How is this advertising?

[John H. Moore]

IBut, I have seen lots of links to photo contests on here, requests for pics (I specifically remember another moderator not too long ago requesting pictures of a "nemo" fish - for her nephew, I believe it was,"etc... Heck, even the weekly, "show me a picture of xyz" threads could be along those lines - granted, they're hosted here and not elsewhere, but it's still a post asking people to submit pictures.

And you're right: there are posts all over the place on ScubaBoard with links inviting people to one thing or another. That's part of what torqued me off. I'm inviting people to something completely non-commercial and I get deleted, yet two minutes earlier I was reading a post inviting people to other sites which looked like they were commercial (I didn't follow the links)... and it's still there.

 

[Ted S]

No way is it advertising. But if it's asking for pictures, then tell me that and deal with that. I don't like it, but it's at least not nonsense and I'll just deal with it.

Jon, I understand your frustration but I do have one point, something which you may not agree with me on but which is vital to understanding our rules. The idea of advertising to most people goes along with the idea of making a profit but as any forum administrator will tell you, while money magnifies the potency of an ad it is not required to have an ad. Just keep that in mind as you think about this particular incident.

 

[Ted S]

This is not at all about picture request. Slow down and understand the concept.

This is a very clear rule. You can not come on this board and ask members to got to another website for any reason.

BUT

If I asked where could I find a "Sea of Cortez Field Identification Guide" then you could post the link to your site without a problem.

I admin on another forum dealing with another topic and I totally understand. I wouldn't want hundreds of posts asking members to got to another site for any reason unless it was to answer questions from other members.

That sums it up just about perfectly... we aren't here to serve as a promotional gateway to other sites, it certainly happens but it isn't allowed. We are however here to provide answers and discussion which means that if you have a website thats on-topic for a post you are by all means welcome to share it!

 

[John H. Moore]

He can of course make a signature entry that says "Post your SoCal Scuba Photos at my website blahblah.com" and that's fine.

Tech Admin,

(And if I know you by another name, could you please send it to me off-bulletin board?)

A minor point of clarification: while I do at times seek photos, I do not generally do so simply so that people can display their pictures for the heck of it. The vast majority of photos which I display are part of a Southern California Field Identification section with some 300 marine species and several thousand photographs. (I'll ignore the dive sites and wreck sections here.) This Sea of Cortez Field ID bit is new and has it up to some 400-ish species.

I do on occasion post "here are the pics from my dive" pages for people, but usually because they ask me to do so, not because I ask them. (Nothing against doing that, in fact I enjoy it and people seem to love seeing these pages; but I'm not out there prospecting for this... except when something unusual is going on, e.g., squid run, fried-egg jellies in town)

John

 

[Ted S]

John, you don't know me by another name that I know of.

Like I said previously, I took the time to skim your site rather thoroughly so I understand the nature of your request but one request must stand up to the rules of another. If you feel your project deserves some special consideration and assistance from this board I recommend you contact NetDoc directly and talk to him about it as he has the power to grant you whatever is needed should he feel it fits within the purpose of this board.

 

[John H. Moore]

That sums it up just about perfectly...

Now you're losing me. The guy to whom you're responding said (paraphrase; it's off my screen) that you cannot come on ScubaBoard and refer people to any other sites for any reason, period.

That's pretty parochial. When on ScubaBoard, thou shalt not ever mention any other websites? Particulary sites with DIVING information (not just my site, there are lots of sites with good diving info)?? What sense does that make? If it's really your stand, then please delete my registration and all of my posts and I won't bother you any further. Seriously.

The point of all this information technology is to share a whole lot more and good information with an incredibly larger audience than was possible before. To think that one site is the sole owner of all information and no others should be referenced for any reason is contrary to everything this "information age" is about.

John

 

[John H. Moore]

If you feel your project deserves some special consideration

No, don't feel in need of any special consideration. I disagree with your rule, but I'm not in charge of your rules.

If your rule is that my post was fine without the fourth item (request for pics), then I'll shut up and live with it.

If your rule is as you agreed to shortly ago that no other sites should ever be referenced for any reason, then I'll simply go away. No longer angrily, but I don't work that way and don't work with people who work that way. I like to think that I have something to contribute within this community and will do so in places that make more sense.

(So which is it, as I'm now confused...)

John

 

[Tweak]

An admin is trying to help you out by offering you ways to get people to your site and you act like this?

Again, you are not understanding the concept. I did not say refer members to a website, I said request for members to come to your website. There is a difference between:

1. Please come to my site and help me: mywebstie.com

AND THIS:

2. I found some good info about the Sea of Cortez here: mywebsite.com

The first is clearly breaking the rules and the second is helping members get good information.

The second could easily be abused by owners of other sites trying to get traffic there but seams to be overlooked because it's helping members.

Come on man.

 

[Ted S]

That's pretty parochial. When on ScubaBoard, thou shalt not ever mention any other websites? Particulary sites with DIVING information (not just my site, there are lots of sites with good diving info)?? What sense does that make? If it's really your stand, then please delete my registration and all of my posts and I won't bother you any further. Seriously.

Never have I said anything to this effect... to the contrary you are allowed to post any website in response to a question so long as that site pertains to the question. This includes your own website, another forum or a all together random website.

You are not however allowed to use this forum to make posts to advertise your services or website outside of designated areas. By this I mean you can not start a post saying "checkout my website" or "come post your photos", to do so would make this community useless and full of spam with people coming simply to post advertisements. With this said we do offer everyone, commercial and non-commercial users included, several ways to get the message out about whatever they have to offer in a way that we feel does not detract from the community. Users are free to link to their commercial or non-commercial website from within their signature, they are welcome to include relevant urls in post responses as I explained earlier and they are allowed to make posts in the marketplace for free to promote their site blatantly.

When you compare this policy to the policies of many other forums in this very same niche you will find that we are remarkably friendly about rules. Many sites have been known to ban their competitors url from showing up anywhere because users would post the url in response to questions. We encourage people to take full use of the internet and share good resources; we just request that you share them in a way that is responsive and not invasive. The exception to this would be if you are posting a question like your own (i.e. please help me identify the animal in this picture) which needs to referance your website for non-promotional reasons.

 

[John H. Moore]

Great. Thank you, Tech Admin, for the clarification.

Apologies to everyone else for my anger earlier at the original moderator.

Good night,

John