Quote:
Originally Posted by Admin
I think anyone would agree that it is indded hypocritical though, that it can be shown in one place but not the other.
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Admin - This point can very effectively be argued by understanding the nature of banner advertising vs. in forum linking and company representation.
A general consumer sees a banner ad and perceives that as a financial measure of support. A company, or person relating to such, posting is (and should only be) a representational involvement. Naturally as a representational identity, we'll have our companies in our sig lines. (We could certainly make the argument about how re-targeting can change this dynamic a bit, but that is Marketing 201, and probably won't ever apply here.)
Is it a form of marketing? Sure. Does it say to the general consumer, "This company financially supports this forum"? No, it does not. Therein lies the difference.
I think the ad policy written oh so many years ago really was written to keep companies from blatantly manipulating the system for self promotion. I think you'd be hard pressed to get many forum members to say that Jim is blatantly promoting himself on the forum.
I think many would agree with this line of thought as well.
Ultimately, I would think that should this end up being the final Scootdawg, you'd want those few of us that pulled our banners for whatever reasons to get them back up there and support the forum. I don't think any of us said "Hell no, I'll never advertise on that site!", so much as for the time being we'd like to see how things play out before casting our official sign of support. You've apparently taken those banner take down requests very personally.
I'll be the first to apologize for the tone of our first few messages back and forth, as I was rather heated at the time. I know that my approach to the situation is correct however, and it was ultimately not a personal decision, rather purely business.
You also make mention that you don't think it is a big deal, but you may want to reassess that statement, because as you may have noticed, it is a big deal to several influential members of the forum.
Like I said, it's your playground... No one likes to stick around and play with a bully though.
Matt