fake member sellers > >>spammers trying to pretend to be something else

[michael d]

merry Christmas all ..... it's Christmas eve and a nice winter day!?

 

[RobertGreen]

Some general clarification.

• vendors/business entities may participate in any area of the forum, so long as they do so in good faith, and their affiliation is stated in their profile/custom title. No advertising/self-promotion/marketing/sales is allowed outside of the designed corporate subforums.
• Corporate accounts may comment in your posts the same as anyone else, and this doesn't consistute spam, so long as they don't violate the rules and their contributions are in good faith and on topic. An example of something that violates the 'in good faith' principle but isn't overt marketing is making a bunch of small worthless comments to raise the visibility of your company.
• Likewise, accounts affiliated businesses are free to use private messages just like the rest of us, unsolicited marketing or sales or anything else spammy is absolutely not allowed, but being PM'ed by a seller does not in and of itself constitute spam, particularly if you have mentioned them or had interactions with them on the forum.

The two biggest redlines with corporate affiliated accounts: (1) Affiliation must be stated (2) Promotion/marketing/sales may only occur in the corporate subforums (or by private message if it is initiated by a member), the rest of the forum should be free from advertising, influence, and marketing.

Those rules make sense to me.
There's some complications sometimes though, because when you look at the main Docan/Jenny Wu/Amy Zheng thread, you'll find posts like https://diysolarforum.com/threads/our-new-go-to-lifepo4-vendor-09-20-21.28696/post-404170
Which are definitely advertisements, but they're more or less in response to people asking directly in the thread for more information from the seller. When that thread got started, I don't think most of us were aware that the sellers that we were reviewing and sharing experiences about were members here on the forum (you can see that they joined the forum weeks before that thread began)

I've had nothing but positive things to say about my experience with that vendor, but I don't think they really get the concept that answering questions from members and trying to post helpful info about their services to interested parties isn't too far away from just plain marketing when it goes out of their own thread and into others.

It seems like corporate corner would probably have been a better place for that thread, but it started as a review thread before turning into a marketing thread through a more or less natural progression

 

[michael d]

Those rules make sense to me.
There's some complications sometimes though, because when you look at the main Docan/Jenny Wu/Amy Zheng thread, you'll find posts like https://diysolarforum.com/threads/our-new-go-to-lifepo4-vendor-09-20-21.28696/post-404170
Which are definitely advertisements, but they're more or less in response to people asking directly in the thread for more information from the seller. When that thread got started, I don't think most of us were aware that the sellers that we were reviewing and sharing experiences about were members here on the forum (you can see that they joined the forum weeks before that thread began)

I've had nothing but positive things to say about my experience with that vendor, but I don't think they really get the concept that answering questions from members and trying to post helpful info about their services to interested parties isn't too far away from just plain marketing when it goes out of their own thread and into others.

It seems like corporate corner would probably have been a better place for that thread, but it started as a review thread before turning into a marketing thread through a more or less natural progression

yes, I agree they were overtly advertising in that thread, so to me, that would have been a clear violation of the forum rules; and yes I was contacted without asking to be contacted, and yes there was one who made snide snipey remarks to promote themselves., so all of those examples were spam as far as I can tell.

nice to see the forum rules spelled out a little more clearly. thanks

I like to shop and buy things where I choose(Amazon, AliExpress, eBay, Alibaba, Menards, Home Depot; etc), but not into the salesman antics. hard to know which one is good, but if you read the fake reviews on many AliExpress why would or could you believe it. the DIY forum should be to help members not be a fake promotion for vendors.

I personally do not sell anything; just posting my solar DIY experiences for the benefit of others and to glean from others' knowledge.

sorry, if I waste anyone's valuable time! junk mail does not get opened in the snail mail system but goes to the burn it in the trash bin;
don't need any door-to-door salesmen;
don't need any sneaky con artists or any other fraudulent types.

hope the good honest people continue to help others as we are all working toward a better future for all. ?

Merry Christmas! from South Dakota USA

 

[Dzl]

Those rules make sense to me.
There's some complications sometimes though,

More and more every day. Its nice when things fit clearly into one category or the other, but lately there have just been a lot of cases that fall somewhere in between. Such as:

because when you look at the main Docan/Jenny Wu/Amy Zheng thread, you'll find posts like https://diysolarforum.com/threads/our-new-go-to-lifepo4-vendor-09-20-21.28696/post-404170
Which are definitely advertisements, but they're more or less in response to people asking directly in the thread for more information from the seller. When that thread got started, I don't think most of us were aware that the sellers that we were reviewing and sharing experiences about were members here on the forum (you can see that they joined the forum weeks before that thread began)
I've had nothing but positive things to say about my experience with that vendor, but I don't think they really get the concept that answering questions from members and trying to post helpful info about their services to interested parties isn't too far away from just plain marketing when it goes out of their own thread and into others.

These are good points, and many of these considerations have been on my mind for a little while now. I have been considering how best to handle this. As you've laid out, its one of those situations that is a bit of a grey area.

It seems like corporate corner would probably have been a better place for that thread, but it started as a review thread before turning into a marketing thread through a more or less natural progression

This is essentially my thinking as well. And why no action has been taken yet. On the one hand I think it would be most appropriate in the corporate corner because of how people are using the thread to correspond with the vendor. We have a clear no self promotion rule, but when members are contacting vendors through this thread, its hard to fully blame the vendors for replying, at the same time there have been multiple cases of things that mildly cross the line. And as you mention, the post began as a 3rd party review, not a sales or promotional thread. I've been slow to make a decision on how to handle this because it doesn't fit clearly into either category, and as far as I can tell nobody is especially bothered by the status quo. But it is being considered. In a perfect world, there would be a thread for review and discussion in the main forum and a vendor thread in the corporate corner.

---

The best and most efficient way to bring our attention to anything you think deserves consideration or violates the rules or spirit of the forum is to make a report and briefly explain the reason and the context. Even if it is something you just want reviewed/considered. We have a small moderation team so if issues go unreported there is a chance we will not be aware of them. Reports are valuable even if they are dismissed for whatever reason as they are one of the only ways we can gauge what members have issues with.

 

[JoeHam]

Please keep the status quo. I have used the report button a handful of times over the past years but it is not a frequent occurrence. I suspect the majority of folks are silent as they do not perceive a problem here.

I think it’s quite reasonable for a vendor to answer a question in an ongoing thread.

IF someone’s email has been compromised via the forum, as alleged in post #7, that is a different matter.

 

[upnorthandpersonal]

IF someone’s email has been compromised via the forum

There have been no breaches of the forum software or server. Also, there are only two people that have access to user's email information.