First of all, how the heck was that advertising? Someone asked the question, is there any SDMB merchandise out there? And someone posted that they thought there might be at Fathom, and Opal wrote back that that is not the case. Then TubaDiva comes in with an admonition, saying : “Advertising for commercial products is not an allowed use of this site” then a paragraph later, she posts a “Buy Stuff” link. How is that not “advertising for commercial products?”
If anything, the thread should have been shut down immediately after it was posted, because someone was asking if there was SDMB stuff for sale, which would have naturally resulted in answers to the question, which by their nature would constitute “advertising” to the moderator.
What happened is akin to this scenario: Someone posts asking, “where can I find a good high-pressure showerhead?” Then someone posts a link to ShowerheadsRUs.com. Would that garner an admontion too?
Yeah I know there was a brouhaha a long time ago, but this was clearly not Opal trying to advertise. It was some person trying to answer a question. Opal even came in to specify that she didn’t have any SDMB stuff for sale. It did not deserve an admonition, IMO.
Well I never said it was Opal being admonished… It was the poster who responded to the OP, saying he thought SDMB merchandise was available at a certain site. Why would that be admonished, when someone posting suggestions for vacuums is not?
We do not allow posters to promote their own or fellow doper products if they will materially benefit from same, without clearing it with us first. Also, the SDMB has a right to control over use of its name to sell things.
Well, like I said before, then why wasn’t the site shut down from the very beginning? The OP was asking where she could find SDMB stuff… so any answer was bound to violate the rules. But it wasn’t until after someone innocently suggested a certain cite that the mod came in. I don’t think they were intentionally trying to advertise.
Besides, if someone is suggesting we go buy a Hoover vacuum cleaner, how do we know that person doesn’t work for Hoover?
Or, let’s say I went into the SDMB merchandise thread and said, yeah! I bought a cool SDMB bumpersticker here, would I get admonished too? Or only if that site was associated with another SDMB member?
Perhaps. But I guess what I am feeling is that it had nothing to do with advertising and everything to do with the fact it was Opal, which is unfair. Opal even took the effort to correct the poster, and said she had no SDMB merchandise. Enforce the rules for all, not just for certain people, that is all I am saying.
AFAICT, it was Jonathan Chance being reprimanded – gently – for having linked to Opal’s merchandising operation, not Opal herself being reprimanded.
The staff is very chary of cross-board postings of this sort creating “interboard wars” and such, and very much disinclined to allow generalized links to other boards*, even ones on good relationships with the SDMB and its staff. My personal feeling is that they’re overreacting somewhat, but I am not privy to what may have happened off the boards between them nor (for the most part) what may have happened in the past to create friction – so beyond expressing that as my personal feeling, I’m very much disinclined to second-guess them and to support anyone else do so.
And the obvious exception to any rule against merchandising on this board is – surprise – the Chicago Reader, Inc., and its Straight Dope line of products – They own the board.
They will in fact permit links that provide information, supplement discussion “here” with what’s already been discussed “there,” and even provide examples of how things might be done differently, where it’s made clear that there is no intent to cause problems, but rather to supplement information.
