Rules concerning advertising on this site

[Wise Young]

At present, this site allows people to post a variety of images and active links in their posting but not popup windows or other forms of advertising. There are no other rules that have been specified concerning advertising on this site. Although we have generally discouraged manufacturers, distributors, and commercial advertisements on the site, there are currently no restrictions on individuals advertising causes, organizations, and services in postings. What do you think we should do?

[This message was edited by Wise Young on November 01, 2001 at 07:54 AM.]

[Wise Young]

It seems that a majority of the people want to allow advertising if it is restricted to personal and is not offensive to the community. So be it. Wise.

[Joe B]

I missed this back in November. We are often the target of individuals who are looking to promote their product, therapy, clinic or agency. Recently we have been dumped on by Project Walk, no references been in existence about a year and a half, typical claims of wonder cures for only $1500 a month. I can join my health club at work and workout "as much as you can take" for $15 a mos.

I think that amember who has had personal experience at this place should be allowed to post their experience good or bad but Project Walk just dumped on about four forums all at the same time. That's just advertising.


I would like to restrict that kind of advertising Wise

Joe B
C6-7
1988

[Wise Young]

Joe B, I agree to some extent.

In the case of ProjectWalk, the information was actually requested by a community member. The information was then provided by another member who had written the organization. Then the organization itself provided the information. So, from that point of view, it was not unsolicited advertising.

I agree with you that we don't want to be flooded with organizations that want to recruit clients to their paying services. We should discourage unsolicited advertisements.

[jws1217]

If I choose not to read it I wont. Though if there is something that I may benefit from please let me see it. As far as project walk it was not for me but at least I had a chance to view it. You never know what will benefit some people. Keep up the good work. http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/eek.gif

[Wise Young]

Based on the poll so far, I think that a majority of people who have felt strongly enough to vote (unfortunately, it is only 56 votes) think that the site should allow advertising of non-commercial or personal items or services. However, since less than 5% of the members of the community have voted, one conclusion may be that most of the people don't think that it is an important enough issue to vote. Also, we have not had that many instances of commercial advertising on this site to date and perhaps we should deal with it on a case by case basis. Wise.

[Max]

Im confused:

Could I or not post ubbcode to International Red Cross Lottery online?

You do remember I voluntarily stopped it until matter would be resolved in democratic poll http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/confused.gif

[Max]

Im still confused-34% for ads..Is poll closed?

So may I or maynot post ubbcode? http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/confused.gif http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/confused.gif http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/confused.gif http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/confused.gif http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/confused.gif

[Wise Young]

Max,

The poll is still open and it is fairly clear that a majority of the people who voted feel that advertising should be restricted.

While the Red Cross is a non-profit organization, the fact that the lottery yields profit for the person who advertises it and the recent controversy about whether Red Cross is actually using its funds appropriately for the September 11 victims raises questions about the advertising. If you remember, a number of people had complained about the advertising as well. So, if you don't mind, it would probably be the best if you do not include it in your postings.

Wise.

[offthahook]

Pop ups are http://forums.off-topic.net/images/smilies/gay.gif ; I have anti pop up SW. I think personal stuff is coo, but I just see too many ads on every site I visit. It's coo to come here and not have a bunch of banners load (and slow down the page DL) while I'm trying to read/post. Just my $.02

http://carecure.rutgers.edu/spinewire/pictures/halle250-.jpg

Click here to visit my phat site (http://www.urbanfab.50megs.com)

[Wise Young]

Offthahook, your phat site has popup banners and takes a long time to load. http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/wink.gif

Max, I am rethinking the whole policy concerning the red cross lottery ad. If we allow offthahook to put a picture of his favorite actress with every posting and put a link to a site that has advertisements, I am thinking why your red cross lottery is really any different. I hope that people would weigh in with their opinions.

Wise.

[Polett]

It would be nice if people used their advertising option for a good cause but, since I see a lot of vulnerable people here, I believe advertising would just mess them up more. (Like that guy Ron who thaught posts & topics were a popularity contest)there are probably a lot of other ones who will post all sorts of wierd things.
(Unless u r preparing to check all advertisements to screen out spams scams or whatever they r called http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif )

Me.

