Welcome back - There is a new kid (aka admin) in town

[Ge0rge]

Hi all

 

Just a short intro. I'm Ge0rge, the new admin of RWG. I am a 45 years old guy, based in Europe and ufortunately have never been part of the community, even though I am very interested in watches. Have been in touch with both gens and replicas and have been fascinated with the replicas and what seems to be high quality watches, if you are willing to pay a bit. Anyway;

Discovered the forum was on sale on a webmaster forum sale section and after some discussions old admin and checking out the forum, we agreed that for a small cost, I would keep the forum alive and take on all costs running it. Have been the owner of some other forums earlier, but mostly interested in the tech bit and have extensive experience with the forum software that RWG is running on. So I am now the new admin of RWG (yay!, i think).  After what I have heard, this forum desperately need som revival and hopefully we can all contribute to that 🤔 I know I will be relying on a lot of you, both when it comes to knowledge of the forum and the "business". Not to mention that I will be needing your help to get this place to liven up again. Hopefully some of the things described below, will help.

 

So, I just got the keys to this place yesterday and have been doing some snooping and based on this, some cleaning and changes in the background. This means I have probably stepped on some toes and perhaps degraded some members that should not have been degraded or messed up in other ways. If this has happened to you, shoot me a private message and we'll discuss it there.

 

The BIGGEST change I have done, besides the look, is based on the nature of the forum. I have closed it completely for new registrations . From now on, RWG will be more/only a "undercover" forum as this will hopefully allow for more of the activity we want and people don't have to feel like they have to look over their shoulder.  It will still be possible for new members to register, but this will require an invite. As soon as I have everything set up, you will all receive some invites you can use, if you have friends, colleagues, others who wants to visit the forum.

Based on what I can see, there was a lot of activity in the dealer section before, but not so much any longer, so I'm guessing we need to invite more active and trustworthy dealers here?  Just let me know, and I'll add extra invites to your account so that you can invite them onboard.

 

Another big change will be the pricing structure. I am sure we want a more active forum, with more engaged members and I need to get my expenses covered. Not 100% sure what this means myself, but I'll keep looking around and try to get my head around the setup and how things have been done, before I decide anything.

 

That is just a short first post and more changes will be made as I have time to look around and decide what to to with the forum. If you have any ideas, thoughts, literally, anything you feel can help the forum, feel free to share them below.  If you don't feel comfortable sharing this in public, send me a private message! The old admin told be there are other forum also out there, with more members and activity? How are they better and what do they have that this place doesn't have? Feel free to shoot me a private message if there are stuff you don't want to talk about in the forums. And also; I know there is an admin team here,  but if you feel like you can contribute in any way, send me a PM and let me know. We need a good team to get this place on its feet again.

[automatico]

Sounds good!

[louky]

Hi George,Welcome and good luck to your new venture here,I just got my login back today ,thanks!

[freddy333]

Hi George and welcome.
15 years ago, RWG was the benchmark for rep/gen watch-talk forums, but as the forum's theme veered away from the more hardware/technical aspects of watch collecting (eg, technical reviews, construction projects, trusted dealers new wares, etc) & moved into games/contests, I think members got bored & left. I know some of us old mods did. Fast-forward a decade &, in spite of attempts to post new & compelling content, RWG pretty much remains a ghost town. So I think you will need to find a way to rebuild the original intent & theme of the forum before it will be able to attract the large, active regular membership it used to enjoy. Based on the membership numbers of some of the other rep forums, there is obviously still ALOT of interest in rep & gen watches, but I think you will need to find a way to tease back, which will be the challenge.

I understand your desire to limit new registrations for security reasons, but in doing so, I think you are handicapping your ability to grow the forum in any meaningful way.

That is my 2 cents.

[Buddhabar]

Very nice...thanks.

With the arrival of spring we needed fresh air in the forum.

[madasboot]

Welcome George.

As R. well says, sounds good.

 

M.

[DemonSlayer]

Welcome George.

 

I used to visit this forum a lot before and enjoyed interacting with members here.

[jackflash]

Welcome Ge0rge!

Great to hear you have taken RWG on! I wish you the very best!

The other rep forums to check out are listed below. Many members here will be members there too:

https://www.rwg.bz
https://forum.replica-watch.info
https://www.repgeek.com

Replica Watch Info likely being the most popular. As well as the listing for trusted dealers, arguably being driven by the member-to-member sales section rather than the knowledge base for reps and modding.

A few years ago RWG updated the sales section functionality here. It became too complex and clunky. I believe this contributed to the demise in its popularity. Even when the original sales section functionality was reinstated, the damage had been done.

Tapatalk, for me at least, is great for forum-hopping. So I hope RWG will still be available on it. RWI left Tapatalk fairly recently, which is unfortunate. The mobile browser they have is good though. Just not as convenient as having all the forums in one place.

The other impact on the traditional rep-forums has been Reddit which has numerous communities for rep watches.

Looking forward to what you and the future will bring to RWG!

[danielv2000]

Welcome George and congrats.  I like the new look.

 

RWG was my go-to for acquiring knowledge on building high-end replica watches.  

 

Best of luck.  I hope we can re-energize this place.

 

 

[Buddhabar]

Welcome George...
It is not easy to manage a forum, but it will certainly be a great challenge for you.
Personally, I've always thought RWG was a nice forum, but certainly much livelier in the past, probably also for the section of the market. Then there were changes that perhaps dampened everyone's enthusiasm.
Thank you for your support... know that in this forum there are very good and competent members.
Good job to you George.

[cornerstone]

Welcome Ge0rge.