Here's my 3 cents.
Changes between 2010-2014
If I recall correctly, there was an attempt to make the forum more casino friendly back in 2010-11.
E.g. the “Rep. Friendly” thread prefix was introduced.
I think this attempt met with limited success because I’m seeing a little more rep. activity now.
There are a lot more accredited casinos on the list.
There seems to be a lot more low quality/uninformative posts now than there was back then.
Existing strengths
It’s a good strategy to take your strengths and make them stronger. It has a multiplying effect.
Ordered in terms of importance
PAB process
It was the PAB process that attracted me to CM in the first place. MaxD is also a nice person on the forum.
Accredited Casino list
There are many more Accredited Casinos now than there was 2-3 years ago. I don’t feel as stifled now as I did back then.
Casino reps.
Being able to easily contact casino representatives; preferably ones who can pull strings
Mark_32Red is an ideal example.
Promos
Fun promotions exclusive to members of Casinomeister
Here is an example: Old URL
Screenshot thread
Screenies are one of the better things about CM.
Suggestion; instead of having to scroll down the page, for ease of access it would be a good idea to have the screenies thread featured somewhere at the top of the page.
I imagine it as it as a box at the top of the forum that displays the latest screenshot posted in it. The image would be large enough for forum members to see the actual win.
Member advice
You can get some pretty good advice here from the ordinary forum members about online casinos. Like just recently, I got some good tips about slots tournaments and an advanced warning about a bad sign up bonus.
Existing weaknesses
Site tech support
I reported a broken link recently and got no response. Since then I have found several broken links and never bothered to report them.
Not yet implemented
Accredited Casino search filter
I would imagine it as a webpage that lists all the accredited casinos with filtering/refine search options such as:
which countries can play, what currencies are used, what are the deposit/withdrawal options, and so forth.
Player's Choice Award
This forum has been running for how many years and still players cannot vote to award a casino?
My idea for this is: at the start of December each year make a thread titled; Player's Choice Award 20xx. Make a poll with each accredited casino listed and ask players to select the one that they feel deserve this award. Give members a warning just before they vote saying; All votes are final, are you sure you want to proceed?
Just make sure voters are fully fledged members to avoid shills.
Grey areas
If there are rules/guidelines (and I'm sure there are) surrounding these issues I would dispute that by saying they are not clear enough/not working because too many people are still making the mistake. You can't put the full blame on forum members for these things.
Online casino vs player rights
I think a balance between casino rights and player rights has yet to be found.
For example; does a player have the right to make a thread titled; Casino x stole from me?
Or would that be considered infringing upon the casino’s rights?
I can see there has been a crackdown on this because I'm seeing a lot more moderation of thread tiles now compared to a few years ago.
It’s still unclear exactly what an “Accredited Casino” is
From my forum experience I formed this rough definition of an accredited casino:
A casino that is has not gone completely rogue and a casino you can PAB.
When I first came I thought accredited meant that a casino is not allowed to do anything wrong or they will be booted from the accredited section.
I'm still seeing newbie members make the same mistake I did.
They see the casino that they had a problem with on the accredited list and hit the PAB button or start flaming in the forum about it.
It’s an all too easy mistake to make and perhaps the problem is in the word itself “accredited” as it could be found to be misleading.
Foreseeable threats
I have warned about this in the past. I’ve seen it happen to forums similar to CM before.
If online casinos get too much power and moderators drop their guard, online casinos will take over the forum and start spamming their “promos” and introducing shills.
Beware…
Changes between 2010-2014
If I recall correctly, there was an attempt to make the forum more casino friendly back in 2010-11.
E.g. the “Rep. Friendly” thread prefix was introduced.
I think this attempt met with limited success because I’m seeing a little more rep. activity now.
There are a lot more accredited casinos on the list.
There seems to be a lot more low quality/uninformative posts now than there was back then.
Existing strengths
It’s a good strategy to take your strengths and make them stronger. It has a multiplying effect.
Ordered in terms of importance
PAB process
It was the PAB process that attracted me to CM in the first place. MaxD is also a nice person on the forum.
Accredited Casino list
There are many more Accredited Casinos now than there was 2-3 years ago. I don’t feel as stifled now as I did back then.
Casino reps.
Being able to easily contact casino representatives; preferably ones who can pull strings
Mark_32Red is an ideal example.
Promos
Fun promotions exclusive to members of Casinomeister
Here is an example: Old URL
Screenshot thread
Screenies are one of the better things about CM.
Suggestion; instead of having to scroll down the page, for ease of access it would be a good idea to have the screenies thread featured somewhere at the top of the page.
I imagine it as it as a box at the top of the forum that displays the latest screenshot posted in it. The image would be large enough for forum members to see the actual win.
Member advice
You can get some pretty good advice here from the ordinary forum members about online casinos. Like just recently, I got some good tips about slots tournaments and an advanced warning about a bad sign up bonus.
Existing weaknesses
Site tech support
I reported a broken link recently and got no response. Since then I have found several broken links and never bothered to report them.
Not yet implemented
Accredited Casino search filter
I would imagine it as a webpage that lists all the accredited casinos with filtering/refine search options such as:
which countries can play, what currencies are used, what are the deposit/withdrawal options, and so forth.
Player's Choice Award
This forum has been running for how many years and still players cannot vote to award a casino?
My idea for this is: at the start of December each year make a thread titled; Player's Choice Award 20xx. Make a poll with each accredited casino listed and ask players to select the one that they feel deserve this award. Give members a warning just before they vote saying; All votes are final, are you sure you want to proceed?
Just make sure voters are fully fledged members to avoid shills.
Grey areas
If there are rules/guidelines (and I'm sure there are) surrounding these issues I would dispute that by saying they are not clear enough/not working because too many people are still making the mistake. You can't put the full blame on forum members for these things.
Online casino vs player rights
I think a balance between casino rights and player rights has yet to be found.
For example; does a player have the right to make a thread titled; Casino x stole from me?
Or would that be considered infringing upon the casino’s rights?
I can see there has been a crackdown on this because I'm seeing a lot more moderation of thread tiles now compared to a few years ago.
It’s still unclear exactly what an “Accredited Casino” is
From my forum experience I formed this rough definition of an accredited casino:
A casino that is has not gone completely rogue and a casino you can PAB.
When I first came I thought accredited meant that a casino is not allowed to do anything wrong or they will be booted from the accredited section.
I'm still seeing newbie members make the same mistake I did.
They see the casino that they had a problem with on the accredited list and hit the PAB button or start flaming in the forum about it.
It’s an all too easy mistake to make and perhaps the problem is in the word itself “accredited” as it could be found to be misleading.
Foreseeable threats
I have warned about this in the past. I’ve seen it happen to forums similar to CM before.
If online casinos get too much power and moderators drop their guard, online casinos will take over the forum and start spamming their “promos” and introducing shills.
Beware…