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Future of Product Testing on THP

SuperStroke
OEM Kevin said:
This thread just pisses me off. I mean really? What does anyone have to complain about? Heres a complaint. Im complaining about complainers. Just makes me sick. I think anyone that gets anything should be happy about it. And those that dont get anything should be happy for those that do get to test something. I think people need to look at the bigger picture. If you lurk here on the forum that doesnt make you active. That makes you a lurker. Why does OEM Kevin want to give you his new line of irons for testing if you only lurk? He doesnt! He wants the person with a high post count and who talks about golf to do it. Think about it. If you want to be a part of THP then be a part of it. Be a part of all of it. Not just popping up when a new test thread goes up. Look at this thread, over 600 post of which 90% might be people who I have no idea who you are. If I have no idea who you are you can bet TM, Callaway, Ping, Cleveland and anyone else looking for testers dont either. So you tell me why they want to put a set of pre-release clubs in your hands. Theres a lot expected of you when you test something. Are you sure youre ready for it? Look at the Burner 2.0 thread. Can you bring it like that? That thread still pops up on a weekly basis and I love it.
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Perfect words OEM!
 
Good post buddy. You know OEM is fired up when he refers to himself in the 3rd person!

Now let's go get a god darn snack!!!!
OEM Kevin said:
This thread just pisses me off. I mean really? What does anyone have to complain about? Heres a complaint. Im complaining about complainers. Just makes me sick. I think anyone that gets anything should be happy about it. And those that dont get anything should be happy for those that do get to test something. I think people need to look at the bigger picture. If you lurk here on the forum that doesnt make you active. That makes you a lurker. Why does OEM Kevin want to give you his new line of irons for testing if you only lurk? He doesnt! He wants the person with a high post count and who talks about golf to do it. Think about it. If you want to be a part of THP then be a part of it. Be a part of all of it. Not just popping up when a new test thread goes up. Look at this thread, over 600 post of which 90% might be people who I have no idea who you are. If I have no idea who you are you can bet TM, Callaway, Ping, Cleveland and anyone else looking for testers dont either. So you tell me why they want to put a set of pre-release clubs in your hands. Theres a lot expected of you when you test something. Are you sure youre ready for it? Look at the Burner 2.0 thread. Can you bring it like that? That thread still pops up on a weekly basis and I love it.
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Hanks said:
Good post buddy. You know OEM is fired up when he refers to himself in the 3rd person!

Now let's go get a god darn snack!!!!
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Love the post OEM, Coolbreeze totally agrees with you, "Come after OEM, OEM's a man, he's almost 40!"
 
I have done a lot of reading in this thread, and through it all I have decided I will remove myself from testing until I can become a donor. It just does not feel right to me, knowing that I am getting all these free things, and I have not even paid for shipping. However, I still stick by my opinion that not being a donor should not exclude you from testing. This is just a personal ultimatum, and others are welcome to join me, or laugh at me.
 
tomahawk18 said:
Or you could just pay the price of shipping for the item that you are testing.
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True, but a flat rate makes it easier for all involved. The entrants know up front what the cost will be and can pay before it gets shipped, rather than someone figuring out how much it is, then sending the winner a pm with the cost, then waiting for the money, then having to ship. You win, pay the fee, box can be sent the next day. The actual cost may be over, some may be under, but overall, it will average out.
 
OEM Kevin said:
This thread just pisses me off. I mean really? What does anyone have to complain about? Heres a complaint. Im complaining about complainers. Just makes me sick. I think anyone that gets anything should be happy about it. And those that dont get anything should be happy for those that do get to test something. I think people need to look at the bigger picture. If you lurk here on the forum that doesnt make you active. That makes you a lurker. Why does OEM Kevin want to give you his new line of irons for testing if you only lurk? He doesnt! He wants the person with a high post count and who talks about golf to do it. Think about it. If you want to be a part of THP then be a part of it. Be a part of all of it. Not just popping up when a new test thread goes up. Look at this thread, over 600 post of which 90% might be people who I have no idea who you are. If I have no idea who you are you can bet TM, Callaway, Ping, Cleveland and anyone else looking for testers dont either. So you tell me why they want to put a set of pre-release clubs in your hands. Theres a lot expected of you when you test something. Are you sure youre ready for it? Look at the Burner 2.0 thread. Can you bring it like that? That thread still pops up on a weekly basis and I love it.
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Man, you know how to say it just right. If I were a company, I would look at how many posts a person has based on how long they've been here. I have near 500 right now, and personally I probably wouldn't pick myself yet. I might when I get up to 700-800 or more posts, but idk. Those who lurk and complain really do not need to test products...
 
