MS. BETH "the shark"

[jakob4001]

this will probably be blocked, moved, or deleted; however I feel I must state my grievances as actually it does have to do with the rules and posting to this BB;
1)yes, SWF.com is best marine BB I've seen to date
2)yes, the ONE RULE is to not discuss other online marine hobby retail sites or provide those links
3)however, in my reponse to a post about purchasing LR and shopping around; I NEVER discussed/provided/named a specific website for said merchandise; not even SWF.com being I have not purchased anything from them as of yet; and to try to present an UNBIASED PERSONAL SUGGESTION
4)NOTHING in the rules states for/against using/providing of personal e mail in regards to ANY POST made
5)in fact there are several post where e mail info was given in thier contents & & & there of course is an option @ registration that allows members to provide their e mail address; hmmmm whatever for, SWF.com SPAM maybe; I would think not
6)I realize that BETH is one of the more prevalent sharks in here & takes an active helpful role in maintaining the qualiy of this BB & is only human
7)I know that from time to time I or others may stray from THE PATH, but in the future, would suggest that you try to please treat people w/ a little more dignity minus the wit at their expense
8)I would also expect SHARKS to try to be as unbiased as possible about some information they provide;(again, I know, only human)
9)it would seem that it is OK for said sharks to not only DISCUSS other websites but provide DIRECT link(s) to those site(s) when TELLIING people what to buy & not buy as far as skimmers go
10) again I am gratefull for sites like this & understand the reasoning for THE RULE and am gratefull for the information and POV's given by "newbies" and sharks alike, but EVERYONE should be fair and not make someone feel unwelcomed or that they have just made a trip to the principal's office, thank you

 

[jlem]

I totally agree about some of the moderaters. Some seem to have a double standard on responses. The comments made in humor would be okay if they allowed other people to do the same.

 

[beth]

Well, as far as asking for or offering to exchange email addresses for the purposes of obtaining behind the scenes info about SWF.com competitors...come on? Do you really think that that is ok? Finding a round-about mechanism to exchange info about other stores via this BB is a violation.
Now, let me say...I don't recall specifically posting to you, but I do post to anyone who I see that uses this BB to exchange emails to get vendor info about other stores. It amts to passing out other stores' business cards in my store! I try to be polite about it, and perhaps even joke about it sometimes, but, hey, if you can't take that light-heartedly, then Sorry! Next time, I'll just report the violation to the owners with no further ado, like I’ve been told to do, and you'll end up banned. Then I'll start getting emails asking, "Why did I get banned???"
Also, it is very difficult to respond to such vague complaints from members. But, in regards to posting other links, that is not necessarily a violation. For instance, if someone wants some info about a Prizm skimmer and a link is posted to the RED SEA website, then that is fine...cause RED SEA is not a vendor, it is a manufacture of hobby products.
Over and out!

 

[beth]

And then I said,
"And just to add....leaving email addresses so that someone can respond privately is a violation as well. SWF.com is a store, not the chamber of commerce where people can get info about other businesses! LOL
I just received an 80lb order of LR from SWF.com and thought it was excellent--there are tiny encrusted corals on the LR. For now SWF sells only fiji."
Is this the offending remark that generated this list of shark compliants??
Lighten up, Jak, for goodness sakes.

PS: As an update since this post on my SWF.com LR. It now has many macros sprouting from the rock! So cool!

 

[jakob4001]

