Would all members please read this?

[cheeseface]

Originally Posted by mrsd

When that time ever comes, Hydoaxe, you could advertise on the site. (Just a suggestion.

)

I should have guessed someone would overstate the obvious.

Of course I'm going to advertise here. Where else would I advertise, but my favorite site about cats? I love TCS.

 

[hissy]

Thanks Ryan,

I am bumping this because it needs to be bumped-

 

[adymarie]

That for that important info hissy.

 

[hissy]

Ok I am amending my one statement above about sharing your talent in PM's. And further explaining why here.

If you use PM's to send your product information to people, then it is considered spamming and is not allowed.
Guys we know that all of you have talents, but please don't use this board as a way to promote your products and put money in your pockets. And that includes PM's as well.

Sorry to sound like such a Grinch, but this board is now a business and as such, we have to treat it differently than when were on a shared server and it didn't matter back then what was posted.

If we do find you are spamming members, appropriate action will be taken- Please contact me about advertising legitamately on this board, there are ways you can do this.

 

[Anne]

Thank you everyone for your cooperation! If you wish to support the forums, please read this -
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37659

Originally Posted by hissy

Ok I am amending my one statement above about sharing your talent in PM's. And further explaining why here.

If you use PM's to send your product information to people, then it is considered spamming and is not allowed.
Guys we know that all of you have talents, but please don't use this board as a way to promote your products and put money in your pockets. And that includes PM's as well.

Sorry to sound like such a Grinch, but this board is now a business and as such, we have to treat it differently than when were on a shared server and it didn't matter back then what was posted.

If we do find you are spamming members, appropriate action will be taken- Please contact me about advertising legitamately on this board, there are ways you can do this.

 

[twofatcats]

Hissy, I can understand the "no advertising" bit if one is selling items. But this is getting really frustrating. I am NOT selling my items, I am NOT taking special orders nor do I plan to do so in the next year or two (if ever), I sew or quilt at least 300 days out of the year so it is a very large part of my life, my cats are fed and spend much of their time with me in the sewing room, so naturally they have interaction with the quilts. Yet I can't even mention quilts or quilting in my posts or even show pictures of my cats with the quilts. And now I can't even share talk and pictures related to quilting in PMs either, even though, since I'm no longer selling my items, it is not technically spamming.

I know we could go off to some other site and talk to different people about our projects. But I'm sure there are others who feel like I do that this is the group of people with whom we have the most in common on the web. There must be some way we can stay in contact.

How about if I start a thread "Crafts: Give Your Permission if You Accept PMs"? People would only need to show their thecatsite nick on the thread to give their permission to receive PMs from other members about crafts. After the initial contact, those SELLING their products should seek and receive email addresses instead, so correspondence regarding commercial transactions is taken off thecatsite server. Would that work? (Please, please, pretty please?)

EDIT: Okay, after thinking about it, even that initial contact through a PM could amount to free advertising on a small scale, and if people are selling their items they should probably advertise on the site. But could we do that for those of us NOT selling. I mean, there is no way I'm going to pay $15 a month or more just to show off the quilts that I donate to charity, yet I'm sure there are people here who be interested in seeing them.

And Hissy. I know it is your job to be a grinch.

We still love you.

 

[februa]

I see that there is a business issue here. On another note though, I also see that the members of the forum want to share parts of their lives with eachother - there are real friends here, and sort of a given "trust" between members that I have seen thus far. I know I am brand new and know only one person on here, but as an example, just from this post, I would be interested to see pictures of twofatcats quilting, I would like to see the feline video game characters, I would LOVE to see any pencil/ink drawings of cats that people on this site might do. All of those are also things I would purchase - especially and even preferentially if from a friend. I think people should be able to share pictures/stories about their crafts. If they sell them, I would more prefer a system like twofatcats suggested above, rather than not being able to experience them at all.

 

[hissy]

OK guys- I am really trying here. But I have to be careful at what is allowed. I know that a lot of you draw, create, stitch and do all sorts of wonderful things. I do scrimshaw to relax. My problem comes when you show what you do, that someone on the board wants that item at a price. It goes from a simple sharing of crafts to a business ad. If you can see it from a business side, this is not fair to advertisers who pay to get your attention with products they either carry, or that they make and sell themselves. Some of our advertisers are just homespun people and even though they are members here they don't promote their products anywhere but where they paid for them to be shown.

Perhaps next year we can put up special forum for crafters only prior to Christmas and for one month everyone can show off their talents. Unless Anne overrides me on this, this is the best that I can do for all of you.

I am sorry to be so hard-nosed about this- I truly am. But my PM box fills up mighty fast when this type of thing starts to happen-

And now if you will excuse me, I have a cat to pick up from surgery-

 

[twofatcats]

Ah, shucks. Well, I tried.

Crafters, I'm working on another place we can go, but don't have it totally worked out yet. If you have your own ideas, please PM me. Your idea might be better than mine.