There is one pretty big issue with a flat rate and that is international shipping. We could maybe do a flat rate for US winners a separate flat rate for Canadian winners and another for other areas in the world but the differenes in prices can be quite large. So a flat rate is an option but there would have to be some exceptions.

StLCardsFan said:
True, but a flat rate makes it easier for all involved. The entrants know up front what the cost will be and can pay before it gets shipped, rather than someone figuring out how much it is, then sending the winner a pm with the cost, then waiting for the money, then having to ship. You win, pay the fee, box can be sent the next day. The actual cost may be over, some may be under, but overall, it will average out.
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Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
 
Jacob Robertson said:
I have done a lot of reading in this thread, and through it all I have decided I will remove myself from testing until I can become a donor. It just does not feel right to me, knowing that I am getting all these free things, and I have not even paid for shipping. However, I still stick by my opinion that not being a donor should not exclude you from testing. This is just a personal ultimatum, and others are welcome to join me, or laugh at me.
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Dude formally known as Aggro don't take yourself out of testing. I tell you what. If you get picked I will pay the shipping. You are a good member and I think you have a lot to give back to this site.
 
GolferGal said:
There is one pretty big issue with a flat rate and that is international shipping. We could maybe do a flat rate for US winners a separate flat rate for Canadian winners and another for other areas in the world but the differenes in prices can be quite large. So a flat rate is an option but there would have to be some exceptions.





Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
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To me it just seems easiest to pay shipping for the item you are testing. Heck, I think THP should put a small handling charge on there too. I know for a fact GG spent more than 1 full day just boxing up the Polara testing. Time ain't cheap! There should be compensation for that too. I'm not saying infomercial shipping and handling where the shipping is $7.00 and the handling is $19.99. HAHA. But it would be more than fair to add $2-$5 to each item shipped to offset those costs as well. I mean really, if it costs $20 to ship a set of irons to a tester and THP adds $5 for handling would anyone be upset? I wouldn't.
 
OEM Kevin said:
This thread just pisses me off. I mean really? What does anyone have to complain about? Heres a complaint. Im complaining about complainers. Just makes me sick.
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That's what I'm talking about! :beat-up::deadhorse::zsimpsons:
 
Chunkylover77 said:
Dude formally known as Aggro don't take yourself out of testing. I tell you what. If you get picked I will pay the shipping. You are a good member and I think you have a lot to give back to this site.
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No. I will be able to donate by the end of April. I will be fine. I will stand firm on this.
 
Man, this thread sucks!

Not the thread, rather the need of it.
I would like for you to keep the testing(or selecting) as is.

I found THP looking for rewiews on a Driver with the weird name of Nickent(never heard or seen it before in Sweden), and fell in love with the place and people on it and learnt a heck of a lot about golfclubs:D. I´m not the most active guy on THP and live near the polar-cap which pretty much rules me out of most testing, but when I CAN enter I´m grateful. Even think I ruled myself out of a bridgestone Ball testing on account of snow, and not being able to test it properly. And I honestly feel other testers on THP would have done the same.

I still hope I get selected for testing sometime, and I think I will when I´ve been active long enough or just get lucky.

And I´d love to pay for shipping just to try stuff and actually having people reading my rewiew in, let´s just say less than eloquent, English. That, and having an excuse for playing more golf....

I´m sorry to hear that not everyone are happy for the people being selected, although I find that alot of people are.

We don´t have to pay for being part of this community, its free, so I have a hard time trying to figure out what it is people feel you guys owe them - when they "miss out" on a contest or testing??

Keep up the good work and don´t feel bad whenever you come across some ungrateful people, they´ve just lost track of what the community is about.

I admit I might have skimmed a bit:embarrassed:
 
JB said:
That is a good point. It isnt a contest and I think some think of it as one. However I understand why they feel that way when not selected. But testing equipment and writeups is hard work as well, and I hope people understand that.
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I believe that is where the problem lies with some members. When it comes to testing it should really be about helping others learn how the club or clubs perform for that specific person or player. Really it's not fair for some to think they should just be picked because they type one word responses 3,000 times, or isd it fair for one who is a single digit golfer to think they should have a special right over another. It really should be for those who are active and really enjoy the work that is involved in TESTING. When you test it's simply that a test it shouldn't be about, I want such and such a club so by testing I'll get Free equipment! That's what giveaways are for..... free equipment if you win great if not try again, that's life. In order to get accurate testing reviews one should be able to write and express all areas of how the club performs. That can not be done in one day it takes at least a week in my opinion and playing in different conditions to know how a club or clubs truly perform. I feel like you are doing a A+ job and if you decide to make it something where you have to donate or belong to a VIP club that is your prerogative. I say keep up the great work and whatever you decide I'm sure it will be fair for all... even if all don't agree!
 
bigskyirish said:
I do not have the luxury of posting all day, every day. I can generally spend some time browsing the forums a during the weekdays, perhaps making a few posts on subjects where I feel I might have something to add or a question to ask. But I generally cannot check or post on the forums in the evenings or at night and try not to post just to post. .

4. Along the lines of my #3, I'd suggest maybe a little more transparency in how testers are selected. In my brief time here, I've figured out the names of about 15-25 posters who I think will usually get selected to do the testing. Every time I've seen a testing thread, the testers seems to be selected from that same pool.
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It would be very hard to justify sending equipment to someone in my opinion that does not have the take self admittedly. I appreciate your honesty and that you would set time aside, but the dilemma still exists. What happens if people have questions about your thoughts? What happens if more info is needed? Those things would not be able to be rectified for days possibly, correct?

As to #4, I do have to strongly disagree. If you look at our testers that have been selected over the last 6-7 months, very few have seen repeat testing. In fact most have not. Each testing we have done, new people have been brought in. Latest three tests to begin were Mashie (1 repeat tester and 4 first time testers), Wilson Staff Irons (1 repeat tester and 3 first time testers), and R11 FW & Hybrids (mostly first time testers). All of this pertaining to equipment as some have tested balls (as have hundreds on this site). We constantly try to bring new people into the testing as it is a way to learn who is good at what and get different perspectives.

provx said:
I think something that may make life easier on you is to make the products that are going to be reviewed stated in an exact fashion, and write a little bit about what you are looking for in a reviewer for each product. For example on hybrid reviews you might write"

16 degree - x stiff flex - Looking for a player with 110+ swing speed swing would is a 5 or less handicap and plays multiple times a week.

20 degree - regular flex - Looking for a play with slower swing speeds who is a weekend golfer and may be new to the game.

then the testers would have to ask for a specific club to review before you select the reviewers. this way it may avoid some of the confusion for people wondering why they were not selected to review a specific club.
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I think depending on the equipment we do that. Check the Polara signup. We asked specific questions and based on answers, people got selected. However the problem does come up with many equipment tests, because the clubs are spec'd for each tester. Meaning that there is not criteria in mind such as that.

mcook77 said:
Some good points made here also. This could have helped for example with the Polara ball thread. The target audience for that ball would have been a golfer that struggles hitting it straight off the tee and is a 14 plus handicap or something along those lines. To set criteria with any review should help dwindle down the number of those that apply and put a good focus on getting the product into the right hands for a proper review.
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I believe we did that in the Polara thread. Anybody with a really fast swing speed or did not struggle right of left did not get included.

Chunkylover77 said:
Dude formally known as Aggro don't take yourself out of testing. I tell you what. If you get picked I will pay the shipping. You are a good member and I think you have a lot to give back to this site.
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This right here is exactly what THP is about. A community with people that care.
 
The irony in all of this is that we are working on new testing possibly for more forum members as we speak.

We appreciate everybody's input here.
 
I have been trying to keep myself up to date on this thread, but if I miss an hour or two I feel loss. I just want to thank JB and GG for all the hard work they do to give us this awsome site for us Hackers to chat. I vote for keeping it the same. I don't see any problems with how it is done currently
 
TC said:
Yes GG, if someone gets selected to do anything for THP and they don't have a donor tag, I write their reviews off for the most part. If someone can't give back to a place that gives to them, ALL THE TIME, I won't give them my attention in their review. I also think that there are plenty of ways to give back besides paying for shipping. How about buying something out of the THP store?
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TC, I am surprised that you write off a person's reviews if they don't have a donor tag! My donations go to the American Cancer Society because my sister died of cancer last September, my mother and grandmother had breast cancer, my father-in-law has prostrate cancer.....I could go on and on with friends and family that cancer has touched. I give to the American Heart association because my step-father died of heart disease....again I could go on and on. I give to places that train dogs for the hearing impaired because I have 80% hearing loss in one ear and 30% hearing loss in the other, the unseen handicap. I give to places that train guide dogs for the blind because my mother-in-law is blind. So I get defensive when people who dismiss my comments, reviews or anything else because I'm not an approved "donor" as per their definition! I have always enjoyed your reviews and posts, but I think you went too far with your dismissal.

I also do not even know what a donor tag is!! However, I would be glad to donate.

