Poll: Commercial policies on C&F

[Dale]

As for the rest of the board, if you've ever seen a board that allowed unrestricted commercial posting you wouldn't want it. It becomes very irritating very fast, especially if a few sellers decide to get into a trade war.

I have to add that this is something I have heard from lots and lots of people who go on boards with free-for-all commercial posting.

[syn whistles]

Zen and the art of whistle commerce!

[chas]

I voted to leave them as they are. The makers are, in general, quite good about it. The occasional maker who mentions his whistle in every thread looking for whistles with this or that characteristic and leaves in a huff when his wrist is slapped is rare.

There are many more makers who are respectful of Dales and Rich's wishes. Mack posts exactly once every month with a business update. Mike Burke responds occasionally to specific questions about his whistles or business. I think Paul Busman has made maybe two or three posts about his whistles. Gary and a few others have made a few posts about their whistles.

These makers let their whistles stand on their own merits for the most part. And they're mentioned often by others, who most likely wouldn't be promoting the maker's products if they thought the maker was abusing the forum for commercial purposes.

[rich]

One option you didn't offer in your poll is a separate For Sale forum. I would very much like to see the new adverts that recently appeared at the top of each forum REMOVED and placed into a separate thread. This new forum would allow makers to advertise, sellers to advertise, and eBay scroungers to post their finds, instead of clogging up the discussion forums.

They're separate issues. The ads at the top of the forum (and only at the top of the forum; they're intentionally separated from the actual content of the threads) are what is paying for the forums themselves; the commercial posts policy has to do with people posting free advertising directly in new or existing threads, along with all of the other content.

[Joseph E. Smith]

I think that hte guidelines are fair and should remain unchanged. I like the idea about a separate forum for sales. But....I am uncertain about one thing. What if a non-instrument maker wishes to share their enthusiasm and recommendation for a particular instrument maker with others on these forums...is that considered a 'no-no'? It is promoting sales in an off-hand way.

[Darwin]

I can see that unrestrained commercial posting on the main discussion forums could go astray.

I think the best suggestions so far have been the ones to have a separate makers forum, which could include both commercial posts and discussions of whistle building details. Then, perhaps whistle (and flute/concertina/bodhran/bouzouki) makers could use their monthly posts to simply point out more detailed posts on that forum, and the rules could remain the same for the remaining forums. And, of course, you could keep the rule restricting explicit comparisons to the instruments of other makers, just to promote peace and tranquility.

As for the Google ads, I'll say again that I think they are fine. I scarcely notice them.

[glauber]

Help, i voted for Nader by mistake!

[waitingame]

I voted to eliminate all rules. Surely we are mostly adult enough to read between the lines of a commercial post. And of course there would be more posts about whistles to balance up all those OT threads.
I don't think that I would ever have tried a Serpent whistle without all of Bill's commercial posts. No, I didn't particularly like it but I did at least get to try one!!
Ah, but then I'm an anarchist at heart.

[glauber]

I voted to eliminate all rules. Surely we are mostly adult enough to read between the lines of a commercial post.

You'd think so, but what would we do when we started getting spammed? Most of us are adults, but there's always a small number of @^#%# idiots lurking in any large group.

[dubhlinn]

Yes. I'm always doing that. I'm a rule-breaker. A scofflaw. I'm a rebel. A drifter. A loner. I'm bad news, Baby. You don't want to get mixed up with a guy like me.

I find myself strangely attracted to you now, Dale.

Ah, you're just a kid. A kid with a crush. I'm trying to tell you: I'll only break your heart. You'll wake up one morning and I'll be gone. Gone without a trace--if you don't count the unpaid bills, the beer bottles, and the warrants. Trust me--well, don't trust me, but----understand---it'll all be for the best this way. You'll find another Whistle Journalist. Another guy who can barely play the damn instrument, who was born and raised in the southern USA his entire life, and has somehow managed to become a celebrity in Irish music. A minor one, certainly. A VERY minor one, even. You'll find another guy who has suddenly found the key to a fast buck. Not drugs. Ha! Not gambling. Ha! Not prostitution. NO! The key: Google Ads. The kinda money I've never seen before. The kind that'll get you a warm and saggy bed at the Motel 6. A big steak at Denny's. And with that change in your pocket, you get to stand out in your underwear on the balcony of your Motel 6 room---if they had balconies--and if no one called the police--and look up in the stars and say to yourself "Hey. Those stars are spelling out MY name across the sky. And that one's moving. And now that one seems to be moving. And now they seem to be forming some kind of cluster and now there's this cigar-shaped thing that seems to be mov//////////BRK///////////INTRNeT MONITOR SUBROUTN "M6"//////BRK/////KEYLOOP OVERRIDE AUTHORIZE "VIAGRA"/////BRK////STOP

Did someone mention drugs?

[waitingame]

You'd think so, but what would we do when we started getting spammed? Most of us are adults, but there's always a small number of @^#%# idiots lurking in any large group.

Sadly that's true but I'd simply add anyone I didn't want to receive mail from to my Blocked Senders List

[dubhlinn]

You'd think so, but what would we do when we started getting spammed? Most of us are adults, but there's always a small number of @^#%# idiots lurking in any large group.

Sadly that's true but I'd simply add anyone I didn't want to receive mail from to my Blocked Senders List

Anyone particular in mind?

[glauber]

Yes, but we don't have the resource here to block ("killfile", remember?) senders. Even if we had, we'd end up getting it anyway, quoted, when other people reply to them.

[waitingame]

You'd think so, but what would we do when we started getting spammed? Most of us are adults, but there's always a small number of @^#%# idiots lurking in any large group.

Sadly that's true but I'd simply add anyone I didn't want to receive mail from to my Blocked Senders List

Anyone particular in mind?

Nah, I've only ever had mail from nice board members!! Perhaps I'm just lucky. Or perhaps (begrudgingly) the system works well as it is!!

But I'm still an anarchist, at heart!!

[waitingame]

I'm off to hide my email address now that I've tempted fate.