Jerry,Sorry you don't find them humorous. Many other people do. I suppose we should all ban Warner Brothers' cartoons too, for most of the characters on them had speech impediments, right? The bottom line is that no two people's personalities are the same and I'll bet if I was to put up Reagan's picture that there would be someone who would complain. Think about your time at the theater dealing with customers. That alone should prove to you that you can never please everyone. So what do you do? You try and please as many people as possible and you just don't worry about those few complainers, inparticularly the ones who make a big scene in the lobby.
Is it working? Yes, very much so. Granted a lot of people who have sent in their pics do not post a lot, but we now have a ton of what I would refer to as "real participants", and not just names with comments.
The fakes are easily identified by the black frame around them and will probably last for about as long as the animal or charicatures did...a few days to a week, unless you would like for me to keep them up longer. If you don't like it, skip the site for a few days.
Anyone who cannot send me a private email and feels the need to make a public issue when they see something inappropriate to them (for whatever reason it may be) please note that I will not be interested in your opinion. Anyone who does show me the courtesy of sending me a private email when they see something that concerns them, I will gladly take the comments and recommendations into account and possibly make changes to the site, but please do make sure it is a legitimate complaint that is worth my time and not just an email to let off steam from your life.
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James,
Why pressure people to send in pictures if they dont want to in the first place?
Why spend over a thousand bucks a month offering a service to someone who can not give me the courtesy of sending in a picture? (Perhaps I should make the manuals section of the website available only to forum members with pictures. It would certainly save a lot of money from my bandwidth bills.) Do you really think that I am out of line asking for someone to take a couple of minutes out of their life one time to submit a picture? Please explain how this is wrong of me.
What if they dont have scanners?
I find it hard to believe that *most* people do not have a friend who couldn't scan in one picture.
Or if they dont have a current picture and dont feel like taking one just for some message board?
Send in an old one. There are several here who have elected to send in a younger picture. While I would recommend people send in a somewhat recent picture (say 5 years or so), there is nothing wrong with sending in an older pic.
Or if the dont feel like going to the copy place just to get a picture scanned for some message board?
Drop it in the mail for 34 cents and I'll scan it and return the photo.
Given the time and money I put into keeping this site available to everyone, I seriously do not think that asking each member to send in one picture of themself is asking too much. Should I just demand everyone sends in a picture and block those users who do not? Of course not, that's ridiculous and goes against the ideal here of spreading "film done right". Instead we're trying to find more friendly and comical ways to entice members to submit a picture and many of them have. Got an idea for increasing picture submissions? Email me and we'll probably do it. This is pretty much the only forum on the internet where REAL names are used and people do not hide behind silly handles like "Movieboy". We've been trying to personalize it further with member pictures, and you both know how much having a picture beside the words helps. We're only talking about a one time exertion from each member here, yet you're making it out to be something huge. You guys are starting to sound like customers.