separate thread for vendors

#1 shamus

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Posted 05 November 2007 - 05:16 AM

Great discussion of vitamin D. Just don't get carried away with promoting suppliers and prices.

Just so everyone knows (newer members), Imminst forums have had trouble with spam and viral marketers in the past. "Buy this, but that, wow - great prices here, great prices there, this supplier sucks, this supplier is great". Too much of this and posts will be deleted and accounts will be suspended.

Can't you merge those posts into a 'Mega' thread (one per supplement) in Suppliers Discussion.

That's how I would approach it.

#2 Mind

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Posted 05 November 2007 - 05:18 PM

I suppose it sounded kind-of threatening, but I couldn't figure out a 'softer' way to say it on short notice.

Can't you merge those posts into a 'Mega' thread (one per supplement) in Suppliers Discussion.

Thanks for the idea. Something to ponder. A supplier thread. How about, each retailer can post once a week, what is going on at their shop. No other marketing in the forums (very strict). Only thing allowed would be a link to the supplier forum. Something like "for prices on vitamin D/product X go to the supplier forum". No other marketing would be tolerated.

Reading this thread makes me want to up my vitamin D intake this winter.

#3 resveratrol

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Posted 05 November 2007 - 05:30 PM

Great idea, Mind. I was just about to propose the same thing. A separate thread for vendors, where vendors are allowed to advertise and answer questions about their products, would be excellent.

My only concern would be that a few unscrupulous vendors might snipe each others' threads.

I'm not sure how you'd prevent that, though -- it seems like the only way to fix it would be to give each vendor its own thread, and allow only that vendor to post in its thread, which may be more restrictive than we want.

Also, re: the original article: yes, this Scientific American article is fantastic. Everyone should pick up the November issue ... 5000 IU vitamin D daily FTW.

#4 wayside

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Posted 05 November 2007 - 09:50 PM

Something to ponder. A supplier thread. How about, each retailer can post once a week, what is going on at their shop. No other marketing in the forums (very strict). Only thing allowed would be a link to the supplier forum. Something like "for prices on vitamin D/product X go to the supplier forum". No other marketing would be tolerated.

Everyone posting here is more than capable of doing a 1 minute google search to find prices. I don't see any need the let vendors advertise in here (unless they pay, that is a whole different discussion).

Plus, it will be a lot of work for mods to remove all of the now-forbidden vendor discussion from all the posts.

If mods are looking for extra work, I would suggest making a user's first 10 (25, pick a number) posts require mod approval. This would eliminate spamming altogether unless someone was really determined, and really cut down on viral marketing because their posts would be bounced and they'd be informed of the error of their ways before their posts ever showed up.

#5 Mind

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Posted 05 November 2007 - 09:59 PM

I would estimate 70 to 90% of the 'simple' questions about suppliers and prices are viral. the other 10 to 30% are from newbies or people not ambitious enough to find out on their own. You are correct that anyone with half a brain and a couple minutes time can find most of the info they need on the net. And...if we had a free supplier forum, then there would be less impetus for forum sponsorship=lost revenue. Something to think about.

#6 shamus

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Posted 06 November 2007 - 12:09 AM

Nice work on acting upon my recommendation Mind

How I really think it should pan out is that you create a 'Supplier Discussion' subforum for 'Supplements' as you've done for 'Nootropics'. In this forum, create '[MEGA] SUPPLEMENT NAME Supplier Discussion' threads, in which we can discuss the price & availibility of said supplement.

Of course there are many ways you could go about it, but you really have to weed out superfluous discussion from the main forums.

#7 shamus

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Posted 06 November 2007 - 12:16 AM

While I'm at it:

- Provide sticky FAQs on each forum, demanding correct spelling and grammar, for people to use the search engine if they have queries (USTE), and an overall scholarly 'decor'.
- You might want to trim down (or merge) other 'less-used' forums, at least until traffic builds again. It only serves to divert attention on what we're all about.

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