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because we've had a couple situations recently regarding new members joining the site, then immediately promoting a product or service, i'd like to clarify the proper etiquette for these postings.
NYBASS strongly discourages the blatant promoting of products or services in the forums, except by a sponsor in the SPONSOR FORUM... with that said, it is OK to post in the FOR SALE forums products and services for sale.... now this is where it gets a little tricky... we do not allow multiple posts, or spamming of these posts...and i would hope that anyone using the FOR SALE forums would also make contributions to the other forums... also, it is not appropriate to repeatedly post a certain product or service for sale over time if this is your business... if you are just a "dude" ore "dudette" selling a reel or boat or something, post your item until it sells, bump it up, whatever.... if you're a small businessman, be careful.... we want to know about your product, but 1 posting is enough in the FOR SALE FORUMS... i don't think this conflicts with our sponsors... i believe it's important for members to be informed about new products or deals or sponsor tournaments etc.. .but we don't want this stuff "promoted" on the site... so for all intents and purposes, 1 posting in the FOR SALE FORUMS is not promoting and not in conflict with the forum etiquette guidelines.
the reason i think this is important is to not only keep members informed, but to give new members a chance to enjoy the site and learn what it's all about...i would hate to see a new member get turned off to the site because members jumped all over him for breaking a forum "rule"... i think the best way to deal with this is to inform the new member of the violation via email, alert him/her of the "forum etiquette guidelines", then see what happens after that...
this is similar to a new member coming on and posting a brief first post "where do i catch fish?" instead of a more detailed introduction... that new member is usually reminded by another member of the proper etiquette here(introduce yourself, yada, yada), then more often than not that new member apologizes and gets with the program.
i think this is the best way to handle these situations...now, i haven't cleared this with johnG, but i'm pretty sure he'd be in agreement given our conversations on the subject... so, john, if you have anything to add: please do.
mikeD
NYBASS strongly discourages the blatant promoting of products or services in the forums, except by a sponsor in the SPONSOR FORUM... with that said, it is OK to post in the FOR SALE forums products and services for sale.... now this is where it gets a little tricky... we do not allow multiple posts, or spamming of these posts...and i would hope that anyone using the FOR SALE forums would also make contributions to the other forums... also, it is not appropriate to repeatedly post a certain product or service for sale over time if this is your business... if you are just a "dude" ore "dudette" selling a reel or boat or something, post your item until it sells, bump it up, whatever.... if you're a small businessman, be careful.... we want to know about your product, but 1 posting is enough in the FOR SALE FORUMS... i don't think this conflicts with our sponsors... i believe it's important for members to be informed about new products or deals or sponsor tournaments etc.. .but we don't want this stuff "promoted" on the site... so for all intents and purposes, 1 posting in the FOR SALE FORUMS is not promoting and not in conflict with the forum etiquette guidelines.
the reason i think this is important is to not only keep members informed, but to give new members a chance to enjoy the site and learn what it's all about...i would hate to see a new member get turned off to the site because members jumped all over him for breaking a forum "rule"... i think the best way to deal with this is to inform the new member of the violation via email, alert him/her of the "forum etiquette guidelines", then see what happens after that...
this is similar to a new member coming on and posting a brief first post "where do i catch fish?" instead of a more detailed introduction... that new member is usually reminded by another member of the proper etiquette here(introduce yourself, yada, yada), then more often than not that new member apologizes and gets with the program.
i think this is the best way to handle these situations...now, i haven't cleared this with johnG, but i'm pretty sure he'd be in agreement given our conversations on the subject... so, john, if you have anything to add: please do.
mikeD