This post kinda covers several forum categories, so I decided to put it in the Main Forum to prevent multiple posts.
As many of you are aware, I have been compiling "The Cuemakers Directory" over the last 8 or 9 months over on my site and to date has listings for 643 Cuemakers. The listings are not complete I know, but it is the most complete and up to date of any such listing that I can find anywhere online. It is fully integrated with The Blue Book of pool cues, with the permission of Blue Book Publications of course, and contains no unauthorized or copyrighted material. It has proven to be quite useful I'm sure, given the amount of attention and traffic it receives,,,,,,,,good, that's why it's there, but it was only a couple of weeks ago during a phone conversation with 'Cueman" Chris Hightower, and he asked me the question,,,,,What is the goal of your site?,,,,,,,that I realized that while I obviously know why I have it there (since I have so much time and effort in it), that I was not getting the message accross to the very people it's designed to help. So, while there is alot of very good useful info there, the potential is far far greater than is currently being utilized.
Here I will try and explain what i see as the answer to Chris' question, and what I had in mind when I began this project.
-For the Cuemakers,,,,obviously- As a place where Cuemakers, any and all Cuemakers, can be found by anyone interested in contacting them, a place where Cuemakers can interact with the pool playing community at whatever level they choose, and offer information, promotional or otherwise, that they wish to share, upload images of work in progress, cues for sale, etc,,,,without necessarily having to bear the time and expense of managing their own online sites if they don't want to,,,,,,and mainly, to try and focus as much attention as possible, by as much traffic as possible to one focal point where any pool enthusiast and any Cuemakers can all interact at any time of their choosing. There are a few Cuemakers who use this feature currently, and even in it's eary stages those cuemakers draw many many times as many hits on their listings than the plain contact listings do,,,,,and I know, for sure, they have sold cues because of it. Any Cuemaker can, at ant time, get added into the Directory if they aren't already, and can use it to show, promote, and support their products at whatever level they believe can be useful to them, and at no charge.
-For the pool playing community as a whole- For anyone who has interest in Custom cues, Cuemakers past and present, cues collectability, cue identification information, cue values, interactivity with the participating Cuemakers,,,,the list goes on,,,,,and the answer to the age old re-occurring question,,,,,How do I contact "so and so Cuemaker? A question which is asked here in our pool community almost daily. Anyone with any interest, at any level, can access, browse, interact, and contribute to the Directory at any level they choose as well. In the end, it's the response from the players/buyers of custom cues that has the most effect on the marketable value of Custom Cues over time, and the more input we get from the pool playing community, the more helpful and useful the Directory is for all. Posting images of cues you own in the respective Cuemaker's listing is of course encouraged, and actual secondarymarket values would be quite helpful over time as well. Access is free to everyone, but posting requires membership.
-Why a Cuemakers Directory?- In my search for data to compile this listing and based on the data I found it occurred to me just how useless most of the data actually is, especially since most of it was several years old and severely in need of updating, so instead of JUST a list, I decided to go alot farther and make it a Directory, instead of a running List. But not just a directory,,,,,,an interactive directory. By interactive I mean that people can access it of course, and even in alphabetical order, and hyperlinked form, but moreso, they can add to it. Each Cuemaker listing in the Directory is it's own individual thread, so people can post in each listing. So in one place, you could have Cuemakers contact info, Cuemakers showing images and galleries of in process and completed, for sale work that they may have,, customers asking them questions, commenting on their work,,,,,ordering cues maybe, cue owners giving reviews of their cues, collectors and players posting secondary market values of cues bought or sold, current or vintage photos of that cuemaker's past offerings to the pool community,,,,,,you get the idea I hope. The goal is to help pretty much anyone with any inkling of interest in buying or selling Custom Cues, and the more people who chime in and contribute to the effort, the better the result will continue to get.
And now, why am I spamming Mike's forum with this,,,,,,,,I'm not!
Mike and I have talked about this in the past, to some degree. Mike has a great forum here, and honestly, I spend alot more time on AZB than I do my own site. The intent of my site is to offer a service that never quite gets fully satisfied here on AZB. I feel if Mike felt a need to do what I'm doing he certainly has the manpower and resources to get it done, and would have done it long ago.
The reason I put this post on AZB is because it is the place where it has the best chance of helping the most people,,,,,,which is what it's all about.
To end,,,I am trying to take The Cuemakers Directory to the next level to be more helpful to any and all who see a need or use for it, so if you are a Cuemaker who isn't listed and wish to be, just let me know. If you are already listed and think it may help you in some form for promotional purposes, then by all means, access your listings and add anything you wish that may make it work for you, and of course, anyone and everyone can access it at any time, and there is no charge to anyone for any of it.
