We do get a fair number of “spammers” or advertisers posting here and the spam filters do a pretty good job at catching them. I just thought I would ask. Would the community like for me to just create a section for “ads”? And by this, I don’t mean putting banners all over the place, Just these one-off posts that appear from marketing people.
I can put them in their own topic so if you want to have a look you can and can ignore them if you wish.
I currently just delete them without question but I wanted to ask just in case you may see something interesting.
My personal preference is “No”. I don’t come here for ads by various companies.
That doesn’t mean that I don’t think there should be announcements of sales by 3D Printing Canada (as they pay for the site) but I don’t want to see anything from anybody else.
I think that actually people posting actual products that respond to questions and comments could go in an ad category. Bots forget it. The guy from Piocrete is what I am thinking of. he is clearly selling products but he does reply and such. Same for the fellow who makes filament. There is a place for them to post product announcements and such. It seems reasonable to me.
I think that actually people posting actual products that respond to questions and comments could go in an ad category.
I don’t want to discourage anybody who’s posting here but allowing posters here to advertise will be problematic.
It’s easy to come up with potential issues that aren’t that far fetched. What happens if somebody is selling something that is also sold by 3D Printing Canada and what happens if that something is being sold at a lower price? What happens if somebody is advertising something that other members have had problems with and requests support on this forum? Rules could be established but they will have to be maintained by somebody who will also have to judge whether or not an ad violates those rules - which will lead to a discussion on whether or not the rule is fair or was applied fairly in that particular case.
Keep it simple, nobody can put ads up here except the forum’s host, 3D Printing Canada.
I actually like what kite had said. I am in agreement in principle if they want to post ads, I am ok with it. Give them an area where they can Q and A for their product. We may get a bit of a sneak peek as to what’s coming in the future that I am game for.
Don’t get me wrong, NO bots, that will be yanked.
As for competition, I don’t worry about that too much. We are more than fair with our prices and sometimes we are over by $20 on something most of our customers see the value in that due to programs we have such as the forum. We cannot be the cheapest all the time but we do evaluate the prices regularly and make sure we are always competitive.
For support, I think everyone knows that our user base will help with anything here, Sold by us or not. My personal opinion on it is, I have a personal passion for technology, I want to see anyone that has an interest in it become successful if not proficient at it and I am more than willing to help anyone with that. I happen to work here and try to help our customers but if the day ever comes that I no longer work here I will still be an active member of this community.
Jason
I think it is a great idea. Is there a buy and sell section for the community. Some may want to sell their stuff or upgrade. A community Marketplace.
Yes, we do have a buy and sell section towards the bottom of our forum list. We genuinely encourage our users to list anything they have for sale or looking for in this section.
It is mostly 3D printing related but if you got it, Post it here.
If anyone can think of a section we may be missing please let me know and I will include if it makes sense.
