Why don't people post?

[paul]

I know that I have had a couple of times where I wanted to play something different for a while 15mm Ancients and ACW. After a while I have come back and the board has gotten quieter since before I left. It would be nice to have all the guys back and posting.

[pmskaar]

There are a lot of interesting comments here.

I have been a member of the GHQ forum for a number of years now. I probably post once or twice a week on average and occasionally more often.

I have not seen any level of personal attacks or bashing in this forum that some claim happens on a fairly regular basis. I do check the forum daily and mostly its just regular people showing us pictures of their work or discussing various projects they are working on or talking about various subjects related to the real world or the gaming world.

I have seen many examples of vitriol and "hatred" on some other gaming forums fairly regularly but this forum has kept a sense of focus and decorum that I think GHQ has a right to be proud of and the moderators have done a great job as well.

As to why some of the original members no longer post, I can't say for certain in each case. Some may have dropped out of gaming all together, some have passed on, some may have changed scales, and maybe some others have just lost interest for one reason or another or are too busy in their real world endeavors.

Am I a GHQ "Fanboy". I would have to say yes to that. I do my gaming in 1/285th scale and have not yet seen a reason to change to a different scale. I also have purchased many 1/2400 scale micronauts with the intention of getting a few naval games in at some point as well as other GHQ products.
I have never seen anyone squashed by GHQ "Fanboys" on this forum as is alleged but perhaps my memory needs refreshing. I have seen a lot more vitriol on other forums in terms of product hatred out there>
i have some criticism of some of the individual GHQ products but overall they are excellent. If you want to know what GHQ products could be improved, send me a private e-mail and we can discuss it.

This is a great forum for a niche hobby such as ours. In some ways we are a niche within a niche and overall I think this forum does a great job. I would like to see more people post in the future and this forum continue to grow and support our hobby.

Pete - Binpicker, Out!

[piersyf]

Just to clarify: my definition of a GHQ fanboy is someone who complains that a certain model is not available but will only buy GHQ products. For me, it takes a specific type and level of complaint on the part of the poster to qualify as a fanboy. I only game in 1:285 scale as well, but GHQ only comprise about 65% of the minis I have. If the model is 'of a standard' I'll buy from CinC by preference, because they're cheaper. If the model is only available from CinC, that's where I buy it. I don't whine on this forum that it is not available. I am not a fanboy (by my definition) although I very much like GHQ products (in general).

[AllenRockwell]

I just stumbled upon this topic for the first time today; it's a very interesting discussion. I have a couple of random points to add to the discussion. As someone pointed out early in the thread, the GHQ forum has about 7000 real human members and about 1000 of them posted the forum, in my opinion, that's a pretty high ratio for any online forum. Normally, in forums most people just "lurk" and read the posts and move on.

When I was at Historicon this year, I had several long discussions with Channing and one of them was about GHQ forum. I'll tell you guys what I told Channing in that discussion, I think the GHQ forum is one of the best gaming related forums on the Internet. And that has nothing to do with the forum software, how it's organized, or how it works; it has everything to do with the people that use it. As someone who's in the gaming industry myself, I visit a lot of online forums to keep up on what's happening in the industry. However, there are very few forums that I actually participate in, and GHQ's forum is at the top of the list of ones that I do participate in regularly. The people who use this forum are knowledgeable, courteous, respectful, helpful, and just generally nice people that have a passion for this product and this hobby. I've even met a few GHQ forum members "in real life" and those experiences have been great. We have all been to forums where it seems that the main point is to argue with one another and call each other names, GHQs forum is not one of those places.

In reading this thread, I did see a few mention of people discussing non-GHQ products on this forum, and how the practice is discouraged. People need to remember that this is a GHQ product support and customer support forum, this forum has been bought and paid for by GHQ miniatures, and they are entitled to make and enforce the rules as they see fit and I have no problem with that. With that being said, I think GHQ is pretty lenient in this area,,, they do let a lot slide without comment. (case in point, a recent post promoting a set of rules being available with direct links to buy it on another website .... I was shocked that GHQ let that one slide ... but they did).

Yes, I too am a GHQ fanboy, almost every piece of Micro Armor I own is made by GHQ with the rare exception of a few I make myself and a few from companies that no longer exist and a very small handful from that other company. Probably, 95% of my collection is GHQ ... and that's because I love their stuff. GHQs minis are not always perfectly to scale, but they look amazing and I love them.

