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Welcome to the "Poor
Man's" Watch Forum (PMWF) -
Why this provocative Title?
I had this idea because I felt that watch forum
visitors are sometimes intimidated by posts about very expensive
watches. Or that newbies are being offended by impolite answers or pun
from the 'old boys' to simple watch questions. Of course sometimes a
humorous answer is fun, but it is a bit like the spices in our food, it
is the right amount and combination of them, that makes it taste great.
I also felt, that it would be nice to have a
place, where one could freely discuss affordable watches and watch
technology, links to their sources and links to other forums and that is
why I include links to the major watch forums in this Welcome Message.
Because remember, how confused I was at the beginning. I had no clue
where to start to explore Watch Land (a term created by our Watch Lady
Marsha).
Of course we are not "poor men". If we have the
luxury of owning more then one watch, then we belong already to a
privileged class on this planet. "Poor Man's" Watch Forum's title had
been chosen to send the message, that we want to discuss inexpensive
watches, that almost anybody could afford. And inexpensive is not the
same as cheap. Cheap e.g. is bad quality, manufacturing shortcuts etc.
Inexpensive means a good quality/price ratio and a hopefully appealing
design.
PMWF had been created on December 14th 2001 and
had been hosted at WatchUseek during its first year. Thanks to very
knowledgeable and friendly visitors PMWF has become a great success and
has established itself amongst the watch forums within a year. Thus, I decided, a place like PMWF
needs its own home. And www.pmwf.com
was still available!
Charles McCoy (cwm38) from Texas is a spiritual
co-founder of PMWF. Without his input and encouragement, PMWF might not
exist in this form today. Thank you my dear friend for your ongoing
support and input!
Reto Castellazzi, Bangkok, Feb 9th 2004
What is
PMWF about?
It is not this forum's idea to
compete against any existing forums, but to fill the niche to discuss
inexpensive watches. Watch enthusiasm is in my humble opinion not
correlated to MSRP (manufacturer's suggested retail price).
My objective would be to discuss
watches below USD 1000 street price. This limit might to stringent for
the forum, but it is stringent for WILD! Tuesday and Trading Wednesday.
If you e.g. want to provide information about a Tourbillon watch for USD
3000, please go ahead. Another example: if you think you found a great
deal for a NOS pink gold watch and want to let us now, go ahead. Now I
will try to put all this into one sentence:
|
"I
wish The "Poor Man's" Watch Forum could be the
independent and friendly forum to discuss inexpensive, affordable
watches, watch technology and sources where to get them" |
Even I want this to be a very free
and relaxed place, we will need some rules as in any organized
"social system".
PMWF Community Guidelines and Posting Rules
|
1. Paradigm:
Please be polite and help if you can. The use of obscene language is
considered inappropriate on PMWF by the majority of the board. If for
whatever reasons you have the urge to use strong language, then please
mask foul words: "....that @#$%^#$% caseback just would not open!".
Thank you for using polite language!
2. Watch
Forums:
You are welcome to link to
other watch forums. I never understood the need to forbid linking to other
forums, so please feel free to link to posts on
TimeZone,
WatchUseek,
WatchParadise,
any Manufacturer's forums (e.g. the excellent IWC Forum at
www.iwc.com),
the
WatchForum,
Equation
Of Time forums,
ThePurists.com ,
SEIKO
$ CITIZEN FORUM, the
Japanese
Watch forum, the
Big Watch Forum,
the
Thai Language Forum Siam Naliga and to all forums I forgot* to
list here. It is one
Watch World, let us keep it together!
*Forum Onwers, Administrators, if you want me
to include your forum here, please
contact me, thank you
3. Sales:
No sales oriented activity on PMWF please.
PMWF
is the discussion forum.
PMWSF is the sales forum for all your sales oriented activity.
The
Rules
for PMWSF are on the
header of the Sales Forum. Please read Rule 6 of PMWSF if you are
posting on both forums.
4. Sources:
You can discuss and link to prices and sources on PMWF. But no shilling
nor promoting
for your, your relatives' or your friends' watch business please.
No links to websites that knowingly violate
copyrights, e.g. use stolen web layouts, pictures, texts. This is not a
complete list. Also no pictures containing the URL or links to the URL
of sites that infringe copyrights.
If
in doubt, ask one of the Administrators BEFORE you post.
5. Auctions, Sales posts:
Please do not link to
live auctions (auctions that are not closed
yet) on Ebay or any other auction sites unless you recognize a
fake, a frankenwatch being advertised as original or unless you spot
other irregularities, e.g. the same watch auctioned twice. Links to live
auctions will drive the prices up and benefit only the sellers and not
the collectors/buyers.
Please do not link to your post on the
PMWSF as long it is on the main index page (14 days) of PMWSF.
Linking to your friend's PMWSF post in order to raise its
exposure is considered shilling and the consequence might be banning
from both forums.
If you posted about a watch on PMWF you will have to wait
3 days until you can post that watch
for sale on the PMWSF.
6. Disputes:
Please do not use PMWF to fight battles of any kind. Please also refrain
from importing disputes from other fora or other sites. Please try to
resolve buyer/seller matters per email first before bringing them to
public attention on the discussion forum.
7.
Tolerance:
Please be tolerant and refrain
from racial, gender, political and any other form of discrimination.
We are gathering on this forum to talk about our passion: watches. Of
course it is nice to hear more than just about watches from our
cosmopolitan community. Our numerous visitors come from different
cultures, political and religious environments. Be careful with jokes as
they might be interpreted differently in other cultures or be insulting.
