Where has my topic gone?

[SkylineObsession]

Whoever removed my charity cruise topic - please contact me ASAP to tell me why...

[SkylineObsession]

Oh this is BS...

Got this e-mail:
[b] "Hi,

Your topic 'Otago Community Hospice Charity Cruise 2011' has been removed for the following reason:

Sir, I'm afraid we don't allow the forums to be used for advertising.

Email [e-mail] to have the event considered for a news article

Regards,
PistonHeads" [/b]

And yet there is advertising for heaps of other car events/meets...

Edited by SkylineObsession on Monday 4th July 15:13

[Garlick]

The email seems to state the reasons?

There may be other events posted, but they will have asked permission or altered their posts to fall in with the rules.

You post was rather in depth, far beyond a normal post, and was reported to us as an advertising post by a few readers.

As mentioned in the email above, consider emailing Riggers in the news room or maybe add it to the (free) calendar instead?

It's a fair removal, and the email did seem to explain the reasons.

[SkylineObsession]

Its only so 'in depth' because i'm trying to get as many people there as possible, a few PH'ers even turned up to last years one.

That is an absolute load of bks sorry. I don't come on here for the sole purpose of advertising it and we make no money at all from it - it all goes to the charity.

Kindly direct me to the rules then so i can repost it to please those lowlifes who sit on their computer all day reporting 'bad' topics to make them feel good about themselves.

I've NEVER had a problem with this same promotion WHEREVER i've posted it in the past - until PH of course.

[Garlick]

I'm not sure what you want me to say, and it's not in my nature to try and sound unhelpful, but we have rules and we enforce them as we see fit. It's not to be annoying, and not to single you out in particular.

I'm afraid we'll have to agree to disagree, and I hope the other forums do your event justice should you choose not to use our calendar.

[LordGrover]

Crikey. Sugar rush?

[Garlick]

SkylineObsession said:

Kindly direct me to the rules

Missed this, here you go: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/rules.htm

[shakotan]

SkylineObsession said:

I've NEVER had a problem with this same promotion WHEREVER i've posted it in the past - until PH of course.

One would suggest that, if you don't like the rules, toddle off to one of those other places and grizzle about it there.

[Downton Mini]

I can not see what the problem is you've asked why it was removed it has been explained to you why your post was removed. In the past I have had things I have wanted to post on forums to help raise money for charity etc (not PH) I have always asked the forum owners mods first so as not to cuase offence or upset.

[SkylineObsession]

shakotan said:

One would suggest that, if you don't like the rules, toddle off to one of those other places and grizzle about it there.

I hadn't even seen the rules until the link was posted above - its not like they are easy to find. :/

I'd really like to know the reason behind this rule though, it really makes absolutely no sense at all:
16. Promote charity events or recruit for charitable donations.

What does PH have to lose from members doing the above? Its the charities themselves that are losing out, as there are likely a lot of others like me who barely ever read the main page/look at the event calendar - so will never know about an event like this.

And since there are other postings for charity events in the NZ forum, how do i go about getting permission or whatever to post my one? PH forums are the only place i know of with New Zealand members who own out of the ordinary cars (Lotus's, Ferrari's and so on) and they are the type of car that are hardest to get at car related events. Especially since the Porsche and Ferrari clubs of NZ don't have publicly available contact information anymore.

[Garlick]

Because we had hundreds of them. Sponsored walks, charity events, donate to this and that.

In the end we had to stop it because there were hundreds. It's not a new rule but despite being a long term member I must assume that you don't spend that much time here? These days most members aware of the rules and call or email to check it's OK to post about an event before doing so.

Shall we move along now, you either agree to abide by our rules or you don't. It's not a chouce we can help you make and neither is it a rule we will break just for you.

I even offered you the change to chat with us for editorial. That's what these guys did with their charity events and they now have strong attendance as a result.

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyI...

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyI...

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyI...

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyI...

