Quoted from robin:After giving it some thought, I came up with this:
"Spreading pinball, connecting pinheads worldwide!".
Yes, that's it. That's basically what I have been trying to do with Pinside from the start: Bring pinball fans around the globe together and try to spread the pinball virus. Convince more people to get a pinball machine and enjoy the silver ball game.
Sounds good to me 
Most mission statements I've read are so wordy and lofty that they don't make any sense, but this one is very clear.
Quoted from robin:The frontpage will be reserved for pinball related topics (which is after all Pinside’s main focus). Because of the passive moderation The Basement gives people more leeway in discussing sensitive topics in a more adult tone, while shielding this content from people who are sensitive to this kind of thing. The idea being that people can choose to either visit or avoid the basement and dig in or stay safely ‘above the ground’ where this kind of behaviour is actively moderated and therefore not tolerated. Also, the basement serves as a place where derailed topics can be moved to.
Hopefully the basement will make Pinside a more diverse place by accommodating both the ‘always be considerate’- and the ‘free speech above all’-minded Pinsiders.
Interesting idea. However, OT posts frequently do have pinball-related discussions that don't always fit into other forums (discussions on tools, video arcade games, virtual pinball, electronics components, pinball software, discussions on operating on-location, etc). Personally, I would prefer to see those on the front page, but I'm ok with all the other new basement fourms being hidden.
Quoted from robin:MONEY MONEY MONEY
Remember that crappy song from the nineties? "It's about the money, ladiedadie dum dum!"
» YouTube video
Well it's not that bad, but since all this work on Pinside has now replaced our daytime jobs, we're gonna have to consider generating some income. The donations go a long way to offset our monthly costs (server and hosting costs, office rent etc) but now we need to think about feeding ourselves (and our families) too.
We though long and hard what would be a good place to "monetize" Pinside and we think the Marketplace makes the most sense. After all, that's where money is already, uhm, the main currency.
We started by adding some cool paid promotional options for marketplace ads (all optional choices). But, more importantly, we are now charging a mandatory value fee if you successfully sell your game through Pinside. What? Well, it's fairly simple. If you put a game in the Pinside market place you will be informed of its price tier (which is based on past sales prices). Each price tier has an associated sales fee. Again, you only pay this if you sell your game.
Junk yard tier.png
Let's take a Junk Yard for example. This is a tier 3 game with a current average value of $3200. If you successfully sell this game through Pinside, we ask a value fee of $15. If you're a supporting Pinsider (red heart) you only pay 75% of that fee.
The payment is requested when you end your ad and indicate your game as sold:
Sales fee.png
So what's to stop you from simply saying: "not sold" on each of your ads? Well, your conscience for a start! But marking everything as unsold has other disadvantage: no buyer feedback, bad selling stats and maybe most importantly: if the Pinside robot suspects you of cheating, he might kick you out of our market place. Haha, no stopping him, he hates cunning cheap skates
MANDATORY SALES PRICE
By popular demand, we have decided that now all market place ads should carry an asking price. We have therefore removed all price options and replaced them with a simple price form. Unsure about your asking price? You can look up your game in the Marketplace archive or simply hit the "suggest price" button to have Pinside come up with an average price of past years sales records.
Price is now mandatory.png
Were voluntary contributions not working? 
Ah yes, so the new pinside tax.
I realize you want to bring in some revenue, but any time money changes hands, it seems like everyone else has their hand out. Like with paypal, I'm guessing folks will start tacking on the additional fee in their ad. So instead of $3200, it could end up being $3215 to "cover the pinside tax".
Additionally, I noticed that a fee is required for starting a forum topic as well. Personally, I think this is a bad idea, especially when there is a new poster with a questionable (or possibly scammy) ad. It's helpful for others if someone brings up the fact that it doesn't pass the sniff test. Charging a fee is a barrier to entry there. I think creating a forum thread should be free and by default. Yes, it helps the seller advertise. But--it also helps potential buyers quite a bit. For example, in one FS thread, I recall someone stating that a game was complete, but someone else pointed out that a part was missing--not everyone would have caught that, and the seller probably wasn't even aware that the part was missing.
Now that you're charging a fee, the expectations for a "perfect" bug-free experience will probably increase. Whereas before, a certain about of bugs/errors/missing features were tolerated. For example, I see that images with a vertical aspect ratio are still squashed when you click on the thumbnails. Additionally, you still appear to have no control over what order that images appear in an ad. To me, those are fairly significant bugs and not acceptable if you're forcing a fee to be charged.
Quoted from robin:FORUM IMPROVEMENTS
We thought about it long and hard. It was not an easy choice. But thumbs down had to go. So they are scrapped, gone, finito.
thumbs-down.jpg
Does that mean we're turning into Facebook. Nooo! We replaced thumbs down with a more objective way of rating posts: Pinside Post Quality rating system.
POST QUALITY RATINGS
Simply put, this is a tool to objectively (and anonymously) rate posts you see on Pinside, based on the quality of their contents. When enough votes are received, the median vote is displayed for that post.
post-rating.jpg
Our future plans are to offer filtering based on post score. This would allow you to quickly view all relevant or even starred posts in a huge topic, get up to speed and separate the wheat from the Pinside chaff.
I always liked seeing who liked certain posts. It gave idea on what tips/ideas held more water than others. For example, if there was a post about a particular repair technique, it was helpful to see that repair guys or electronics experts liked it--or didn't.
Quoted from robin:
THUMBS UP HAVE MOVED DOWN
Yeah, that reads like a weird title. Don't worry, thumbs up are still there (they just moved to the bottom of posts). So you can still subjectively tell the world that you agree with a post.
I always thought downvoting had its uses. For example, if someone was providing bad advice (intentional or otherwise), folks could see that there was something wrong with that post if it had a thumbs down. For example, if someone suggested a repair that would actually cause damage, it is useful to know that immediately on that post that there is an issue with it. Or, if someone was expressing a rumor or unpopular opinion, it was helpful to see downvotes on those as well.
Quoted from robin:
MODERATOR DISCLAIMER
We have added a disclaimer to the bottom of posts made by site staff. We want them to be able to participate on Pinside like anyone else (hey, mods have opinions too!) but also make it clear that they're not necessarily always expressing the views of Pinside.com.
Good idea. However, it might be a better idea to have a one-line disclaimer, rather than multiple lines so it doesn't take up as much space. In a few posts, I've seen this disclaimer take up more space than the actual content of the moderator's post. (Edit: I'm not sure if this has changed already, or it just looks different between mobile and desktop).
Alkmaar
Left: future plans, Center: Currently working on, Right: Finished/testing stuff.
Safety Harbor, FL
...Thank you for a great place to hang out with like minded peps..............Joey
