Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems A brief notice regarding recent forum changes

A brief notice regarding recent forum changes

The HH administrators and moderators have, for some time now, been exploring - with Meridian - ways to revitalise the forum and increase relevant content and timely support from both HQ and Premium Partners. We have had some very positive discussions with HQ about this and feel that it is a good thing for both HH, Meridian and the Meridian dealership.

To facilitate this, we have decided to make some changes to the Restaurant area and rules. Specifically:

� The current merchant area is now restricted to Premium Partners who have agreed to provide a level of open user/HH support.
� Unofficial dealers or re-sellers will no longer be permitted to post for-sale threads on HH (though they are welcome to contribute to the forum and respond via PM to for-sale and wanted threads).
� Premium Partners cannot simply use HH as a place to advertise and are expected to contribute knowledge and assistance in the main forums.
� The flip-side is that those dealers who do provide HH with support (and you know who they are) can have some return for their efforts.
� Third party service - ChrisJC (in the UK) and Marc Koval (in the US) - and products (Reviver) have been moved into a single sub-forum.

Private Restaurant sales of Meridian and non-Meridian gear remain unaffected.

We believe that these changes are positive and should result in an increased level of technical support in all areas, but in particular in some of the newer areas where our collective knowledge is weaker.

Finally, we wish to reiterate that HH remains an independently run and privately owned forum and that there are no plans to change this. The increased and improved (and invisible to most) two-way communication with HQ that has been achieved over the last twelve months or so has been, from the HH side, primarily for the benefit of the forum. Clearly though, a win-win scenario for HH, Meridian and Premium Partners is a highly desirable outcome.

[Addendum to Duncs' announcement above]

To the HH community:

We, the moderators / caretakers of HH forum, recognise that the nature of Meridian support, its dealers and relationship with HH have changed over recent years. It might be an understatement to say that this has not always been seen as a step in the right direction.

For at least twelve months, we have been actively engaging and building � rebuilding in fact � good and constructive dialogue with Meridian about how to improve this and make the HH experience better. Through long, detailed and often difficult deliberations, we made the changes we did, which directly affect a very small number of UK-based individuals. These individuals have not been banned or booted off the forum; those that want to buy from or sell to these resellers can continue to do so. These guys do put their sales up elsewhere and can operate via PM directly to forum members here.

We also recognise that the HH community is international, diverse, and covers a broad spectrum ranging from those who have strong relationships with Premium Partners, through to those with no reliable dealer in their country, and to those who bargain hunt at the bottom end of the Meridian product ladder. All are welcome.

We hope you understand the difficult positions that we, as forum moderators, sometimes find ourselves in. We struggled over some of the recent changes, but do genuinely believe that they are for the best and will, in the long run, benefit the HH community, all Meridian owners, and the wider Meridian ecosphere internationally, and not just in the UK. The changes were agreed unanimously by the mods.

Please remember that Duncan personally runs and finances this site with NO financial input from Meridian or its dealers; there are no plans to change this. HH was originally set up by George Mills to be a help and support forum; the Restaurant area was a later addition, albeit a natural extension. However, if maintaining the Restaurant proves to be too troublesome, it might just be simplest to remove it altogether...

Yesterday was a difficult day for all the moderators and a number of forum members. We anticipated some negative feedback to the changes that Duncan announced, but not some of the emotive and/or unhelpful "humorous" posts which were directed at Moderators and Premium Partners and amounted, irrespective of intent, to personal criticism. As stated above, this is primarily a help and support forum. We are happy to see dialogue and discussion on topic of these changes, but we are not happy to see it expressed in personal terms or without respect to those that are trying to make this forum better.

Of course there are no guarantees that the changes are going to work out, but we're going to do everything we can to make it work; and we will review it on an on-going basis, taking into consideration the views of the community. As rightly pointed out in the thread, there's quid pro quo here, and Meridian and the Premium Partners need to deliver; but please be patient: things will take a while to bed in and for everyone to be "on message".

Finally, please note that all moderators are open to receiving PMs regarding any concerns you may have about the running of the forum. In fact, we encourage you to do so and will take any constructive criticism seriously.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

(This text was discussed and agreed to by all the moderators.)