Have had a couple of threads disappear due 'possible' business promotion (whether intentional or not) it's nice to see that the rules are now seemingly being relaxed.
Or maybe they've not been reported...
have you reported any posts/threads you feel are violating the forum rules?
Not my place... if someone gets away with it then good for them. I didn't for the most tenuous and unintentional link.
This is a serious Q though... have the rules been relaxed as I've seen a few examples this year.
the rules are the same.
if people choose not to report stuff it may not be seen by the mods.
it bothered you enough to post this thread but it's not your place' to report. seems odd.
[url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/slightly-gratuitous-plug-and-rather-proud-moment-slight-adult-content ]Mine[/url] wasn't really intended as a promotion of our business more of a sharing of the joy of what we have achieved as a small business in a huge and hugely competitive industry, I wasn't sure how it would be received and actually stated that if it was improper of offended then it could and should be removed, but that said it appears to of been taken with the humour and celebration of the actual event...
(Plus we have now added a discount code for STW users)
What are the rules? I'd always assumed you couldn't post up a thread saying 'look at my company', but if someone asks for recommendations for a builder or whatever in a particular area then it's OK to respond with your details. Don't think I'd go as far as reporting a regular member but I would for a new poster/spammer
Not bothered, just checking. I'm all for a bit of promotion, can't see what's wrong with it - unless it's promoting another bike mag 😆
Just a thought though - are we not all promoting ST mag by posting on here?
Edit: I'd forgotten about yours RJ (nice job by the way)
By the way, can anyone recommend me an online outdoor clothing store?
Business promoting is allowed in certain cases; see the rules. I don't believe this is 'new,' it's been that way for as long as I can remember.
As others have said you can use the 'report post' button on anything you're not sure about and it'll receive mod attention quicker than waiting for someone to trip over it.
online outdoor clothing store?
🙄
What are the rules? I'd always assumed you couldn't post up a thread saying 'look at my company', but if someone asks for recommendations for a builder or whatever in a particular area then it's OK to respond with your details.
That's about the size of it, yes.
http://singletrackworld.com/terms-and-conditions/
It's not always exactly black and white, so we'll sometimes have to make a judgement call (and probably then spent the next week being accused of being inconsistent hypocrites with a hidden agenda, or something).
I got away with it by pretending it was a thread about product photos.
Actually, it really was a thread about product photos, but there were links involved.. and people did ask.. 🙂
I suspect Daniel Groves might welcome his thread disappearing off the front page in the near future.
Dressing it up as a 'critique my website' post is another popular option. 🙂
I'm all for a bit of promotion, can't see what's wrong with it
There's two reasons, AIUI.
1) the bulk of it is spam, as demonstrated by the number of discount kitchen furniture threads we have to mop up every morning, and
2) otherwise genuine posts which are unsolicited would be free advertising on a busy site which sells advertising space, space which in turn funds the site. Allowing this would likely close the forum eventually.
sharkbait - MemberEdit: I'd forgotten about yours RJ (nice job by the way)
Thanks mate, it's just nice to get recognised by our peers and just wanted to share the joy, it's not all fun and games no matter what it looks like in the photos......
Oh and I didn't put any links to the company in it, it was just a photo of the article so as to not generate any spam
the bulk of it is spam, as demonstrated by the number of discount kitchen furniture threads we have to mop up every morning,
Ahhh, see thanks to your good work we don't have to put up with that crab.
ftfyit's not all fun and games no matter what it looks like in the photos...... [s]cough[/s]
If you START a thread that promotes your business then expect it to be looked at very cynically by us.
If you respond to a genuine post by a genuine user who is asking for information on products or services that your business my be able to provide then we have no problem with you helping out that user by posting information about what you offer.
The principal of the rule is that it is always in the favour of the genuine user and not the business. We allow a business to respond to a user's post because in so doing that will potentially help out the user. It's not about allowing the business to promote themselves.
Stretching the rule by suggesting to us that by allowing your business to promote itself on here will 'help our users' is very common and we ignore it. It has to be user instigated - that's why a business can't START a thread promoting themselves.
But as always, if you see something seemingly get ignored by the mods it's extremely likely it's because it hasn't been reported. If you don't think it's your place to report it then we can't help you.
Was wondering where Daniel Groves thread had gone to....
I thought it had died of shame.
Yes, so many spelling mistakes in such a short text. Not very good.
Actually this place could be the perfect testing ground for new websites - you'd certainly make sure they were up to snuff before posting a link, as Mr Groves has just found out. Bit miffed if it's gone because I spent ages trying to write a nice response.
To be fair, I can't see how it was [i]promoting[/i] a business.
Damn, I was just replying to the Daniel Groves thread agreeing with weeksy that it really wasn't very good. He is obviously a capable programmer, but needed some help with artistic ideas, spelling and grammar. Especially as the website was an example of the very thing he was trying to sell.
Especially as the website was an example of the very thing he was trying to sell
Which is why I don't get all the OTT negative comments. If it really is a bad website, he'll get no business which is the ultimate form of feedback. I just don't see why people feel the need to lambaste the guy; it doesn't really serve any genuine purpose.
My reply was actually worded in a very positive manner, I just didn't get chance to send it. Why not criticise? If I can help a young ambitious developer succeed before he fails then I'm all for it. I know that if I employed him in my development team based on his CV, and he produced that website, I would be saying 'back to the drawing board' and giving him a chance to improve
Okay, weeksy may have been a bit 'bull in a china shop' but the sentiment is the same
I don't know as he was 'lambasted', on the whole anyway. Most people were constructive I thought.
