Ecards alternative here on forum

[Rata]

Airdave: you need to see often it's not the WHAT, it's the HOW.

[Neilio]

Bringing it back to the original Q & A(s) of this thread. I want to add my perspective, and am hopeful my comments are taken at face value. I offer this perspective in (I hope) a friendly voice.

I understand that everyone is anxious for the e-cards online resource to become available again. I'm anxious for it to be back online as well. As a career database marketing professional, I also understand that it's not as easy as flipping a switch.

airdave said this:

Originally Posted by airdave

Chris is not just repairing the broken store...he is building a new store, from scratch.
That in itself is a big enough project,
but when you consider we also have to repair and incorporate the old broken store (into the new site)...

I think this captures the core issue. It's not like moving a physical shop with physical inventory from one building to different one across the street. Or even an online shop where you sell physical goods on a one-off basis (like chewing gum or baseballs) and ship them to customers (and then forget about it).

Building a new e-comm store is somewhat straightforward, but building a new e-comm store that sells virtual products (downloads) and populating the product catalog with thousands of virtual products from hundreds of vendors across multiple categories that have accumulated over several years in an entirely different system, as well as maintaining the purchase history of those products by thousands of customers so that their previously purchased (and somewhat perpetual) download rights are maintained...that's complicated and hard.

On top of that, this particular e-business is an avocation, not a vocation. In fact, I've come to realize that e-cords online is less of a business and more of a service. Its a marketplace that connects model designers & re-painters with customers, and does so at very reasonable prices. If each of the designers had to maintain their own shops, my guess is that many would simply choose not to. As customers, we would be frustrated if we had to surf across dozens of online shops to find that specific version of that specific airplane model we were seeking. So ecards online provides a wonderful service for those of us who are involved and devoted to a hobby that (let's be honest) is not exactly "mainstream". There's not really another paper model online service like it (that I've found), that consolidates the work of so many designers & re-painters and connects them to an engaged buyer base.

I think its good to view ecards online as a service. No one is getting rich by participating on the commerce side of things. Everyone involved in making ecards online possible (including most of the designers, I think) has a regular gig that feeds their family. So even just maintaining the service by the team is done in fits and starts as time is available. With that in mind, I think you can see how moving the whole thing to an entirely different platform becomes a herculean task.

It's unfortunate that keeping the old shop open while the new shop gets set up was not an option. In a perfect world, the customers would not even know about the new shop until the first day it was open (and the old one was closed). But that was not possible, and thus we are where we are.

I'm helping Chris & Co out a little bit behind the scenes, and I can say that progress is being made. Everyone involved really wants it back up and running. But I can also say (in my professional capacity) that this would not be an easy project even for a team that was dedicating 8 hour days to it (and in the same office together rather than dispersed about the country). Challenges continue to be identified and solved, and ecards online will return and resume providing the invaluable service our community depends on.

I think the real question is "when?". The glib answer is "soon." Unfortunately, that's the only answer there is for now. So I would counsel continued patience.

Just my $0.02

[Rata]

Thanks for taking the time explaining all that Neilio. I'm pretty sure everyone here already understood that the task faced by Ecards was a vast, complex and time consuming one. You just laid it out in layman terms and I appreciate it.
The main angle of MichaelS starting this thread was just how we could work around the downtime (and support designers!) on a temporary basis.

Cheers, Garry G.

[airdave]

I'm going to post one more time, because this has really stressed me out.

My posts have been totally misinterpreted.
If i typed them badly, maybe...and I could apologize for that.

This isn't the first time there has been "whining" about when ecards is coming back.
That prompted my response.
But not in a mean way.
I wasn't trying to be sarcastic...and definitely not "smug and condescending".
I'm not even sure how that applies when I'm not talking about myself?

I agree with Rata (who continues to criticize me no matter what the topic)
that you all must have a good understanding of how much work goes on behind the scenes to get ecard back up and running...
so I'm baffled when Michael suggests "setting up a mini ecards".

But again, I will say with complete sincerity and honesty, I wasn't talking down to anyone, I was just soapboxing on the topic.
There was no need to respond to me in such a mean spirited way.

Why I have been insulted for not knowing who Brent was is also utterly ridiculous.
I tried to be totally honest about my ignorance or forgetfulness...but still I am criticized.

My second post was badly presented.
I used Brent's name in brackets to illustrate (one more time) my brain-blank on his name
but also to use his name to represent all designers.
I was attempting to speak to all who have models to sell.
I honestly was just presenting the options any designer could take at this point.
Once again, there was no smugness, no condescension, and no insult intended.

Then we come to CMDTED.
You've made a mistake assuming I was "condescending".
How you get away with the comments you have made is beyond me?
You start by insulting me and my work that you apparently "don't know".
To suggest in public I am taking meds and "off" them is extremely personal and insulting
and then telling me to f**k off and die?
I've tried to explain my intent and understand how my posts were misinterpreted.
If anyone should be criticised for the way they talk to other members, I should be a long way behind you.

[rickstef]

Micheal,

As much as I understand your desire to support the designers while ecardmodels is on a rebuild hiatus, I would like to impress on you that we(the administration of this forum) have had discussions about adding a store like feature to the forum, or even have Jason reopen his site Hobby Factory, we felt it was in the forum's interest and well being that we focus solely on forum, and let those who have a better online retail presence handle the selling of digital paper scale models.

While it could be technologically, and technically feasible to do what you initially asked, and some of the comments from Gman addressed those I hadn't considered, I will decline your suggestion for the forum to add a store or retail operations, we do allow all designers and publishers to share their new releases and their stores, we ultimately want to keep the focus on the forum.

As to some the other discussion going on in this thread, everyone needs to step back, remove the emotion from your reading, and process what has been put forth, Dave is perfectly correct in conveying the issues that are in play with the rebuild of ecardmodels, like he said, he is one of the people on that team rebuilding the site. So he has a better sense about what is going on than any of us.

Do keep in mind that we have a forum membership well over 79,000 people, and we have around 100 threads that have at least one response on a daily basis, people might only read what they have an interest in, or in my case, reading every post. I am aware of about some 200 people who post on a regular basis here on the forum, some I have met, most of them, I have not, yet. No blame needs to be given, or as the hip kids say throw shade on anybody's lack of knowing who who is, just by dropping a name.

I want to request everyone, and I mean everyone, to just sit back relax, model a bit, and consider how you want to respond to the next thread post, this is a hobby, not some heavy geo-political hot potato, modeling should bring a certain zen to you, it shouldn't be the manner in which your blood pressure rises.

Rick

[Vinalssergio155]

A magnificent explanation of the subject, now I think that all who see this thread we are clear about the work that this leads. I think Dave this is what he wanted us to understand, of course Dave's way of expressing himself sometimes can reach bother.It is sometimes convenient for the one who expresses to think that he can offend, and the one who reads take a little more time to reread. And let's go guys, this is a great place to enjoy, relax and have fun, for problems, discussions And bitter drinks with everyday life is enough. As long as the store is closed I think we can all dust off models printed long ago, or check the thousands of stored files waiting, or look for alternative stores, or I'm wrong? Greetings to all.

[Falco]

Let's all calm down build some models and post about them... ecardmodels.com will eventually come back and life will go on.

[sgoti]

Originally Posted by murphyaa

Before this gets too much more heated, I do have one question: did the Flutterby Boat get retired?

Considering how quickly things went from zero to "huh?", perhaps it encountered a rogue wave.

[sgoti]

Accidental double post.

Disregard

[airdave]

Originally Posted by murphyaa

Before this gets too much more heated, I do have one question: did the Flutterby Boat get retired?

Shes getting her Keel varnished.