Forum suggestion: Remove sales threads

[AnthonyCea]

The same could be said for 95% of the threads in the Off Topic forum.

Trying to say forum owners are goofy like the rest of the human race ?

NO, Don't say that !!!

 

[DSF]

Xenforo as a page full of advertisements and 1 1/2 inches high signatures is not serious for me and a chance to say goodbye.
I do not need a companypage as kiddypage.

 

[Russ]

http://xenforo.com/community/account/preferences

Turn off signatures and avoid Off Topic if it gets under your skin so bad. To be honest XenForo wouldn't be as fun if it was so strung tight restricting numerous things on the forums.

 

[Shamil]

Xenforo as a page full of advertisements and 1 1/2 inches high signatures is not serious for me and a chance to say goodbye.
I do not need a companypage as kiddypage.

It would probably never reach that point.

Seriously, you haven't check any advertising forums have you?

 

[steven s]

I agree 100% and would hate to see this community fragmented in such a way that i have to search hi and low sometimes for days straight to find a specific offering or product.. Funny to me that the free addon forum is ok but trying to sell a skin here is unprofessional.. Makes no sense.. (to me)

I missed the part about selling styles is unprofessional.
My only objection are members promoting website hosting.

It doesn't make sense to me. I'm not blaming the staff here but there's a site owner that offers services practically in every thread where someone wants to convert their forum and they're posts are left untouched (verbally by the community) yet poor andrew (using him as an example) posted a genuine offering to sell graphics and he got slated for it resulting in him requesting for his thread to be closed if memory recalls.

And Shelly, there are always exceptions made for some people. It's been pretty clear since day one.
I think that is why I offer to convert forums for free when I come across a post.
I can't contribute the way you do, but I try to make my contributions any way I know how.

I like the sense of community. I guess that is why I did not sell my forum when that carrot was dangled in front of me.
Community.

 

[AnthonyCea]

What is the difference on what service is offered Steven, as long as it is related to running a forum ?

Xenforo might one day offer hosting, importing and or installation services like IPB does themselves.

 

[steven s]

What is the difference on what service is offered Steven, as long as it is related to running a forum ?

I am only talking about hosting companies. I just feel that every host out there will start a thread about their company.
Then it becomes a hosting forum.

Xenforo might one day offer hosting, importing and or installation services like IPB does themselves.

Perhaps. There is already a site that does some of this.

 

[Mark.B]

Who are you to judge what people do with their products, services. If they want to sell and have put the effort, time in then that is their choice. You whine at vbulletin, now your starting to whine here. I provide for free and if I decided I wanted to sell it's not because I'm jumping on the bandwagon it's because for 7 years I've provided resources for free, my time and my expertise .

I stated many times, one minute your all pro then 100% against like a human yoyo. Simple, block the threads you don't want to view and more importantly don't easily judge people for wanting to sell their products/resources.

Not sure why you've singled me out here. I'm not "whining" at all. I don't like seeing adverts spattered all over a forum. if you allow one then hundreds will follow.

The best suggestion for dealing with this - since the offering of products and services DOES have a place on a site such as this - is, as others have said, to set up a "Classifieds" forum. But at present they are going to get dotted all over the forum which helps nobody.

 

[Business Coach]

I am only talking about hosting companies. I just feel that every host out there will start a thread about their company.
Then it becomes a hosting forum.

only if people patronize hosts who do not have licensed versions of xen themselves

and what community does NOT do business with each other? If you think giving everything away is how life should be, why didn't you support one of the free open source forums?

You paid for xen, you pay for internet access, you paid for a domain, you pay for hosting....since you are paying ANYWAY, why NOT to others in this "community"?

If there is no commerce amongst people, thats not community, thats charity.

Some peoples investment of time and resources IS their job. Some people would rather get paid to do what they love, then give it away and have to work for someone else doing what they hate just to make a living.

Some people value their time and resources, and have valuable things to offer as a result of using them.

Just because YOU don't does not mean those of us who do are wrong or bad.

 

[Mikey]

I for one, if I am going to Apple's site or Oracle Forums, don't expect it to be littered with third party vendor adverts.

To further this, If I go to vBulletin.com I don't see it littered with 3rd party adverts. Just so it's a little more related to this community. They don't have web hosts advertising their services there..

 

[Mark.B]

To further this, If I go to vBulletin.com I don't see it littered with 3rd party adverts. Just so it's a little more related to this community. They don't have web hosts advertising their services there..

I don't think it would be an issue if they DID (vBulletin), as long as it was in a specific forum for that purpose.

The problem comes when one of the vendors turns out to be a scam. Who decides whether the advert should remain? It's a murky area indeed which is probably why vB say "no".

 

[Kim]

Keep all these ads OUT of the off topic forum.

Tiresome in the least.

As I said a few weeks ago, and I say it again, if Xenforo allow open advertising in this forum, then that is all that this forum will be within a very short time.

There are those who seem to think that this forum is a ready market just ripe for the plucking, I can assure you that if we go down that path, Off Topic it will become a useless worthless boring waste of space within a very short period of time.

