I ran across Stage 32 today - anyone here have experience with that site - positive? Negative?

I think Anthony might be able to tell you some of the positive things about it. It kinda reminds me of Facebook and such, overwhelming yet thin networks, with a barrage of promotional seminars and contests targeted at your trade.

I'd like to hear if anyone has had some successful networking come from it, or if the paid seminars are worth it. There's a few I was interested in, never had the time. I wasn't a huge fan of it, but maybe others can say it's a good resource.

I signed up when it was new, but deleted my account about two years ago. They were floored that I wanted to delete it. I think I was one of the first. Lots of people here are members though, so maybe it works for some.  :)

I'm a member there but it doesn't do anything for me... tries to sell me a lot of shit, but apart from that, nothing.

I'm a member too, my thoughts...

Pros
1) It's set up differently to here and as a site it isn't dedicated just to screenwriting, so if you want to broaden your knowledge into Producing, Music etc then it's a good resource.
2) So we have multiple sub forums and they just have the Screenwriting Lounge, so everything is in one place.
3) The Lounge is pretty decent for general chit chat and some pretty decent debate, does seem to be an bundance of 'wht do you think of my logline' type posts.
4) There are some industry pros who chime in, so contributions can be ery useful/interesting at times too.
5) However it's a public fourm, so there are also some opinionated trolls too... the mods do try and keep things on an even keel though but can get heated at times.
6) The site does have a jobs section, so there is a chance of connecting with a film maker, I've had a couple of shorts optioned through the site.
7) There are plenty of writers on there trying to mke it, some who have... so it can be a good place to make connections with the like minded, I've made a couple and traded reads.
8) There are a number of success stories in terms of members getting together to create together so definitely working for some,

Cons
1) As Dustin & Johnny mention, it's an unapologetically commercial venture so there are a lot of 'opportunities' presented, but occassionally things are free too.
2) As noted, it's more generalist than SS.
3) The site has recently had a re-design/upgrade and it now crashes my IE all the time (seems oky on Chrome) ;-(
4) Some of the trolls are downright dangerous, I've seen a couple asked to leave by mods and I've had run ins with a couple of others (and it takes a lot for me to react to such things)

My advice would be sign up and try it, if you find the commercial aspects too much, or don't like it's more generalist approach then follow Pia's lead and cancel your embership.

I might see you over there ;-)

Anthony

Oh yeah, should have added 'CJ is on it' to my pros list ;-)

thanks all - good stuff as usual