Paintball (Smart Parts) in a local Pittsburgh News Paper.

[Muzikman]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05146/510272.stm

Well, seeing as Smart Parts is local I can see how the article is mostly about them, but I did send the author and email already. I basically covered the dark side of the Smart parts history. How they stole, cheated and sued their way to the top.

[Maggot6]

Always cool when paintball is mentioned in anything local.

[nameless143]

I played with James last weekend. Kind of cool.

[RingOfScale]

Yeah, the article does seem totally one sided. They are making SP sound like they made ever single great paintball innovation ...

I especially like how it makes it sound like SP single handedly started the electronic revolution and how that part about the Three Rivers field, and the self equips that play at it, makes it sound like anyone who buys their own gear buys SP.


-ring

[Spacemanvic]

You have to understand, in this area of PA, its mostly rural, and not much is going on here. So SP, opening the stores, and enlarging the factory, is big news here.

[Paintchucker]

Yeah, the article does seem totally one sided. They are making SP sound like they made ever single great paintball innovation ...

I especially like how it makes it sound like SP single handedly started the electronic revolution and how that part about the Three Rivers field, and the self equips that play at it, makes it sound like anyone who buys their own gear buys SP.


-ring



Given the wave of lawsuits, they might just have a patient for everything !!! Sorry, that was bad, but I am an ION owner and have enough Freak stuff to choke several horses. They are big business where they are located. They are very innovative too, IMHO. That is why I also own AGD guns. I have carried SP and Armson barrels for more than a decade. No one has to like SP, but sometimes you do have to give them their due...

[Jonno06]

it was actually a very smart bussiness move on smart parts behalf. very a-hole of them, but smart.

[slade]

they wield high-powered electronic guns, or markers, that look like real assault rifles.
:rofl:

maybe if you have an a-5 with an e-grip...



the article REALLY does overglamorize SP.

[AGD]

Notice that they DO use you guys as part of their plans. When something comes up, many here sit around doing nothing becasue they think they don't make a difference. In reality the 10 million "silent" players you always think drive the market listen to the few vocal peeps on the net.

Squeeky wheel gets the grease. SP got you all squeeking and made another fortune.

AGD

[shartley]

Notice that they DO use you guys as part of their plans. When something comes up, many here sit around doing nothing becasue they think they don't make a difference. In reality the 10 million "silent" players you always think drive the market listen to the few vocal peeps on the net.

Squeeky wheel gets the grease. SP got you all squeeking and made another fortune.

AGD
I read it quite differently than you do. It seems as if you are trying to empower (or point out the power) that the few vocal people on the internet have when I believe that is still a myth and proven not to be the case.

Look at what the vast majority of highly vocal people on the internet were trying to do about SP. They wanted to shut them down. They wanted to form a huge boycott of their products. Now what really happened? Virtually nothing.

I have found that the average player I run into knows virtually nothing about the internet “sub-culture”. That is why it is called a “subculture”. And even more, I find that the average player seems to know more about paintball magazines and what they find in local shops than what is online.

However, with that said, please also don’t confuse being USED to spread the word with folks listening to you about what to buy and what not to. Because if the truth was that folks actually listened to the few vocal onliners SP would be out of business now. The few vocal people on the internet do not drive the market, they are being used to help spread the word about products…. Even if most of the time what they spread is negative.

But take AO for example. You would think that with all the diehard support AGD has on AO and how vocal its members are that Mag sales would surpass any other marker on the market… but they don’t.

Simply put, SP could have made “another fortune” with the ION no matter how they chose to advertise it. It is just more cost efficient to simply post free on the internet than it is to do it any other way. That again though does not mean the internet posters are what are “driving the market”. Does a horse “drive” a carriage, or is it simply pulling it? The internet is a great way to put your product in the faces of a large group of people, but that is not the same as those people being the ones who drive the industry or that the average player listens to what someone posting on an internet forum says and then does it.

I am not saying the internet does not have a lot of power, nor that it is not of great marketing value. But I am disagreeing with how it seems you are saying the power lies. As if the people dictate what sells and does not. As if internet posting “drives” the market. I don’t see it as driving much of anything, but simply being a part of the marketing machine.

[slasherdan]

Notice that they DO use you guys as part of their plans. When something comes up, many here sit around doing nothing becasue they think they don't make a difference. In reality the 10 million "silent" players you always think drive the market listen to the few vocal peeps on the net.

Squeeky wheel gets the grease. SP got you all squeeking and made another fortune.

AGD

And Tom ... there is one more aspect you're not thinking of. If you make a QUALITY product that works good, people are going to buy one and not buy another because they don't need to.

With the tinker clink in paintball, they'll buy an Ion and an Autococker and love working on it. Not much work you can do on an Mag because it stands the test of time. I love my RT ULE .... I think the only gun I've had that is more durable that it was my 98c.

Mags make great Primary Guns .... But to be honest I'm not going to buy a mag and use it as my secondary. I would see myself having an Ion as a back up .... But then again AIr Guns has released the Classic ..... Might consider that when the money becomes available.

[Lohman446]

Look at what the vast majority of highly vocal people on the internet were trying to do about SP. They wanted to shut them down. They wanted to form a huge boycott of their products. Now what really happened? Virtually nothing..

The unfortunate thing about the highly vocal people on the internet.. even if taken as a whole they are easily marginalized.

http://home.comcast.net/~allfor114all/AoMi.gif

[Spacemanvic]

Feh:

I visisted the new place.....it's ok. Shop is kind of sparse, the in store merchandising lacked creativity, the field looked nice, but they had just opened, and it didnt look like they had everything ready yet (concession stands closed, vending machines empty etc.). The staff was nice enough though. I wish them well!

[Fallout-]

. How they stole, cheated and sued their way to the top.

Oh let me guess you are writting this on a mac right?

[-=Squid=-]

What the hell would you e-mail that to the newspaper for? It's stupid, and they could care less anyways.

Seriously - I wish some people would open up their eyes and see what business is all about. Smart-Parts didn't do anything wrong.

[Muzikman]

I did not email the news paper, I emailed the reporter/author of the article.

And, I assume you have never had business classes in college eh? What Smart Parts did was not ethically responsible. Hell, you are probably think Enron did nothing wrong and that WorldCom was just a peachy company and Arthur Andersen did everything by the book too huh?

[-=Squid=-]

Hell, you are probably think Enron did nothing wrong and that WorldCom was just a peachy company and Arthur Andersen did everything by the book too huh?
No?

[RingOfScale]

yeah, Enron is a really bad example ,,, cause didnt htey actually break the law ?

[Muzikman]

Who says Smart Parts hasn't? I am not saying they did, but their business practices are already unethical.

[-=Squid=-]

Who says Smart Parts hasn't?
Obviously not you, so why even bring it up as an option if you don't believe that this is the case?