Self advertisment on Valuebuddies

[flinger]

Hi,

I would like share my opinions on the increasing no. of posters who act as if they are sharing articles but instead their main motive is to advertise their blog / business etc...

I think it is fine to self advertise your blog as part of the article you shared with the value buddies community.

However, spamming the value buddies forum with all your articles and asking them to go visit your blog or business website so that you can increase your readership or get more business is just blatant advertising.

It clearly shows you are not in this forum to share but more to advertise.

If that is the case, then the moderators in my opinion should take some against such people or else this would lead to more such spamming occurring. Action could be, for example removing or consolidating all the post into a single thread and warning the respective individual involved.

Value Buddie community should also actively police the forum and rate these people with negative ratings as well as report these kind of spammers to the moderators.

Thank You.

[Musicwhiz]

Hi Flinger,

Your concern has been noted. I've sent a warning to the person involved regarding the spamming and advertising. Further such acts will result in a one-week ban, and if the person continues it will be a permanent ban.

I've also explained that the person's blog can be placed as a signature, but that the posts should not be copied/pasted wholesale and the advertising should not be overt and blatant.

Hope this addresses your concerns.

We aim to maintain this forum as being high-quality, but it's unavoidable that now and then, spam will appear; and if this occurs we will deal with it.

Once again, thanks for the feedback.

[brattzz]

Why not setup a thread for "Self-Advertisment"?

Let the advertisers ads themselves there?

[Some-one]

Like all forums, they would need to have some money to maintain their website. Not sure how VB is maintained here but if there is a thread for self-advertisement without any monetary awards, the forum would find difficulty in self-sustaining it but at the same time help others to advertise for monetary gains. I am just hoping that VB can maintain as a high quality value investing forum. There is not much left in the world wide web for such forums.

[flinger]

HI MW,

Thank you for replying to my feedback.

Appreciate the moderators hard work and management of this great forum.

I was wondering is it possible to consolidate all the post the offender has made into a single thread instead of multiple posts so as not to distract the other threads.

Thank You.

Hi Flinger,

Your concern has been noted. I've sent a warning to the person involved regarding the spamming and advertising. Further such acts will result in a one-week ban, and if the person continues it will be a permanent ban.

I've also explained that the person's blog can be placed as a signature, but that the posts should not be copied/pasted wholesale and the advertising should not be overt and blatant.

Hope this addresses your concerns.

We aim to maintain this forum as being high-quality, but it's unavoidable that now and then, spam will appear; and if this occurs we will deal with it.

Once again, thanks for the feedback.

[KopiKat]

How about starting a new page to show-case blogs of members who'd been contributing actively and positively to this forum? Could be a win-win situation for members and owner (another page to put adverts)...

[CityFarmer]

IMO, the status quo is always the best, since all existing members are use to it already.

just my 2 cts

[cyclone]

Why not setup a thread for "Self-Advertisment"?

Let the advertisers ads themselves there?

No problem to create a sub-forum for the advertiser to post, but have to design a way the advertisement thread will not appear on Recent Topics because I am afraid the whole Recent Topics section will be filled with ads.

To invert, if the advertisement thread does not appear on Recent Topics section, hence lack of viewership, they may not want to post on the Advertisement section, in the end, they still spam the forum.

No harm to try, at least it can filter out some.

[Musicwhiz]

Hi all,

Since Admin has approved it and also taking into account Arthur's suggestions, I think we could do a trial kind of sub-forum for such adverts. That said, it's kind of a grey area on when it constitutes "too blatant" and when it's considered normal. I acknowledge that.

Also, there was no intention to launch a personal vendetta against any one forumer. It was unfortunate that it was construed as such by the person involved. I would also like to reiterate that this forum has its rules and regulations, and all forumers (new and old) should abide by them to ensure this stays a high-quality, spam-free forum.

Of course, as Moderators we are not perfect, so would also appreciate feedback from forumers on the best course(s) of action in case lines are crossed.

Thanks again and have a great week.

[hyom]

I have to admit posting my blog posts or "Self-advertisement" was one of my guilty sins in my early days. I apologize belatedly if forummers were disgusted with me then. I think ValueBuddies is not a suitable forum for "Self-advertisement" for the following reasons;

- The general intellectual level on this forum is on the high side. In addition, investors are by nature skeptical people. Nobody can pretend to share articles in ValueBuddies when they are actually Self-advertising and get away with it. I am referring to myself in the past.

- On Valuebuddies, there are sincere forummers like d.o.g, KopiKat, MusicWhiz, yeowiki, Kazukarai who do not advertise their blogs but contribute quality posts free of charge. This put those with secret agendas (such as me when I self-advertised) in shame.

In any case, it is fair to expect that forummers who self-advertise respect the property rights of the moderators who own this forum. If the moderators say no, then back off politely.

There are some talented bloggers in this forum like Singapore Man of Leisure who informs in an indirect but always entertaining manner. It is a pity if this incident makes it a taboo for forummers to share their high quality blog articles. May I suggest that bloggers seek permission from the moderators to put up their articles before they publish? This is already practised in the high-traffic socio-political websites in Singapore like Temasek Review Emeritus and Temasek Times. Anyone who wants their articles to be published can write an email to the editor for publication. If it passes their editorial standard, it will be published. Perhaps the same can be practised on ValueBuddies but I think the editorial standard may be much higher here due to the standard of the readers here.