) would be difficult for me to handle, it would probably mean buying extra hosting capacity, moving the site and forum onto higher performing servers, dealing with a significant number of questions and issues etc.
Its not something thats easily done within a week. Its also something thats expensive and in these times, how long will those numbers last?

Do you have a right to criticise? Not legally I don't think. It is not a club and you are not a member in the legal sense (where we have officers, management comittee etc.). If you were paying for a service they were unable to deliver that might be a different matter.

However, I do try to take all comments on board and make improvements where I can. So you might not have a RIGHT to question them, but here I wouldn't stop you and I have implemented many changes requested by 'members'.

I therefore think its worth creating a post on their forum, just highlight how much you love playing BBO but with the large influx of members you're finding accessing the site difficult, is there anything they are doing to help etc...

[Fairynuff]

Thanks for the replies (particularly Rob).

Since posting this question on here I did some research on BBO and discovered that it is not only a 'proper' business in that it is Bridge Base Inc. but also that one of the five Directors is Bill Gates! Why does that surprise me? BBO is more than a forum in that it has ‘Clubs’ consisting of people who know each other and who occasionally meet (f2f) to play (as a Club). It also has member (unpaid members) who ‘manage’ online and offline activities; all of which gives it a feel that the members have a stake-hold in it, but I have concluded that whilst it might have that feel it is an illusion and it is in fact a business and we (members) simply have a symbiotic relationship with that business.

You might (validly) ask why post my question here and not there? The answer is, because I know, from life experience, that people in the boat don’t like people rocking it and anyone rocking the boat gets thrown overboard. And, notwithstanding that there are distinct differences between BBO and this forum there are some similarities and I hoped I might bet some objective opinion.

Tks

[Ferdie]

Interesting point - I would have assumed BBO has a membership fee? Then I would feel I would have a case for complaint in that what I paid for had changed (refund) . As Paul points out we have not paid here so our only resort is to vote with our feet . And in fact that is how businesses live or die everywhere. I don't play bridge but I can conceive how it is a much greater impact. I consider all free services as a bonus and if I don't like it I have to leave. The internet is full great products and services that are 'free'. This for instance, Google drive, Zoom, WhatsApp,..... They may extract something from you but if it is not a concern to me then its quid pro quo.

[Nuclear Nick]

My two pence is that we are not stakeholders. This is a forum that is free to join. If we don’t like it, we can leave. Period. It sounds like BBO is the same.

[MikeM]

I guess you could term any forum members as stake holders in that they are user/customers of a site, but if no legal or financial commitment or charge? If one feels aggrieved about the way something is managed they can make the point, but then if not satisfied choose to either keep supporting or walk away.