[Stinamew]

Hello everyone. I've already sent emails and PMs to some of you about this. I'm putting out feelers to see if anyone interested in starting a Ghostbuters International Facebook page. It would unite all of the groups across the globe and bring awareness to what we're all about.

[Ketchum]

I'd be interested in it.

[shodanmark]

Great idea

[keoni]

Id join

[Stinamew]

Cool. Would someone like to create the logo? I was thinking a globe instead of the red circle.

[ProtonCharger]

there was a ghostbusters international years ago that made up all these rules for franchises, and wouldnt let some in.

its the internet and people in the real world can do whatever they want, so it quickly fell through as it started.

[Stinamew]

How about Ghostbusters United?

[Foom Man]

Believe it or not, Spilled Milk has a scene that was supposed to hopefully foreshadow a new GBI (or whatever it would be called).

(If you click this link it's time stamped to show you what I'm talking about)

I actually worked on a website for a bit with Wess from SLC, We had a flash map of the USA up and everything- when you clicked a state a list of every franchise available would pop up with basic information & links to their respective sites. Here's a very, very early look at the map. Ghostbusters of America Map.





If we all want to do this Wess & I could get the ball rolling again. We had pretty lax rules (you need multiple members, some form of equipment, and you need to have do at least one charity event a year, and no fan fics, basically).

[ProtonCharger]

im tellin you from experience from before, having rules for franchises is why it fell apart.

[Foom Man]

im tellin you from experience from before, having rules for franchises is why it fell apart.

I think requesting teams have more than one person and some form of equipment would hardly be off-putting. I agree though, anything that goes past the basics (there is no need to bring up territories or a need to have a website/ecto/etc) and most people just wouldn't be interested.

Frankly the goal should be to just have an open-listing of all the franchises.

[ProtonCharger]

one a rule was they had to have some form of equipment.

the only way for something like this to work is have no rules, like i said, its in no way shape or form official, it'll never be official, because outside of it, people are going to do whatever they want anyway, and thats another major reason why it failed.

its a great idea, but saying "lets make up rules" is honestly why it'll never work.

an open listing of franchises would be great, but excluding any, its all for not. fan fic teams arent as prolific anymore(another reason why it failed, they wanted to be legit franchises but according to rules made up by people with out authority they couldnt.)

look at it like this from the perspective of someone else:

if i dont meet your criteria, why do i want to involve myself with you, and whats keeping me from doing what i want to anyway.

bottom line, thats why gbi failed. if its just a listing of other franchises? fantastic more power to you. the minute you start selecting who's who and creating any rules, thats where it wont last very long.

[Charlie Richter]

Just a list for people to scan for close or nearby teams to join would be the go, we already HAVE franchises. We just need a section of the site that lists those groups and how to contact them.

Most of the franchises have their own 'requirements' anyways. A big arse map like Kevin has made would be cool. Its just missing the rest of the world.

I just wish there was more people around Australia getting involved.

[Foom Man]

Most of the franchises have their own 'requirements' anyways. A big arse map like Kevin has made would be cool. Its just missing the rest of the world.

We actually were working on doing a worldwide map too. After we heard about the Italia movie and saw GB UK's flick, it really hit us that doing an America-only site would be a bite short sited.

[Ketchum]

I'm all for a new GBI starting up. And am willing to help in anyway that I can.

The old GBI was fun for a time. Its still there but kinda dead. I used to help with it alot till I took a few years away.

Also I updated our site if anyone wants to add it to thier links. Our links page is in the works.
http://baltimoreghostbusters.webs.com/

[Chace]

the only way for something like this to work is have no rules, like i said, its in no way shape or form official, it'll never be official, because outside of it, people are going to do whatever they want anyway, and thats another major reason why it failed.
bottom line, thats why gbi failed. if its just a listing of other franchises? fantastic more power to you. the minute you start selecting who's who and creating any rules, thats where it wont last very long.

