coach 2009-11-13 16:03:00
anyone else getting irritated by the editors of the snowjapan site? seems like there have been a number of issues being brought up among some of the companies / friends here ie being harrassed for advertising dollars, banning of members from the forums for mentioning a company - not promoting them outright, etc. i know a lot of guys here in niseko participate and for the most part, the forums are a good thing, i used to write on them 10 yrs ago, and had a lot of fun but over the past couple of years they seem that their heads have grown with their popularity. the snowjapan editor has told a few of us that he doesn't care if we don't like the rules, he'll just ban us and move on. to me, that seems like a bit of a power trip. another can of worms here? well, that's the beauty of kutchannel, unless things get downright nasty, no censorship issues exist, and if you want to make a small promotion / pump up an event / mention a company / service in the area you can do it here...when the snow coming?
taco con queso (2009-11-13 18:00:18)
oach - agree agree agree...

I was there with you back in the old snowjapanguide.com days. It used to be good times. I was a regular contributor to the forums and posted almost daily journal updates - they were cool and really fun. I even won a pair of goggles once!

The past couple of years I've definitely noticed the editors of SnowJapan take the website in the wrong direction, primarily because of their harsh power-wielding attitude. Personally, I've been on the end of this by being banned from the forums not once, but twice. These two times always were resolved by my emails from myself to the editor basically apologizing and asking permission to be allowed back into the online community. Through the wording in the emails I received from the editor, I have no doubt of the satisfaction this power and control seemed to bring him.

Now I know that his reply to this such posting would be something along the lines of "if you don't like it (i.e. if you can't conform to my rules), then don't visit the website" etc. etc. The truth is that I enjoy the SJ site and it has grown considerably especially over the past few years, seemingly fueling ego growth at a similar rate. Niseko and other regions that are growing in popularity no doubt have a direct correlation to the growth and expansion of snowjapan.com .

Furthermore, aside from the social aspect of the online forums etc. I'm aware of the similar attitude being directed from the SJ editor which (more than one) local Niseko business has been on the end of when it comes to utilizing SJ as a (great) marketing tool. I can accept that parties do not see eye-to-eye, which is fine, but again, to be on the end of such negative and frankly downright rude and unprofessional correspondence sums a while lot up for me.

I've ranted long enough, but I believe that this idiot will end up hurting himself and his business and business relationships more in the long run. Meantime, I will have no further part in the snowjapan site (probably the way he wants it), and will not offer one iota of positive contribution or support to assist this idiot's head growing even bigger.

Hopefully somebody will be able to forward this thread to him, it'd be very interesting to hear his weak arguments and rationalization of such a negative, arrogant, obnoxious, dominating and overall unprofessional attitude to both online socialization and business (and life?) overall... Personally, I'd absolutely hate to have people view me this way... yuk.

Here's to the freedom and FUN of the Kutchannel community! Here here!!
Horace (2009-11-16 12:51:56)
Yeah Horace has gotta agree here -that geezer skank [edited by admin] guy who runs/owns that site has let his success run to his head and now he thinks he can be a prick and get away with it. Well I hope his pants fill up with pow and his gnads shrink to the size of his peanut brain.
He needs a lesson in manners/business practices...had no hesitation in pulling my own ad, especially as he can't even provide you with stats on how many actual hits come in to the relevant page.
His needs to respect the people who contribute to his site as they're the ones who make it popular and increase his hits hey. What's wrong with constructive reviews/criticism...
Admin (2009-11-16 13:47:03)
I fully grasp the irony of moderating a thread about another site's censorship policies, but I do need to ask that we leave real people's names out of the conversation, would appreciate voluntary compliance. Cool? Yoroshiku...

Quickly, unlike SnowJapan.com, The Kutchannel is left as open as possible. This has some costs associated with it, financial and social. The unmoderated nature of the forums makes the site and its content dificult to embrace for some advertisers, who don't want their brand to appear on the same page as words like "Nazi" :blink:

I've probably disappointed a user or two by intervening too much, at the same tiem disappointing somebody else for not intervening enough.

I can't fault other websites for wanting to monetize their sites. I do however believe in an open web, and I think if a site is going to host a forum, it should be as open as possible.

Lots of luck dislodging SnowJapan.com from their position atop the Google rankings though, that domain name is white dynamite, and they are the market leader, but rest assure, refugees and exiles are all welcome here!
taco con queso (2009-11-16 14:02:49)
Well put admin - agree with your points on naming folks and, maybe it's a bit too harsh to use certain terms.

BUT, (can I say idiot?) that idiot has let his popular website go right to his head and I'm interested to hear the views of others on this...?

Oh, and by the way - I tried posting a well mannered, sincere (not that all my previous input wasn't polite and sincere) post on snow japan on the weekend, and after I clicked post, I got a message saying that my post would be 'moderated' before being visible for public viewing. Guess what - it never showed up on the public thread!

What a loser.

Thoughts/comments?
Horace (2009-11-16 21:31:18)
Apologies Admin for the name dropping. Horace was a bit hot under the collar!
Tika Tika (2009-11-16 22:35:12)
Correct me if wrong, but I have heard that the operator of snow japan hasn't even visited Niseko or Hokkaido. If this is correct it strikes me as a little strange considering how much Niseko companies contribute in advertising revenue to snowjapan.

Common courtesy aside, isn't it business 101 to establish good client relationships? Hard to do if you are invisible.

Complacency is a dangerous thing for any web based company.
coach (2009-11-16 23:31:39)
admin is right, good luck getting them off of the google search rankings, that name is a keeper but like tika tika said complacency can be an evil and web-based dollars can be used elsewhere these days.

the company i used to work for was one of the first to list on their accommodation section but now there are so many listings it isn't worth the price, especially when you are copping attitude from them. This kind of word-of-mouth is not what I would want if I had a web-based company.

Also, tika tika mentioned that the editor (what was his name? :)) probably hasn't been up Niseko way, it probably is true, go native has been battling some of those guys from down south for years about Niseko being flat, etc. Maybe we should get them flights up here and have a good ol' wild-west night at Bills, digglar's on our team!
Pow!!! (2009-11-17 01:12:37)
SnowJapan.com Moderator

[video type=youtube]PbcctWbC8Q0[/video]
coach (2009-11-17 09:53:47)
haha powzel, think i heard him scream my name and threaten to lock my IP address!
taco con queso (2009-11-17 11:48:47)
hahaha!! well said tika. that's the snow japan guy on the day that his complacency bites him in the ass and he finally realizes that client relationships in fact ARE important in business.
Pow!!! (2009-11-29 13:28:43)
[video type=youtube]3-KQh87_V2Q[/video]
Horace (2009-11-29 15:49:40)
haha classic - Powzel where do you dig this stuff up from? One of those nazi zombies had the snowjapan logo on his uniform I think
COMMENT