Re: Rules vs. Manners on rec.games.pbm From: summit@easynet.co.uk (Steve) Date: Mon, 21 Oct 1996 00:00:00 +0000 srt@aero.org (Scott Turner) wrote: >So those are the two sides of the coin. Seems to me that both sides of this coin are identical when explained by yourself >The only people campaigning for commercial postings to this newsgroup >are game moderators, who see this newsgroup as a form of free >advertising that might net them some more players. While that might >be true, the small personal benefit they'd gain from advertising would >come at the cost of annoying many others. And if you think about it, >the essence of manners is putting the benefit of others before I haven't seen anyone *campaigning* for commercial postings. How can anyone campaign for a right they already have? As for 'annoying many others' I'll tell you what annoys me...... all the updates, digests, new addition to's etc etc that clutter up proceedings day after day on here. I'm annoyed not because they're there.. I really couldn't care less, but because after wading through all this debris week after week I find postings from self righteous twits like yourself complaining because I've posted a two line promotional ad for my game that clearly states 'advert' in the subject line and gets posted once every couple of months, or because Phil Shulkind has posted a request for playtesters. >yourself. Advertising (in all forms) is bad manners. There are times >when it's worthwhile to put up with bad manners -- as when it >subsidizes some activity we enjoy -- but that isn't the case on >rec.games.pbm. >I say all this despite the fact that I run a PBEM game commercially. >I'd probably make a little more money if I advertised my game here. >I don't, because I'd rather make a little less money and keep >rec.games.pbm enjoyable for all. I'd hope that other moderators feel >the same way. Oh here we go again... it's the evil commercial games moderators who are trying to rip off the poor unsuspecting gullible newsgroup users by bombarding them with unwanted adverts for games they aren't interested in. I've been hearing this theory for the past two years on here and I've yet to see any evidence of it. Whenever I mention the repeated postings for free games and sites that quite frankly I personally am not interested in, yet seem to appear without the indignant rustlings from "Usenet traditionalists" the response is always that these are OK since the poster isn't making any money from his/her hobby and is merely giving up time to offer a valuable service to the pbm community. Well this doesn't cut any ice with me. Self promotion is self promotion and I couldn't care less wether it's being done as part of a hobby or to try and make a living. Why there should be a set of rules (or should I say traditions) for free games/sites and another for commercial ones is a bit baffling. Many 'full time' moderators put a lot of time and effort into our games for very little financial reward and contribute just as much to the world of pbm games as the people who give up their free time to run a game. There's the odd person around here (won't name names) who seems to think that *commercial* is a dirty word and tries to impose these values on this newsgroup... well pbm *is* commercial and I'll back the case for commercial being treated in exactly the same way as free on here. Nothing more, nothing less than that. Steve Walker Summit Soccerleague http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~summit/ Referenced By Up