[luau] Commercial Announcement Policy - Request for Comment

[Warren Togami]

On Fri, 2002-09-13 at 18:53, Gary Sublett wrote:
> 
> Warren,
> 
> Don't you think it would be appropriate for these commercial enterprises
> to offer some discount to the luau list members in exchange for this
> apparent free advertising.  As far as I can see, the quoted rates seem
> pretty much top of the line and consequently they should be able to pay
> for their advertising.  Maybe they are providing some other benefit to
> the group like providing a meeting facility?
> 
> Otherwise, more power to you Charles Paul, maybe everyone should start
> hawking their services on this list.  Seriously, we just when round and
> round about netiquette a few days ago.  I think you should re-think
> permitting these commerical announcements on the mail list no matter how
> well meaning they may be.
> 

You're right that we need to think about this aspect of list policy. 
Something may need to be drafted or else this may explode into blatant
abuse.

I personally would want to allow a certain amount of commercial
announcements as long as they don't become excessive.  Unfortunately,
the dividing line where acceptable becomes abuse isn't clear cut, and it
is incredibly difficult to draw that line fairly.  Enforcing policy on
gray areas is an ugly thing.

I think it would be counter-productive to completely disallow commercial
announcements.  If we completely reject the business community, we will
never grow beyond a club of engineer-minded idealists, neither will we
ever win against those whom we despise (Microsoft?).

This being said, I will not completely disallow commercial
announcements.  We do however need a mechanism to fairly crack down on
blatant spamming of advertisements that is either annoyingly frequent or
not within the interest of the Open Source Community.

Regarding training providers specifically, I certainly want to know
about any local training providers (company or individual tutoring), and
I think many others on the list want to know too.  I felt this is in the
interest of the Open Source Community, so that is why I felt it
acceptable for posting.

I am thinking that possibly commercial service providers (company or
business) should send me their announcements, and if I decide if it is
within the interests of the Open Source Community it will be posted to
the group.  This is one option I am considering. 

Comments?

Warren Togami
warren at togami.com

p.s.
(I have asked and am still waiting for info from ACT&T.  Chad, if you
are not able to followup, I cannot equitably include your service
provider's information on the MPLUG web site along with the other local
training providers.)