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From: soliiigm@aol.com (Sol III GM)

Date: Fri, 06 Jun 1997 00:00:00 +0000

Well, I debated not posting this after winding up with egg on my face,
but a little thought convinced me that it does need to be said.  This
posting has been through several re-writes now.
  Ads are NOT a bad thing!
  hehehehe...let me clarify.  If you count ads as being any informational
post about a commercial PB(e)M game with the intent of recruiting new
players or at least interest, then Ads are not a bad thing.
  Of course, this is not to say that I wish to see SPAM for commercial PBM
companies drowning out the regular discussion here, however, I think that
the policy, as it has been explained to me when I 'violated' it, is dead
wrong.
  Basically, my company has been around a while.  In PBeM terms, a LONG
while.  How many ads have I posted to this newsgroup?  Two.  The second
one was posted more than a year after the first one, and was in response
to a direct request for more info about my game, and netted me 7 new
players, a lot of interest, and a threat to contact my ISP about improper
use of the net.
  Excuse me???
  Basically, after the 4-5 letters went back and forth between me and said
NetCop, I decided that this group was just more trouble than it was worth.
 How many others have done the same?
  Now, never mind that Sol III is a dynamic game in constant change, and
that the ad was Hype free and was much different from the first ad I had
posted.  The fact is, in a year, there will be a LOT of turnover in a
newsgroup's readership, so posting ads a year apart should not be a
problem.  I was given a very poor argument about "what if everyone did
that?" as if it would be a "Bad Thing".
  From what I see of the other games around, very few of them are the same
thing year after year.  Constant improvements are being made.  Changes are
happening that are usually player-driven in nature, because every game
designer out here knows one thing.  Players are paying for a service, and
their wishes have to be factored in.
  Ads are the main way to let people know of the changes, and the
improvements, as well as to attract new players.  This is true of free
games as well as Commercial.

Eagle
Sol III Game Master
Sol III Play By E-Mail Role Playing Game
http://members.aol.com/soliiigm/
  (Large site with 150+ pages and growing)

Choose your friends wisely.  Your enemies will choose you.

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