New Vendor Policy

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Steve

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Somewhat later than planned I have finally written the new policy. It is pretty much as it will be but I would appreciate some feedback about what might be missing at this stage. It is going live from August 1st.

Any direct questions/comments PM me or get in touch at [email protected]

Vendor policy

In my view it is impossible to separate T2W from vendors and nor should we try. For one thing, the whole enterprise is funded by vendors through advertising, so any attempt to move toward a completely vendor free environment would clearly be unworkable.

In addition, we have content that may well have been produced by a vendor (articles for example) and as we continue to develop the educational side of the business there may well be more of this.

However, this does not mean for one moment that we should continue to allow some of the vendor practices that have been happening within the forums for quite some time.

We don’t have to be anti-vendor but we do need to have clearly stated polices and rigidly enforce them so we have vendor control. This will allow us to move forward on a basis that works for us commercially whilst at the same time protecting members from the unscrupulous parts of the vendor community.

The policy

We depend on our approved advertisers for revenue. Most people accept and understand this, it works here and it works in other forums. These advertisers know the rules and they leave our members and guests to decide whether or not to contact them.

If you want to be an approved advertiser then follow this link.

[email protected]


With any other form of advertising we have a zero tolerance policy.

This includes (but is not limited to) the following:

• Using an avatar that shows your logo/business name or some other form of promotion.
• Putting any link in your content (including charts) to the firm you represent/ are trying to promote.
• Mentioning your firm/the firm you represent in any manner that can be construed as promotional and trying to drum up business.
• Offering a free trial of your product or service.
• Asking people to contact you to find out more about your products/services either openly or by private message.
• Posting minimal content deliberately designed to tempt people to find out more.
• Posting references or excerpts from your product or service.


In my experience whatever we list here will be worked around in some way or another, but please rest assured you’ll be caught and dealt with if you advertise whether it is in the above list or not.

You will be warned once and if you offend again you will be banned. If you try to come back under a different name we’ll keep on banning you until you get the message.

The ‘good guy’ vendors

Many people would have you believe that all vendors are crooks, which is clearly nonsense. However, this market is certainly one of the worst I have ever experienced for its ability to attract scammers and fraudsters of the worst kind.

Despite this, within the vendor group there are people who run proper firms, from the one man band through to the major broker and I’ll not tolerate these people being hounded off our forums as long as they stick to the rules.

There is plenty of evidence both here and on our colleague forums (BMT,FF,Elite etc) of vendor members posting useful and informative content and being treated with respect when doing so.

So I’m going to let this practice continue here for now and we’ll see how it goes. But if you break the rules you’ll be dealt with in exactly the same way as any other vendor, regardless of your level of contribution.

In return I’ll expect you to deal with or report any flaming and I’ll deal with that robustly as well. This is my chosen policy for T2W, anyone who does not like it can say so, but they can’t then flame the vendor member in question without facing sanctions.

I’ll be keeping a close eye on this but I hope it is now clear where I stand on this subject.





Company representatives

Experience here and elsewhere has shown that it can be very helpful for a representative of a firm to deal with questions from members. Occasionally they have crossed the line a bit into promotion and been warned accordingly, but overall it has worked pretty well in my view.

So I’m going to formalise this and introduce a ‘Company Representative’ grade of member. Anyone can apply for this status but I’ll need to be sure that it is in the interests of members.

If the firm is already on our approved list of advertisers then generally I’ll allow it, if they are on our black list I will not. Anything else I’ll take a view.

I’ll also allow an exception to the avatar rule but no other links will be permitted unless they directly relate to the question being answered and do not solicit further or new business.

Content suppliers

Much rubbish has been written about vendors writing content for articles, books and so on. I don’t accept that all vendor produced content is of no value but if we are to allow content written by a vendor then the first question has to be “is it any good?” This applies regardless of where it came from.

Once this test is passed the next question has to be about how much of the vendors product is promoted within the text. The answer should be none at all and if this is evident it should be removed or the content refused.

The only reference will be to the name of the author and their firm or business name but with no linking. If people want to find out more that’s their choice and they can use google to do so.

So we’ll continue to publish and/or link to content that is deemed of some value to our target audience but it will be subject to much closer scrutiny.

Finally, I’ll reject anything that is written by someone who I believe belongs in the ‘wrong’ group and that is regardless of whether it is promotion free or not. There are some characters/firms who we simply should not be associated with and I’ll decide who these are.

Policing the policy.

We don’t actively moderate content. We rely on reported posts and will continue to do so. In writing this policy I have tried to take some of the uncertainty out of the situation so I’m hoping this will make the reporting of vendor mischief a more fruitful experience.

If not you can contact me anytime by PM or on [email protected]


The groomers

This is one of the hardest areas to deal with and we need to get smarter at sorting it out. You know the story, a few posts promising help and guidance, then a few indicators and great trades etc etc, then the hook.

But there’s no evidence of wrong doing initially and no declaration of being a vendor but experience tells us that most people show their true colours before very long.

I’m still not prepared to delete these posts immediately but we will be keeping a closer eye on them and challenging the poster as necessary. In addition we will no longer allow posts from new members or those with a limited number of useful posts along the lines of; “anyone heard of…” “what do you think of ….” “I have found a great…”

Commercial area

I am currently working on a revised layout for the forums and as part of this we are going to set up a commercial area. This will be for all threads/posts about brokers, software and data feeds and education/training and will keep all of these things out of the main forums. Any threads started elsewhere on these subjects will be moved to here.

