Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom Path: cdrom.com!barrnet.net!agate!spool.mu.edu!uwm.edu!lll-winken.llnl.gov!decwrl!get.hooked.net!news.sprintlink.net!news.dorsai.org!magickal From: magickal@dorsai.org (Bill Carbonelli) Subject: Re: Advertising on the net Message-ID: Organization: The Dorsai Embassy, New York, NY X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] References: <2t8cun$isn@search01.news.aol.com> Date: Sat, 11 Jun 1994 22:06:06 GMT Lines: 70 CDBACKUP (cdbackup@aol.com) wrote: : In article , : scole@inst-sun1.jpl.nasa.gov (Steven W. Cole) writes: : Interstingly enough we have received 27 pieces of e-mail about this : post. All but one (please see the following message) have : responding in general by saying. : 1. We were posting to often (we will now put a post out every 2 : weeks or so) You shouldn't be posting COMMERCIAL ADS at all... There are newsgroups for COMMERCIAL ADVERTISING (i believe they begin as BIZ.xxxxxxx)... THAT is where you post COMMERCIAL advertising... Think about it... You're posting a pretty much LOCALIZED ad to a GLOBALLY TRANSMITTED message base... Yes, your ad MIGHT be of use to someone within the United States, but i DOUBT a guy in Bali is going to want to read your ad since it'd do him (or her) no good... I'm also not counting in how many sites will be echoing your message around the world where it just doesn't apply... Which brings to mind another AOL-genius that decided to advertise a "Special Sale" at his Used Car lot... Granted, the prices were very good IF YOU LIVED NEARBY AND COULD TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THEM, but this shmuck posted the ad EVERYWHERE, including the Soc.Culture.TIBET newsgroup! Now, if he had LOCALIZED it somewhat perhaps, and stuck it into one of this local newsgroups for his region (we have State-Wide distributed groups also on the net, which start with the postal code for the state (NY.forsale, CA.News, TX.Misc, etc etc etc)... The point being, he not only posted a COMMERCIAL AD, but did so in such an irresponsible manner that it annoyed EVERYONE that saw it (you should've seen the replies to the nut chained to his post)... The *SMART* businessman would do what you plan on doing next: : 2. We were reponding questions with an ad. (we will now take it to e-mail) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^~~~~~~ AMEN! *THIS* is the sign of a TRUE BUSINESSMAN trying to HELP A PERSON without abusing the Internet and it's global family with Commercial Ads on a NON-COMMERCIAL network... While YOU might be calling into AOL, a PRIVATE NETWORK, once you connect to the Internet through it you're now on a PUBLIC NETWORK... Things that MIGHT pass on AOL *DO NOT* on the Internet... If in doubt, ask in one of the Newbie areas, or pick up one of the many fine Internet publications (THE WHOLE INTERNET USER GUIDE & CATALOG is incredible, as is THE BIG DUMMIES GUIDE TO THE INTERNET... Both are MUST HAVE'S for people just starting with the 'net that might not know how to handle situations like this)... : Thanks all for your responses. I hope that the net will continue to : be a democracy. It's not as simple as this "Being a Democracy"... While it's TRUE that if enough voices speak up the rules AT A PARTICULAR SITE can be changed, that doesn't also mean that you can expect to change something as widespread as the Internet into something like Compu$erve ... The Internet started life as a PUBLIC SERVICE... Not a Commercial one... You might have to PAY to get INTO IT through your local site, but that doesn't mean you can use the 'net to your own means at the expense of others who also use the network (be it directly, or indirectly)... Bill magickal@dorsai.dorasai.org