TOTV - Policy re: Non Advertisers
 

Seems to be a lot of discussion about people having posts edited or removed because they offer the name and or phone number of businesses that do not advertise on TOTV, ie., recent thread about Golf Cart Repair.

What am I missing when I see numerous referrals for Drs., Dentists, Landscape Contractors etc., many of whom advertise in the Daily Sun but are not TOTV advertisers.

It shouldn't be both ways. Either you should or should not be able to publish business names and phone numbers for folks who do not advertise on TOTV.

If non advertisers are banned in one case they should be banned in all cases. If such is not the case, as it appears to be, I'd be interested in knowing the criteria that differentiates between banned and not banned business referrals.

If indeed they should all be banned, the value of TOTV to the community would be greatly diminished.

The line should be drawn at businesses that toot their own horns to drum up business for themselves. Third party referrals and recommendations should not be edited, censored or eliminated if their only purpose is to respond to inquiries made by TOTV members.

As I understand it if a business trys to solicit customers on TOTV without advertising then there numbers and information is banned when people recommend them. If a business does not solicit or advertise and folks recommend them, that's OK.

Every day there are recommendations made for services. If a user wants to recommend a company and their services and there are no connections to this business or financial gain from it the recommendation is welcome. These recommendations are not deleted or moderated.

If someone is going to personally or financially benefit by the post it would be considered a commercial post. Advertisers pay to promote their business here and that is what supports the cost of operating the site. To commercially post without being an advertiser is stealing from the site and those contributing advertisers and sponsors here.

Only 2 businesses have a ban on the site for good reason out of the hundreds or thousands that have been posted.

I have no interest, financial or otherwise in ********. Yet, I can't recommend them or even send a member a PM with that name. Why won't you let his business be mentioned?

Yes they are 1 of the 2 businesses to ever have a ban like this.

I posted an explanation in your other post.

https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...t=41793&page=2

I mentioned ******** and it was deleted. Is this the other company that was banned?

Services
 

:agree:

Yes GeorgeT that is #2.

Third party referrals and recommendations should not be edited, censored or eliminated if their only purpose is to respond to inquiries made by TOTV members.

Agree that has been and will continue to be our position outside of these 2 businesses.

Banned Businesses
 

Admin, now that you've furnished an explanation about why the first business got banned, could you please do the same for the second business?

Thanks.

I don't feel we need to know why a business is banned. That could open the owners to a defamation suit.

I am annoyed at people who post about how they like so and so's housekeeping service or dog sitting service or downspout service and THAT is all they post about and they have eight or nine posts about it.

It seems to me that person is the one that owns the business and they are trying to pull the wool over our eyes by appearing to say they like the services.

I am all for people who share when they truly have had a great experience with a contractor.

When members of the asylum get too much information, they start to go crazy.:laugh:

I think we sometimes forget that this is a free site for users ... Because businesses are advertising here. I appreciate the fact that the Admin offers TOTV to members with no charge, and I respect any decisions he makes.

I fully agree. As for the housekeeping thread, that's another place where I could see the owner using his discretion on whether to maintain someone's posting privileges.

Is that fair? Sure. This site is a business. I don't presume as a customer that I can make the rules for Macy's, nor do I presume as a poster, that I can make the rules for TOTV. In either case, if I don't feel I'm getting my money's worth, I'm free to leave. (Oh yeah, this site is FREE, thanks to admins making good business decisions.) :bigbow:

So sure, for example, the owner has a right to suspend privileges if he so chooses of someone who shows up and posts and bumps and posts about housekeeping services and nothing else. If it looks like a duck and acts like a duck and walks like a duck...

As an aside on the housekeeping thread, many of us are smart enough not to act soley upon the advice of people who's only discernable agenda is to promote a certain business. ;)

ditto that.

:agree::agree:

Rules should be the same for everyone. How many times have you seen posts recommending and complimenting the house sitting services of a forum member? How is that different from me recommending ********?

That is true and I was told that the forum member refused to take an advertisement here on the forum. Does not seem fair.

I agree that we don't need to know why a business in banned and totally disagree with everything else that you said. One of the nice things about this board is that you get opinions about business. Maybe the posters have 8 or nine posts. SO WHAT? Not everyone has a billion posts.

I think that kind of posting is different than saying our RedWitch is an awesome house taker care ofer.

Me too! Me too! Me too!

I fear this "goings on" can negate the usefullness of TOTV. It should be easy enough to detect the "Ice scraping Charlies" of the world? Are we nearing a buffalo revival where a few ruin a good thing for the masses? Having said that I can certainly understand management wanting to maximize it's income, and it appears to be a slim margin between the two. Tough dcisions for them, but I trust them........

Totv
 

This is a good and valuable site to new and existing villages. Why? Cause (i am guessing) 50,000 people interested in TV check it out. So here is what I think. This is media, internet, radio,tv, newspapers etc. The advertisers on this site ARE only here because of All of us who tune in, period. IMO you want to ruin this site, then keep the cheerleaders and "admin" (this word may be too strong) attacking posters. Anyone of the 50,000 readers of this website who reads what a great "icescraper" is OR THINK ABOUT IT??? There is no difference if a neighbor or friend verbally recmmended the same person..... It is ultimately to you to decide, like everything else in life. So I can't stress Enough to cheerleaders and ADMIN your advertisers are paying cause of us not vice versa.

I Don't See The Problem
 

While the Admin certainly has the right to edit offensive posts, I frankly don't see the problem with a business being mentioned inside posts. After all this is supposed to be a helpful site for newcomers primarily. The small incremental boost that a business will get from a good mention here or there certainly pales in comparison to the HUGE boost they must get from the 28,000 views a day they get with a paid ad.

I wonder if posts about bad service from an advertiser are allowed to get through.

Hmmm... guess we'll never know.:undecided:

I was going to let this go but now would like to say WHY? Is it because Redwitch is your friend? Why should she get free advertisement?

[QUOTE=captain1202;388285]While the Admin certainly has the right to edit offensive posts, I frankly don't see the problem with a business being mentioned inside posts. After all this is supposed to be a helpful site for newcomers primarily. QUOTE]

The Admin stated earlier that businesses being mentioned by a third party was allowed. I would presume that if the business was touted repeatedly by the same person it might be stopped, and probably should be. The original problem that precipitated this thread was the owner of a business giving advice and promoting his business while presumably not being willing to pay for advertising, causing him to be banned. I agree with that policy for what it's worth.

.............a LOT of the business INSIDE INFO has migrated to Facebook....... discussions regarding who are the recommended businesses are STILL taking place by TOTV users.....Just on a different Venue.

GeorgeT, Redwitch does not promote HERSELF on this site, and she doesn't register a dozen fake names to promote herself - which has been an issue in other threads. If others promote her, more power to her for doing a great job!

That's the difference. If I use XYZ Co. and they do a wonderful job, I can promote them all I want. On the other hand, if I own XYZ Co., I can't promote it unless I become an advertiser. I also can't pretend to be other people through multiple registrations, simply to promote my business without paying for advertising.

Why discriminate for or against advertisers?
 

If Talk of the Villages means only good talk, supportive of advertisers talk,
then it ought to be looking at the zillions of free websites that are out there and available. All of what is on this site could easily be placed on any number of those...that's when my opinion would count as I see it. I have always been fearful of Big Brother

When we begin to squelch free speech and the right to have an opinion,
we loose the historic integrity upon which this country was formed,
Democracy. Rather, we slide toward socialism. The worry is, unless all sides can be heard, we slip toward a meaningless forum for those who live here and those who would like to. :sad:

Not true, I promoted XYZ company and was told they were banned. I have no interest in XYZ company at all except that I'm their customer and they do a good job. There's a double standard here. This site does not belong to us, the owners are here to make money and there is nothing wrong with that at all but lets call a spade a spade.

I don't see a double standard here. I thought that the Admin already explained that only two businesses have been banned on this site and why (see above). It sounds reasonable to me.

I wasn't going to say anything, but feel compelled to do so.

What would be said of us if we (or Kenneth) got on here and gave every sordid detail of every person or business as to why they were banned?

As Kenneth said, only two business have been banned from here.

Does anybody think that we just woke up one morning and picked out these two and decided that they were going to get the axe today?

It is totally and completely unfair for anyone to think that the administrator owes the membership a complete, detailed explanation why this action was taken.

I was there, I know all the facts, I was one of three who made the unanimous and final decision to ban these two people. I'm sure they have a completely different story to tell. Would you expect anything less. Do you really think they would tell you the unvarnished truth??????? Do you really think this forum would turn away business without really, really, really good cause?

By virtue of the fact that a group of people are so ardently trying to get them back on tells me that these two businesses are recruiting individuals to further invade this site. My advise to the new administrator, "don't cave in."

JLK

TY for removing the quote, and BTW I totally agree with what you've stated!
:agree: