CCL Messageboard

Ok back on topic.

I don't really think it matters if the new store front ever makes a penny, I am sure they do though, lol. However if it boosts the moral of the owners and makes them miss/love CCL more then isnt that a positive. Sometimes it just takes a new fresh coat of paint to make you love that old bike sitting in your shed again.

Very eloquent, sir :) For us, it's not so much as loving or missing CCL, because our love for CCL has never changed. As I said in another post, "Just because I can't take you to Disneyland doesn't mean I don't love you." There is a direct correlation to the amount of updates this site has been able to make and the amount of money that's came in. This is really nothing new to you guys. But the CCL store gives us a nice face in our local community AND for those who have stopped in from the site just to see who we are and what we're about. Giving me a choice of a large office and no retail space or a small office and a way for CCL to make money is a no-brainer to me.

What was the topic again? Oh yeah, the Brick & Mortar store!

I think it's a good, positive development and I can't wait to make my second visit to the offices and see it first hand. I'll let you know when I'm coming to town Steve!

My only quibble (if you can call it that) is in the timing of the announcement. As I and others stated it probably would have gone over better if it was mentioned after a post giving us some information about the new stuff coming. The way it looked to some people is that was what was referenced in the "It's Coming" tease. No harm, no foul. I believe that you have done a lot to assuage peoples concerns. It seems that there is more positivity now than a few days ago.

I am very much anticipating the new look!

All good points as usual, MK!

Here's my thing: just because some of the membership doesn't LIKE my announcements doesn't mean I'm going to stop making announcements when our site does anything new. I'm just not built that way. I'm very proud of this particular project being as it's something that is not technical in nature AND it costs us nothing to implement. The "It's Coming" thing was a tongue in cheek way of announcing the storefront. Did everyone like it? Not necessarily. Then again, it did get a lot of attention AND it is NOT the last announcement we'll be making this year. lol

Well that's disappointing.

Out of respect for the community due to past problems, I don't make formal announcements to the community on things that aren't ready to be announced yet...which was out of respect and at the request of the community based off of past announcements.

Are any subscriber annual fees, monthly store fees and/or sales commissions funding the brick and mortar store?

This would be interesting to find out. I get the feeling that they're going to either say no, or that it's not to be disclosed. A look at the financial statements of the company would be interesting.

My vote is that the store is going to be funded with the revenue from this site.

It's an excellent question. How did the recent acquisition of 9,000 back-issues get funded?
Is the store already self-sufficient (comic book stores are VERY profitable these days!)?
I'd like to know:
--how many paying subscribers did CCL have the January after sub fees were implemented
--how many paying subscribers does CCL currently have
--how many paying subscribers does CCL expect to STILL have in January
--how much of the subscription income goes to development (not just what percentage, but an actual dollar amount)
--how much of the subscription income goes to the B&M store
and here are my biggest questions:
Since the software is FREE and the database that subscribers pay for access to costs CCL NOTHING (remember, all data is provided for FREE by users and added to the database for FREE by the volunteer approvers), what is the profit margin and what is the CEO salary?

Glad this was brought up again. Because here we are 2 months after all this thread's drama (or the thread that brought this thread up). And I feel we've all been B.S.-ed at this point.

We were all assured that all these software and website changes were happening after all of us paying customers were worried that finances and focus would shift from the online site and to the brick and mortar store.

Well guess what, so far you guys have proven us right. The website and software haven't got a lick of changes, but you guys keep going on and on about your brick and mortar store.

So all this talk about promises, and us acting out line and expecting too much; was nothing from my point of view. We weren't acting out of line, and exactly the thing we were all worried about and complaining about as paying customers, were warranted worries. We are getting put on the back-burner AGAIN, for this brick and mortar store.

I just hope we see some action soon, and I don't get told I'm just being a whiney this time, for saying what I'm sure everyone here is thinking at this point.

And at this point, we need some action, words are just gonna sound like more B.S.

BTW, your strategy of pulling in customers to the website from the brick & mortar store, obviously isn't working. Because I'm seeing more and more stores close shop, and less and less activity on the message boards.

I can't be the only one that's genuinly concerned that this site is going to become a ghost-town before anything significant happens to fix it. I've seen it happen before at other sites, and all the symptoms are here. By the time you guys do make the changes, it will be too late by that point.

I haven't even heard anything about the store since like, July, so management has basically disappeared on all fronts. I'd love know what kind of foot traffic/sales/anything is going on with the B&M store, but well, I'm not expecting much at all anymore, sad to say.

All questions that inquiring minds want to know, but the CCL brass really has no obligation to disclose any of that information. This isn't some Corporation, it isn't a publicly traded company, none of us has stock in CCL or GOLOCO Media.

Although I'd like to know, too, it's really none of our business.

Beat me to it, Cory.

+1

You must not be a part of the CCL Facebook page, then.

Er, nope! Didn't even realize there was one. (I really don't spend any time on FB anyway, so this is on me.)

Which shouldn't have to be the case. These are CCL's forums - where everything should be communicated FIRST and consistently.

We were also told that we shouldn't expect to see anything with the site or the software until the end of the year or shortly after.

I think the majority of users who have spent countless hours contributing to and building the database they are getting charged to access would strongly disagree.

It's still so difficult for me to wrap my head around the fact that the guy who was extremely (and frequently) vocal about his disgust with the subscription fee implementation and who also once proclaimed that he would never contribute another single CR until the fee was gone now being the one who so calmly toes the company line every time any negative comments are posted.
Even going so far as to create your own anti-CCL forums at one point...

+100

The only thing worse than no updates from CCL is the constant public bashing of CCL.

You've got to be completely blind if you can't see the downhill slide this site has been on. Stores are closing left and right. The message boards are pathetic compared to the activity we used to have. And the website itself is chock full of bugs.

It's not bashing if it's true. But the problem is more the fact that we keep being told "it's coming, it's coming, it's coming" for years at this point, and it hasn't. Instead they open a store, which takes away focus and resources from the promises they've been failing to keep, so far.

And if we're being told these things are coming, as we're giving them our money, then it is ABSOLUTELY our business as paying customers who these promises have been made to.

But I guess if what Xylob said about not expecting anything until the end of the year, I'm jumping the gun. It's hard not to take it as just more empty promises, though, at this point.

And to be clear, I'm NOT anti-CCL. I post these concerns because I'm a fan of CCL and I don't like watching it die like I am. I also feel that promises made to us long before the brick & mortar store was even announced should have been addressed first.

Not blind. Not even slightly. Just tired of everyone stating how much they love CCL holding their torches and pitchforks.

This constant bashing and tearing down of CCL is one of, if not the prime reason, that the boards are suffering. Apparently I can't post something neutral (not even pro-CCL) without getting immediate backlash to my comment.

I can tell you honestly I have trouble reading, listening and paying attention to every snide and negative comment posted to these boards about CCL. I would ignore everyone here too.