Forum etiquette

glb · Nov 30, 2013

I have a few questions about etiquette for reef2reef. I know the general forum rules but wondered about mentioning products that are not sponsors. I saw a post where someone mentioned that and I wondered if it was a no-no. Also, other than general politeness and staying out of conflicts between members in the buy/sell forum, is there anything else I need to know?

Reefing Madness · Dec 2, 2013

I believe its the links to outside vendors thats not allowed. Unless the mentioning or link is valid for the topic at hand.

SeahorseKeeper · Dec 2, 2013

Most of this is covered in the TOS: https://www.reef2reef.com/?pageid=TOS

Specifically:

Be Ethical:

Many participants have commercial interests associated with the forum topic and bring valuable information and expertise to share. With a few specific exceptions (see sponsor section), participants may not use the Forum for commercial gain.

* Participants may not post to direct others to any pages at their own commercial website or website in which they have a commercial interest, including informational pages unless a sponsor account has been established and then only in areas here where advertising is expressly permitted.
* Participants may not use the main Forums to direct others to the advertising Forums.
* Participants may not send out SPAM via our Private Message system.
* Members may have only one account. If duplicate accounts are discovered, they will be deleted or consolidated.
* Our user base is not a resource to be "mined" by individuals, groups, or businesses, for profit or not for profit.
* No price fishing (using threads and post to try and gain maximum monetary gain from an item for sale)
* Participants agree not to bash or talk negatively about any other community forums or BB's.
* Ebay links are not allowed in regards to promoting your own ebay sales.
* Non-Sponsor Vendors are not allowed to post photos.

It is OK to mention other vendors' products as long as it is not hyping. For example, I have recommended Seahorsesource.com as a place for people to purchase seahorses.