Also please consider that "locker room" jokes could be gender
discriminating.
However if you think
your post is provocative or could escalate or has the potential to get
out of hand: do not
post!
8. Fakes:
No posts about fakes! Exceptions are if you educate fellow
PMWFers about how to identify fakes or have an interesting story about
movements or materials used in fake watches. Please note, a fake is a watch that
illegally uses the name, design, logo and other characteristics of
the brand it tries to imitate.
There is a watch class called "Homage". Homage watches that do
not infringe trade marks and model registration and are marketed under a
consistent brand name are not fakes.
In any case, do
not post links to sites that sell fake or counterfeit watches or
accessories or any non-watch related fake merchandise, e.g.
pens, leatherwear etc. Your post will be deleted without notification
and explanation.
9. Deletion of Posts
We Administrators do not believe in deletion or an oppressive
moderation style. We accept the higher risk of a "Laissez-fair" or
"Hands Down" moderation style for the benefit of a more lively forum.
However all PMWF Administrators are free to delete posts that violate PMWF Rules
and all PMWF Administrators have the power to decide independently.
However in most cases we consult and discuss before a thread is deleted.
We have no fun in removing threads or in trying to apply an intimidating
moderation style. The forum is here for you and us and all that want to
share their passion about watches.
We are a friendly forum, thus you will get an explanation per email (if
you provided a working email address - we will of course remove eventual
SPAM tags in your registered email address) why your post
was removed or modified with the exception of posts trying to advertise
fake watches and accessories. Those posts will be removed without
explanation. We will not comment about deleted posts about
fakes. You can also ask us to remove one of your posts at any time.
10. Change of screen name (profile
name) not possible
Please select your screen name carefully when you
register with PMWF.com.
Please note that www.PMWF.com
registration comprises both discussion and sales forum. An exception is
established watch businesses with either a real world shop or an online
shop. One additional company screen name is allowed for posting on the
sales forum.
You pick one
screen name for both forums. The forum software will not allow you to change the profile name (screen
name, your PMWF name) afterwards. Once you registered with a certain
name on PMWF.com, you will be keeping that screen name or PMWF name as
long as you post on the forum. The
Administrator Team will permanently scan the
PMWF member profiles for
duplicates and redundant instances of profiles and consequently ban violators
of Rule 10 for life.
Since this rule has been introduced while many PMWF members are
being registered, the
Administrator Team will stand by and help you with any problems
during the transition to the "one screen name per person PMWF community".
|
Not a rule, but a maybe useful hint:
|
The usefulness
of introductory posts:
If you are a newly registered member of the PMWF community, then why
not make an introductory post? The PMWF has grown a lot, but against
all odds, has remained a friendly and relaxed place where
making friends is easy. I believe that new members that introduce
themselves can benefit further and faster from the community's vast
resources. You could either post a watch related introduction: talk
about the watches you like most, the watches already in your
collection. Or you could also post a more general introduction and
include a bit more information about yourself, your profession,
other hobbies and maybe the area you are from. I am sure that a
single introductory post will help you in the best possible way to
find new friends on PMWF or to even find watch enthusiasts living in
your city. Of course introductions are voluntary.
And if you optimize your work methodology, then simply cut and paste
your introductory post into your
PMWF user profile and then the
information will stay there as long as you wish. After you
registered and logged on, you will see the Edit Profile
command at the right of the command line. That is the link to click
in order to add information to the PMWF profile. See you on the
forum! |
Last but not least, if you are not
happy with any of these rules, discuss with us. We are always open for suggestions and feedback. After all, this is
our all forum for our watches!
Best Regards
PMWF Admin Team,
Bangkok, February 2004
History of Modifications
December 2002: modified Rule
2 to explicitly forbid Sales Posts
January 17th 2003: added
WILD! Rules for WILD! Tuesday
April 27th 2003: added
Trading Wednesday Rules, new sub sections 2.1 and 2.2, change of Admin
email address
May 7th 2003: added links to Big Watch Forum (Jose, Forum Owner) and Siam Naliga
(punkky, Admin,Tommy T.S., Public Forum Moderator)
May 12th 2003: added Rule 8 (Fakes), added bold comment to Rule 2 (about
linking to sites offering Fakes), changed text of Rule 1 (removed
explanation as the bold text says it all already)
Sept 9th 2003: added link to PMWSF in Rules
Oct 28th 2003: added Rule 9
Dec 7th 2003: modified Rule 7
Jan 20th 2004: modified Rule 6
Feb 9th 2004: Complete overhaul of rule set removing redundancy. Numbers
of rules changed.
March 30th 2004: added jokes and "locker room" joke lines to Rule 7,
slightly modified Rule 9, added email remarks
April 18th 2004: added non-bold part of Rule 1 regarding obscene
language
July 14th 2004: added "including PMWSF" in Rule 5
October 4th 2004: modified Rule 4
January 25th 2005: modified Rule 5 - no more links to "Live Auctions"
unless you recognize a fake, frankenwatch or other irregularities
April 5th 2005: modified Rule 5 (added PMWSF and PMWF part)
June 4th 2005: added a section
to Rule 4 "Sources" regarding linking to sites that violate
copy rights
20th April 2006: added box suggesting new members to introduce
themselves.
24th April 2006: added Rule 10 regarding change of screen names
29th April 2006: changed Rule 10 allowing two screen names for owners of
a watch business
6th January 2007: changed wording of "Disputes" Rule 6
"Need" a new watch? - Check here! Also check with your
wife first if that is applicable!
Back
to PMWF!