That being said, I am very satisfied with the way JB and GG have run this site. I enter contests, but I haven't been chosen yet. Yes, I may get disappointed but, my goodness, I have NO problems with the people and reviews that have been selected! I cannot add anything more that hasn't been posted to the positive posts that have supported JB and GG and the rest of the staff. I have had nothing but great positive responses when I've had questions. I don't mind not getting chosen because many times I would not have been able to test for various reasons. Winter curtails what I am able to do outside. Time is another consideration for many.

I love this site. I don't come to this site to get free products. I come for the great atmosphere that JB, GG and the rest of the staff have created. The reviews are in depth and represent a wide selection of playing levels.

Keep up the great work, and TC, I hope that you will take my post as it is intended. I enjoy your posts very much, except for this one.
 
TC isn't questioning anybody's character guys. He's saying that if you are reviewing items, that you should donate to THP because the donations make things like product testing a possibility. Shipping costs are borne by THP and can become very , very expensive. I can't say that I disagree with him, either.
 
Hawk said:
TC isn't questioning anybody's character guys. He's saying that if you are reviewing items, that you should donate to THP because the donations make things like product testing a possibility. Shipping costs are borne by THP and can become very , very expensive. I can't say that I disagree with him, either.
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Same here. There isn't a reason for people NOT to donate.


From the iPhone.
 
I understand TC's opinions, and I appreciate him being as honest as he is, but I do not entirely agree. Maybe because I am not yet a donor, but I give all eager reviewers credit where it is due.
 
tomahawk18 said:
To me it just seems easiest to pay shipping for the item you are testing. Heck, I think THP should put a small handling charge on there too. I know for a fact GG spent more than 1 full day just boxing up the Polara testing. Time ain't cheap! There should be compensation for that too. I'm not saying infomercial shipping and handling where the shipping is $7.00 and the handling is $19.99. HAHA. But it would be more than fair to add $2-$5 to each item shipped to offset those costs as well. I mean really, if it costs $20 to ship a set of irons to a tester and THP adds $5 for handling would anyone be upset? I wouldn't.
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The handling fee is an interesting concept and it's not something I think we will do, however, I am currently trying to price out the THP Putter Covers that we are putting up for pre-order tonight and I had to think long and hard about shipping rates because time and labor really do play a huge factor. I would love to charge our Canadian and other international members less for shipping but the sheer amount of time it takes me to have to go to the post office or UPS/FedEx stores to have their good delivered forced me to charge a bit more for their shipping. The post office is almost 20 minutes from my office which means at least an hour of my day is gone just in travel and delivery time alone. For that I have to charge a bit more because that is a big part of my day and if I have to do that everyday or even 3 or 4 times a week that's still a lot of time away from the office but at the same time I want to be able to offer these items to everyone no matter their geographical location.

This is why if (and more like when at this point) we start charging testers to pay for their own shipping I will have to charge more to the international participants. It really does suck and I absolutely hate to have to do that but it has to be done that way.
 
I hope testing products will continue, because I for one, like to test new things as they come on the market. I do agree with someone's post earlier if there are items that fit certain players game better than others, let them test those products. I will use Polara as an example, those golf balls are not good for me as a 12 handicap, but would be good for a beginner or a senior golfer who wants to enjoy the game. However, the B-330 RX fit my game fine. The same would be true with clubs, if there were clubs that would be beneficial for my game, I would test them and give them a fair and honest report. I found this site to learn about new products out there and if I find something I would like to try or even get a chance to test, I am glad to do it and if I needed to pay shipping fees, I would be glad to.
 
Thainer said:
Same here. There isn't a reason for people NOT to donate.


From the iPhone.
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Yes there is. If they simply cannot afford it, we completely understand. People do have obligations and we completely understand those obligations. Now if someone does not want to cover shipping costs for testing items, that may be an issue in the future, but it is not something we have told people that they had to do in the past.

THP does not have to cost money. It is free and always will be for people that enjoy the site. If someone wants to assist in helping THP grow and offer more opportunities, donations are appreciated, but DEFINITELY NOT a necessity.

You did not donate your first year on the forum. That was your choice and nobody ever said anything to you about it....Nor should they. Donations are not mandatory and never will be.
 
I'm not saying I judge a review based on donor tags. I'm saying that I think (unless the person has some real financial consequences) they should donate to THP to help cover the ridiculous cost of shipping items, including prizes in the contests we all love. I'm a staffer and I donate. In other words, I work for THP and I donate to it. 5 bucks, 10 bucks, whatever. If you can, send a few bucks because one day it may be you winning that prize :)
 
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