[ferret701]

I don't post as much as a I used to either. However, this is not due to any dissatisfaction with the site, but due to the fact that GHQ models are only one part of a larger ecosystem. I post new photos of GHQ models I've done on the "Show Us Your Stuff" thread, but that accounts for perhaps a quarter of what I'm doing, and it goes in bursts (for example, I went about 4 months without painting anything new by GHQ, and instead focused on H&R's new releases, though that should change this week).

Beyond that, I have purchased all three major sets of GHQ rules, plus Micro Force Civil War. As it turns out, Micro Force: ACW is the only one I actually play. I'm hooked on FFT for moderns and WWII.

I think a more fundamental issue, however, is that many of the major topics (painting style, modeling preferences, OOBs, etc) have been covered ad nauseum, and no one wants to rehash them.

Pat Callahan

[thetourist]

That's a really good point Pat. I think we have covered a lot of the nuts and bolts topics that collectors new and old are likely to ask. That said, I've never seen anyone turned away or told to go fin the info on the forums themselves if they ask a questions that has been covered already. I use the forums less than I used to, but not because I was turned off by membership. I still check in several times a week. If I had a question, this is the first place I'd go to get it answered. That includes current events (as it relates to gaming, see the Russia V Ukraine thread) technique, rules, terrain or whatever.

[AllenRockwell]

Direct links removed - that thread was resurrected from 2011!

Ooops, I did not mean to rat anyone out. I figured it was being left alone for some reason I was not aware of.

Someone probably hates me and wishes I would shut my big mouth right now

[BurtWolf]

This forum is fantastic. I visit it every day just for light reading. It is always positive and the experts who frequent here are extremely helpful. I understand GHQ's position on other products and I do think they are pretty helpful when it comes down to this.

I started GHQ minis about a year and half ago - before that I was a strictly cardboard gamer. The last model I painted was 31 years ago, and I didn't even know what the term dry brushing meant. Thanks to many of you, I have made such progress painting and detailing, and creating my own terrain. I now have 9 terrain boards, over 700 minis and ... no one to play with except my 15 year old son... I guess it is an addiction of sorts.

I feel like my stuff is not really up to snuff for posting but one of these days I will throw it on the forum. Like I said no one has ever been critical!!

Thanks to all of those who post, keep posting it is a world of help to new guys like me!

Mel

[pmskaar]

Hey BurtWolf

Welcome to the wonderful world of GHQ and this forum. I too, used to be a board gamer exclusively but have been doing both miniatures and board games for 25 years now at least.

I am a GHQ Fanboy as defined by Piersyf. I do prefer GHQ products unless I am in a real bind and GHQ does not have what I need. In most cases, GHQ makes what I need with a few exceptions. In some cases I will wait if I know GHQ will produce something in the future. I realize everyone may not think like me but I have seen some anti-GHQ bias on other forums from some people.

I have seen at least one other miniatures related forum where there is a whole lot more bad feelings and rancor displayed. I have hardly seen any sort of problems on this forum that I have experienced from some other forums.
This is the one forum that I contribute to on a fairly regular basis because I think it is a class act overall and the discussions are mostly related to things I am interested in.

Pete - Binpicker, Out!

[6mmwargaming]

I'm a bit of an infrequent poster as well. Like many others I get easily distracted on other periods scales although modern microarmour is my first love

This year I think I have only painted 2 batches of micro vehicles (about 10 in each batch) and the main reason is for a lack of WW2 and Moderns rules that i want to play. I tried WRG rules for years but find that I dont want to play them any more and have not found a 1 to 1 scale set I like. One reason for a lack of painting 6mm in general was I found my eyesight wasn't up to painting to the level i wanted anymore. But I brought a magnifying lamp and now I'm painting the best 6mm infantry that I ever have.

I wouldn't call myself a GHQ fanboy mostly because I cant afford GHQ as much anymore and the ranges still have gaps. They are generally my 1st choice although probably only 1/3rd of my collection so stuff I finish is kind of a scattered selection of models.

I'm not sure when my motivation will come back, I have started writing some Moderns rules (more a game than a simluation) and still have a massive pile of stuff to paint.


Cheers
Kieran

[Dog Smack]

For me it's more about the opportunity to post and also having something worthwhile to put in that post. This summer I have been gone and when I came back I moved. So I haven't had a chance to post much. I do have a few items that are very close to being finished and once I have some time I will post the pictures.

I try to check the forums as much as possible as other posters have good insights on various topics of our hobby. It is a great place to learn new techniques and see others work. I myself have learned quite a bit from this forum alone. I'm not a gamer but enjoy reading AARs and battle reports as I get to see others models and terrain. This forum is a great source of inspiration. I hope to see more people post more often and I include myself when I say that. Sometimes it's just a matter of timing.

Steve