I made this editorial over at the Union Leader Council, because I think that's the place where it can make the most difference. I plan on sending this sooner or later to a gamespot staffer, but I wanted to see what you guys thought first.

How Unions can make a profit, and should stay on-site

by Hendrix29

I'm writing this on account of all the rumours that gamespot doesn't care about unions, and how they aren't making money for gamespot in the first place, which is why gamespot doesn't really see the need in maintaining them. It's true, unions in general are simply dying out, not getting the posting they need, and desperately in-need of these union enhancements that have recently been put on hold, but I think there's a way of convincing gamespot to continue with the enhancements, due to the fact that they can actually give gamespot an edge. One thing especially of note here is that much of the GameSpot community is drawn to unions and user-created boards, and they draw activity toward the site, it's just the fact that now there are so many of them, that not enough members are posting on each union. So, not only do they increase activity, they can also help do the work for GameSpot, which I will note later in the post. Anyway, here are some ways the issues can be resolved:

1) Unions can contain advertisements

There are many ways that unions can hold advertisements beneficial to gamespot. Besides that unions are almost a walking-advertisement for a gaming series, I'm sure that as long as you don't overflow a union with advertisements, sprinkled honda, coke, and whatever else sponsors gamespot would surely be welcome across the union. If a union gets the exposure it needs, game developers, other websites, etc. can help out and advertise the union itself, and all proceeds could go towards GameSpot, which could help the site make money. I'm sure this is a beneficial way, but there are more important reasons why unions can be beneficial to GameSpot.

2) Unions need Exposure

Before I get more into why unions can be profitable, I must mentioned that unions will need more exposure to be fully capitalized on. Not only does this unions version two project need to happen, but throughout the site, union news can be quite helpful, at least from an assured source such as an endorsed union. In fact, for key games, endorsed unions can do much of the work for GameSpot, providing their own impressions on games, offering extra reviews, downloads, and more. A good example of this was with the Headcrab Union, and their organization with the Team Fortress tournament. It's events like these that can help out the whole of GameSpot and why unions need some true exposure around the site.

3) Developers can take heed

I'm sure this is what you're going for with officially sanctioned unions, but with updated unions with the enhancements, developers might certainly take heed at what's going on GameSpot with the chance of setting up basically a site for free, and dragging their fan-base with them. It could work great with indie developers, and even some major developers, who could add videos, talk about how a game is progressing, and every member of the union would be a part of the GameSpot community, which is another added bonus. This is also somewhat like what SentinelRV mentioned when thinking up the union enhancements, and how unions could get nearly as big as gamespy's planet sites, which are legitimate forces of their own. There are definitley some opportunities to be found in this regard.

4) The GameSpot Community wants Unions, and Enhancements

I will leave this point very, very simply. A two-thousand post thread on union enhancements does not lie, neither does a union made up of leaders, and neither does the thousand member unions still existing today, as well as the union award ceremonies coming along. When the community abandons unions, you guys should abandon unions.