Towards Forming a Policy on Commerical Posts (OPEN FOR DISCUSSION)

[ECO]

I just wanted to share with everyone my somewhat vague stance on commercial advertising/posts on SEQanswers, and get some feedback from the community. My "policy", which has basically been formed over time, is that when a post has significant scientific content relevant to the community, I will happily welcome it [benchmarking posts (see most of those by kmay from Genomatix), algorithm discussions (see those by the novoalign guys), spirit's posts, etc].

I have always wanted SEQanswers to be an open community for users to openly communicate with one another, even including commercial vendors...

...but I definitely feel, based on my experiences on other large boards, that there is a point where commercial vendors should incur some advertising charges to help support SEQanswers, and to prevent a "spammy" feel to the board. There are quite a few unobtrusive ways in which this could occur (ie custom user titles, vendor sponsored subforums etc), which would not encroach on open communication (my nightmare is inline ads, popups, etc, that will never happen), and ensure full disclosure.

In any event, I welcome anyone's comments or thoughts on this topic, and please continue posting as usual, I'll tell you if you cross "the line" (as ambiguous as it may be).

[kmay]

Thanks ECO for your open word!

I was "outing" myself from the beginning as a company guy and hope my postings were never felt to be too much of an advertising, though I admit a certain bias towards the company feeding my kids.

I tried to deliver facts for comparison and to offer free services to posters to put us on a test. In my eyes this is the best advertising one can do, let the facts speak on their own.

I value your board very high, and if there is a way Genomatix can reward you and help for keeping it up and running as it is, I am happy to contribute within the limited funds we have. Genomatix is very science driven and all puts all the money on hiring new scientists rather than running advertising campaigns - but I am sure that there is some support available for you!

In what form you will reward sponsors is totally up to you and I am sure you will proceed according the opinions expressed in this thread.

I´d be happy also if everything stays as is... You could give all commercial guys a special avatar, then it is clear from the beginning who posts.

Cheers

Klaus

[apfejes]

I second the motion for avatars. Maybe one for people from companies, another for people at academic institutions (students could be a separate category), and those who wish to be mysterious could get a picture of Zoro in his black mask. (-;

Although I like anonymity, it's also nice to have some vague notion of who we're talking with.

Anthony