Jill, Now that is a great idea. If I had two forum ideas I would have to stop and think about what is really important. Some people do not have restraint and that would force it to happen. Adlanders limit the number of posts. I belong to a program where I can only send a message twice a week. What would be wrong with that idea??? Let's get some feedback on this as it seems we need a solution to the large number of "You Just Got to See This!!!!!" forums or "Help"----just how much do we need to see and when should I look and see who needs help. Thanks Jill, you are a real troubleshooter----right on target.

Good reply Mary.

As I see it, with about 0.005% vote of total members, they come here because they have friends here, followed by wanting to learn of running a business online.

• Mostly I log in because I have friends here (41.4%)
  
• I come here to post ads (6.9%)
  
• I come here looking for business opportunities to join (3.4%)
  
• I want to learn more about running a business online (27.6%)
  
• I am trying to build a downline here (3.4%)
  
• Other (details in my post) (17.2%)
  

With the different facets that make up AdlandPro the above would not be an accurate representation. The number of people active in the forums, if my mind serves me correctly, is is under 4,000. Someone please correct me if I am wrong. That is about 1/10th of total members.

With the major portion of members using the advertising services offered through AdlandPro and not using the forums is there something really needing troubleshooting?

If we direct the question for forum usage I would say yes. Private messeging? No.

The forums here are used by about 1/10th of the members and a small percentage of that can be rude, not follow forum etiquette, use and abuse the 'system', etc.

Each member recieves a minimum of one forum they can create with their account. They can use it as they see fit (within the guidelines) and many do not take that opportunity. They will start jumping into other forums and threads by other members and will SPAM the thread or try to change the topic.

As a forum owner, I feel it is our responsibility to monitor what happens in 'our house'. Your topic of discussion is yours and you can control 'the meeting'. We have settings in the control panel to make our forum public, private, invite members, ban a member, etc ...

If we are friends with another member and have joined a forum and it has gotten bitter to your liking you can always opt out of that forum. This is your right and your choice.

Private messeging should be, IMHO, used only for contact for questions, notices to remind someone of something, a birthday wish, ... but NOT for ads to be sent. I once asked why I am getting an ad in my private messege box from a member and his reply was get used to it, this is an advertising site. So, I deleted him from my friends list after stating my opinion of his ad being SPAM.

All in all, I feel AdlandPro is one of the best site out there. not only has it met the needs of advertisers but was and is ahead of it's time. Social networking sites have become the new internet and AdlandPro with it's forums and friends invite feature were out in the forefront of today's internet. It's up to each individual to be responsible for their presence on the 'net' and we have the right to speak up and say 'That is not acceptable'.

I have backed off of some forums and threads because of some of the behavior some members exhibit. But, it doesn't stop me from using AdlandPro for what it is - an advertising medium.

If people will recognize AdlandPro for what it is and use it accordingly maybe some things in question will fix themselves. And we have the right to 'help' fix anything that is a problem.

Just my 2 cents.

Kenneth
http://www.bizzyblogz.biz

Hello Mary,

In relation to your question about whether sending ads as PM's can be considered spamming - well I understood that the sending of unsolicited ads was spamming, but perhaps given that we have "friends" lists, maybe the expression "Abuse of the Private Message Service" would have been better. 

I still do not wish to have an inbox flooded with mails that start  "Dear Friend.." and then proceed to send a standard advert.  I would like to see people use the Offers/Requests and Free ad service for this.  It would then return the PM service to being one to which is a useful way of comminicating with people on ones friends list.

Equally it is the excessive use of clip art as a substitute for words that is not useful.  No one is cricising disabled or second language people here.  This, and "cut and paste" forums are abused equally amongst all nationalities.

Several other posters here have referred to the need for constraint in posting - and I myself ran a very popular forum in late September of this year  about a "virus" at Adland called the Impùlsive Posting Finger.  It was a humorous request for people to think before they post and was more than well received at that troubled time.  One member went as far as to suggest that if , everyone pays attention, we might be able to get back to the AdlandPro that we all know and love!!!   Sadly a lot of people didnt.

Constraint is something that we can all excerise if we wish to and that coupled with respect should solve a lot of problems.

Love
Jenny


 

Ok, I'm confused.

What is a splinter group??

What cliques ( am I missing something )??

I came to Adlandpro almost a year ago to network.  I had no idea what the friend feature was, what spamming was or how to start a forum.  Their were three community members that took me under their wing and showed me the way.  3 VERY respectable people, Greer Trumble, Beverly, and John Sanchez.  I think new members coming into the community need mentors to provide guidance just as a neighborhood has their welcome commity, so should we.  Do you think it would be possible to elect people to be Adlandpro mentors??

Much Luv,

Crystal

Jill, I failed to read your first post. Exactly right and here at Adland people do get in our face. It is our choice as to how to respond. So how do we let people who send ads in our personal mail, know of our displeasure. Could there be an organized method to let people know this is inappropriate. I made a forum on forum etiquitte, a forum on making friends, and learning about Adlandpro but who could make people read and follow the information there!! Do you think we could get a group of people to copy and paste a response that would get the message out to the "spam, ads" in our mailboxes. If we worked together on this, could we make a difference or would it be like batting at nats---kill one and 5,000 others come along?