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyI...


I don't think out offer stands for your event any more, seeing as we are so unhelpful.

Good luck with your event organisation, but I can't see the benefit to me trying to explain anything to you from now on. I think I have been fair and have made my point clear.

[ali_kat]

Garlick has tried to help, lets see if you will listen to an ordinary member

SkylineObsession said:

I hadn't even seen the rules until the link was posted above - its not like they are easy to find. :/

You mean apart from there being a clear link to them at the bottom of every page & above the box you type in to post? You signed an agreement to keep them when you joined too

SkylineObsession said:

I'd really like to know the reason behind this rule though, it really makes absolutely no sense at all:
16. Promote charity events or recruit for charitable donations.

To stop the 258,613 (as of 9.30 this morning) other members wanting to post about their exceedingly worthwhile charity too Or those of their offspring / partner / dog

SkylineObsession said:

What does PH have to lose from members doing the above? Its the charities themselves that are losing out, as there are likely a lot of others like me who barely ever read the main page/look at the event calendar - so will never know about an event like this.

Members. No one wants to read thousands of posts about charities.

As Garlick has said, send them a nice email them with the details & they may feature it for you, like they do for Wilton House, Dad's Day Out etc.

There are far more people that read the front pages & get the daily news letters than read/post in the forums


ETA - oops - I see Garlick has replied again whilst I was typing my reply & researching for you

Edited by ali_kat on Tuesday 5th July 09:42

[Garlick]

Thanks Ali, although I suspect that we still won't have been clear enough

[zaphod42]

How about a charities/events sub forum?

Then if people have £10 burning in their pocket to donate, they know where to head to find a cause? The more adventurous (esp car related) charity event threads could also be used to update on progress / pics / etc?

That would keep The Lounge, etc uncluttered and provide an unambiguous place for all Charity threads to land, regardless if they had approached PH formally, or just doing something spur of the moment?

I can however understand that having another subforum may not be optimal and distract from the main forums.

[SkylineObsession]

[b]Because we had hundreds of them. Sponsored walks, charity events, donate to this and that.
In the end we had to stop it because there were hundreds. [/b]
Ah, that makes sense then - but i wasn't aware of this issue before.

It's not a new rule but despite being a long term member I must assume that you don't spend that much time here? These days most members aware of the rules and call or email to check it's OK to post about an event before doing so.
I do spend time here reading the forums, but was without internet for a few years recently so there were a lot of things i missed out on.
I do apologise for my posts above - naturally i was annoyed/confused since i've never encountered anything like this in any other forums, but most of those aren't as global as PH. But now i know the reasons behind it i can understand why.

I even offered you the change to chat with us for editorial. That's what these guys did with their charity events and they now have strong attendance as a result.
I've never said i wouldn't take you up on those offers, however i feel an article at the moment may be too soon as the event isn't until November. It would possibly do fine in the calendar if that is a popular viewing spot.

I don't think out offer stands for your event any more, seeing as we are so unhelpful.
Its not so much you being unhelpful, quite the opposite in fact - its just that i wasn't aware of the rules and such, and was guessing that everyone thought i was?

ali_kat said:

You mean apart from there being a clear link to them at the bottom of every page & above the box you type in to post? You signed an agreement to keep them when you joined too

Oops, i honestly never even thought to look there. I'm used to most forums having Forum Rules topics or pages in even more obvious places. And i never though of looking in the Terms and Conditions link at the bottom of the page as i'm one of those thousands/millions of people who don't really read T&C pages unless we really need to, mainly because they usually say the same things.

ali_kat said:

To stop the 258,613 (as of 9.30 this morning) other members wanting to post about their exceedingly worthwhile charity too Or those of their offspring / partner / dog

Fair enough.

Once again, its just that i wasn't aware of what the rules etc were and the reason behind some of them (i'm sure i'm not the only one in this situation, and others will eventually run into similar situations). I joined here so long ago now that i couldn't possibly remember the forum rules, especially since i'm a member of so many other forums - including my own.
I now know the rules on this place and in future will go the right way about posting any events!