Sure, there was an element of cockery from certain quarters, but that's what happens when you give gibbons Internet access.
OK, what I really meant was I don't get why weeksy felt the need to lambaste the guy (other than I'm sure it made him feel good).
In all credit to DG, he took it well and responded very calmly!
I just don't see why people feel the need to lambaste the guy; it doesn't really serve any genuine purpose.
wha..!?
Either we are all sycophantic and pat him on his head and tell him what a clever doggie he is, leaving him, as you say, to get naff all business without ever really knowing the reason.. perhaps he gets jaded with the whole industry, thinks he's wasted his life, and in a drunken moment he tries his first cigarette at a web designer [i]and[/i] developer's student dinner party, where his surly and listless demeanour is already getting noticed among his peers..
This leads him to feel his life is cheap, prompting him to have a puff on a joint to help ease the teenaged angst when he's next staggering down to Devonport at closing time to visit his 'girlfriend'.. The shame of his weak sexual technique melts away and suddenly he sees himself as a bit of a rebel, starts fooling around a bit and singing karaoke in the SU bar instead of studying.. maybe he gets behind on his dissertation..
Maybe next time he's fumbling for the cash to pay his 'girlfriend' for the half an hour's fun that she's just given him, she offers him a joint that's been pepped up with a bit of smack, and now that he's a rock n roll hooligan he just knows that it's a step in the right direction..
Soon he's off the uni cycling team.. sold his bikes on the STW classifieds and is living in a Devonport bedsit too, scratching his skin til it bleeds while he shivers wrapped in a filthy duvet, wishing that the landlord would fix the broken window where flakes of snow waft in on the arctic winds to settle on the filth and broken dreams, amongst the detritus of his shattered addict lifestyle, another hollow cheeked, dead eyed statistic..
or..
he gets told that he needs to buck his ideas up a bit as his work is looking a bit shabby.. he takes it on board and gets an acceptable degree
There is a third option, of course, which is to provide constructive criticism whilst still treating the recipient like a fellow human being. Wheaton's Law or, I suppose more appropriately from recent threads, Molgrips' Law.
And, I suppose, a fourth option, which is to STFU and find something else to do.
Damn.. I never remember that there can be more than two options.. 😳
😯 Moderation with [i]attitude[/i]. Me likey 😀
Sorry, I've not had enough coffee this morning and my tolerance for people fitting the Urban Dictionary description is running quite low.
(-:
So if I try to be constructive about somebody's website the thread gets pulled.
What would happen if I mentioned that I make really high quality and bespoke bedrooms and home offices in the Stafford area at half the price of the national firms?
No, it was pulled because he was plugging his own business. I think ❓
Sorry, I've not had enough coffee this morning and my tolerance for people fitting the Urban Dictionary description is running quite low.
No, you carry on - about time some of these kiddies got a taste of their own 😀
[i]What would happen if I mentioned that I make really high quality and bespoke bedrooms and home offices in the Stafford area at half the price of the national firms? [/i]
start a thread about it and it'll get pulled, respond to someone asking 'where can I get eally high quality and bespoke bedrooms and home offices in the Stafford area at half the price of the national firms?' and you're fine.
Are you asking?
What would happen if I mentioned that I make really high quality and bespoke bedrooms and home offices in the Stafford area at half the price of the national firms?
That sounds fascinating, would you like help promoting, I just happen to run a pr and social media agency that does just that? 😀
What about promoting (my) band? is that ok, or only if a reccomend me a band thread comes up?
I'm guessing by the complete lack of band threads the answer is no 🙁
Jesus guys, it's really not difficult. Why does anything like this have to turn into an exercise in exploring fringe cases and loopholes?
I posted a link to the forum rules earlier, but for the hard of reading, here's what it says:
No Trade or business advertising – except bona fide retailers may respond to genuine enquiries from potential customers.
I fail to see how that's ambiguous. In situations where a post is questionable, we'll try and make a sensible decision case-by-case. It might not always be correct - we're only human (mostly) - but we'll try to be.
What about promoting (my) band?
Depends. Are you advertising a trade or business?
If you're promoting your new song and you want people to listen cos you think it's cool, I'd say that's fine. If you're promoting your new song because you want people to buy your CDs, that probably isn't, unless you're responding to a "hey, anyone in a band have any new tunes out?" thread. If you're somewhere in between, you're into the realms of one of those common sense decisions we talked about a moment ago.
In My Opinion / As I Understand It, anyway.
I'm guessing by the complete lack of band threads
... apart from the one I posted earlier this week, you mean? (-:
[i]I fail to see how that's ambiguous.[/i]
see, this is why you're moderator material 🙂
The rest of us could keep a 300 post thread going on that sentence without reaching a firm conclusion.
Sometimes, this place is like Vogon poetry.
[i]Sometimes, this place is like Vogon poetry. [/i]
It's the feeling of relief when it stops that you have to cling on to.
Why does anything like this have to turn into an exercise in exploring fringe cases and loopholes?
Trying to work out which one of middle-class, whiny or cockbags cause it... probably the cockbags 😛
[url= http://www.youtube.com/user/eulermusic ]null[/url]Cheers for that Cougar, I must have mised your thread. Since it's we've got an album out -buy- buy I'll just keep it under my hat:) cough shotgun tuesday by Euler cough:)
Cougar....do you wear a tweed jacket with leather elbow patches?
he's a dab hand throwing a board rubber *rubs forehead*