I was a mod over there and PC is absolutely correct. I rallied against the structure attempts but at the time the leadership was all about fan-fiction and basically said, "If you dont have it in real life draw it!" That's cool if your into that sort of thing but it turned many off. That and the lack of updates by the admin. The site is still around and a couple of users still post there, but it's essentially a community of 4 people now. http://ghostbustersinternational.com/ It was fun while it lasted and I hated to see it die, but in the end it needed to,

I def learned what NOT to do from GBI, and that's why the GaGb rules are pretty much, "You wanna be in and you're not a douche? Your in!.....Ok Jairus, you can be in too"

No required number of members, no uniform or equipment type or accuracy requirements etc.

I wouldn't mind a database, or map site like has been suggested. One cool thing a large database listing could do is get groups that are nearby that may not know about each other to combine so we don't have 20 franchises within 40 miles of each other.....except for Florida where most of them hate each other. lol

[Foom Man]

I'd argue there'd be no need for a new forum on the site. The community is splintered as it is, and all you really need is a listing, a way to join, and maybe an about us page.

I still think requiring a team to have at least 2 people and some form of a uniform or equipment is a rather fair and reasonable price for entry. If your "team" consists of one guy who only has plans to make something... you're not much of a team, are you?

We all have seen the many, many threads here started by people who have big plans that never follow through, and I think a team roster needs none of that.

If we want to start something I'd be willing to start the site in November. It'd cost about $50/ year if anyone is interested in helping financially. I've talked to fellas from a bunch of the teams and I think there's a strong collective idea as to what everyone wants. A simple site with a few admins who can regularly login and update the list with an easy to-access application email. Maybe a franchise news feed that pulls from RSS, like the one here on gbfans? Are there any other features anyone would like to see?

And yeah, fan fics and the like would only deter away from getting other tangible teams to join.

[Ectoman_913]

I think it's a great idea Kev! I'm all for it.

[mavric1983]

Ok. I have heard others chime in, I might as well jump in seeing as Kev and I started this whole thing. OK, the idea was not just for franchises, but mostly for the fundraising side so we had a central website to put on business cards and banners on websites. I do want at least 2 members with uniforms (only accuracy needed is a name patch and a no ghost logo, movie or custom) any color, any belt, etc. No real equipment requirements beyond the suits. And since this really is about networking and fundraising, you MUST host or participate in AT LEAST 1 fundraiser per year, not be within reasonable distance of another agency, and have a site to link people so they can contact you (facebook, myspace, whatever). That is it. Nothing any serious team doesn't already have or could get pretty fast.

We had the idea, really, to unite under 1 banner, for real this time, like the 501st or the Halo guys. Something that we can mention at Conventions and people would go, "Oh Yeah....."

We will have a donations section and an RSS feed for updates like what you see on gbfans.com and ghostbustersnews.com for quick reference.

Again, this would be mostly just a link site. Something to send folks to who want to learn more or who want to join.

For International GB People, we will have an international map for you built in the same way as the US map will be built so no one is left out.

That was my idea for the site, Questions? Comments? Concerns?

[ProtonCharger]

IM NOT LISTENING

ftfy.

seriously man. you're getting very sound advice, i havent been trolling this thread, chace didnt jump in and speak a bunch of bull crap. the idea wont work if you put rules down(which, since you say you're not, followed by "well you need to have this and this" you are...)

if you're going to do it, do it, but dont be surprised when it falls apart, your out 50 bucks and someone say "i told you so"

[cowbybill]

The bay Area Ghostbusters would be interested. Please keep us updated on the progress! While I can't speak for Marc I believe the Capital City Ghostbusters would probably be interested in this as well.

[Ectoman_913]

That's no problem with the RGB-LI Mavric1983. We already do some fundraising and want to do more so this could only help everyone that does it too.

If someone were to contact you and there is an event in another state you could easily refer them to that group and then they can set it up. It would be great and I think it's a great idea.

[Ketchum]

All these ideas are great. I'll help out anyway i can.