OK OK...
actually, some manufactures are in deed vendors AND WILL sell their products to the general public, or at the very least require an easily obtainable purchase amount; we have a few marine product manufactures in my area that do so
as far as sparking a list of complaints about sharks, well I only saw the 2, there was only mine of course and ONE other, but I guess that would constitute a list; but would reflect well on SWF.com BB lacking almost no complaints against it
it also states in the registation portion that sharks are not employees of SFW.com; w/ your responses you have used phrases such as "MY STORE" & repeatedly plugged commercials for SFW.com products; of course that could just indicate a sign of loyalty & therefore would be understandable or that of course you did indeed receive that product & was very satisfied with it or just that you are not a paid employee
there is still nothing in there that states one cannot use thier e mail information for obtaining suggestions on where to possibly search for certain items or just to find out from specific person or in more direct manner about obtaining more information concerning that subject; some members probably do communicate such information to each other via thier e mail; again NOTHING is specified in the registration portion FOR/AGAINST doing so
this may be a letter or THE RULE/spirit of THE RULE issue, but it clearly states in registaton that you guys run things on the BB & therefore of course have final say;it has been done so repeatedly in other post & NOTHING was said UNLESS those POST were asking for specific websites or mentioning other specific websites & when something was said, it was done so in a polite simple professional manner...humor is good when appropiate; had I or other members persisted in doing so depspite being warned otherwise, then yes banning would probably be the appropiate response; there was no reason to go beyond that; you simply only had to request that I or others do not mention in thier post about using e mail for that porpose
as for my humor, again I think that would be a personal dictation, no need to TELL me how it too, should be dictated, unless that falls under THE RULE as well; I thnk you saw this more as an attack on your person than anything else or perhaps that I stated prices I have noticed which were far off of SFW.com's, but I am probably wrong and I did not notice anything mentioned that one could not post about pricing of items
the nature of this post will probably put me under the anal listing...which would be kind of funny...which I ghuess means I've "lightened up"
it would probably be best to close/delete/move this issue as YOU have that POWER...whichever, me I'd move and leave it and let others decide or forget about; course you do have a pretty good hold here, so I'm pretty sure where I would stand, but that is Ok too...again I acknowlege BETH is fairly helpful/knowledgable person and apprecitate that

 

[jakob4001]

...as if I have not already said enough; some STORES DO practice suggesting obtaining THE SAME/LIKE goods/services from other competitors for whatever reasons be it out of stock or no longer carry like say PROGRESSIVE.com
personally, I find this helpfull at times with the LFS or communicating w/ marine product stores by phone, but this of course is not the case with SWF.com

 

[diatom]

The point of the whole thing is that the owner of the board doesn't want this stuff happening the the moderator's are there to make sure it doesn't happen.
I can never understand why people are to lazy to use a search engine to seek out online vendors...it's really quite easy.
Also if you want to find out some feedback on these vendors check out some of the other saltwater boards. Most of them are really quite liberal on this policy and some infact have their own vendor feedback forum.
This board is a great place to get some good fishkeeping information...if you want something else look elsewhere, that's what I and many others do.

 

[beth]

Diatom said it better than I could! SWF.com BB is here to share hobby info and experiences not find stores where to buy stuff---use your browser search feature for that. SWF.com does offer specials on the BB from time to time & sometimes members, like myself, discuss their SWF.com merchandise...as I did when I received my LR and LS.
Sharks are volunteers for the BB, not SWF.com employees for their store. I am very loyal to SWF.com, our BB and our BB members otherwise why would I be here every day for the past 2 yrs?? That said, I would never use my moderator position here to endorse goods from SWF that I was not satisfied with. The reason I mentioned the LR is because people here are always asking about SWF.com LR or LR in general and where to get it. I'm a BB member too, as well as a Shark, and I wanted to share my good experience with SWF LR--that's it.
True the violation about "send the info in email" is not specifically spelled out in the signup rules, but if members will just keep in mind the overall intent of the rule [which is not to use the BB to get info about other vendors] then I think its pretty clear. I know some manufactures sell their own products but most of the big ones don't. The intend in allowing manufacture links is to be helpful and informative about equipment mostly. We do not endorse a particular manufacture just because SWF.com sells a product made by that company.
I really don't spend my time on the BB looking for violations, nor do any of the Sharks. None of us are aspiring cybercops! LOL But we do follow the rules, and are charged with enforcing them as well.
I'm going to lock up this thread now as I think everything has been said and I think the point about "send info in email" is exhausted! LOL Everyone should know now not to do it and why not to do it, etc.
Time to get back to the fun...talkin' about our tanks!