This is obviously where the Company Representatives will post but I’ll not restrict vendor members to this area as long as they work within the rules and continue to make a valuable contribution to the community.




So, there we have it. There will obviously be a period of bedding in and there will inevitably be some people who don’t like it or feel it does not do enough.

I’m confident it will help us finally eradicate the vendor issues but I’ll listen to any comments before making it live from August 1st so please PM me or email me directly on [email protected]
 
I think this is a good start, Steve. You might find that trying to comlpete due diligence to approve someone as a Company Representative will be a bit more cumbersome than you expected especially if you get many requests.

Steve said:
There is plenty of evidence both here and on our colleague forums (BMT,FF,Elite etc) of vendor members posting useful and informative content and being treated with respect when doing so.

Those types of vendors are few and far between. As you know there are several active vendors here that fit into exactly that category and I don't believe they get harassed all that much. Sometimes it's good to keep them on their toes though. IMO, I don't think most members take issue with them other than some healthy disagreements.

Peter
 
@Steve.

Let's be honest here, you've been controlled by a few members. I don't see any other trading sites making such a big fuss over vendors.
 
If someone is a vendor, they should simply disclose it from the outset. If they don't, a single warning should suffice before the town executioner is called in. Otherwise, that disclosure should activate the CEO and his minions, the other vendors for checks and balances, and the customer base to respond as each sees fit, hopefully without cynicism and ad hominem attacks. Advertising revenues being lost ostensibly by vendors poaching through their posts or presentations is a relationship matter for the CEO and the declared vendors to work out on a case by case basis in my opinion. Advertising is an upfront business, but vendors also need to know there is a market before making another fruitless expense if at all possible. So I recommend simply that tagged vendors are moderated at all times by the CEO or his minions before any posts appear before the customer base. Then the CEO and vendors can hash out their real world realities, deciding if anything is passing through the moderation filter rules free of charge, or rises to the standard of requiring an advertising fee - whether a single post or a presentation webinar. The customer base should be provided a real service by both parties into a hopefully profitable exchange for all concerned. Let's agree to do our best to hold people and/or their products to a reasonable scrutiny. Finally, those few that do meet such high standards deserve our respect, even gratitude for their assistance. These are extraordinary individuals, like DionysusToast, who have legitimately contributed value, mostly uncompensated.
 
Steve - This is a good move and thanks for the detail on whats going to happen

I like the commercial Vendor idea (only damn place they let me say anything at FF but thats a different subject)......I'm still a little vague on the approved advertising thing ....so these are the Good guys that do or have historically paid you fees ....as opposed to anyone else registered as a Vendor that doesnt or has'nt .... right ?

The major Vendor reps is fine for me ...its happening anyway ........

and all we have ever tried to do is stop the stupid and idiot posts linking and selling junk ...........which sadly is always difficult to irradicate....

so all in all good luck to you guys ....lets get it on

it actually struck me how similar the modern day Forum is to when Sport went from amateur to professional status.........from the Gentlemen status of honest and unpaid toil selfishly assisting fellow amateurs to enter and flourish in the game .......to the entrance of the ruthless superbreed of big bucks and pay me for anything I provide to you regardless of the Quality............

the irony being that in most sports the Professionals do have the proven skills and abilities far superior to the amateur Gentlemen(and ladies).........something clearly not proven in the Trading Forums where some very very good Gentlemen (and lady) Amateurs thankfully still exist.......

N
 
@Steve.

Let's be honest here, you've been controlled by a few members. I don't see any other trading sites making such a big fuss over vendors.

You have not looked hard enough. We have been vague for too long, I promised to tighten up and I have done.
 
Steve - This is a good move and thanks for the detail on whats going to happen

HTML:
I like the commercial Vendor idea (only damn place they let me say anything at FF but thats a different subject)......I'm still a little vague on the approved advertising thing ....so these are the Good guys that do or have historically paid you fees ....as opposed to anyone else registered as a Vendor that doesnt or has'nt .... right ?

The major Vendor reps is fine for me ...its happening anyway ........

and all we have ever tried to do is stop the stupid and idiot posts linking and selling junk ...........which sadly is always difficult to irradicate....

so all in all good luck to you guys ....lets get it on

it actually struck me how similar the modern day Forum is to when Sport went from amateur to professional status.........from the Gentlemen status of honest and unpaid toil selfishly assisting fellow amateurs to enter and flourish in the game .......to the entrance of the ruthless superbreed of big bucks and pay me for anything I provide to you regardless of the Quality............

the irony being that in most sports the Professionals do have the proven skills and abilities far superior to the amateur Gentlemen(and ladies).........something clearly not proven in the Trading Forums where some very very good Gentlemen (and lady) Amateurs thankfully still exist.......

N

Thanks NVP, some interesting points. One thing to clarify, the 'good guys' bit does not refer to those who advertise with us (or have done before) the whole policy is independnt of them. Advertising is a separate thing and does not confer any special rights - so a company rep can be from anywhere that I approve and non advertisers are free to be one of the good guys. I hope this clarifies it.
 
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