So for those who have been helpful, thank you.

Is it still possible for me to please post a drastically reduced in size version in the NZ forum, just with a quick mention and a link to the main article on SouthernSkylines.com and the Facebook page? Sort of like the two or three other charity event topics on the first few pages of that forum.

And since we're on that topic at the mo, am i allowed to do a quick mention of a dyno day i'm organising for early August? Its not for charity - money goes to the business with the dyno, its just about the cars.

[SkylineObsession]

zaphod42 said:

How about a charities/events sub forum?

Then if people have £10 burning in their pocket to donate, they know where to head to find a cause? The more adventurous (esp car related) charity event threads could also be used to update on progress / pics / etc?

That would keep The Lounge, etc uncluttered and provide an unambiguous place for all Charity threads to land, regardless if they had approached PH formally, or just doing something spur of the moment?

I can however understand that having another subforum may not be optimal and distract from the main forums.

I think this is a good idea, but also think that as someone mentioned above that it could become very clustered with events and people could get a bit overwhelmed with the amount of them. Maybe.

There would have to be some sort of sorting/compulsuary topic names to add though (like the country the event is in, the type/recipient and maybe the date if there's enough room - topic title example: New Zealand: Hospice Charity cruise, Nov 20 2011).

[Big Al.]

SkylineObsession said:

Is it still possible for me to please post a drastically reduced in size version in the NZ forum, just with a quick mention and a link to the main article on SouthernSkylines.com and the Facebook page? Sort of like the two or three other charity event topics on the first few pages of that forum.

Unfortunately no it would still be a charity promotion and it would be advertising your website.

SkylineObsession said:

And since we're on that topic at the mo, am i allowed to do a quick mention of a dyno day i'm organising for early August? Its not for charity - money goes to the business with the dyno, its just about the cars.

In a word no as it would also be deemed as advertising for the business (commercial gain) doing the dyno.

R of P No. 8 clearly states :-

You will not
Post links to websites or adverts for commercial or personal gain. All advertising on PistonHeads must be through the normal channels.

The main reason for not setting up a charity forum is that not everyone in this world is honorable and numerous time over the years that whilst the thread/post say that monies are going to charity it hasn't always happened.

So the people to blame in the main are the unscrupulous scrotes that have an ulterior motives, and I'm not in anyway accusing you of being in that classification, you are just someone who suffers the consequences from others that do.

We do not have the ability or resources to check out every charity thread that is posted.

So they are routinely removed in sight, unless prior agreement had been sought via Haymarket.

Hope that helps explain.

[Bull1t]

So would this mean its not possible to organise any meet through the forum including ones solely for PH posters if it involved someone making a profit. Even if that was a dyno day, track day, run to a random cafe totally unassociated with any poster?

I guess NZ is in a bit of a different situation to the predominately UK based members as the majority of us mostly post in the one subforum which covers a wider range of topics.

[Big Al.]

Bull1t said:

So would this mean its not possible to organise any meet through the forum including ones solely for PH posters if it involved someone making a profit. Even if that was a dyno day, track day, run to a random cafe totally unassociated with any poster?

I guess NZ is in a bit of a different situation to the predominately UK based members as the majority of us mostly post in the one subforum which covers a wider range of topics.

If it falls foul of R of P No. 8, then no!

Some events are allowed, but have been given prior approval.

[SkylineObsession]

Interesting... So neither event is allowed to go in the calendar or the main page either? What is allowed on them then?

Here's some topics that likely breach the rules;
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

My event is no different to some of them - if they are allowed, then how do i get mine accepted? Who/what is Haymarket?

Oh and the dyno day is at half price, so they are possibly just breaking even - not making a profit.

Edited by SkylineObsession on Tuesday 5th July 12:25