This is likely to be rambling, it's nothing even remotely formal. This is the start of something formal. Some of you will be familiar with the way I work and will recognize this as a part of the process.
If you've been in the business long enough, you'll probably be pretty familiar with promotion. We're always promoting ourselves and even other bands. We're promoting venues, gear, songs, shows, etc...
And, this site is about music.
It's gonna end up having people who want to promote something. It's going to happen, assuming people keep being active.
I'm all for allowing active users to use things like affiliate links in their product reviews. Damned right, I am. You took the time to review the product and recommend it. Why shouldn't you be allowed to use an affiliate link and maybe make a dollar or two if someone buys the product you recommended?
I have no problem with that. None.
Want to promote your new CD? Absolutely. Hell, let me (or probably even @COF) know and we'll maybe figure out a way to make it an announcement. We're happy that you've just cut a new album and done the work to produce it. Damned right, we will help you profit - if we can. I know damned well how hard it is to make a living in this industry.
But, there has to be a reasonable limit. It's just not cool to (eventually) have people join who just want to promote their goods/services and not give back to the community. Like I said, active users should be able to go ahead and promote their shit. Fuck, make a banner and I'll throw it up somewhere for a while. I want you to succeed. I want very much for you to succeed.
Shit, contact me if you want cheap hosting and help making a site. I'll even hook you up there. Seriously, if you want to get started with your own blog/site about music - let me know! I have ZERO problems helping you out. (You will have to pay for your own hosting, but I can hook you up with solid hosting at dirt cheap prices. I've got plenty and almost always use 'reseller' accounts.)
I (we, I'm pretty sure) want you to succeed. We all want each other to succeed. We all want you to be able to enjoy your musicianship and get your music out there.
We want you to make a few bucks. If you want to use an affiliate link in a product that you legitimately own and reviewed, of course you can. That's quite okay. That's not even remotely a problem.
But, this sort of thinking is subject to abuse. "You said it's okay that we use affiliate links!" That's an easy excuse for someone to use when it's true - but they've done nothing to help the community out. I don't want people here just to advertise their band, or things like that. I want people here to be members of the community and then advertise their band, if that's what they want to do.
So, we're gonna need some formal rules.
We're going to have to draw a line in the sand.
That line can be, "on a case by case basis and decided by the admins or moderators of those particular boards." However, that's not very standardized and won't work very long if we actually get busy. Not to mention that some of us may get busy elsewhere and not really have time to investigate.
Sure, there's a report post feature - and one of us admins (or the board moderator) will see the reports. Still, that only gives us a place to start.
I'd like to know what the community wants - before it becomes a problem.
And no, no... Saying, "No promotions!" isn't going to work here. That's not an option. We're musicians. Promoting is what we do - and making money from it is why we do it (usually). Yes, it's okay if someone writes a review and uses an affiliate link. Of course it's okay - so long as they're active participants.
Give me some feedback. Let me know what you think. Let me know what sort of hard and fast rules should be put in place to make this work.
Thanks.