[offthahook]

Originally posted by Wise Young:

Offthahook, your phat site has popup banners and takes a long time to load. http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/wink.gif

Max, I am rethinking the whole policy concerning the red cross lottery ad. If we allow offthahook to put a picture of his favorite actress with every posting and put a link to a site that has advertisements, I am thinking why your red cross lottery is really any different. I hope that people would weigh in with their opinions.

Wise.
I know my website has pop ups. It's a free host, so they put those dumb pop ups on there; I have no control unless I buy a unique domain name. If it was a serious site, I'd do it right, but it was just done in fun. Truly, I only built the site to learn HTML and web design. It is graphics heavy fa sho. I'm cool with links to sites, but banners and pop ups are not http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/cool.gif. This site is so fresh and so clean, unlike Yahoo! and most others where we have to look at casino pop ups, web camera ads, stupid monkey games, etc.
If it's a big deal, I can remove my sig. I don't want the site to get all cluttered uo either.

http://carecure.rutgers.edu/spinewire/pictures/halle250-.jpg

Click here to visit my phat site (http://www.urbanfab.50megs.com)

[Wise Young]

Thanks, offthahook. Jeff is working on putting together a service where the carecure site will allow members to put their web pages (for free). It has no popups. To tell you the truth, I think that places like Yahoo, etc. have no idea how much people hate it when an unwanted pop up ad takes up their bandwidth and time. It is more likely to generate antipathy towards the item or organization being advertised. Not everybody likes having it stuck into their face.

Polett, when I enabled the feature on the site that allowed members to put pictures in their signature, I was afraid that people would start putting in high-resolution pictures that would slow down the site. So far, nobody has done that.

We must not let people like Ron limit the site and change it into an armed camp. All the moderators and I want to encourage free expression but we draw the line when people start personal and abusive attacks on each other. Ron has a special talent for riling people and has done so for a long time. Many people click on his postings just to see how outrageous he can get. He was testing how far he could push on this site and the moderators let him know that he had crossed the line. He then went over to New Mobility where he did his best to insult the most popular people there and over 100 people decided to insult him back. I do wish that Ron would turn turn his talent to something that is a little more useful.

Wise.

[Max]

http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/cool.gif http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/cool.gif http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/cool.gif

<A HREF="http://www.pluslotto.com/default.asp?urlref=3300003298889" TARGET=_blank>
http://www.lpics2.com/banners/A3.gif </A>

[monkeygirl]

WISE said earlier, Quote[Max,
The poll is still open and it is fairly clear that a majority of the people who voted feel that advertising should be restricted.

While the Red Cross is a non-profit organization, the fact that the lottery yields profit for the person who advertises it and the recent controversy about whether Red Cross is actually using its funds appropriately for the September 11 victims raises questions about the advertising. If you remember, a number of people had complained about the advertising as well. So, if you don't mind, it would probably be the best if you do not include it in your postings. Wise.]QUOTE]
[QUOTE] Max, I am rethinking the whole policy concerning the red cross lottery ad. If we allow offthahook to put a picture of his favorite actress with every posting and put a link to a site that has advertisements, I am thinking why your red cross lottery is really any different. I hope that people would weigh in with their opinions.Wise.[QUOTE]

He said he's re-thinking , he didn't say yes. Please loose the lotto thing. It's totally different from offthehook's page. The lotto is a for profit, next there will be casinos popping up too!. Just weighing in with my thoughts Wise.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posts: 3579 | From: New Brunswick, NJ, USA | Registered: Jul 23, 2001

[rtr]

I'd rather not see ads OR graphics in a signature that is displayed with every message an individual posts.

1) They take longer to load.
2) It's harder to scroll further down the page.
3) It's distracting/irritating.

[Max]

Thanx for pointing out.

Mea culpa-like Wise would say http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/wink.gif http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/cool.gif http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif

I think Im still under drugs they gave me in Hospital http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[cowboyquad]

How would you define "offensive items"? What is offensive to one person may not be offensive to the next.

[Wise Young]

I think that most people on this site have indicated that they do not want commercial advertising on this site. So, what follows refers to personal postings by individuals. I think that the definition of offensiveness must be determined by the community. In general, moderators discuss postings that are deemed to be "offensive" and come to a consensus before deleting them. Wise.