enough with the advertising

[Colin_T]

I would like you lot in the big house up top to limit the advertising of contests to one actual thread and not spam adverts for contests in every thread. People come to the forum looking for help and they are being bombarded with posts about voting in various contests. This morning for example, there were 5 threads asking for help with sick fish and they all had the same add to vote.

I can understand you want people to vote in contests, and I appreciate you are enthusiastic about the contests and trying to encourage people to vote in them, but please try to limit where you advertise.

In my opinion, putting adverts in threads that are asking for help with sick fish, is not going to help that fish because the advert interferes with the flow of the thread and has nothing to do with the thread.

 

[Fishmanic]

I admit, I did overdo the promoting this evening (it was morning at Colin's location down under ). My goal is for once to get the voting in the contest to go above 100 votes. We're presently at 97 votes...a new record. And we had 14 people enter the Betta contest...also a new record. And seeing voting ends tomorrow, it was crunch time so I did post several times to get just a few more votes to reach the magic number of 100 votes.

I have helped grow interest in our contests substantially. If you look at the Tank of the Month contests from last year there were some months that there was no interest at all in entering and when voting time came, we were lucky to get 10 votes cast. The Fish of the Month contest and The Pet of the Month contests were dropped from lack of interest. I have restored the FOTM contest and the POTM contests and increased interest greatly. And TOTM contest is garnering lots of interest setting new records too.

It did take a lot of promoting to get to this point. But it appears to be working. I will do a bit less promoting in following contests but some promotion is necessary to spark interest in getting members to enter the contests and getting members to vote in the polls.

And while I have your attention on this subject, if you haven't voted in our Betta of the Month contest, please check our 14 beautiful Betta entries and cast your vote!
contest is here: https://www.fishforums.net/threads/...fish-of-the-month-contest-bettas-only.453671/

Tank of the Month contest starts around Sept 1st. If you want to enter, get a pic of your tank ready. The winner gets a neat banner like mine in his profile area and also gets featured in a Winner's thread for all to see and to comment on.

 

[seangee]

Well said Colin.
As a resource for new and experienced fishkeepers it is all a bit distracting. I am definitely not a killjoy and all for a bit of fun but it lets keep the completions in the competitions section, they really don't have a place in tropical emergencies. Oh and admins: (at least) 2 emails to my personal account in the last few weeks exhorting me to vote could be considered intrusive.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I like the fact that I advertise in every thread, it makes the contests more interesting, because more people know about it, hence more people vote. That’s just my opinion.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Oh and admins: (at least) 2 emails to my personal account in the last few weeks exhorting me to vote could be considered intrusive.

If you don’t want them sending you emails, then click the “Receive emails and notifications” button off.

 

[seangee]

It is off - and always has been!

 

[Colin_T]

Since this is becoming a discussion, having someone advertising a contest and asking new people to vote, when that person is here to get help with there fish, is akin to me sitting in a hospital waiting room with my little girl waiting to see a doctor, and having someone come over to me and asking me to vote in an election.

That would be inappropriate in a hospital waiting room, and I would put the person in the hospital if someone tried that. It's also inappropriate in the emergency section of a forum, especially when it is just an advert.

If the moderator had asked some questions, or provided some information on the sick fish and then put the add after that, it would be a different story. But these were straight out adverts and they had no business in the emergency section.

-------------------------

If you don’t want them sending you emails, then click the “Receive emails and notifications” button off.

I didn't receive adverts to vote in my email. I received them in a couple of conversations in this forum.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

@Colin_T, I never just respond to a thread, “Please vote!” And then post it, I always help the person out...and then, ask them to vote.

 

[FishGuest5123]

I agree 100% on this topic. I too received a post in the middle of attempting to assist a distraught betta keeper. I felt it was intrusive and insensitive. I have shared these feelings with our other mods in our staff room. Fishmanic is aware of it. At the same time, he has worked hard to build the contest up and I commend him for that. If we all did our part as members and took the time to vote, it would help. I would love to see our forum grow, myself. I encourage you all to invite other fish enthusiast to join the forum. A forum is only as strong as its members and involvement.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I agree 100% on this topic. I too received a post in the middle of attempting to assist a distraught betta keeper. I felt it was intrusive and insensitive. I have shared these feelings with our other mods in our staff room. Fishmanic is aware of it. At the same time, he has worked hard to build the contest up and I commend him for that. If we all did our part as members and took the time to vote, it would help. I would love to see our forum grow, myself. I encourage you all to invite other fish enthusiast to join the forum. A forum is only as strong as its members and involvement.

So should I stop asking people to vote/enter contests....?

 

[FishGuest5123]

So should I stop asking people to vote/enter contests....?

Yours seem to be more in the welcome section when they are introducing themselves. I think it’s fine there.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Yours seem to be more in the welcome section when they are introducing themselves. I think it’s fine there.

Ok, just not if they have been on the forum for a while, and are asking a question?

 

[FishGuest5123]

Ok, just not if they have been on the forum for a while, and are asking a question?

Correct. If they are wanting treatment help then it’s not a good time to campaign.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Gotta, I have noted this in my data base....

 

[Back in the fold]

Hey der all you folks. Remember to vote for your favorite Betta this fine day.