Re: rec.games.pbm Advertising policy [DRAFT]

From: David desJardins <desj@ccr-p.ida.org>

Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 00:00:00 +0000

Graeme Griffiths <graeme@discreet.co.uk> writes:
> Adverts for games come in two distinct flavours.
> a) Adverts for free games
> b) Adverts for commercial games.

If you want to write guidelines, they should not distinguish in any way
between "free" and "commercial."  A posting that is inappropriate for
Usenet (for example, someone posting exactly the same message every two
weeks, which I have seen many times on various newsgroups) is equally
inappropriate regardless of how much it costs to play the game.  It's
inappropriate because such repetition is annoying to readers, not
because someone is making money from it (or trying to do so).

I find this all so odd.  Anyone who wants to publicize a game could just
write a monthly newsletter about developments in it, and post it here.
If the game is static rather than evolving, then results of completed
games or something.  It only takes the tiniest amount of work to
generate information in a form that is welcomed by (almost) everyone, as
opposed to crass advertisements that give no real information about the
game and are as likely to turn off the potential audience as attract it.

> What is the groups charter ? We must have had one to start the group up.

No, there weren't any group charters in those days.  I don't remember
how the original group (net.games.pbm) came into existence, but mostly
someone just decided it would be a good idea.  It certainly wasn't
formed based on demand; I played commercial pbm games in those days (mid
1980s), but there wasn't any contact at all between the commercial pbm
community and this group.  That's a very recent thing.  (It doesn't just
have to do with advertising; there wasn't even discussion of commercial
pbm games here by players.  Not enough critical mass, I guess.)

David desJardins

--
Copyright 1997 David desJardins.  Unlimited permission is granted to quote
from this posting for non-commercial use as long as attribution is given.

References

rec.games.pbm Advertising policy [DRAFT]
graeme@discreet.co.uk (Graeme Griffiths)
Tue, 10 Jun 1997 00:00:00 +0000

Referenced By

rec.games.pbm Advertising policy [DRAFT]
graeme@discreet.co.uk (Graeme Griffiths)
Tue, 10 Jun 1997 00:00:00 +0000