rec.games.pbm Advertising policy [DRAFT] From: graeme@discreet.co.uk (Graeme Griffiths) Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 00:00:00 +0000 With all the discussion on the group about whether adverts are a good or bad thing I thought it might be useful if we put together a policy on advertising rather than just bitching about it. I don't think anyone really wants to see adverts to dissappear just to self-regulate and keep the traffic down. It would appear from the game companies that this is something they'd like to see too, perhaps so that they know where they stand. I submit this as a discussion document, not an edict. A real document should be produced after discussion and approval of the majority of the group. I will collate replies and construct the guide if no-one has any objections. The documents purpose is to clearly state what the group will and will not accept from posters. If the advertisers know what they can do, hopefully everyone will be happy. I welcome comments, corrections and two-word requests (one of them being "off") as this is an attempt to get a consensus of opinion not an attempt to force my will upon the group. There are a number of issues that need to be resolved at the bottom of the guide. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Guide to posting on rec.games.pbm Posting to r.g.p is unmoderated which means anyone can do it. The group discusses all topics relating to Play-by-Mail games (including play-by-email games) and all on-topic posts are welcomed. Repetitive posts of the same topic/post are discouraged and an FAQ is maintained to cover the most frequent requests already dealt with by the group. Posters should take care to avoid lengthy posts when a shorter one will do the job. Posters should attempt to express the specific topic of the post in the subject to allow people to skip topics that are of no interest to them. Binaries should not be posted to this group. Off-topic posts will not be tolerated (especially commercial advertising) and offenders _will_ be reported to their ISP's. Some concern has been expressed as to the posting of game adverts on the group and we ask people to follow the guide-lines for this specific submission type. Advertising on rec.games.pbm NOTE: Adverts in this case are specifically for PBM and PBeM games, commercial off-topic advertisements will not be tolerated on this group. Adverts for games come in two distinct flavours. a) Adverts for free games b) Adverts for commercial games. Category A games (free ones) are, by the nature of Usenet, permitted to post adverts onto the group. Please be considerate and avoid highly repetitive posting and large post sizes. It is suggested that all subject lines for "free" games start with the string [FREE PBM] or [FREE PBeM] (the e is used to distinguish between land-mail-based and email-based games). Category B games (commercial) are unwelcome on this group unless they are clearly sign-posted and infrequent. A suggested frequency for each commercial provider is one post / month for a general advert and one "new feature/announcement" per commercial site. Note: This is not per game but per site. Sites that host large numbers of games are urged to put up a web site and simply advertise that in a small, sign-posted, infrequent post. Commercial adverts should be clearly marked in their subject lines with the strings [COMM PBM](Regular) - For regular adverts. [COMM PBM](Announce) - For new-game/new-feature announcements. (PBM -> PBeM for play-by-email games) Commercial game sites who break these guidelines will be reported to their ISP's as spammers with the reasons clearly explained. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Issues: What does everyone think ? Is this what we need ? FAQ - Do we still have one ? Who's maintaining it ? What is the groups charter ? We must have had one to start the group up. -- Graeme Griffiths - Discreet Logic (Newbury, UK) Disclaimer: I do not speak for anyone but myself and I do that badly. Mail: graeme@discreet.co.uk Spam: All unsolicited mail will be reported, and billed for my time. Referenced By Up