[Foom Man]

seriously man. you're getting very sound advice, i havent been trolling this thread, chace didnt jump in and speak a bunch of bull crap. the idea wont work if you put rules down(which, since you say you're not, followed by "well you need to have this and this" you are...)

if you're going to do it, do it, but dont be surprised when it falls apart, your out 50 bucks and someone say "i told you so"

I hear you man, I really do. I agree that there shouldn't be strict rules/guidelines. I talked to a bunch of the GBI folks a few months back when Wess and I started talking this up and I got the same sentiments you're expressing here. The more barriers you have to entry to more likely you are to lose potential teams, and who wants that?

The process to get your team on the site should be super-simple and as straight forward as possible. There should be a simple email form people would fill out with their team's information (the info you'd expect to be on such a thing, team name, location, members, website/myspace/Facebook, etc).

There are two ends of the spectrum when it comes to this:


The "Elitist" Angle

These are the people who want things to be "real," akin to the 501st. 100% accurate props, high standards, must-have websites, high-end Ectos, even business cards.


The "Open" Angle

There would be no rules. Fan fics could be allowed. You wouldn't need a proton pack or even a jumpsuit. You'd just call yourself a franchise and that'd be it. One guy would call himself "The Boston Ghostbusters" and boom- he's a franchise.




I think both sides have their merits. We want everyone to participate who can, that's undeniable. Nobody is trying to bully anyone here. However... if you have no standards, in a 100% open policy I'm talking about here, then you have a little bit of chaos. I don't think it's unfair to ask a Ghostbusters franchise to have at least two members and some form of proof they are, in fact, a Ghostbuster. A uniform alone is fine- it doesn't even need to be that accurate. A no-ghost patch on some beige coveralls? Awesome- people can identify you as a Ghostbuster. Without those two, very simple things, what is there to go on to prove that there's even a team to speak of?

I think these simple, bare-bones rules are a fair compromise. The other rules presented are contestable, sure, but I don't think they present much harm. They could be... guidelines, as opposed to speed bumps. Do you need a website? No, of course not. But it certainly would help justify an internet-based listing of your franchise. If you have no "homepage" to speak of (on MySpace, Facebook, Free webs, Wordpress, etc)... then why do you want to be listed online? Wouldn't one of the main purposes of the "union" be to find ways to contact each team and see what they're all about? Is it so hard to request a way, online, to verify that you exist? That just seems like common sense to me.



Anyways, I think the next step here is to decide on a name. I think it'd be in poor taste to do Ghostbusters International. Ghostbusters United sounds really cool... what are the other suggestions? Ghostbusters Worldwide? GB INC? I'd start a poll, but I lack the ability to.

[AJ Quick]

About a year ago I developed a Franchise section for GBFans.

It would allow each franchise to basically create a MySpace / Facebook style page. I didn't finish it, but it only needs a few more hours of work to make operational.

If we want to keep this here on GBFans, we can do it!

[Chace]

^ I was just about to mention that attempt. Seems easier to complete that rather than reinventing a broken wheel.

[Vincenzo330]

Just wanna put this out there... We don't do birthday parties.

[exo95er]

If we want to keep this here on GBFans, we can do it!

We're already here. Let's stay here.

[Foom Man]

If we want to keep this here on GBFans, we can do it!

We're already here. Let's stay here.

Well, when the franchise section is up and running you'll have a point, but up until now there has been no real listing/unified place for teams. I look forward to the franchise section.

[Stinamew]

Wow, I didn't think I'd get this kind of response.

Reedit.

I agree with marvric1983 and Foom Man. GB Fans is great, but it seems like more of a place for the hardcore fan. What I had in mind was a place where the average Joe/Jane could look and say hey, there's a team in my state. Let's take a look.

Also, interest in Ghostbusters is on the rise due to merchandising and news about the 3rd movie. This sort of web site would allow us greater exposure (I know I know, "and you wouldn't want us exposing ourselves") to charities and organizations in need.

A basic set of rules would be great. Two people or more, my friend don't be a jerk, must have pack(s), and so on. Probably no fan fiction or prop stuff, because that's kind of what we do here, right? If people want to see what the hardcore fan base is up to, they can always come here.

~Stina