Commercial sellers forum

Hello everyone,

We had a poll a while back about commercial sellers on BLF. It looks like the majority are not totally opposed to seeing product updates and offers from commercial sellers, but most of you favor making a separate forum category for commercial sellers. I've also had two sellers (DinoDirect.com and Manafont.com) who have arranged for putting an ad in the space that is currently occupied by Google Adsense. As part of the deal, they want to be able to post about their products on the forum too. I think I figured out a way to handle these postings so that they are accessible to those who are interested, while at the same time not shoving them down the throat of those who aren't. I created a new forum category:

http://budgetlightforum.com/forum/marketplace/commercial

This category will have a subcategory for each commercial seller that buys an ad. I don't think there will be too many actually, but we'll see. Their posts in these subcategories can be commercial in nature, but they must be flashlight related and they can't be lying shill posts or SPAM posts. These posts will not show up in the "BLF Recent Posts" section on the front page, to avoid cluttering it up. I might make a separate "Recent Posts" block just for commercial listings and put it at the bottom of the site somewhere, but I'm not sure yet. Obviously regular users can post in the commercial forums too if they have product questions. Additionally, we will maintain the current arrangement that any seller can post a reasonable number of commercial threads to the regular forum like Daniel from Lightake currently does. It's not very convenient to have one long thread, but that's the point of the commercial forums if the seller wants to pay a little.

What do you guys think? Is this reasonable and fair to everyone? Is it terribly annoying to anybody out there? Please let me know.

Thanks, take care.

Sounds like a good idea to me!

Keep up the good work..

As I know that "a reasonably number" means something very different from person to person, I think

that ALL commercial post should go into the new section, where they can post as much as they like

flashlight orientated.

Seems like a move in the right direction. With as fast as BLF is gaining new members, such management and organization will become more necessary. Would also like to comment about the good job you're doing.

I think thats a great idea makes it easier for us too to find new lights :-) which is always good. And they don't just advertise new items but also any new discounts or offers that are "specific" to this forum.

Here's a forum that i use a lot there doing the same thing as you but instead of calling it commercial there known as site sponsors as they pay to be there.

http://www.tt-forum.co.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=36

Thanks guys for the feedback! Please keep it coming.

Likewise sir! I appreciate your help around here and your excellent, informative posts.

Very true. I didn't want to give a specific number because I don't like draconian, complex sets of rules. But basically I feel that Daniel from Lightake is being very respectful, especially now that we have requested that he not post new threads all over the place for every new product. He limits himself to a "New products" thread and also a "Specials/Sales" thread. If another seller didn't want to pay for an ad, I wouldn't have a problem with him posting a few threads. I also would like the sellers who have a paid spot in the the commercial section to also be able to post a few threads about any new updates to his commercial section, since those posts won't show up in "BLF Recent Posts". And if anyone gets spammy or disrespectful, well, you guys know where the trigger is located. :)

Thanks for the compliment! I'm trying to be flexible so as to adapt to things as they come up and maintain order without annoying anybody or becoming... a CPF admin!

Thanks also for your opinion charles! I personally agree with you that discounts for BLFers are always welcome. But since some users don't like posts from the new dealers, I figured that this way we can strike a happy medium. As for the "Site sponsors" term, I was also thinking about that. But I decided against it because at least in my mind "sponsor" brings with it a connotation of non-objectivity, of a sort of business arrangement that implies preference and recommendation of the other company regardless of performance. In my case, I don't have any special loyalty toward any flashlight seller, and I don't necessarily like or agree with all or any of these companies' business practices. Rather, I'd like to make clear that I am basically just selling them my adspace, not my loyalty or my honesty.

v-----Edit----v

You know what we could do? We could make the "Commercial Sellers' Spot" category open to all commercial sellers, and request them to open a few threads per seller for product updates. I can make those posts show up in "BLF Recent Posts" too. That way commercial posts won't end up in the "General" forum, which is not meant for that, and they won't end up in the "Want to Sell" section, which is meant for private sellers. And the subforums in the "Commercial Sellers' Spot" will continue to be for companies that have paid for an ad spot.

Sounds like a good idea to me Mr Admin. you got my vote !!

Good idea. You have my vote on that one. Nice to keep commercial posts out of the General section.

OK, here's the new description for http://budgetlightforum.cz.cc/forum/marketplace/commercial :

Commercial flashlight sellers are welcome to post a few flashlight-related product threads in this category. Commercial flashlight sellers who buy an advertising spot on BLF have a sub-forum to discuss their products with potential and existing customers. All sellers must adhere to the same BLF rules as everyone else.