Hosting and other website related Advertising Forum
 

Hi,
I know this is meant to be a educational and information based forum and I do like it this way, but as a Linux Hosting Provider myself these Forums are filled with people who would obviously be interested in and likely looking for (well once in a while) some kind of Linux Hosting. Could a small "Linux Products/Services" Forum be considered? Or is this simply not likely to ever happen? I can understand these are not commercial forums and advertising probably doesn't belong. Its just a remote request -> it would provide further info for people looking for places to get Linux related products/services?

Thanks

5 words simply put:

Click Advertising Link At Bottom!

I'm not trying to be rude but this forum wasn't created for free advertising for others. This question has been asked in many different forms and well its denied every single time. Its simply put, if we opened up a forum in such nature, it would only draw more spammers and people to abuse the forum, then only creating more work for Jeremy and the moderators we have now to keep up and monitor such a forum.

I'm totally and strongly against it as a mod and member. I hope to never see such a forum while I'm a member here at this site.

yep
 

Yep thats fine, I can accept that, didn't really think there would be much of a chance. I can also understand how demanding (as in extra workload) it could become. Thanks for reply.

I agree completely with trickykid, and at the risk of repeating his points I'd like to toss in my own thoughts to the discussion. In my opinion there are several important and valid reasons why advertising is not permitted in the forums. Certainly the promotion of a Linux-friendly company sounds good on paper, but unfortunately I think it would open up a Pandora's box, and we would all quickly find ourselves riding on the express train into Spam City (sorry about the mixed metaphors). From my point of view:

1. No advertising in the forums at all means that the posts within the LQ forums are focused exclusively on Linux, without any clutter from spam, unwanted ads, etc. Users looking for information about a technical problem can have confidence that the posts here will actually be on-topic, and that they won't be subjected to dozens of spams while searching for a useful response. This is one of the great strengths of LQ, and I don't think weakening or dismantling this policy would make LQ a better place to visit.

2. In order to be fair to all interested parties, if advertising in the forums were permitted, then a judgment call would need to be made as to whether each ad should be permitted or rejected, presumably with Linux-friendly ads being approved and the others denied. However, apart from the whining from the folks whose ads were rejected, I have no doubt that spammers would try to circumvent the system, and would put up ads that had Linux all over them in order to get approval, but then 2 days later, switch the content to pure spam. Realistically, any attempt to successfully manage this scenario would be doomed to failure, and without continual monitoring, in almost no time flat *all* the LQ forums would be over-run by spam, not just the one you propose.

3. As trickykid stated, you essentially are asking LQ for permission to advertise your company for free, under the banner that it may possibly be helpful to people looking for places to get Linux related products/services. To turn the tables somewhat, suppose someone like me were to approach you and ask the same question: Can I advertise my Linux-related services for free on the websites you host? After all, it might help promote Linux. I'm not trying to gang up on you, but I gotta say that this question sounds a lot like "Can I get a free lunch?"

Seeing as how you have been a registered member here since last year, obviously I understand that you were asking an honest question, and it's clear that your intentions are good and that you're not trying to game the system. Nevertheless, I would be opposed to any changes to the existing policy - No advertising, no free lunches.

In closing let me emphasize that I am only speaking for myself, and any that any questions about the LQ policies are best directed to the site administrator. Finally, I would also encourage you to consider contacting LQ Advertising and/or becoming a Contributing Member If you want to publicize your company and/or help support LQ, I would suggest that both those options would be worthwhile to consider. As always, this is strictly my 2 cents. – J.W.