kefrank

IBJoel, in the thread you locked, you had posted this:
There was never any follow up to that post, though. Can you share what was figured out with the sales team, if anything? I can appreciate why you closed the other thread, but the explanation of the advertising process in that thread was, at a minimum, incomplete.

IBJoel

I'm just getting confirmation that I can take it down.

kefrank

Does that mean there's been a policy enacted to align the paid promotions that the sales team will accept with the rules of the forum?

Noonan

This. Or is it being "taken down" because their paid time period ended?

IBJoel

Update: The documentation I was provided said that the ad was to be posted for 2 weeks, but apparently the final contract said 1 month. -_-

EDIT: Again, as I stated in the other thread: I can bring concerns to sales and management, but I cannot ultimately demand that a sales contract is voided. I am your advocate and work to make sure the site provides an enjoyable experience, but do not have final-decision-making power on other teams.

The rules state you cannot discuss DVD Ripping Software. They also state that you may advertise your product. This can produce a conflict in agendas. I and our moderators can and should enforce the forum rules on users. I cannot enforce them on people that do not even have DVD Talk accounts. What I can do is be a diplomat and adviser to them, but once contracts are signed, they become legally binding.

Noonan

So the add stays and your last comment had nothing to do with forum policies?

IBJoel

My apologies. I hadn't refreshed the page, so I didn't see the new responses. I have updated my post.

kefrank

Thanks for the detailed response. I fully understand honoring a contract that's been signed. I'm mainly interested in whether you have advocated on our behalf that the sales team change their policy going forward to have standards that align with forum content rules for what contracts they will sign in the future. I get how the current situation arose, but it should be something that informs a different policy going forward.

And I will reiterate that if the sales team isn't going to change their policies, we should re-word the forum rules to be more accurate and make very clear that:

• the rules do not apply to sponsored posts
• discussing those sponsored posts that have disallowed discussion content is also not allowed

IBJoel

I'll say they've gotten an earful and leave it at that. So hopefully, we don't have to change the forum rules. But I agree that should it happen again, there should be some re-wording on the rules page.

kefrank

Sounds good, thanks. For people that have been around awhile, I think most of us could generally deal with the cognitive dissonance, but I think it would be very confusing for new members to see forum content that they're not allowed to actually talk about or comment on, unless that's stated clearly somewhere.

Meathead

... and (based on your original post date) the 1 month is up!

E Unit

And now the ad is on the FRONT page.

Shannon Nutt

I know...I came on here to post "WTF?!" BTW, you're risking ever getting screeners again if/when any of the major studios see that.

cultshock

Yeah I noticed that too, great job IB!

Noonan

Funny how when the paid time period of this software expired it moved from a thread in the forum to an add on the main fuckin page. lmao

But I'm guessing we're still at risk of being banned for any discussion about it?

cultshock

Not hypocritical at all!

IBJoel

The ad has been on the front page since November 15th. The forum post has been removed.

Shannon, I've already told sales that. I mentioned it right after posting rules objections.

Noonan

Care to speak to the fact that the 1 month paid period has expired and you "told the sales team" that we can't have products like that advertised here anymore due to their legality? Cause from our end, it certainly looks like they paid for more ad time and probably paid you even more to be on the front page rather than a forum post.

IBJoel

I'm not the one to speak on sales contracts. I don't make terms of them, I don't have input on them. I don't ever see them. But the reason it didn't get taken down from the forum on the 12th was because I was busy and forgot.

Noonan

So the contract was purely for the forum post, which is now over and the front page add is a separate contract they paid for? Because, if you haven't noticed, this is still a sticky on the site. Not only are you providing us the means, by having it as an ad, you're requesting that we click and use their service.

IBJoel

I have no idea. I just put them up when I got the chance. I handle both editorial and the forums, and I can do a forum post almost instantly, but an article requires more formatting work.

IBJoel

DVD Talk rules state:

"YOUR MEMBERSHIP TO THE DVD TALK FORUM IS ALSO PREDICATED ON YOUR ADHERENCE TO THESE RULES. If you violate any of these rules your account will be suspended and you may be permanently banned from membership at our discretion."

So it will make everyone happy, I will remove the front page article tomorrow, on my day off.

IBJoel

Yes, I forgot to bring my laptop home with the login credentials for the backend. 100% my fault. Ad is removed now, though.