Wanna know what grinds my gears?
I run a forum with over 100 thousand members, as such I receive (just from RWI and in addition to RWG traffic as well as work* related stuff) 50 to 80 PMs and 50 plus emails a day. I answer every single one of 'em within 24 hours but what pisses me off is those people who send me a PM such as "No worries bro, I added the required info to the thread" without either a link or a quoted PM string.
Please, please folks if you are conversing with me use either a PC or your phone's browser NOT Tapatalk. Tapa does not quote the PM string and there is no way I can keep 100 plus current conversations straight in my head. I NEED the string to work out WTF you are on about!
Same applies to folk who PM me and ask about (for example) a price change in a sales thread or a change of nick. Please guys we have sales mods to handle the first and an excellent Help Desk system to take care of the second. I can't personally handle every issue even tho I'd like to. Folks, if you have a basic issue use the Help Desk as it will be a lot faster than asking me.
The same goes for our long suffering staff, don't bog them down with shit. The number of Help Desk tickets we get that go something like "XXXXX dealer sent me a dead watch, contact them and do something about it" is amazing. The one's I'm on about have not made any attempt themselves to even ask the dealer, they expect us to it for them. Then there is the "XXXX member has a watch for sale, I made an offer and he has not got back me, why not?" I don't know and he can sell to who ever he likes, it isn't my or any other staffer's problem.
If you have a genuine issue we are more than happy to help, that's why we are here but please, try to work it out yourself first. Staff are volunteers and have only so much time, there is only so much they can give.
We the owners and staff of RWI love this place and if we didn't we would not be here but we can not be expected to be at the beck and call of every man jack who has not tried to work shit out before expecting staff to solve their issues for them.
Unfortunately most of those who will read this are acutely aware of this already and realise we all have a life and a family as well as a vocation outside of this place. I am fortunate in that I can devote a lot of time here as a lot of my income streams take care of themselves but most if not all of the rest have conventional jobs that take up 40 plus hours a week as well as families that need them. Funnily enough it's the people who contribute not a jot financially to the board who are the most demanding. Most of the Supporters are switched on enough to realise the limitations under which we the staff and owners work. I wish this place made me and the other owners enough to make a living out of it and pay our staff at least a token amount but it doesn't for the simple reason that most users do not contribute to the place financially. If every member gave just a dollar a year we would be laughing but that is not the case and the owners have always said that contributing should be optional and as one of them I support that as do the rest. Yeah we could flood the place in adverts like WUS or charge TDs (we do charge Supporting Vendors a small fee but it's token) but we choose not to because that level of adverts would ruin the place and charging TDs would take away from the impartially of our governance of them.
If I gave you the figures for what it costs to run this place you'd shit. Secure servers, software, bandwidth, legales and the rest, it all adds up but it pays for itself if only just. It would be great to be able to give a bit more back to staff but we can't so please, cut them a break and work it out yourselves and get them involved only when you must. Without the incredible dedication of staff and the hours they put in this place would no longer exist. They are the heart and soul of RWI, don't abuse their service.
/end rant
* Yes work, like the rest of the staff I have a life and a job. I'm just fortunate that my job takes up less of my time than most. If I needed to rely on this place for an income I'd be destitute in the blink of an eye as would everyone who as a financial interest in the joint.
PS: So those other than Rolex/Tudor folk can have a chance to "Grind Their Gears" I'm moving this to general 'cause grinding gears is something everyone should do now and again.
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