No one has said "you can't make money" or "you can't advertise" "selling skins is bad" it is just highly inappropriate imho to do so in the Off Topic forum of Xenforo, which should be a place where we can have some fun, and form friendships and get support, talk about all sorts of things with people from all over the world, and enjoy the company of other Forum Admins without there being a commercial imperative or us being bombarded with Ads from people selling stuff.

I wish to God that management would take the lead here and make a ruling one way or the other, as this is now getting ridiculous, and I for one do not want to waste my time by coming here each day to find the Off Topic section covered in Spam and Ads for people selling crap.

A Classifieds forum might be the solution, so I for one can ignore it.

Thank you to Slavik for putting this up

 

[FredC]

The problem comes when one of the vendors turns out to be a scam. Who decides whether the advert should remain? It's a murky area indeed which is probably why vB say "no".

Thats pretty much why i prefer them here.. I frequent this forum almost as much as my own.. Ive come to learn alot about this community, who i trust and those who have yet to earn my trust.. To me having a server host offer up his serices on XF and is an XF license holder and a contributing member, means i dont have to put as much thought into who is who on a new forum that i just joined and then have to figure out who is for real and who is a scammer. I understand you still would have to do that here, but here. I have an entire community that has our back and will out a scammer in a matter of minutes.. But yeah it for sure needs a dedicated area.

 

[FredC]

Keep all these ads OUT of the off topic forum.

Tiresome in the least.

As I said a few weeks ago, and I say it again, if Xenforo allow open advertising in this forum, then that is all that this forum will be within a very short time.

There are those who seem to think that this forum is a ready market just ripe for the plucking, I can assure you that if we go down that path, Off Topic it will become a useless worthless boring waste of space within a very short period of time.

No one has said "you can't make money" or "you can't advertise" "selling skins is bad" it is just highly inappropriate imho to do so in the Off Topic forum of Xenforo, which should be a place where we can have some fun, and form friendships and get support, talk about all sorts of things with people from all over the world, and enjoy the company of other Forum Admins without there being a commercial imperative or us being bombarded with Ads from people selling stuff.

I wish to God that management would take the lead here and make a ruling one way or the other, as this is now getting ridiculous, and I for one do not want to waste my time by coming here each day to find the Off Topic section covered in Spam and Ads for people selling crap.

A Classifieds forum might be the solution, so I for one can ignore it.

Thank you to Slavik for putting this up

I suppose that would be annoying if it all winds up in your favorite forum (off Topic) and i can concede that i wouldn't notice this since the off topic area is really one i rarely visit.. I also suppose it doesn't bother me so much because i browse by whats new and just skip titles that don't interest me.

 

[steven s]

Thats pretty much why i prefer them here.. I frequent this forum almost as much as my own.. Ive come to learn alot about this community, who i trust and those who have yet to earn my trust.. To me having a server host offer up his serices on XF and is an XF license holder and a contributing member, means i dont have to put as much thought into who is who on a new forum that i just joined and then have to figure out who is for real and who is a scammer. I understand you still would have to do that here, but here. I have an entire community that has our back and will out a scammer in a matter of minutes.. But yeah it for sure needs a dedicated area.

I honestly am not discrediting anyone here. Really. But just because someone posts and has a license doesn't mean a thing.
I have members buying and selling car parts and cars on my forum all the time. Many have contributed to threads and been there for years.
Occasionally a seller disappears off the forum and the buyer need to track them down.
That is why many forums use iTrader.

 

[Shelley]

If that is the case then services (such as conversions/import jobs being offered) in the way of replies within threads would be classed as paid because quite a few threads I happen to bump into are spammed with links to <insert site name>. My beef is, and it still goes on, is that only a handful of people are harrassed whilst others roam around posting their links by offering up services and nothing is said. It can't be one rule for one, another rule for another which is what has been going on around here (by members) nothing at all to do with staff.

Then again I think signatures and the way they're abused are a bigger problem here. That's another topic.

 

[FredC]

I honestly am not discrediting anyone here. Really. But just because someone posts and has a license doesn't mean a thing.
I have members buying and selling car parts and cars on my forum all the time. Many have contributed to threads and been there for years.
Occasionally a seller disappears off the forum and the buyer need to track them down.
That is why many forums use iTrader.

Im not sweating it, Im just involving myself in a debate i have some interest in. and frankly just burning some time...

 

[FredC]

Then again I think signatures and the way they're abused are a bigger problem here. That's another topic.

Yeah Signatures are another story altogether. I like the signatures because it give me some insight into the poster, especially if there is a link attached to it. But wow some are pretty intrusive and get annoying in a hurry.

 

[Paul B]

Just be grateful you don't have to read all of the posts in the Off Topic forum, like some of us

Given the choice, I'd ignore it too

 

[MilesDB]

Marketplace: yes, but only for Xenforo styles, addons and such.

+1

A gone-bad or rip-off hosting provider would tarnish XenForo's reputation if it was heavily advertised here. Though nothing is wrong with a general thread like "Best XenForo hosting providers" where a broad spectrum of USERS can share their hosting experiences and give advice to others. Off Topic would be an appropriate place for such a thread.