ryyannon

Star Trek Out-takes: Kirk's Confession.GIF

D4Me, Great post, but you forgot to mention that you don't understand why TTK never answers your PMs...

Well said, Bigsy. What you have to understand is that TTK is a special case: think of him (as he does of himself) as the modern-day incarnation of Thor or perhaps Zeus. As such he enjoys near-diplomatic immunity from the rules that govern such common mortels as we.... Once you understand this you'll see that the old bugger means well and is always good for a laugh.

Getting that watch was a great stroke of luck, Ubi - Sphagettiman is a both a gentleman and a great person to do a deal with. The only time I take that watch off my wrist is to wind it. Now if only I could find that WM 2533 vintage....

@JTB: Thanks....I would have said Kate Smith trying to hide behind a cigar. @ robertk: You're right: location is everything. So is timing. If you look just to the left of Usils arm, I can tell you that the girl in the green top and white bottoms was a stunner. It's a pity that Pug's shutter didn't open four seconds earlier.... Speaking of Pug, looks like he's chilling for the evening. As for the rest of the French contigent, can't say where they are....

@ETA: It's a Dali. As for the title, all I can say is that it's not the Mona Lisa.

Hi Golfman, It looks like I've just come down with Asian Bird Flu (la grippe avaire) but before they take me off to the hospital, I'll have just enough strength to meet with anyone who shows up at Le Select tomorrow evening..... That's the idea right? Café le Select on Blvd. Montparnasse around 7? Outside if it's nice, and inside in case of tornado?

Best one-liner of the month If I didn't know it came from you I would have sworn it was one of Clive's....

That poll lost me after the first question. Didn't complete it. Doesn't make sense to me. :-( (But so little does, these days....) I know you're the boss around here, Admin, but I have to say that I think that Ken's poll was the way to go. Addendum: I just tried again, with the same results. There seems to be a big disconnect between question 4 (should there be a discount for annual or semi-annual memberships?) and 6 (if you answered 'no' to 4 then 'you don't agree in supporting the forum' or something like that). Maybe I just don't know how to read anymore. It's possible..... Addendum to Addendum: Ok, I confess to being an idiot. Question 6 relates to question 1 and not question 4 (as clearly explained). The trouble is that I barely got any sleep last night. The trouble is that it's probably a very well-designed and clever poll, but I always resent it when I actually have to think. Sorry Admin.

"Visit RWG 2nd Floor VIP Room: Long-time loving with Special Positions!"

I know what you mean: the most 'honest' responses are going to be those who say it should be free but even factoring in for people who commit to a price-point it should still reveal a median view of what people are willing to contribute. Providing we get enough responses - and I think we will. Cripes, what if you give a poll and nobody shows up...... Maybe RWG should become a fast-food forum?

I don't think of the other boards as opposition - or even competition, but you guys might have insights into situations of which I'm not aware. For me, the other boards represent different alternatives, for the time being, free. But to my knowledge, RWG1 has stopped offering the possibility of watch sales on the site; RWI appears to magically have no or little need of member support (and the more power to them), while TRC seems to attract a lower-key crowd as well as much less traffic than this board. As for the WatchTrader, the forum seems to be quietly expiring with very little activity at all. And my sincere apologies to any and all connected to the above-named sites for any (purely unintentional) erroneous opinions concerning them that I've just given. The bottom line is how many paying members does RWG need to comfortably stay afloat? How many people who are currently non-paying members will stick around if a financial contribution becomes necessary for being here? I'm all for separating the wheat from the chaff, or put another way, keeping the members who feel that RWG is unique and irreplaceable enough to merit paying for; but I certainly have no idea how many people will actually stay if and when membership payment becomes mandatory. At the current 7.6 percent, things can't get much worse. Could we hope for a 25, 35, 45 or 55 percent increase? Where's the break-even point? How many people out of the 2,700 listed members check in regularly? How many register once, and never come back? What's the weather going to be like tomorrow? I'm certain that Admin and the people surrounding him are canny enough to make an educated guess and take a calculated risk - or else either drag along like we have been or find other ways of generating revenue. I wonder if it would be worthwhile (or possible) to post an anonymous survey in which members could indicate (yes/no) whether they would be willing to pay a membership fee and at what price-point (perhaps in multiples of $15.00, ie, $15, 30, 45, 60). Anonymous, because if this thread is any indication, most people don't have the courage to come right out and say 'No, I wouldn't pay a cent for being here!' or thoughts of a similar nature. If members could simply anonymously (and just once) access the survey and hit the choice-buttons, we might get an idea of what's possible and what's not. This thread in itself has generated around 1,800 hits since it was first posted. Many of them are repeaters - people like me coming back either to post or to read the latest post. That in itself might offer an inidication of what we can expect: anywhere from 500 to 1,000 people interested enough in RWG's long-term survival to be willing to pay for it. Maybe even less than 500.... But we need to have at least a ball-park idea. More astute members might be able to deduce the actual number of people who regularly use the board by looking at the daily traffic statistics, but whoever and how many they are, this thread is probably a first glimpse into who might still be around once a paid membership becomes required. I'd still be very interested to see the responses to a survey on the question.... Once again, just my two cents - and more creative than just posting a 'Bump.'

