Can't we all just get along? :D
No
Edit: 
Good one. :D
I just got banned from cpfmarketplace presumably by posting in a thread about those "solarfarce" lights at lightake:
http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=234297
They deleted several later comment from me about how the santimony is unjustified and how hk retailers work; and the reason for ban is "ignoring moderation" (of which I can see none in the thread, probably deleted but I guess they expect you to know all deleted comments ).
As if we really needed to drive home how small minded these cpf admins are...
This is not about shilling really, it is about paying your Danegeld to Sasha. Why doesn't eveyone leave? It is so glaringly obivious that this is Clearly Profit Focussed at its worst again. And again
And again!
Does this mean the tools loyal to her now get banned for their blatant shilling? Or do we add hypocrisy to the long list of appropo descriptors?
It is an ambiguous post, there is the real concern with shills but reading the whole post it looks like there could either be some monetary motivation and/or plain old overzealousness behind the concern. I just can't see how the forum will get money out of having fewer shills, could someone enlighten me?
To me it seems that the real point is that dealer mentioning will not be tolerated.
Fair enough, though silly IMO.
However they can't mention their own wares in CPF or CPFMarketplace unless they pay the Danegeld. My guess is that any paying advertiser will not find mentions of their products disappearing, the Chinese dealers will. And of course, the holy Surefire will never get hit by this.
My suspicion is that shilling (which is objectionable) is being used as an excuse to raise advertising revenues.
I mean - is it shilling to say where you bought, or were given, something for the purpose of reviewing it?
I would evaluate any review where the device was a free sample in a different manner to one where the person spent their own money. I may add that all of my reviews ever (apart from review copies of a couple of books, one of which was excellent and one of which was unreadable) were of things bought with my own money and if anything was not, I would say who gave it to me and why. If a dealer or manufacturer is prepared to do that (presumably as advertising) then I would try not to make it influence my judgement but I might not always succeed. Which is why it is essential at the very least to say that it was given rather than bought.
And why does this only apply only to dealers and not to manufacturers as well?
If you look at any enthusiast website you will see that the vast majority are reviewing stuff that they didn't buy as well as user reviews of stuff they did buy. Why does CPF feel the need to be different?
It seems that LT (perfectful) is the one in trouble here (who paid to be on CPFMP but have now been kicked out) but the details are unclear. Daniel has mentioned to me before (on Skype) that I can get points for making posts, but I never asked the details, and in particular whether he was only asking me to comment on things I was aware of like reviews of stuff I bought (which is IMHO acceptable) OR asking me to review things I didn't own without making it clear I didn't own them (which would be shilling). In any case, I do agree the distinction between manufacturers and dealers and in particular the ban on mentioning dealers in reviews is silly. I have no problem with dealers providing points or whatever for genuine reviews, particularly if it's made clear in the review this is happening. Of course as Don has pointed out, the vast majority of sites operate in that fashion, in fact very often it's taken as a given the product was provided by the manufacturer or some dealer, it isn't even mentioned in the review.
Good netiquette is not a strong point of many Chinese sellers but from what I've seen Daniel is generally willing to do his best, needing some guidance along the way but CPF is not a particularly welcoming place to bulk Chinese sellers (including the mods) except for those in the high end of the market (like AW) and I somewhat doubt any real attempts were made to help Daniel understand what is and isn't acceptable behaviour.
BTW while shilling is bad, the fanboyishness that is so common on forums including on CPF is not exactly much better IMHO. In fact, while I'm sometimes guilty of it in a mild form myself it's somewhat funny that people are sometimes so dedicated to a certain brand (or whatever) without even getting anything for all the free promotion :-P
The entire fascade they try to put on of self-imposed "rules" is hilarious since whatever actions they take are post hoc justifiable to their subjects anyway, especially given they can and do delete all evidence to the contrary.
That thread is nothing more than a shallow attempt to root out any possible dissidence (anyone really think she's the type to ever correct herself?) and reinforce the admin's own ego with a display of pretty authority.