I thank all that have taken the time to read all of this, and hope it helps the pool community as a whole.
As many of you are aware, I have been compiling "The Cuemakers Directory" over the last 8 or 9 months over on my site and to date has listings for 643 Cuemakers. The listings are not complete I know, but it is the most complete and up to date of any such listing that I can find anywhere online. It is fully integrated with The Blue Book of pool cues, with the permission of Blue Book Publications of course, and contains no unauthorized or copyrighted material. It has proven to be quite useful I'm sure, given the amount of attention and traffic it receives,,,,,,,,good, that's why it's there, but it was only a couple of weeks ago during a phone conversation with 'Cueman" Chris Hightower, and he asked me the question,,,,,What is the goal of your site?,,,,,,,that I realized that while I obviously know why I have it there (since I have so much time and effort in it), that I was not getting the message accross to the very people it's designed to help. So, while there is alot of very good useful info there, the potential is far far greater than is currently being utilized.
Here I will try and explain what i see as the answer to Chris' question, and what I had in mind when I began this project.
-For the Cuemakers,,,,obviously- As a place where Cuemakers, any and all Cuemakers, can be found by anyone interested in contacting them, a place where Cuemakers can interact with the pool playing community at whatever level they choose, and offer information, promotional or otherwise, that they wish to share, upload images of work in progress, cues for sale, etc,,,,without necessarily having to bear the time and expense of managing their own online sites if they don't want to,,,,,,and mainly, to try and focus as much attention as possible, by as much traffic as possible to one focal point where any pool enthusiast and any Cuemakers can all interact at any time of their choosing. There are a few Cuemakers who use this feature currently, and even in it's eary stages those cuemakers draw many many times as many hits on their listings than the plain contact listings do,,,,,and I know, for sure, they have sold cues because of it. Any Cuemaker can, at ant time, get added into the Directory if they aren't already, and can use it to show, promote, and support their products at whatever level they believe can be useful to them, and at no charge.
-For the pool playing community as a whole- For anyone who has interest in Custom cues, Cuemakers past and present, cues collectability, cue identification information, cue values, interactivity with the participating Cuemakers,,,,the list goes on,,,,,and the answer to the age old re-occurring question,,,,,How do I contact "so and so Cuemaker? A question which is asked here in our pool community almost daily. Anyone with any interest, at any level, can access, browse, interact, and contribute to the Directory at any level they choose as well. In the end, it's the response from the players/buyers of custom cues that has the most effect on the marketable value of Custom Cues over time, and the more input we get from the pool playing community, the more helpful and useful the Directory is for all. Posting images of cues you own in the respective Cuemaker's listing is of course encouraged, and actual secondarymarket values would be quite helpful over time as well. Access is free to everyone, but posting requires membership.
-Why a Cuemakers Directory?- In my search for data to compile this listing and based on the data I found it occurred to me just how useless most of the data actually is, especially since most of it was several years old and severely in need of updating, so instead of JUST a list, I decided to go alot farther and make it a Directory, instead of a running List. But not just a directory,,,,,,an interactive directory. By interactive I mean that people can access it of course, and even in alphabetical order, and hyperlinked form, but moreso, they can add to it. Each Cuemaker listing in the Directory is it's own individual thread, so people can post in each listing. So in one place, you could have Cuemakers contact info, Cuemakers showing images and galleries of in process and completed, for sale work that they may have,, customers asking them questions, commenting on their work,,,,,ordering cues maybe, cue owners giving reviews of their cues, collectors and players posting secondary market values of cues bought or sold, current or vintage photos of that cuemaker's past offerings to the pool community,,,,,,you get the idea I hope. The goal is to help pretty much anyone with any inkling of interest in buying or selling Custom Cues, and the more people who chime in and contribute to the effort, the better the result will continue to get.
And now, why am I spamming Mike's forum with this,,,,,,,,I'm not!
Mike and I have talked about this in the past, to some degree. Mike has a great forum here, and honestly, I spend alot more time on AZB than I do my own site. The intent of my site is to offer a service that never quite gets fully satisfied here on AZB. I feel if Mike felt a need to do what I'm doing he certainly has the manpower and resources to get it done, and would have done it long ago.
The reason I put this post on AZB is because it is the place where it has the best chance of helping the most people,,,,,,which is what it's all about.
To end,,,I am trying to take The Cuemakers Directory to the next level to be more helpful to any and all who see a need or use for it, so if you are a Cuemaker who isn't listed and wish to be, just let me know. If you are already listed and think it may help you in some form for promotional purposes, then by all means, access your listings and add anything you wish that may make it work for you, and of course, anyone and everyone can access it at any time, and there is no charge to anyone for any of it.
I thank all that have taken the time to read all of this, and hope it helps the pool community as a whole.