Chris-
I hope you don't consider WickedFire.com a threat or even a competitor for you, because it's not. Maybe Lee and Tyler's new forums I can understand, but definitely not mine. My goals for my forum are a lot different from that of yours. We had spoken about this a few months ago too, and you said that the direction I wanted to head in was not the direction you wanted to go into. Which is totally understandable, and I respect your opinions. At the moment, I don't think WF is in competition with anyone. I made a forum that I would want to hang out at, and do things that other forums wouldn't let me do, like speak my mind without getting moderated for it, or censored even (I think people know by now that I have a love for profanity).
I didn't expect it to explode and become popular so quickly. I didn't offer money either, just some niche sites I figured people would be interested in running to learn how to make money on their own.
Bottom line, I'm friends with Lee, you and Tyler. I speak to Lee and Tyler almost everyday too, and will continue to do so even when all of our forums have launched and are fighting over market share. I think that if we all aimed for specific niches (which I think we already are) within the internet marketing industry, there is enough room for all of us to thrive in and slowly take over the market share from the big 3 or 4 forums out there, that, well quite frankly are dinosaurs compared to ours.
Lee's forum focuses on big and small time money makers and sharing ideas about it. I for one think that's a brilliant idea, and definitely a niche within itself. Your forum is a very serious place where people share ideas on making money too, but I think with a more "what SPF used to be" tone, which is great, and none of us are going after that either. Are you in direct competition with Lee? I don't really think so, but maybe you guys have a smiliar tone to your forums. I'm not really sure which direction Tyler is headed into just yet, but even so, he's a friend of mine and I really don't see that changing anything between all of us. More forums give the community more of an option of where to find new information from a plethora of different sources. The big guns out there now, like SPF, WMW, DP, etc. they are all doing the same sort of thing with a different format as far as design goes. If you look at them, they are all pretty much the same thing. You can't do this or that, or say this or that on there. All of the information is VERY general and bland. Sure, it's a great place to meet new people within the industry and network, but the information is what keeps people there and chatting. If you have shitty information to provide, then you're only as good as the next guy.
Again, this is where I think we all differ from one another. I am aiming for a laid back approach where anyone in the internet marketing industry can just come here and kick back with his/her new friends on here. It's a fantastic place for networking, the environment is completely cool and no one has a forum out there like mine either, so it's more of an outlet to just chill out and relax once in a while. Sure, we discuss business, but I think that what makes WickedFire different is that the approach to the discussions have a not so serious tone, even though, we are serious people. I think it's just time for people to have more fun with their forums rather than try and impress people and constantly be Mr Serious. WP definitely does not have the same tone as WF does. And EF has a much more serious tone than both of ours put together. But compared to the big boys, ours are definitely a lot more fun to hang out at, and share information with a smaller amount of people. I don't think any of us want 100,000 members. I know I'm going to leave that up to the big guys and you guys too. I just want the bulk of the guys and girls from the internet marketing industry who want to make cash, but have a sense of humor about it too. I'm creating my own niche based on well, me. This is the way I want to have fun when I'm working, and I think there are plenty of people out there who feel the same way. So my forum is for them, whereas a lot of the SPF dropouts are more for you or for Lee.
Anyhow, hit me up if you'd like because unlike the idiots at SPF, I appreciate what you have to offer, and I want to make you a mentor at my forum. People have always respected your word and I for one was pretty upset to see your forced exit from there. It was all downhill at SPF from there my friend, and I think a lot of people know it too. But what's SPF's loss is our gain, so in the end we all win.
imp:
I hope you don't consider WickedFire.com a threat or even a competitor for you, because it's not. Maybe Lee and Tyler's new forums I can understand, but definitely not mine. My goals for my forum are a lot different from that of yours. We had spoken about this a few months ago too, and you said that the direction I wanted to head in was not the direction you wanted to go into. Which is totally understandable, and I respect your opinions. At the moment, I don't think WF is in competition with anyone. I made a forum that I would want to hang out at, and do things that other forums wouldn't let me do, like speak my mind without getting moderated for it, or censored even (I think people know by now that I have a love for profanity).
I didn't expect it to explode and become popular so quickly. I didn't offer money either, just some niche sites I figured people would be interested in running to learn how to make money on their own.
Bottom line, I'm friends with Lee, you and Tyler. I speak to Lee and Tyler almost everyday too, and will continue to do so even when all of our forums have launched and are fighting over market share. I think that if we all aimed for specific niches (which I think we already are) within the internet marketing industry, there is enough room for all of us to thrive in and slowly take over the market share from the big 3 or 4 forums out there, that, well quite frankly are dinosaurs compared to ours.
Lee's forum focuses on big and small time money makers and sharing ideas about it. I for one think that's a brilliant idea, and definitely a niche within itself. Your forum is a very serious place where people share ideas on making money too, but I think with a more "what SPF used to be" tone, which is great, and none of us are going after that either. Are you in direct competition with Lee? I don't really think so, but maybe you guys have a smiliar tone to your forums. I'm not really sure which direction Tyler is headed into just yet, but even so, he's a friend of mine and I really don't see that changing anything between all of us. More forums give the community more of an option of where to find new information from a plethora of different sources. The big guns out there now, like SPF, WMW, DP, etc. they are all doing the same sort of thing with a different format as far as design goes. If you look at them, they are all pretty much the same thing. You can't do this or that, or say this or that on there. All of the information is VERY general and bland. Sure, it's a great place to meet new people within the industry and network, but the information is what keeps people there and chatting. If you have shitty information to provide, then you're only as good as the next guy.
Again, this is where I think we all differ from one another. I am aiming for a laid back approach where anyone in the internet marketing industry can just come here and kick back with his/her new friends on here. It's a fantastic place for networking, the environment is completely cool and no one has a forum out there like mine either, so it's more of an outlet to just chill out and relax once in a while. Sure, we discuss business, but I think that what makes WickedFire different is that the approach to the discussions have a not so serious tone, even though, we are serious people. I think it's just time for people to have more fun with their forums rather than try and impress people and constantly be Mr Serious. WP definitely does not have the same tone as WF does. And EF has a much more serious tone than both of ours put together. But compared to the big boys, ours are definitely a lot more fun to hang out at, and share information with a smaller amount of people. I don't think any of us want 100,000 members. I know I'm going to leave that up to the big guys and you guys too. I just want the bulk of the guys and girls from the internet marketing industry who want to make cash, but have a sense of humor about it too. I'm creating my own niche based on well, me. This is the way I want to have fun when I'm working, and I think there are plenty of people out there who feel the same way. So my forum is for them, whereas a lot of the SPF dropouts are more for you or for Lee.
Anyhow, hit me up if you'd like because unlike the idiots at SPF, I appreciate what you have to offer, and I want to make you a mentor at my forum. People have always respected your word and I for one was pretty upset to see your forced exit from there. It was all downhill at SPF from there my friend, and I think a lot of people know it too. But what's SPF's loss is our gain, so in the end we all win.
imp: