Dear friends ...
I am compelled to wite to you with two issues today...
1) Forum information &
2) Consideration for other community members and their opinions.
Forum information
1) I, personally, and a lot of other members, like myself, do not allow blatant advertising posts in our forums. There are plenty of appropriate places to advertise on AdlandPro. You can advertise in your "About me", in your "Have and wants", in the traffic exchange, in the advert section, you can create your own web page here and there are a number of forums that invite you to advertise your opportunities. Check out LaNell's forums, she has one specifically for business opportunities.
2) If you reply to a post in a forum that is likely to be deleted for being out of context, or rude, or blatant advertising, then your post will also be deleted because it is considered part of the thread ... so my advice ... reply to the original post ... so you don't risk being deleted in total error ... as happened to some very nice friends of mine.
3) Before you just add a thread to a forum, other than your own, it is common courtesy to ask the forum owner if you may post. It is a common courtesy and a sign of good manners and who knows .... maybe you will end up with a good ally in networking. When you post in a forum that is not yours the forums owners' contacts will not receive a notification and your readership will not be as good.
Collaboration, communication and manners are the way to network and remember that the way you behave, reflects the way you do business and people will NOT do business with people they do not like. Before you sell anything in this world YOU HAVE TO SELL YOURSELF .... You may think you are losing one potential client but that 1 potential has 100 friends and they have 200 more and they have 2000 more again .... so before you know it ... you just lost 10,000 potential clients.
Also, please read my dear friend Marilyn L Ali's post on forum etiquette:
http://community.adlandpro.com/forums/thread/429321.aspx
Consideration for other community members and their opinions.
1) Although I, like many others, do not moderate our forums on direct posting from friends, we will not tolerate posts that are rude or disrespectful of any other friends in our network, especially if a valid comment is made about another inappropriate posting. We are adults and we are professionals, again I repeat think about your business first and foremost before you post.
I wrote this article for the AdlandPro Community Newsletter ... If you haven't read it please do so ...
My message, this issue, is going to be a little different to all other issues as I feel that, in the light of events, in my absence, I would like to remind everyone about the meaning of a true community, whether it be online, such as here at AdlandPro or offline, in your neighbourhood, your community.
In every community there are members who are closer than others, just like family members, there are always certain rivalries and competition, which is healthy, in measurable doses. There is always some degree of discord and some degree of misguidance and misleadance but the one thing that holds a community together is mutual respect and respectful communication.
Respect and respectful communication are the foundations upon which human relations are built. Listening is more important than talking, when you listen you show you care. Talking is a way of sharing, understanding, enquiring and equalising.
Every word has a powerful meaning and each one occupies its own space and time and has its own, appropriate, place for expression. Hurtful words attract hurt, happy words attract positivity, sad words attract tears. Freedom of speech does not mean the freedom to hurt others and there is no excuse valid enough for such a gesture, not even envy or competitiveness.
It takes a stronger individual to be kind than it does to be harsh but being kind should not be confused with being insignificant. Just because a person says only a few words it doesn't mean they are not hurting. Just because some shouts, it doesn't mean they don't love.
Remember the old saying: "Do unto others as you wish done unto you"? and have you heard that a drop in the ocean, on one side of the world, can cause a tidal wave on the shore of another side of the world?... well ... this is true enough for words as well... One word can spark a flame that can, eventually, cause a war.
The real significance of our AdlandPro Community is to have a place where people can come to, to chill out, to network, to show off their talents, to learn, to share but most of all to meet other people. Even if you only joined for promoting your business, remember ... nobody does business with people they do not like or do not trust...
AdlandPro is very visible on the Internet, so any outsiders looking in see what you have to say, they see your profile and your business, as well as our community ... so please ... think wisely before you post, for the sake of being a respectful to others, for the sake of making our community a place where outsiders would feel welcome to come to, (remember, more members equals more business opportunities), and for maintaining the integrity of your business, as well as your own personal integrity as a human being.