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Sherry
05-14-2007, 11:09 AM
Hi guys,

As you know, I run a very liberal website and rarely restrict comments or edit posts for content. However, due to an increase in the number of complaints that I am receiving in regards to blogs, I feel the need to address the situation.

There has been a SIGNIFICANT increase in posts that, for lack of a better word, 'manipulate' you into visiting a blog. For instance, the post title will read "All about my vacation (or whatever)" and, once you click on the post to read about so and so's vacation, you are simply told to "visit my blog for the details".

I, as the website owner, find myself in a very awkward position. I am a firm believer in free speech and the ability to post whatever is on your mind HOWEVER, this website now has paying members and those members do and should have a voice in regards to the content that appears on the forum. Some of our members do not enjoy weeding through the multiple blog posts that occupy our forum on a daily (and increasing) basis. With that being said, I also realize that many of our Shackies are also bloggers so I can totally understand their desires to get the word out.

So, where do we go from here? Do I continue to allow the "visit my blog" posts or do I address the multiple complaints and disallow the blog advertisements altogether? Either way, some of you are going to be upset but, a decision definitely has to be made. I am going to step away from the computer to hang laundry on the line and to mull this over.

20 minutes later....

Okay, I have made the decision - one that I think is on middle ground. There will be no more "visit my blog" posts allowed. I know that some of you are going to be upset by my decision and I truly apologize for that. I do, however, think that I provide plenty of opportunities for those individuals with blogs to do their advertising (in your signature AND via our blog directory). I think that this is more than fair considering that most websites will not allow you to advertise your blogs in any way, shape or form.

So, from here on out - moderators are asked to remove any blog advertisement posts.

Erin K
05-14-2007, 11:17 AM
Is a situation where say, we are discussing the pros and cons of a certain marker and someone has on their blog or on a favorite blog a write up that is good or useful, maybe has bunches of pictures or something, would it be ok to direct people who are interested to view that if they'd like. liek:

I know Julie did a huge write up on these on her blog, here's the post: http://blahblahblah.com

Would that be ok?

Or like my vacation, I posted all the text here because I know not everyone likes to go to blogs but I put all the pics on there, (they were not appropriate for our gallery) and said, "There are pictures of this on my blog" is that ok?

And to be clear, no more "I'm having a blog contest" type posts?

So is the "Blog your heart out" forum going to be leaving?


I'm sorry I'm not trying to be all questioning everything I just want to understand what is ok and what we should remove.

Christie
05-14-2007, 11:17 AM
Sherry I think you do a wonderful job with this website and know that some decisions are hard to make. I think everyone here will be supportive of your decision.

tesschap
05-14-2007, 11:19 AM
Sherry - I'm sure that I am one of the guilty parties and I want to say that I fully understand your decision and will abide by it and I do apologize . . . although I didn't realize that I was doing anything wrong. I thought the 'Blog your Heart out' forum was for this purpose and that is where I was posting. Can you redefine the guidelines for using this specific forum?

Thanks - again I do apologize if I misunderstood the use of the 'blog your heart out' forum.

Erin K
05-14-2007, 11:23 AM
Teresa, as I understand it you were not breaking the rules, they are just changing. So you were ok in the past but now that's not going to be ok.

I am also interested in what the guidelines will be for "blog your heart out" or if this new rule will eliminate that forum.

Whatever the case I support Sherry and my only concern is that I want to fully understand the guidelines so I can follow them myself and help others to do so as well. (in my role as a mod) :)

GrammaStamper
05-14-2007, 11:27 AM
I also have directed people to my blog for more information, but that stops now! I will abide by the rules as set out by Sherry and watch for postings that direct you to a blog if you want to know more. I think it's a good rule, too!

tesschap
05-14-2007, 11:47 AM
Thanks Erin. I just want to make sure I'm not doing anything wrong. I love this place :)


Teresa, as I understand it you were not breaking the rules, they are just changing. So you were ok in the past but now that's not going to be ok.

I am also interested in what the guidelines will be for "blog your heart out" or if this new rule will eliminate that forum.

Whatever the case I support Sherry and my only concern is that I want to fully understand the guidelines so I can follow them myself and help others to do so as well. (in my role as a mod) :)

Jovi
05-14-2007, 12:14 PM
Is a situation where say, we are discussing the pros and cons of a certain marker and someone has on their blog or on a favorite blog a write up that is good or useful, maybe has bunches of pictures or something, would it be ok to direct people who are interested to view that if they'd like. liek:

I know Julie did a huge write up on these on her blog, here's the post: http://blahblahblah.com

Would that be ok?




I think if someone posted saying… “Julie has this great tutorial about markers, check out her blog” that may be okay, but if Julie came and said “I posted a great tutorial about markers on my blog, check it out” that wouldn’t be okay…because basically Julie is advertising her blog.


Thanks again Sherry for the wonderful site and I support your decision. ;)

hutchink
05-14-2007, 12:37 PM
Ok, I'm going out on a limb here....but I not sure that I really understand this!!

So we can't stay anything about something on our blogs...

But we can talk about things like health problems, daily stresses in our lives, and whatever else we want on the daily dish???

Some how this does not seem right to me! Sorry!

I will follow the rules but it just doesn't seem right that we can talk about everything under the sun (some I find NOT appropriated at all) but, can't get excited and telling anyone that I figured out how to make a banner for my blog!
e

~K

midnitecreations
05-14-2007, 12:37 PM
if someone posted saying… “Julie has this great tutorial about markers, check out her blog” that may be okay, but if Julie came and said “I posted a great tutorial about markers on my blog, check it out” that wouldn’t be okay…because basically Julie is advertising her blog.




That would be my sentiment too. I love it when others post tutorials or good buys that they have found. That's how I've learned many new techniques and bought more stuff than I need!

Sherry
05-14-2007, 12:41 PM
So sorry guys, let me clarify my post.

When complaints are sent my way, they usually fall under one of the following two reasons:

1) There are too many posts asking people to visit so and so's blog.

2) Users are feeling 'manipulated'. They read the title of the post and are genuinely interested in the subject but once the click on the title to read the contents of the post, they are directed to a blog.

Because there was so much interest in blogging, I initially set up the 'Blog User Directory' and the 'Blog Your Heart Out' forum for users to discuss this very popular activity. I thought I was doing a good thing for our Shackies. Unfortunately, these forums/posts are viewable to everyone when they click the "New Posts" link, even to those users who do not enjoy reading blogs. And, because there has been a significant increase in new bloggers, blog contests, blog candy, and whatnot, there has been an increase in the amount of blog related posts on our forum. This in turn is causing an increase in complaints.

So, to clarify the rules, here is a list what us acceptable and what is not acceptable.

1. No more public advertising of blog contests/blog candy. Feel free to send a PM to your shack buddies if you think someone would be interested in a contest that you are hosting. You CAN discuss your blog contests and such in the chat room.

2. No more misleading/redirecting posts. For instance, do not title your post as "All about my Florida Vacation" and then put a "visit my blog for all of the details" as the post message. These types of misleading posts are frustrating for users who do not enjoy reading blogs. If you are going to post a "All about my Florida vacation", tell us about the vacation! Do not force the user to visit another page. After you have told us all about your vacation, you may then post a link to your blog so that we may see your awesome photos!

3. You CAN provide a blog link if discussing a particular subject or technique. For instance, if you are discussing the how to's of photographing a card, you can say "Erin has a fantastic tutorial on her blog - check it out at http://blahblahblah.com"


I'm not quite sure what I am going to do with the 'blog your heart out' forum yet. Perhaps we could make a private group for bloggers and users who enjoy reading blogs so that the messages are not visible to all users? I wonder if that would work and make everyone happy? Would it be okay if your blog posts/advertisments were viewable to only those who have joined the blogger group??

Erin K
05-14-2007, 12:51 PM
I don't know if this would be a good solution or not but I'm throwing it out there:

On my DH's message board it's supposed to be a McFarlaine collecting board. (these are action/sports figures which are highly collectable) They have whole forums for their different divsions like sports dolls, Twisted Alice dolls, dolls based on TV shows (they have LOST dolls!). Anyhow on the Sports forum, where my DH hangs out. They have ONE THREAD that is dedicated to a few special things. ONE thread that is all about getting cards signed. This is not really part of collecting dolls, but they share an interest in this as well. Whenever anyone has news about signings they go on that one single signing thread and update it. Conversations spin off in that thread but it's basicly all about signing cards. (Like baseball cards)

So maybe if we had one thread to update with bloggish stuff that would be ok. It could say in bold or something, "Blog your heart out" But instead of each new blogger who wants to say, "Check out my blog candy" and nonbloggers having to sift through it all, there would be just the one thread and post 146 would be me telling you to check out mine, then in four months post 2345 would be Sherri saying to check out hers.

