Question 6: Advice of Commercial Interest

[barjon]

Should we do more to ensure that members know when someone has a commercial interest?

To expand on this last question. We do not allow obvious advertising - and the majority of posts reported by members point out such advertising - but we do allow those with a commercial interest to post as long as their posts are advertising free and this includes web addresses within the post or signature. The post format does, however, include a www button which links through to a poster's website.

Members express a continuing concern about people who post with an underlying commercial agenda. The question seeks to establish whether we should do something beyond the www button to make it more obvious to members that there may be commercial interest involved.

Just a simple yes or no vote again for this one backed up by comments if you wish. Some people have already commented in the main thread about Site Guidelines and Moderating Standards. Note has already been taken of those and there's no need to repeat your comments here unless you want to do so. I would be grateful if you'd cast a vote though.

jon

 

[fudgestain]

Should we do more to ensure that members know when someone has a commercial interest?

To expand on this last question. We do not allow obvious advertising - and the majority of posts reported by members point out such advertising - but we do allow those with a commercial interest to post as long as their posts are advertising free and this includes web addresses within the post or signature. The post format does, however, include a www button which links through to a poster's website.

Members express a continuing concern about people who post with an underlying commercial agenda. The question seeks to establish whether we should do something beyond the www button to make it more obvious to members that there may be commercial interest involved.

Just a simple yes or no vote again for this one backed up by comments if you wish. Some people have already commented in the main thread about Site Guidelines and Moderating Standards. Note has already been taken of those and there's no need to repeat your comments here unless you want to do so. I would be grateful if you'd cast a vote though.

jon

Yes, I think T2W should do more.
No one should be allowed to use the threads to promote directly or indirectly their commercial interests. Let any hidden promoter pay for his advertising in T2W advertising panels.

I make one exception. The SB firms should be allowed to answer on the threads. Simon does a wealth of good with his explanations .. admittedly on behalf of Capital Spreads.

 

[peto]

Yes. The www button is not sufficiently obvious. Simon at CS is not alone in possessing a commercial interest and having something interesting to say; but to gain from their posts we need to be aware of where they are coming from. Recently I was confused by a member with Def, who is the IB rep here. Giving him a better nick might help.

pete

 

[peto]

Actualy now I'm thinking about it Def doesn't have any identifier at all (no www. button or mention in his user profile). He is perfectly open in his posts that he represents IB, but it would be a help to all if he were identified as such. Using the company name as in Simon's nick 'Capital Spreads' is probably the way to go, but perhaps a bit over the top for someone who only has a loose association with an organisation and wishes to post on unrelated matters?

pete

 

[DaveJB]

I'd like to see some sort of icon, working like a 'view profile' option - click the icon to see a quick note explaining who the poster is/represents. Alternately a 'signature' requirement that is appended to all posts saying 'I own/work for....' would cover it.

Don't agree with banning people from contributing to threads they have expertise in, just because they have a commercial interest in that field - as long as the reader is aware of a potential conflict then it's up to them to filter accordingly...

 

[dc2000]

May be opening a can of worms with this one I agree more should be done but then the question comes how do you define commercial interest there are members that have homepages, websites and yahoo user groups that are not a commercial venture. A member recently said they had a great deal of commercial software would they have to declare this even if they were not intending to sell it on T2W.

I myself have a website and would be genuinely interested to know if this would be classed as a commercial interest

 

[heycanilosemoney]

I dont have a problem with people promoting commercial interests on the forum. That is providing that they disclose what there interest is in the website/sytem etc. That way I know whether the opinion or testimonial is biased based on commercial interest or not.

As for what is a commercial interest? In my opinion (humble and non qualified), it is where a person stands to make a gain from the website or system promoted, whether that is financial or benefit in kind. This would include where items are offered for sale or hire on that website etc.

As I say I dont have a problem with people pointing me towards such websites provided they are honest about their involvement.

This comes to the final point. I would suggest that it would be almost impossible to police this as a person failing to disclose would have to be caught out and with the use of aliases etc. this is difficult.

Just my 2p worth for what thats worth.

 

[DaveJB]

Commercial interest - do you stand to make money, or a significant 'bonus' by pushing some service, product, or supplier. If so, supply a small note about it and Bob's your Mother's brother. People who very occasionally benefit from a touch of PR, eg 'Refer a friend and get a free month', isn't a commercial interest unless they're doing it more months than not.
If you work for a company in the trading arena I'd like to know that, although I accept that it is entirely possible for active traders to be employed in the business.

When all is said and done, the aim here is to ensure that if somebody recommends something , and a sale will be somehow to their own benefit, we ought to know they're getting a backhander. Running a 'not for profit' site where trading is discussed should be okay, many many T2Wers do this already.

Some sort of judgement system needs to be in place, to decide if a user should be registering as 'commercial', so anyone too shy <g> to do so can be contacted (follow up to a 'report this post' sort of thing) to extract the required info.

The aim here is simple - ensure that 'advice' is either unbiased, or the potential bias is made obvious so users can decide whether the advice is sound or not. Like the MP's register of interests, (a UK thing), but preferably amended so it works!

 

[fudgestain]

Nobody is going to mind any member making a recommendation or suggestion to use a certain product or service. He won't have a commercial interest in whatever it is and he is merely trying to be helpful.

But it often becomes pretty obvious when someone starts to promote directly or indirectly some service or other in which he has a commercial interest. Also there always seems to be a member or 2 who knows enough to 'out' these hidden interests. So, yes, the Moderators could and should, in my view, weed out these self promoters