===
Took another look at the thread and I will note the extreme irony of the abundant shilling in that very thread.
2. a person who publicizes or praises something or someone for reasons of self-interest, personal profit, or friendship or loyalty.
Indeed.
So true, so true!!
The CPF hostility towards its forum members seems to be expanding even to dealers. Sasha's hamster wheel seems to be spinning faster and faster, and I wonder if she will eventually go *splat*.
Could this happen here too. No?
Banned from CPF - forever! Boo-hoo. Oh well, it was coming eventually - self-imposed or otherwise. Here's what I posted in the aforementioned thread that apparently got under someone's skin:
"Personally, I'm fine with rules - including these rules. What disappoints me is the hostility and lecturing that accompanies their announcement and enforcement - the same that is evident in this thread from top to bottom. It starts to take the fun out of our hobby."
It could, no reason why not. But it would show up rapidly enough, it's not as if most of us have any lights unique to ourselves so others opinions will soon show a more accurate picture.
I have no problem with pointing to where to get things. I will check DX, KD, usually Lightake and maybe one other but certainly am not in general going to check all the places selling a given light. This is not a matter of gaining any benefits from anyone, but simply a matter of how much time I am prepared to spend on digging up prices etc. If it becomes too much like work I won't do it at all - this is for fun, not making a living.
Ultimately one loses out by being less than objective. I've never received any benefit for anything I've said here or on any other such site. I suppose I've got DX points for the stuff I've put up there, but given that none of the currently available reward stuff interests me, those points are pretty hypothetical.
Look at the subtlety of the Everbuying/DavisMicro crowd. I'd guess it would become pretty obvious and quickly.
Your last sentence is the most important one of all for me - "It starts to take the fun out of our hobby".
We are doing this because we want to, not to make money or whatever else. If it stops being enjoyable then what is the point? I like playing with flashlights (except we call them torches here) and like to share my enjoyment of them with people who don't think I need medication for this unusual hobby. I do not need grief about it, I get plenty of that already. Why should one want to put up with the stuff imposed by Candlepower Fora LLC? For their own benefit.
Some enjoy it there, I still use it as an incredible reservoir of information and respect those who gave so freely of their own time to provide this useful information even if some of them are people I would not care to be in the same room as. But I have no wish to be a part of that dysfunctional community. Let's say our political and social assumptions are incompatible and leave it at that.
It astonishes me that the moderators are volunteers. AFAIK they don't get paid for spending what must be several hours a day on the job. There is no doubt that on any public forum, some sort of moderation is essential and the larger it is, the more difficult that moderation is.
However, the heavy-handed display of blatant partiality and someone only interested in the bottom line who is the final arbiter is an unpleasant combination.
It takes a lot of effort to make and nurture a forum, and much praise to those who do so. Mr. Admin, if you are reading - thank you again for hosting this place. Running CPF ever more transparently as a money machine does not lead to a good place to be.
I am not here, or anywhere else, in order to guarantee a certain standard of living for Sasha or anyone else. If FNF ever comes back up then have a dig around there for the early history of CPF. It is not an edifying tale. Ultimately it boils down to:
My eyes, my money, my time.
Agreed Don, a forum needs to have a nice atmosphere to suit me. Rules, or lack of rules, is not my greatest concern. The experience needs to be enjoyable, and hostility and condescension do not enhance the enjoyment of our hobby.
Of course if one's "hobby" is watching train-wrecks, CPF might be just the place!
I was not thinking about the female no no´s A, B, C or whatever from Everbuying/DavisMicro. But we
have heard that LT have contacted clever guys and offered points for making posts. That worries me.
For the USA residents among us, this is very relevant.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/27/ftc_and_reverb/
Since this forum's server lives in Miami this probably applies to all of us though the thought of US law enforcement trying to deal with Scottish ones right now is interesting. They are not likely to get a whole lot of co-operation. I'd better not continue as we'd rapidly get into some deep water and this isn't the place for it.
Be carefull. We have the same laws here in the EU.
Deceptive adverticing is not allowed. Which is good.