Question of policy: posting articles

[Vector]

Hey guys, as you know we have a pretty strict policy against spamming and advertising on the forums. Discussion of commercial products can be walking the line and it could get tricky if some of the people "discussing" have an agenda, but so far it has not been a problem.

How do you feel about someone from a commercial company posting articles? QualityPUA sent me an article and asked me if he could post it. While it is absent any advertisements, I am still uneasy about it because I feel the intent behind it is to spread his material and his name and his company's name.

My attitude is, there are TONS of places on the internet to find all kinds of material, written by experts and KJs and everything in between. It is not the purpose of this forum to archive what is going on out there.

The purpose of this forum as I see it is to have a place for Dallas/Ft. Worth people to exchange ideas and discuss experiences and arrange to meet. We have a local, physical presence and a lot of us have met each other, which is a role that can never be filled by mASF or any of the dozens of other large forums.

To me, cross-posting of articles and discussion of commercial products is okay as long as it is genuine, meaning started by someone without an agenda. My inclination would be to disallow posting of articles except by Dallas members (meaning basically Lounge members).

Our policy in this area is unclear. Cross-posting of articles with the intent to gain exposure, but without any advertisements is not against the rules, but it is against what I think is the spirit of what value we provide here.

I told QualityPUA that it would be okay for now, to go ahead and post. It will probably go up soon.

My question to you is, what do you think the policy should be?

[Smirks]

get it in html format and put it on a non-forum page? Resources perhaps?

[El Fenix]

I'm reminded of something one of my profs said:
"I've never had a truly pure motive in my life, so I do what's right and dont worry about the motive."

The intent of actions, and articles can often be clear. Determining personal motives, is a much more obscure thing. I am not wise enough, to presume to be able to always tell someone else's motives or agenda. If we are honest, we all have an agenda here at Dallas PUA. Remaining 100% objective and impartial is something no human can do. We all are biased.

That being said, there should be a section for cross posts, and things to be reposted from somewhere else. Maybe a repost forum?
There is a lot of good information out there. It's in 20,000 different places though. Dont a few other lairs have some kind of library? We could start our own also. It's very useful to have it all in 1 place, versus searching all over creation to find it.


That's my piece. Seacrest out

[Vector]

I agree with you on intent versus action. Intent is never truly knowable, and policy needs to focus on action. That's part of the reason I am struggling with this.

Let me put it another way, which is that I'm concerned about maintaining the signal to noise ratio. When a lounge member re-posts an article, they are in a sense vouching for the article, and acting as a filter. If it sucks, then they are responsible for it. It has a very low likelihood of becoming a problem, but if it does, then there is recourse: the lounge member can be booted from the lounge.

The attention of the users is a finite resource. I worry that allowing the 20,000 places to broadcast their message here unfiltered will take away from the experience because people will have to wade through the crap to get to the stuff they care about. From the standpoint of signal-to-noise, it is like spam.

[Vector]

One more thing, I was contemplating making the cross-post forum public. Meaning it would be viewable by non-members and google. In that case there would be a strong incentive for outsiders to re-post their own material, with or without advertising links.

Maybe I'm just paranoid.

[Ca$h]

I agree with Vector. Allowing adverts will really dilute the resourcefullness of our liar.we will be constantly be bombarded with products and events just like google...I dont want to see products/services on our liar. if i am in the market for such i will look for them elsewhere. The liar as it is has a "personal touch" kind of feel which i like. The idea of a section for reposts and all that commercial stuff however could be "resourcefull" to those who care for such.

[Guest]

What is an advert and what is a usefull recourse? Its a time honered debate which really has no right answer. I am dealing with the same thing in my group right now. My take is that people all are biased but they might do so with good intentions. I posted a pua guide a couple of weeks ago that is free but if it cost money it would have been considered biased. Either way I did it with good intentions, You should just go with your discretion. You are the mod and we trust your opinion. I will say however the fact that you ask the lair for input makes you a good leader.

[Guest]

I like the idea of only allowing Lounge members to repost.

I appreciate an occasional article that is well written or that contains useful information.

I also like the fact that most of the gurus steer clear of this site because they can't make any money off of it....so I feel I'm getting more objective advice.

[Guest]

I like the idea of only allowing lounge member repost as well. I don't want to see people with one post and it's an advertisement.

[Guest]

I have a different view. I believe the core goal of the board is to provide answers to questions. Anything that does not ask a question provide answers should be disallowed. Look at what bristol lair is posting. "I had this problem and I figured out how to fix it. Buy my ebook and find out how i did it." It doesn't answer the question asked and it doesn't provide a forum for answering the question. Things like that should be disallowed. If something asks a valid question and answers it I have no problem with it. If it asks the question and then tells you the question can be answered for a price it needs to go.

Vector, you posted on your blog or the board somewhere (yes I keep track of your blog) about a web site you like. It is a site that sells products but it also provides answers without charging. I am good with that.

I have always felt it is part of our duty to provide information on all subjects pickup. That includes book, seminar and bootcamp reviews. We should seek out possibilities along those lines. As long as we don't trade integrity for a free bootcamp seat.

If this guy has a good post and a good product great. If all he does is advertise that he knows the answers like in the bristol lair posts, fuck him, we don't want him here.