Admin certainly knows, but if you want an instantaneous idea, just take a look at the membership status at the bottom of the MAIN forum page, which displays the names of everyone online. It's always a rather sobering experience, and consistantly reveals that approximately 10 to 12 percent of the forum participants are offering a free ride to everyone else. At the risk of being misunderstood (hmmm...something familiar about that word) and taken for a snotty, despotic and authoritarian jerk, allow me to say that I would never expect a 100 percent supporting membership rate. I can well imagine many reasons for not contributing, and I can easily live with the idea that a certain percentage of members simply cannot - or will not - bring themselves to ante up. Doesn't bother me at all - and welcome aboard just the same..... But 85 to 90 percent? While Admin pays the deficit out of his own pocket? Instead of bemoaning the stories of injustice, selfishness and indifference that we see every evening on the news, I would suggest that you understand that the same phenomenon is taking place right here and right under your very nose. And while it's not a genocide or a famine, the existence of this forum is not economically viable without increased - and immediate - member support. I'm confident that in time, a more equitable system of financial participation will be worked out, allowing the majority to offer a modest contribution to keep the servers up and running, rather than the current situation in which a minority is attemping - and failing for lack of wider participation - to pay the bills. Which is why I keep hammering at the hundreds of members out there who apparently are just going along for the ride: some of you are going to have to figure out that your support is needed right now, and not in six months when a new conception of membership payment has been put into place. In the meantime, I'll probably keep bumping this thread back up - waiting for the light to go on in another member's brain: signifying that he or she has understood that RWG is a community - something that demands a certain degree of community spirit - rather than your personal playground, offered to you by a handful of altruistic and wealthy individuals whose only objective in life is to permit you obtain the best possible products at the best possible prices, along with the possibility of complaining when your playground temporarily goes off-line. I could go on like this for ages, but if you haven't gotten it by now, you never will no matter what I - or anyone else says here. Now get back to looking for that perfect watch....sorry to have distracted you once again....

Bump Before this thread sinks below the horizon. It's clear that the supporting members have already had their say; as to the free-riders, I guess something's preventing them from posting in this thread.... Can't imagine what. ATTITUDE PROBLEM? WHAT ATTITUDE PROBLEM?

God?

Don't flatter yourself, dude. No one's really paying much attention to you. Most of the people following this thread aren't reading it for what you've got to say - which is essentially nothing. Guys like you come along every few months and try to stir up a bit of [censored] before they disappear....leaving a faint odor of poo behind them - and no regrets concerning their absence. Happy trails, chump.

To all: I think I actually have a new idea to propose here - slightly in tune with several discussions and some intense activity (over 6,000 views and 245 posts in Richard Tracy's IWC group buy thread)..... What if....future group buys were restricted to supporting members only? Would it be suceptible to gumming up the process (not enough people) or would it - as the intended objective - stimulate membership upgrades? I understand that having as many people as possible participate in a group purchase can determine the discount, but there must be a point of diminishing returns for the dealer at which - irrespective of how many people participate in the deal - the price can go no lower. Might it not be interesting to experiment with the idea.....for instance, in giving priority to supporting members to attain the desired discount. If the desired price-point can be attained, then no non-supporting member gets in. If more people are needed, a requisite and limited number of non-supporting members are allowed in until the discount-zone is reached. I've personally never particpated in a group buy - nor even followed the dynamics of seeing one take shape - so perhaps those who've actually put one together would be better placed to judge the worth of my suggestion. But to me, it does seem to have a certain poetic (in economic terms) justice: you've got to spend some up front to save some more.a little further down the line. Like I say, I'm just floating this to see what others think.... Your comment are most welcome.

Good man. That leaves about 100 other members currently connected to go..... Anyone else ready to stand up and be counted?

"WTF are the Glasgow Celtics....?" The Glasgow Celtics are a rag-tag group of cross-dressing, bicycle-seat sniffing Druids of doubtful morals, sexuality and intelligence, whose main activity consists of doing half-assed send-ups of a man called TTK on whom they are fixated for reasons too complicated to explain here. Needless to say, their badly-aimed darts, rubber-tipped toy arrows and kool-aid filled squirt guns rarely ever perturbe the Olympian calm of the realms inhabited by TTK, who - despite his strong Buddhist leanings - considers them as little more than the occasional gnat to be swatted with whatever's handy - before returning to his main activity of making sure that all the cogs, gears and pinions of the Universe are well-lubricated with repeated administrations of his own, patented special formula Milk of Human Kindness Lotion. It's rumored that Chuck Norris himself would like to be a member of the Glasgow Celtics....

Bump. Any more of you guys feeling generous today/tonight?

Makes me regret that I didn't spring for one when it was still possible. Like they say, 'you don't know what you've got 'till it's gone...".

We had a very enjoyable afternoon together.... Pug may be posting some pics later on.... Looking forward to meeting the rest of you guys on Thursday!

That depends which one of them you're talking to. Neil doesn't talk to me, but according to Chuck, Neil has always been his inspiration and role-model.... He certainly got pretty broken up about Neil not responding to his request for an autographed photo. It was the only time Chuck Norris ever cried in his life. Neil has that effect on some people....

And The Lord said unto Paul and the Dealers (in a mixture of French and English) assembled before Him: "I Shall Make Thee Meneurs of Fish!" (Ryyannon's, Prayer: "O Lord, Please Give Me The Strength To Stop Displaying My Insanity In Posts Like These..").

Neil once totally stopped a speeding taxi that his friend Chuck Norris was in just by looking at it in a certain way....