Should these rules be reviewed and displayed for everyone to see?

They should be made a 'sticky' for eveyone to see.
Darren

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_377662/tm.htm

If you look at the warning above all post boxes here you will see a link "RCU POLICIES" which takes you to rcu rules. It's been there for quite some time. bottom of every page too in the footer as well

The rules aren't hard to find...I think they just don't want tons of people getting free advertising which you can't blame them there...advertising cost money as does hosting this site. Don't think it was anything directed at you personally just the thread did turn into a advertisement for FG period specially when there is a Market Area to post item's for sale.

Personally I think there should be a lot less moderator involvement, and their actions should be more subject to public scruitiny. Consider the recently deleted thread... I never got to see it. I might have liked to have seen it. But for some reason it was deleted. We weren't told why. Many people other than myself seem rather confused at this. When a thread is started to discuss it, that thread is closed, with instructions that these things should be discussed in private. The only person who did comment on the thread asking why the other one was deleted didn't even give the name of the moderator who deleted the thread. Accountability? What's that? What next, forum members disappear in the middle of the night?

--Randy
(the paranoid wolf)

the thread was closed because deleting a post is an issue between the poster and the moderator who deleted it. It doesn't belong in the forums, it belongs in PMs.

The moderators at RCU do our best to keep a low profile and do our work the best we can without causing a ruckus. I think I have deleted about 100 posts in the past 90 days, and you don't remember any of those. Every once in a while, it becomes more visable.

The thread was deleted due to several members sending in tickets that it was an advertisement. The moderator who deleted it is not online at this time. If you wish to know more about this feel free to PM myself or the other moderators.

So rcnutshobbies is being penalized for coming forward as an honest suppiler and showing off his truck. There are alot of suppilers that hide their identity and promote their products. I do not think it was wrong for him to post up his truck and receive comments and opinions. Isn't rcnutshobbies a paying advertiser? As far as I am concerned this is a slap in the face from RCU to rcnutshobbies.

No one is being singled out or slapped in the face.
Before you guys comment on what you think is wrong you should know all the details.
And no, I was not the one who deleted the thread.
The moderators do not just surf around seeing who we can screw with from day to day, when something is done, as deleting a thread, editing a thread there is a very good reason for it.

I do not think it was against RCnuts. They pay for their membership and follow the rules. They even refuse to post prices.

My take on it:

I'm guessing it was deleted because RC Universe is sick and tired of having to provide free advertising space for cheapskates.

Certain people (who know who they are) do not contribute to this site ONE CENT, yet use it to promote their sites shamelessly.

Pics and links to their items for sale, endless talking about their stuff for sale, etc. It gets annoying coming on here and seeing the same people acting like they are informing and all they are doing is selling their parts. New threads that do nothing but show their parts and ask us to rate them, give opinions and then ask us to buy them.

I have seen these mods deleting posts lately in the airplane, heli and boat forums I post in too. I think they are fed up and have to draw the line somewhere.

Here's a novel idea............... IF YOU OWN A WEBSTORE OR SELL R/C PRODUCTS FOR A PROFIT TRY CONTRIBUTING TO THE SITE! Even join as a low level donater or such. I bet they'd be much happier if you paid for your advertising.

I stand behind the moderators on this choice. Maybe not delete the whole thread, but they did what they felt was necessary.

I'm sure those who disagree can leave this site anytime and see if other R/C sites with HALF the traffic this site gets will let them advertise for free there. Right.

BTW how much do we pay to use this site? NOTHING. I don't pay a cent and gets boat loads of free info. I'm not gonna argue with the guys that pay the bills when I'm not a paying member. Quit your whining and get back to R/Cing. If you don't like, start paying and then you'll have a voice. Until then WE ARE ALL GUESTS HERE.

Some people dont care..... some people just like to stir the pot

What are the details? Since we will never know we are free to give our opinions on the unknown. I have purchased over 1000.00 worth of product from rcnutshobbies who does post mainly support here and has header advertising, 100.00 worth of product from Hellya (fghopups) who also supports here and I believe has header advertising, and over 2000.00 from fgperformance who I have never seen a post from, only header advertising. I have considered buying from oneill brothers racing because of the support I have seen.

My point is that I believe most of us could care less if these suppliers post support toward purchasing their products and I believe most of us appreciate that some of these suppliers support our forum with posts.

A supplier should be able to post the recommendation of a product if they sell it or not as long as we know they sell it. It is no different than someone like me recommending the purchase of a motor from Oddified or Alro Racing and being paid a marketing fee on the side.

Most of us are intelligent professionals with minds of our own that work hard for our money. We should be able to choose how to interpret a post

I disagree that we are only guests here because without us there would be no advertisers or RCU. We are RCU!

I also think war is not the answer[sm=sleeping.gif]

Peace Out!

Poll tax has been mostly eliminated.

We do pay. If we buy a part through rcu, from anyone with a banner, etc, we're making rcu money. If we give information on the forum, we're attracting visitors to the site, who then make rcu money. If we send people to rcu when they need help, they make rcu money. etc.


