9 replies to this topic

[Greg_Waite]

Can you clarify what are the rules for race "promotion" or info-sharing? I've assumed its OK for the organiser
to start a forum about any Australian race under the relevant section, eg Other Races (QLD) in my case. The Trails
and Mountain Running forum I leave for general stuff, although for example I'm planning a social live-in Trails Weekend
later this year at Mount Glorious and intend to start a thread for that under Trails. Similarly in 2009 I hope to organise
a week's trail tour in NZ including one of the big races. These I presume would be OK to start a thread on?

[CoolRunning Admin]

I would like the following to be merged in with our posting guidelines at some stage.

However this is my top of the head thinking (obviously some more detail is required following comments on the maderia ultra thread).

It is impossible to set "rules" that will cover every scenario and there will always be a moderator=overide where they see fit, as the world changes and there are always boundary cases that require "special attention".

Signatures - anyone can put anything in their signature and can change it as often as they like. promote anything, as long as it fits in with the limited size allowed and doesn't fail foul of posting guidelines (eg isn't direspectful, hateful etc)

Promotion of services/businesses etc - There are lots of people out there reading CoolRunning who want to promote their service/business etc. Too bad if its nothing to do with running (although you can put it in your signature). Of course you can always pay for advertising. If it is running related we often allow ONE THREAD to be started (but would prefer to post it to our homepage as a media release - send an email to info@coolrunning.com.au to enquire- one page pdf is prefered). We will not promote overseas goods/services. We are not trying to have everything to do with Running or be another Yahoo. We want to keep it focussed on aussie running.

We take special exception to new users who sign up and seemingly in a great rush tell us about their (running related) business is 6 different posts (as an example). This is spamming and will likely see the posts deleted and your account banned. Posting on CR is a bit of give and take. If you post about your real experiences with running, now and again you can mention your service. However posting only about your service/business all the time its like you are take take take and no give. It also makes everyone feel like they are being used - it is not welcome. If you were smart you would sign up for an account, and make a few posts about running in general and then sneak in the od plug here or there. doing it all at once shows you haven't been reading CR and know what is/is not tolerated. We see CR like a community of running friends (yes quite a large one), everyone makes note of new posters on 0, 1 or 2 posts so be on your best behaviour.

Promotion of races - races are a special category - we are a running website and want to promote races. However there are thousands of running websites out there but we specialise in Australian Running, and do not actively promote races overseas. (It could add to the noise and drown out Australian content - only a few australian runners go overseas, mainly to the big events and we don't want to set a precendent for every race director to start flogging their stuff here). However happy for Australian race directors to start ONE THREAD PER YEAR about their race. If that starts a conversation - great - if not then try to resist the urge to keep posting by yourself. It looks sad. Multiple threads will be merged/deleted as moderators see fit. If you don't have a race then Coolrunning can help you, from something free & simpleupwards.

If other people post about your race/service/business then feel free to post and say that you have professional interest (financial or otherwise).

Quote

If that starts a conversation - great - if not then try to resist the urge to keep posting by yourself. It looks sad.

A good example of a sad thread is here. c'mon guys try a different tack.

[wobbly man]

As an adendum to the the admin's response above, I would add that if you are looking to promote a for-profit venture then you should be taking out an ad.  The advertising rates here are very, very cheap and you will quickly be recognised as promoting your event and supporting CR at the same time.

My experience is the readership here has a very low tolerance threshold of advertising that is disguised as a discussion topic.

[chilliman]

CoolRunning Admin, on Aug 15 2008, 02:56 PM, said:

. The issues are - how many people will do the run in approx 5 weeks time, should we be ok with every race in the world posting on CR (or only if good photos?), what limits are there for self-promotion on the forums (you have to admit, forums are good for discussion, races should have "pertinent" info and a link to a website - the forums should not be duplicating race websites.

Ok, probably no one will attempt the run in 5 weeks time due to the short notice, but it certainly has gained mine and others attention for future years.

I have no problem with unique races around the world starting threads here if it eventually means an Aussie CR will discover the unknown and maybe enter, then report back to us all.
I thought you'd be all for O/S attention of CR Australia ?

Most of the events I have entered over the past 5 years are as a result of threads on CR about the run, or through word of mouth through CR's.

If we don't know about these amazing runs overseas by someone posting here, then we may never know about them unless we are visiting the country for other reasons.


It is not like Jose is creating a new thread every day and filling it with rubbish.

Ultimately it is your site, and you ultimately decide the rules, but there is an interest here I promise.

PS: If you are running out of disk space you can delete my Toilet paper thread in lieu of this one.

[CoolRunning Admin]

It is not "my" website. It's Coolrunning's. I just happen to be sitting in the hot seat (for the time being).
We have shedloads of disk space.
We have kept the madeira island thread.
If he started a different thread we would have deleted/merged.
I see the force-feeding of large photos akin to spam. He could link to his website - you can use a browser and follow the links. Everyone happy.
If he was "polite" he would be treated better. If a new user struts in and throws their weight around they deserve to get deleted.
If he hadn't spammed dozens of other websites he'd be treated better.

Do we want every race in the world to start posting their stuff here ? No.
If an Australian posts about a great race they did in USA, Vanuatu, Madeira etc, should they post here ? Yes.

[blair]

I'm with you CRA. That Madeira race looks nice but the guy's posts definitely felt like spam and he didn't address your concerns as far as I could see but instead continued posting until your threatened him.

[HillsAths1]

Thanks for the posts, it is important that every one knows what the Rules and Regulations are. We all come here to have a look and keep informed on running matters(and sometimes to have a bit of a natter to friends). If we get lots of spam and other crap it is a disincentive to keep coming back. Mods thanks and keep up the good work.

[Ultraphil]

I gat the hint Kev!  An email would have been appreciated and I probably would have listened sooner!  Ive probably had a tendency to flog dead horses long after their finished.  Least Ive tried my best!   and never taken ideas /names off anyone else over the years!  

Rgds

Phil

Edited by Ultraphil, 15 August 2008 - 09:56 PM.

[Uncle Dave]

I've noted a WR attempt or two at self promotion lately.    

I'm not sure of the capabilities of the software, but an idea would be to limit or prohibit successive posts by a person which are just deliberate attempts to keep the topic active.

Perhaps prohibiting it would be a bit extreme, but if it were possible to, for example, prohibit a poster from posting twice in succession on more than one occasion on any given thread, that would stop trolls (is that the techical word for them?) from continually bumping their stuff to the top.

Just a thought,
Unc

Edit - Grammar.

Edited by Uncle Dave, 16 August 2008 - 01:06 PM.

[Ultraphil]

Probably a good idea if it could be done Uncle Dave.

Someone better take 500 posts off me for all the Colac posts!