Perhaps this would not appeal to anyone else, but it seems to work well for them. Then people not interested in blogs would only have one single thread to avoid, it would come up to the top of "new posts" but it's title would tell them they are not interested and they'd skip it.

If moderators saw people not using it they'd just move their posts over to that thread and tell them why.

It's just one idea, whatever you do will be fine. :)

tesschap
05-14-2007, 12:51 PM
I'm not quite sure what I am going to do with the 'blog your heart out' forum yet. Perhaps we could make a private group for bloggers and users who enjoy reading blogs so that the messages are not visible to all users? I wonder if that would work and make everyone happy? Would it be okay if your blog posts/advertisments were viewable to only those who have joined the blogger group??

I'm open to this suggestion.

Thanks.

MidwestStamper
05-14-2007, 01:06 PM
Having a "bloggers only" group could be a good solution for those who are interested in the blogs. I'm occasionally interested in blog links so I would sign up to be in this group.

Since we have the feature where we can "preview" a post before we click on it by "hovering" over it--I only click on the posts that I really want to read--so this whole issue hasn't bothered me at all. But it does sound like it's bothering some others.

Thanks so much for trying to make us all happy, Sherry!

GrammaStamper
05-14-2007, 01:06 PM
I think a private group for bloggers and users who enjoy reading blogs would be a perfectly viable solution. If you choose to subscribe, you're interested, if you don't subscribe, you would never see anything about blogs or bloggers. Seems to work for each side of the coin. I like it.

Sherry
05-14-2007, 01:17 PM
I think a private group for bloggers and users who enjoy reading blogs would be a perfectly viable solution. If you choose to subscribe, you're interested, if you don't subscribe, you would never see anything about blogs or bloggers. Seems to work for each side of the coin. I like it.

I agree...I like it too. I think it's a go. I'll get things set up in the next day or two. This is the only way that I can think of to make EVERYONE happy :D

Erin K
05-14-2007, 01:25 PM
coolbeans, sounds good.

Nevermind my long and complicated suggestion.

1of2shoes
05-14-2007, 02:02 PM
I'm still confused, but I'll abide by whatever rules Sherry sets up.

teabear
05-14-2007, 02:07 PM
Sherry, I had no idea you were going through so much stuff on account of us crazy bloggers. Thanks for all the effort you are putting into making this a good solution for everyone.

I had directed people to my blog on some of my cards in the gallery. I will go back to amend those posts. I never meant to cause any trouble.

stampcrazyjulie
05-14-2007, 02:21 PM
I am totally confused, but I am sure that you all know what you are talking about & I too will just go with the flow! :)

hbpuppy
05-14-2007, 03:19 PM
That sounds reasonable, Sherry. Erin, your post makes sense too. I understood it. :)

Thanks for always trying to improve our shack experience.

mom_on_line
05-14-2007, 03:36 PM
While I don't direct people to my blog, I do have it in my siggy (still ok or not?) and am listed in the blog directory here. I like the one thread for directing people to their blogs and since that could get quite lengthy, maybe have a new one on the first of each month?

I'll also abide by whatever we end up doing!

Erin K
05-14-2007, 04:17 PM
Blog link in your siggy is still ok.

mom_on_line
05-14-2007, 07:46 PM
ok, thanks!

Deborah
05-14-2007, 08:02 PM
Private forum for bloggers...GREAT changes Sherry. I know how hard you work to try to keep everyone happy. ;)

moosemama
05-15-2007, 06:13 AM
Question: sometimes I notice in the gallery someone posts a card and instead of saying how they made the card, they direct you to their blog to find out how it was made. I like being able to read in the gallery how a certain techinque was used without being redirected. So, my question is: will that still be allowed or not? I guess someone could just not even post the technique used at all so maybe this isn't a valid question but I was wondering.....

Deborah
05-15-2007, 09:17 PM
Great question Fern! I agree, I certainly prefer to read how a card was made in the gallery itself without being redirected. Sherry? ;)

logcabincreations
05-15-2007, 10:46 PM
I don't personally have a blog of my own, but I do enjoy from time to time visiting the blogs of my fellow shackies. Would I be able to join this private forum since I don't have a blog? I sure hope so.

Jan

MidwestStamper
05-15-2007, 11:47 PM
Well, I joined and I don't have a blog--so I guess the answer is yes!