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Enhance

Enhance

Administrator
I've noticed in the last week two scenarios of journalists, media personalities, etc., posting personally created content to gain more readership and start discussion in the Husker football forum.

I don't know what type of conversations (if any) these particular posters have had with the admins/mods, but this appears to be a direct contradiction of board rule #7.

#7 - No Spamming
HuskerBoard is not to be used as a marketing tool for your websites or products. This applies not only to individuals but also to commercial spamming. Ticket and merchandise ads are limited to the 'Classifieds' forum. You can include your website name or company in your profile and signature, but any excessive promotion will result in suspension. If your very first post is to peddle a product which isn't relevant in any form to this site, the post will be deleted and you will be banned.
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Though not "spamming", necessarily, I do draw a bit of an issue with this for two reasons.

First, I don't really want to read content obviously peddled by media personalities. Board members should be the ones responsible for finding content we all may be interested in and then sharing it with the masses. When it comes from the individual who created the content, that doesn't mean it's the best or most reliable content for the board. I'll often vet several articles before posting a link to one I find worthwhile. If this is going to be allowed in the future, will there be a way to make it obvious that the created thread is from a journalist? That way I'll know it's not coming from someone who liked it, necessarily, but someone trying to push it.

Second, one of these threads in question drew particular ire from some of our members because they didn't like a previous piece the poster wrote. The thread derailed into a fruitless argument involving that poster as a result.

I think this board is at it's best, personally, when we're not allowing media personalities to openly and obviously advertise their content. I hate to come off as whiny or 'get off my lawn,' but I disagree with providing exceptions to some media outlets over others. And if we are going to provide exceptions, I think it would be a good idea to make it obviously displayed in the thread title so I can avoid it.

 
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The only case of a journalist or media-type posting of which I'm aware is the case you mentioned above. The writer contacted us and asked permission to post articles. Most of us were familiar with his work and based on that we approved his request. I'm not saying others haven't done it, but if so, I'm not aware of it. We've had other requests over the years - some we approved and others we did not. Those we approved posted articles for a time, then stopped of their own volition.

Ultimately, it's content, whether posted by the author or through links to the article by our members. Whether it increases the author's readership through his or her "normal" channels would depend on whether the content appeals to our members. If it provides members with interesting content and the author asks permission, we'll most likely approve it. Our objections come either from someone not showing us the courtesy of asking to utilize our board or from posting content that is objectionable. Both will get the author banned.

We don't have plans to require the authors to post any kind of disclaimer to the effect that they are a journalist.

 
Enhance89 said:
I think this board is at it's best, personally, when we're not allowing media personalities to openly and obviously advertise their content. I hate to come off as whiny or 'get off my lawn,' but I disagree with providing exceptions to some media outlets over others. And if we are going to provide exceptions, I think it would be a good idea to make it obviously displayed in the thread title so I can avoid it.
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You can blame me for this one. I jumped all over inviting Brandon here; I'd interacted with a little on Twitter and had read (& posted) some of his stuff before and was very happy that he wanted to post here -- and also that he asked permission.

I know what you mean about wanting to see some curating of the articles posted, and for having our own discussions, too, but I don't think this takes away from it.

I remember when Sam McKewon (omahapanda) used to post his articles here (and regrettably, I was a lot of a jerk him back then...) If anything, I think it adds to our conversations when we have a writer taking part. They do so a lot on Twitter, and it's a neat intersection of these spheres - message boards and social media.

I'm neutral on those who aren't also participating as members. I know there have been cases where either I or others have put the kabosh on it in the past (often well-deservedly). It's good that you brought this up; it really hadn't occurred to me to actually do something in any of these cases, and sometimes doing something is warranted. Although I'm usually inclined to leave things be. Generally, if they ask permission, play nice, and also take part in conversation here, I don't have a problem with it.

 
Thanks for the perspective, zoogs.
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It's nothing personal against Brandon, eightlaces, either. I didn't have a problem with his article. As we all know, sports fans are very protective and don't like seeing negative stories about their players or teams. Something does just feel a little off with me when I know it's being pushed by the article's creator; and, when people start arguing with him/her because of what he/she wrote, it just gets tiring.

That said, I think I'll just sit back on this and see how it plays out. I also would just humbly request mods/admins keep a close eye on the discussions that result from writers posting their content so we avoid fruitless bickering.

 
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