I am the owner of 3 vBulletin communities myself and in two of them I have similar requirements as srtforums.com . It always seems that it is the people that ARE trying to sell or profit off of overt or sneaky advertising that has a gripe with these policies.
What many of you that have something to sell fail to realize, OR often quote as impeding "Free Speech" (Sorry, there really is no such thing! - Threaten the life of the President and you will land in prison for "free speech") is that it costs MONEY to purchase licenses for GOOD/GREAT scripts, countless hours in design and "moderation" of the forums, and then the cost for hosting (which I suspect is at least a fairly decent dedicated server for the amount of concurrent users that are shown online).
I went over $8,000 in the hole (personally) from when I started up my main forum until when I started making money on advertising. If nobody were to advertise, do you think I could have afforded much longer (ran out of credit cards) to keep pouring money into my community? NO WAY..
So then... Where is the $$ going to come from to maintain it? Sure, you could charge the membership but you know how well that would go over? And that prohibits many people from ever registering.. The appeal is not having to pay and having the ability to communicate with others that have similar interests. So, to maintain a community of this size there has to be some income.. Naturally, I feel it should be those who are trying to turn a profit off the membership.. That is logical..
People with businesses pay how much to advertise in the Yellow Pages and via other print or radio/TV advertising programs? A LOT.. Here you have the largest SRT forum I have come across and that is your direct market.. I don't think you can get better advertising bang for your "buck" anyplace else.. (I could be wrong - heck, I drive a Ram-Air T/A :p )
Any way, this is one of the first posts I came across (because I like to read the rules when I join a new community) and I felt I should comment since I have dealt with that in the past.
The other reason I have moved to a similar advertising model is because I feel anything that is being advertised in my forum(s) I am at least some-what responsible for.. I investigate potential advertisers heavily to make sure their services are legit and nobody gets burned via my community..
So, I am completely for anyone advertising a product having to pay to do so... I think people should be allowed to discuss products / services but if it so much as hints of what I consider "sneaky advertising", it gets addressed quickly..
EKool I have a question for you, I have the means to provide anyone who wishes quality eyelids and hood scoop decals, I have purchased a few from some vendors as well as other people on the forum and they all suck, they must be all colorblind because none of them can match the color on the E-Blue SRT's I am able to do this and I dont expect to sell many. I would like to know where I am able to advertise this and offer the service to other members, without stepping on the toes of the vendors. I am worried more about quality than quantity, I just want everyones SRT looking its best, I have even given some away at a broward county car show I attend every friday. Instead of posting in a thread with pricing and where to get, can I PM certain people who are actively seeking the items I make? I know you are busy but let me know any information you can, also what does it cost to become a vendor?
Thanks bro
Alex
Our supporting vendors pay a fee to be able to sell those parts on the forums, is how they make a living. I dont feel that it would be fair to go behind their backs via PM's and try to sell something when you are not paying the fee to be able to do so.
If you arent making any money at it, then why not post how you get the matching colors so well, and let the entire world benefit from it?
so this means that people who have sigs that contain links to personal sites should be reported then? and the rules apply to all? and is it me or does this sound like the superbowl where competing vendors pay more for "primary" advertising during the halftime show? is that what we are running here? or is this a forum where everyone helps eachother out......
If the link in your signature is to a business where you sell items related to the SRT-4, then yes you would be in violation.
If you are using my business (this site) to promote your business (your site) to try and sell items to our users (this site) -- then I dont think its unfair to ask for compensation.
If you disagree, then from now on... I want your business to start selling everything at cost, and I dont want you to make a single penny on anything you do (labor, etc) -- I mean... are you running a business, or a charity case?
Come on man. These are basic business concepts. So, stop stirring up retarded shit for no reason.
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