BANNED! From AVSforum forever.

[Ranger Digital]

David, Collin. Well I went to the sight to read the rules (you know, the rules your SUPPOSED to read just like the license agreements that everyone clicks away on? LOL). Anyhoot, come to find out, as yall stated, the sight indeed is owned/run by a dealer/installer so I completely understand the violation of speaking of pricing and sales. Unfortunately, the sight is heavily used and it sucks they cant speak of sources and pricing. But, I understand it given its owners. There needs to be another sight that helps anyone that comes to it and needs a source, one thats not owned by a dealer who cares about members talking about getting the best price.

Collin, I understand you point about not wanting PM's However, if someone posted they were looking for a closed circuit video suveillance system, I would surely understand if you sent them a PM indicating you could help them. I would expect it actually. So not sure why you are so adament against that. If I post that I need an Integra or Denon or whatever and someone PM's me, man talk about greatfull, I would certainly appreciate that effort and some did when I sent them a PM. Granted, that was in total violatoin of their policy and I recognize that now. Had I read the rules, I would not have sent the PM's.

 

[Ranger Digital]

I'm grappling with these issues now as I start to get my forums going. I don't think I will be as hard nosed as AVS, but I guess things could change.

Seems as though you could ask forgiveness though. It seems unreasonable to not give you another chance. It was your first "infraction," as it were

Well if you are not selling somethingyourself then you shouldnt care if others post sources and pricing. If you do sell, then maybe have a policy against only what you are offering?

 

[Ranger Digital]

Anthony LOL, while I may be one of the few that appreciate your candor, humor, forthrightness, I love reading them!!

Cracks me up! Nothing wrong with speaking your mind no matter how it comes out. They way one feels is the way one feels.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

I believe the proper etiquette would be to reply to a post about someone wanting some equipment you can provide stating that you offer this product and may be able to help with price AND technical support and for THEM to send YOU a PM if interested!

After all a forum (including this one) is about support and help to its membership first and foremost.

Of course, JMO, and this may still be against their forum rules…

 

[CollinR]

Well if you are not selling somethingyourself then you shouldnt care if others post sources and pricing. If you do sell, then maybe have a policy against only what you are offering?

People will take advantage of you and before long your forums will be spam infested.

I allow it on some of my sites and not on others, it just depends.

I believe the proper etiquette would be to reply to a post about someone wanting some equipment you can provide stating that you offer this product and may be able to help with price AND technical support and for THEM to send YOU a PM if interested!

After all a forum (including this one) is about support and help to its membership first and foremost.

Of course, JMO, and this may still be against their forum rules…

I too think thats the generally recognized method, however not universal. The rules are pretty lax here as I don't think they have been really abused yet.

At CCTVForum.com in addition to that they must post something useful to the thread, not just a "PM me for price". I give them 3 tries before they get banned unless it's just straight up I don't care attitude. This usually comes from China which is cool as you can range ban them with little concern.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Don't get me wrong, we prefer that an "established" member who has shown dedication to the forum in past support to members do this and not just a company posting their "China wares" for sale as their first post!

 

[Mike]

Mike, I looked for a way to contact someone but came up empty handed. No big deal. I feel the same as you and didnt really feel it was unsolicited since the thread was showing an interest in a product. If I show an interest in something I would hope to get PM's.

I have been there before but check out this page and click on the adminstrators or moderators and start a discussion if you want to resolve it:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showgroups.php

Sounds a little strange though. Would make me wonder if I wanted to keep frequenting the site. It is an interesting scenario if it is a dealer hosting the site (so obviously he would want to drive the business to himself which is of course his/her right.) seems like a sort of conflict of interest for a general board, as it appears it has clear commercial under pinnings which would divert it from a solution center at least in some cases (note I do not frequent the board though so this is speculation based on what is posted here).

 

[samgreco]

I'm grappling with these issues now as I start to get my forums going. I don't think I will be as hard nosed as AVS, but I guess things could change.

Seems as though you could ask forgiveness though. It seems unreasonable to not give you another chance. It was your first "infraction," as it were

Well if you are not selling somethingyourself then you shouldnt care if others post sources and pricing. If you do sell, then maybe have a policy against only what you are offering?

I think the issue for me anyway, is one of liability if something goes south. While I'm sure you're on the up and up, there are certainly lots who aren't. So the rules that alot of forums have help to weed them out because it's out in the open. So I don't think it's unreasonable to ask that someone post first with an invitation to PM. Seems a fair way to do it.

I am not a reseller (at least not thru my forum biz) so it's not an issue for me, but again, responsibilty and all....

 

[beelzerob]

Meh, you're not missing much by no longer going there. AVSforums to me is like the junkdrawer of A/V help. Ya, it's all in there, but good luck finding exactly what you need. Ick, what a mess.

 

[DavidL]

Well, in all fairness, there is a ton of information there, and if you stay somewhat regular in reading / filtering posts, one can get a lot of AVSForum.

As with all large documentation sites, a better contextual search technology (which isn't a word search) would help. Those technologies are very expensive, and little wonder that they aren't implemented on "free" sites like AVSForum.

 

[huggy59]

On one of my sites I set up forums for the non-dealers (non-commercial) and another for the commercial dealers to post, and I police them to keep them clean and auto-delete on a periodic basis. That way users can figure out if it's just someone selling the odd item or if it's a commercial business selling things.

 

[programmergeek]

Yea when the board started it was good. I use to use it all the time and sell stuff there when it was free I also contributed to the board allot. Then one day you had to start paying to sell things there. Then you had to pay to browse I sent several email because I took out adds but to charge people to browse who the heck would??? Anyhow I think they reversed that decision but the guys try to squeeze every penny of profit they can from it and use it only to promote there stuff which is usually fairly priced but no the best price. Myself I stopped selling there and now use other sources. I think the board is a good source of knowledge but management sucks. If you contribute to these boards and make them work you should get points or other things that allow you to buy and sell on them. Needless to say I rarely go there anymore the advice is mediocure in most of the threads and I don't feel I want to contribute to it since they seem more out for there profit and not to help the AV community.

 

[Ranger Digital]

program, interesting. Didnt know that.

There is good info but you have to search thru all the bickering and rudeness to find it. I still use it. They need better rules of engagement, thats for sure, lol.