PERB is an advertising site - Not a review site

[fit4fun]

Freeloaders at $300.00 an hour ,what the fuck are you on besides stupid?

Abso-fuckin-lutely! Well said!

 

[GoodKat]

Freeloaders at $300.00 an hour ,what the fuck are you on besides stupid?

ROTFLMAO!!

 

[Claptix]

As for your post Bijou. there are two ways to gain access to SF Redbook reviews. One is to pay. The other is to review. Every time you review your access to reviews gets extended.

 

[Miss*Bijou]

While you are here though - you mine as well go red - it's really not that much in the long run. At least then you can post without feeling like you're walking on egg shells.

That basically was pretty much my reasoning to start paying to advertise.. It took months before I even posted anything in the advertiser section at all and still don't post there much at all.. I just wanted to be able to post whatever I wanted without wondering if it was or wasn't considered advertising. And I wanted be able to post my contact info or a link to my site in my sig... and yes, I figured it would avoid hearing the other SP's complaining about it. lol I just thought I would much rather not have to worry about it at all.


But you know what.. like you say, at $140/3months, it isn't like it's breaking anyone's bank here. lol It's more about principle than about money IMO. If this site has some SP's who do pay for the ability to advertise then there has to be some kind of added benefit than if not paying to advertise here at all...no? Or else why would anyone bother doing it at all? And that's why things like posting contact info, a pic, a link, obvious comments detailing services and prices and so on... are not permitted for non advertisers.


I personally think most of the advertising that actually works to attract new business isn't found in the advertising section. Not for me anyway.. Signing on is your/our/my advertising. lol Posting a little, there you go, your name's out there. No pic, no info, no red name..... Sit back, that's all you need to get PM's asking for pics and all your info. You all know what I'm saying.
Having my red show up in red doesn't do anything more than were it in blue. The only difference is I get to post about my services, contact info, link to my website, pic, etc... but if i didn't have that privilege I would most likely just get more PM's asking me for this info instead of it being there, posted on my sig. The result is the same though, is it not..?


That's why, to me it's just about being fair. I don't expect everyone will pay but I just figure those who don't want to pay should at least be respectful enough to those who do, and respect that they do not have the right to post information that's considered advertising, whether it's done indirectly or directly.



-----

Dasha, I didn't read/see the thread you're referring to.. I do agree it sucks big time. I realize that kind of crap may have hurt your business but can you imagine if they had left it as is, with the pic? Then how do they tell the next girl she can't do it? Does it suddenly then make it okay for anyone to post a pic? What if the next girl decides to write her own crap review just so she can post a pic to defend herself, knowing the results will be in her favor..?


I think mods can pretty easily spot someone who's posted a pic of themselves on a hot thread without needing any of our help to do it.....
And again, I do fully agree that the situation you describe sucks big time but if your business was suffering that much, wouldn't it just be a good investment to pay to be an advertiser, post your pic & have it stay up? Even if you became a paid sucker for a month only, just to get that time to clear it up and reverse the damage into tons of new business from the visibility and attention from that thread alone?


Yes, that someone wrote all kinds of bullshit sucks but everyone does still benefit from all the other good reviews..? I'm not writing this to pick on you, I do understand it it frustrating but you girls also have to see the bigger picture... that there needs to be some kind of line to separate what is allowed and what isn't for girls who prefer not to pay otherwise why would we continue to pay? And currently SP advertising is revenue for this site so it only makes sense that the mods would want to make sure that becoming/remaining a paid advertiser would provide clear benefits over choosing not to. Is there another solution?



----

Personally, I really don't understand why it is even such a big deal at all...
For what it costs.... it's just always felt worth it to me, if only for peace of mind to post whatever info or comment.

 

[Miss*Bijou]

Now here's a little business advice, when you run a forum you either make it clear that one set of members MUST PAY TO SUPPORT THE BOARD (that means PAY before posting) or you allow those members to support the board on their own free will and the latter of the 2 is usually much more successful. You could also charge a small fee for everyone to post and read the board (like $5 or $10). Oh it's probably not a good idea to allow advertisers belittle and berate other SP's in order to get them to advertise here, because the more it happens, the more put off we are by it, calling people "freeloaders" that are the very people that put money in your pockets is pretty tacky to say the least.

This is not a review board anymore, it's an advertising board, with some serious fake ass reviews going on and I'm not saying all of them are fake, but it's rather apparent which one's are.

I doubt I'll be here much longer after this post, but such is life.

Tuula, I remember it being brought up as a suggestion to have all SP's pay a certain amount in order for them to be able to post or be members here but I think the problem with that was fear that even less SP's would participate and contribute, which isn't what (most ) members want. I think the same applies if everyone (SP & pooners) were expected to pay. Less reviews isn't what is wanted for this board... which kind of makes it hard to go for this option. Although I do agree that the idea is a good one, unfortunately I don't think it can work.


I would be very curious to hear a good suggestion to solve the whole advertisers/non advertisers differences of opinions.. Can you understand the position those of us who pay to be able to advertise here are in when others who choose not to advertise still do, directly or indirectly and sometimes completely obviously? Keep paying and shut up? Stop paying? I'm not directing this at you only and I'm sincerely interested in getting some feedback if anyone has any. lol


You have to also understand our situation and how frustrating it can get when some of these things go on. I don't want to stop being an advertiser because as I said, I like not having to worry about it and being able to leave my info on posts so it's easy to get all the info without tons of PM's back and forth. And that's why I and others pay.
Do you guys expect us to be cool with others trying to get away with the same without paying for it?


And btw - I have to say I do feel I was pretty harsh with you specifically a while back. I tend to be direct but I can admit I was harsher than I should have been.. It did bother me and felt bad for it afterwards so now that the topics back, I'll take the opportunity... I must have been PMSing or something.. I apologize, the words I chose were too harsh.