20thcenturyforum.com Facebook Page?

20th Century Forum is regularly mentioned on the FB groups. If that hasn't attracted new members then nothing will.

some of the potters I meet are really lovely people and I have to be careful not to buy a pot because I like the potter

I will have to give up. I don't have the 'vision thing'. Everyone talks about the problem they have on Facebook and what they want. Ignore all that it's not for you, it's for the people who are entirely at home on FB, so much so that they would post of a Cth20 Forum FB page but can't be bothered to come here. 

I have Twitter, Facebook and a website and I'm still amazed that people want to use FB to contact me. Why don't you email me I think .... no THEY WANT TO USE FACEBOOK!!!




You have all driven me to drink...where is that bottle of Absinthe?

I used to be on Twitter but it's a lot like talking to yourself most days and then the mother in law and her friends started following me so I left.
I tried a website and a blog but quickly got bored and gave up.
I've only been on FB for a year or two and it's swallowed up so much of my time I gave up several other hobby websites; 20th Century Forum is the only one I'm still on regularly. We could easily lose members to a Facebook version of 20thCenturyForum - I've seen it happen to other hobby websites I've been on. But from what I've seen over the past year I'm not convinced we'd gain members FROM Facebook.
It's horses for courses, and we're a different horse on a different course; we're not a business that needs a marketing strategy across the various social media outlets.
A lot of our members come here because they've done a Google search on a particular potter or pottery and it's thrown up this website - it's how I found it. Facebook isn't googleable, at least, not in the same sense or detail. I think in that respect we still have the upper hand.

I'm going on a one day course next week - Facebook for business.

I'm going because it's free and afterwards I will be able to do my impression of Catherine Tate's nan.

I have to agree with Naomi that this forum has the upper hand. Facebook is for the now and has it's place but this forum to me is not simply an ID my item resource. If it was then Facebook would be the natural home. Over time this forum has become a hugely important storage of information about designs and designers. The longer that continues the more important it becomes. I can't talk about the rest of the message boards on here. But for a lot of pottery the only web based source of information is this website, for others it is the main source of information. Now I can understand the attraction of a Facebook page due to the numbers it would attract but once that became the place to get an id most future traffic would be lost to this forum. The future reference content that comes from an ID being transferred to a manufacturer or designer thread would also disappear. That would be a huge knock to the knowledge people would have available in the future.

facebook schmacebook

Well said Mordeep. Facebook photos aren't pinnable so I'm illegally taking screen shots and uploading them on Ponterest in an attempt to keep the ID info. but everything else is quickly swamped by new posts so there is constant repetition, even on current threads where commenters don't bother to read previous posts.

As for businesses, I hate the sponsored ads and suggested pages. For some reason Facebook thinks id be interested in things like horse tonic (I kid you not; one comment on a photo of a ceramic horse and I'm categorised as a horse lover). Where I can I leave rude comments on those companies pages.

studio-pots wrote:

NaomiM wrote:Agreed. Plus I have an avatar name on FB and have been blocked by a couple of potters who's work I collect because in real life they're arseholes. I certainly wouldn't want them finding their way here.

I think in fairness to all those potters, who aren't arseholes, that you need to "name names".

most that i have come into contact with are very nice , only 2 or 3 i can't abide , i won't name them .

No, I don't think it's worth naming them. Their pots are great; they can't help being idiots in real life

Hows about a clue M/F?

There was one well known Welsh potter, who showed himself in rather a poor light on this forum a few years ago.

studio-pots wrote:There was one well known Welsh potter, who showed himself in rather a poor light on this forum a few years ago.

On Facebook there is a Cumbrian potter who also shows himself in a poor light.

That said most potters seem to be a very friendly bunch.

What annoys me on FB is when it's potters v's collectors. When your opinion over a pot or potter is dismissed as 'knowing nothing' simply because you're not a potter, even though someone who's collected for over decade is probably more experienced at knowing crap when they see it, compared to a potter who's simply made and collected his own pots.

I think the "knowing nothing" debate continues well beyond simply pottery. In anything I buy I always look at the skill and talent involved in making it. Some of the work produced in the late 19th century across the world indicates a life time of amassed skill in an environment dedicated to producing the best works of art. You only have to look at some of the Japanese items from the 1890's to see what I mean. People point towards the abstract artists of the 20th century and suggest that is the basis for what they produce. But they often forget that artists like Picasso or Miro did not go abstract because they did not have the skill to produce traditional paintings. They moved through those works into abstract picking up the skills long the way. They did not start out throwing paint at canvas's while being unable to paint a stick man. People often hide a lack of skill, talent and hours dedicated to learning behind ego's and raised voices. They often hide behind abstract and wacky items trying to hide what they don't know. It's those people I think are 1st in line when it comes to wanting praise and least able to accept others opinions.

 I also think collectors are underrated only by those who lack the intelligence to understand it is easier to learn from listening and looking than talking. But that is another subject.

Some potters are technically highly proficient but lack imagination so their work is either copies of Leach or Cardew or dull as dishwater. Trouble with Facebook is you can't say that because they're on there.

NaomiM wrote:Some potters are technically highly proficient but lack imagination so their work is either copies of Leach or Cardew or dull as dishwater. Trouble with Facebook is you can't say that because they're on there.

Well you could

I certainly agree with potters v collectors thing , how can anyone dismiss someone with years of collecting experience just because they can't throw a pot, it doesn't automatically make them more enlightened , Iv'e known potters who haven't even heard of the highest profile artists , probably because they are a tad wrapped up in their own world , iv'e also seen galleries showing studio pottery alongside fat lava german & Italian factory stuff , DUH! ..trying to think who the Welsh potter might be SP , hang on a sec ..got it

I often talk to potters who's style is very close to that of another (often more tallented) potter but they never admit to having heard of them so when I watched Matt Berry's character Steven Toast it really struck a chord

I've been very brave and gone onto that Facebook but it's really scary. There are names and faces that I know but think it's probably best to avoid, if like me you sell pots to many of these people. You might upset them when not meaning to or even when meaning to.

I also saw some hands that I recognised.

I hate all that faux-Friends notification on FB. 'Oh I've just insulted you and posted a half-hearted apology' or 'oh, you've just liked my pot', so now I'm going to send you a Friend request so we can pretend to like each other

You always end up with pretendy friends , that's the nature of the beast , Iv'e got some I can't even pronounce their names from whatever country , ..but they like pots n' sh*t

reporting back ..     .Absinthe is %80 but quiet  drinkable if ad ed sugar     and wat