Commercial posting on the forum
Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2014 6:40 pm
Hi guys,
Over the past few months there has been quite an increase in commercial activity on the forum, along with an influx of requests from business wanting to increase their business using the forum as a base. My response has always been "sorry, but no" to anyone asking, but in the mean time a few members have gone from showing their detailing skills to showing examples of work on customers cars, to advertising offers. While I can see from one perspective that niche is a good fit, it is not how we operate this forum. If everyone running a business is allowed to do it via the forum, before long we'll end up having half the posts being commercial. We have also always had a policy (in the forum guidelines) of no business links in signatures.... this seems to be being ignored (although I do share some responsibility there. If we let one person get away with it others will obviously follow).
So, what does this mean? I am asking for the following from now on:
- Posts are made on a personal (non-business) basis
- No business-based forum names
- No business links in signatures
I know this may sound harsh, but I am constantly telling people no who are asking to join on a business basis, so it's only fair that we run by those rules too.
If anyone wants to post a single post in the forum affiliates and offers section I am more than happy with that, just so long as it's not abused.
P.S. The obvious exception to this rule is Chris Knott, as they remain our single forum sponsor and contribute to running costs of the forum.
UPDATE 4th Dec 2017
We now allow those providing a service to do so (providing they give a discount) in the Discount and Affiliate section. All feedback must also go in the same thread and individual "thank you" posts will not be allowed. This is in order to prevent them taking over the forum and also means feedback is contained in the logical place for it, in the original post, so people can see all the feedback over time in a single place.
This is also one thread per member, not one thread per service.
Over the past few months there has been quite an increase in commercial activity on the forum, along with an influx of requests from business wanting to increase their business using the forum as a base. My response has always been "sorry, but no" to anyone asking, but in the mean time a few members have gone from showing their detailing skills to showing examples of work on customers cars, to advertising offers. While I can see from one perspective that niche is a good fit, it is not how we operate this forum. If everyone running a business is allowed to do it via the forum, before long we'll end up having half the posts being commercial. We have also always had a policy (in the forum guidelines) of no business links in signatures.... this seems to be being ignored (although I do share some responsibility there. If we let one person get away with it others will obviously follow).
So, what does this mean? I am asking for the following from now on:
- Posts are made on a personal (non-business) basis
- No business-based forum names
- No business links in signatures
I know this may sound harsh, but I am constantly telling people no who are asking to join on a business basis, so it's only fair that we run by those rules too.
If anyone wants to post a single post in the forum affiliates and offers section I am more than happy with that, just so long as it's not abused.
P.S. The obvious exception to this rule is Chris Knott, as they remain our single forum sponsor and contribute to running costs of the forum.
UPDATE 4th Dec 2017
We now allow those providing a service to do so (providing they give a discount) in the Discount and Affiliate section. All feedback must also go in the same thread and individual "thank you" posts will not be allowed. This is in order to prevent them taking over the forum and also means feedback is contained in the logical place for it, in the original post, so people can see all the feedback over time in a single place.
This is also one thread per member, not one thread per service.