Pat Letendre <[log in to unmask]> says:
>It is my belief that the list should not be used for overt or direct
>business purposes.To this end,I include a blurb(see excerpt below)with
>messages that go to new subscribers.My questions are as follows:
>1.Am I in-line with what other owners allow for their lists?
>2.Are there guidelines that you use for your lists that you are willing to
>share?
[good set of guidelines and other stuff deleted]
Had a recent case like this too. Someone records big band music and
wanted to post a pretty blatantly commercial ad to the "ballroom" list
for selling his CDs. He asked if this was OK. I don't have a policy
for this, since it's the first time it's come up, and I didn't want to
create a policy in a vacuum. Anyway, here are the relevant excerpts of
the reply I sent him, which is basically an
"if-I-had-to-make-policy-on-the-fly-here's-some-of-the-thinking-that-
would-go-into-it" opinion.
Like I said, it hasn't been a problem for our list; if it were, my
guidelines would probably be more stringent than those below,
especially for items 5 and 6.
Shahrukh Merchant
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>Anyway, there is no easy answer to your question, unfortunately, so I
>have deliberately not stated a blanket "no commercial postings of any
>kind" policy, hoping (overoptimistically) that there would not be test
>case.
>
>While my position as "list owner and administrator" allows me to set
>"any rules I please" (within other guidelines, of course), I do not do
>this for three reasons:
>a) I want the list to reflect the wishes of the membership without
> interference from me (i.e., self-regulating as far as possible);
>b) This list achieves a lot of benefit by being gatewayed to
> rec.arts.dance, and I have no jurisdication over that Usenet group;
>c) It would be really hard to come up with a policy on commercial
> postings--the whole Internet community is struggling with this now.
>
>However, I can make some general statements about what seems to be
>acceptable to the e-mail list community. This is based on my (a) being
>part of that community for many years (b) running this list for a few
>years (c) being on discussions on two other lists that discuss topics of
>interest to list administrators (and this type of issue comes up
>frequently).
>
>1. Unrelated (to the purpose of the list) commercial postings generate
> an extremely strong negative reaction. A definite no-no. (Your mail
> does not fall into this category, since it is related.) This would
> definitely be on any policy statement for this list, if I ever had to
> make one.
>2. Announcements of dances, etc., even by organizers of the dance,
> seems to be OK, even if admission is being charged, if the
> organization is sufficiently non-commercial (or the nature of the
> posting has a non-commercial character). E.g., a University Dance
> Club's special event.
>3. Respond by *individual private e-mail* to those who have posted
> requests for something than you offer seems to be quite acceptable,
> provided that you offer something that directly meets that need.
> I.e., "you were looking for swing music and I have some CDs" would
> be fine, but "you were looking for places to buy dance shoes so I
> assume you need dance music too" would probably not. Especially if you
> prefix your note with an apology should the information be unwanted,
> I can hardly imagine that someone would be offended at a direct
> attempt to answer a question just because you would profit from it.
>4. Endorsements and recommendations by happy customers or amateur
> reviewers, where there is clearly no other motivation or relationship
> between the poster and the profit-maker, seem to be acceptable, even
> if they quote from the provider's very commercial-sounding ad.
> (There have been some cases of "cheating" on this one, where someone
> would get two AOL accounts, for instance, pretend to be a glowing
> reviewer under one account and referring inquiries to the "modest"
> second-account-holder. Needless to say, those who are found out in
> such "cheating" expose themselves to the full wrath of the net.)
>5. Blatantly commercial, but relevant postings (yours may fit into this
> category) are, at best, tolerated. You will probably get some
> complaints and some customers. Some people will be both--they will
> object on the principle of it, even though they find the information
> useful.
> If the posting fulfills a real need (yours may also fit into this
> category), reactions will be weighed more heavily towards the customers
> and tolerators (and appreciators too) than the complainers.
> You can see, though, that if we said "all commercial postings
> related to ballroom dancing are perfectly fine and, in fact,
> encouraged," there would be nothing but ads on the list!
>6. As I said, there is no official policy by me on this. However, I can
> state my personal opinion in this case: I would have leaned
> more towards a shorter, less "advertising-like" posting, along the
> lines of
> "Since there have been so many requests on this list for
> where to find good ballroom CDs, I thought I'd share my
> solution--creating my own! I do have CDs of my big band available
> (one of which got a "10" in Ballroom Dancing USA magazine--see
> XXXX issue). If you're interested, send me e-mail and I'll give
> you detailed information about the music and how to order."
> Then the full sales pitch can go to those who have specifically
> asked for it. It also helps if you have already established
> yourself as a contributing member to this group, i.e., in posting
> responses to questions, etc., where your musical background and
> expertise has contributed (in a non-commercial way) in other ways to
> this list.
> You will also get "brownie points" if you include other relevant
> information, e.g., if you give a list of a dozen dance CDs that
> you think are really good, and this includes 2-3 of your own but also
> a number of others that you neither record nor sell, then you can
> hardly be accused of "exploiting the list" or "self-serving
> commercialism."
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