I have never suggested that I "take the reins", I have only ever volunteered my time and asked that an immortal be in charge. The trollers seem to forget that my last posts on marketing resulted in this forum, a series of very positive and helpful emails from Daevryn and Kastellyn to me (that the playerbase never had a reason to see), and Kastellyn "took the reins" on marketing and was going to consult with a "council" of interested and experienced people like me and delegate to talented volunteers from the playerbase. This did not come to fruition.

I've never been that keen on being in charge, because honestly the a-holes who insult the imms and question their judgment would be loosed on me - and I just don't want to deal with you ####ers. Additionally, I am busy with my own crap. Heh. I have MY marketing to do - as well as a closing on a new house in the next few weeks here, and a baby due mid April.

However, since it seems that no one else wants the "reins", and because I do feel somewhat indebted to CF for 10+ years of free gaming, I will step up and do what I can.

So to get started, what I would ask for is:

1. An IMP to liaison between my team and the coders. We need to know that marketing is moving in the direction of production. Not much time would be required of this person, but I'd like that they check in on us to be sure that they are comfortable with what we're doing.

2. A means to communicate with that IMP and the team that is not a forum open to the public. An invisible forum here, or access to only the marketing forum on hamsah for team members. Just as the imms don't discuss possible code changes or area ideas here on the forums because they don't want peanut gallery BS, we want to be able to discuss marketing without having to deal with unwanted commentary.

3. Access to a bank account where marketing dollars are kept, or access to an IMP who can authorize marketing oriented purchases. Also some OFFICIAL way to collect marketing specific donations. (Newbie Fund)

4. A means to track marketing efforts. How many new players came as a result of what marketing activity? Paramount importance. Impossible to effectively market over the long term without this.

5. A simply worded contract similar to the agreements I use with clients that allows me rights to use trademark CF logos and game info, and indemnifies me from legal claims brought on CF, and from CF suing me for creating advertisements that result in law suits.

So my question to the imms is this:

Assuming I was able to show a plan that worked for you guys, and were able to instill confidence in my reliability and trustworthiness to your standards, would it then (and only then) be possible to put the above five things in place?