# Difference between informing and promoting? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [January 22, 2013, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-informing-and-promoting/648027 "2013-01-22T18:38:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-informing-and-promoting/648027/81 "2013-01-25T22:54:58Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Yep. Got an answer to my question? Yup, you got your rhetorical and silly question answered. Good talk ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-informing-and-promoting/648027/82 "2013-01-25T22:55:34Z")
> [@Red\_Barchetta](#): > > By closing a thread no one wanted closed? Do you have an actual question? Yes, we’re focused on the goal of having a good message board: we ask that people run this kind of stuff by us before posting it so we can weed out stuff that doesn’t belong here. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-informing-and-promoting/648027/83 "2013-01-25T22:56:29Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Do you have an actual question? I was pointing out that the mods’ actions don’t always enforce the stated goal. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-informing-and-promoting/648027/84 "2013-01-25T22:57:21Z")
> [@Red\_Barchetta](#): > > Yup, you got your rhetorical and silly question answered. Good talk Gotta go, [del] **everybody** [/del] **Red** , talk on this later. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-informing-and-promoting/648027/85 "2013-01-25T23:05:12Z")
> [@Red\_Barchetta](#): > > I was pointing out that the mods’ actions don’t always enforce the stated goal. The goal is making the board better. That doesn’t mean we can only enforce the rules when people ask us to. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-informing-and-promoting/648027/86 "2013-01-25T23:07:53Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > The goal is making the board better. That doesn’t mean we can only enforce the rules when people ask us to. It’s already been drawn into question whether this topic should even be considered a violation of the rule, hence why it’s, presumably, come under discussion by you guys. But regardless of the outcome (because sometimes rules are dumb), closing the topic was a bad decision and was not to the board’s benefit, as has been expressed by several in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-informing-and-promoting/648027/87 "2013-01-25T23:33:40Z")
I understand that a thread about Kickstarter or IndieGogo didn’t fit neatly into the categories we already used (charity vs. a thread about a movie, for example). This thread has gone on several days longer than it needed to, so I’m going to sum up the results of the mods’ discussion and close it: At least for now, we are going to handle threads about (or primarily about) crowdsourced funding the same way we handle requests to support charities or Dopers who are in financial need or other requests for money. That means you have to check with the relevant forum mods before you start the thread. As with charitable and financial appeals, we expect to approve most requests unless for some reason they’re blatantly unsuitable. Send a mod a PM or email and you’re likely to get approval in short order. If you open one without checking, we’re going to close it because that’s the only way to make that system work. I don’t think that’s an onerous or unreasonable request. This applies to threads about or mainly about crowdsourced fundraising campaigns and doesn’t mean you can’t mention them in other threads if it’s relevant to the topic under discussion. And I note in passing that while there were plenty of complaints about the closure of the thread about “An Honest Liar,” (and there were actually two threads closed, not just one) and its value to the board, so far I have received no requests from anyone interested in opening a new thread about the documentary and I am pretty sure the other Cafe Society mods haven’t been asked about it either. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-informing-and-promoting/648027.md?page=4)