As to what was on the thread, since it was deleted, I never got to see it. Perhaps it was all advertising. But if it was, why was there a thread asking why it was deleted? And also if it was, were these people exceeding the once per month (two weeks if they pay) that they're allowed to post product news or announcements? The problem here is a lack of accountability. No one gets to know why, by whom, or often even what, was deleted/edited/etc. And the notion that deleting an entire thread with replies is a private matter between a moderator and a single poster is a bit absurd. Actions of the moderators affect the entire forum, thus it's a matter relevant to the forum.


In any case, I don't really care, as lately the forum just seems to repeat the same topics in an approximately biweekly cycle, so not going to be devoting much time to it, as my time would be much better spent finishing my servo controller than re-answering questions or arguing forum policy...


--Randy
(who's now a sleepy fluffy wolfy, so forgive typos... *curls up on his tail and dozes off*)

a vdk

i absolutly agree with you and jared on this one

[quote]ORIGINAL: randyg-rcu

Yes there are a lot of repeat threads. People who dont see a thread in the past have the same or similar questions. It happens everywhere you go. That is why we are here, to help all people out who have questions, concerns etc.
There are still new topics on a daily basis, personaly I do not mind answering the same questions over and over, I enjoy helping when I can as do the majority of users here.

jared

well said mate hear, hear

As do I. Consider that LED howto post that was about the size of most threads.


--Randy

Can you see Jareds tonsils from there

I dont care if they advertise or not. Makes no difference to my life. Just dont complain when you get caught
I dont think anyone here would not try to play the system if they was a dealer. I certainly would, and have done on non rc forums.

Then again nowhere else ive frequented has ever used the 'report' button as much, if at all.

So if all the wannabie moderators left te button alone maybe we could all then carry on without threads like these.

I moved this thread to the appropriate forum area. Now everyone will be able to discuss the problems they feel need to be addressed without affecting the RC format of the large scale forum.

I also left a link in the large scale forum for everyone to follow so no one will wonder where the thread went to.

When I read the original post, I saw it the same as several other members did. Let's look at the formal definition of advertising.

adĀ·verĀ·tise (ăd'vər-tÄ«z') pronunciation

v., -tised, -tisĀ·ing, -tisĀ·es.

v.tr.

1. To make public announcement of, especially to proclaim the qualities or advantages of (a product or business) so as to increase sales. See synonyms at announce.
2. To make known; call attention to.
3. To warn or notify: ā€œThis event advertises me that there is such a fact as deathā€ (Henry David Thoreau).

v.intr.

1. To call the attention of the public to a product or business.
2. To inquire or seek in a public notice, as in a newspaper: advertise for an apartment.


The original poster was doing more than just showing off his truck by labeling all of the parts that he sells on a regular basis. Going by the second definition, by listing all the parts, he was making known, calling attention to the parts that he sells. I have had a number of suppliers tell me that their thread was not advertising because they never mentioned prices and did not ask members to buy something from them. Neither of these cases are required for a post to be advertising, only that they draw attention to their products. Marc has loosened the policies on advertising in the forums to the advantage of the members and the suppliers with his move to a friendlier RCU. This has put a burden on moderators to determine what is acceptable and what is not. None have complained but this broadens the judgement calls the moderators have to make. Obviously, there are going to be some who disagree and get upset with these judgement calls but moderators a human and have to do what they think is best for the membership as a whole.

I did not remove the thread but in my opinion, it should have been removed but that is a judgement call.

If you read the rules the guidelines are pretty clear on this. If rcnuts was following these and the moderator made a mistake he can address it. I have my top moderator looking at this and asking him for more information to ensure he was treated according to the rules.

So you know the rules state and advertiser can start a new thread every 2 weeks at most announcing their product or news. the item must be a recent or future release. A non-advertiser can do one per month only. Follow up posts may be made by companies as well if they are "on topic" and do not solicit for sales or promote. If somebody asks "where do I get an aluminum chassis for my xyz buggy" a vendor may respond that they have an appropriate solution.

I don't know the specifics in this case of where the problem was but hopefully rcnuts will supply the requested info to "plane insane" so he can do a review of it and if all was according to the rules he will explain to him why. If an error was made we'll explain to the moderator why so they know for the future. Most of the time the mods get it right but we'll investigate any case where somebody protests. In this case rcnuts was an advertiser of ours so we'd like to make them happy if possible within the confines of course of the rules everyone has to follow.

If there was a mistake, it should be addressed to all moderators so we can all learn from it. Maybe I should not speak for all moderators but should say, so I can learn from it since I agreed with the removal. I want to know the reasoning so I don't make the this mistake in the future.

If I am not mistake, rcnuts said that he was going to contact Plane Insane. This may not have been done yet but this issue should certainly be addressed between the two of them.

dubby

no but i bet you can lol

Marc said it well and I'd like to leave this thread at that. We try to do the right things as moderators, sometimes we miss. If it's our fault, we'll opoligize and hopefully everyone will move on. Hopefully we can also learn as a group how to more consistently moderate RCU.

I'll work this through and figure out what needs to happen.