Commercial Activity

[Kayleigh]

In the future I would like to buy a camera with a macro feature and as I now nothing about camera equipment it very useful to know in advance what products are worth spending money on. What sort of equipment is good for a beginner and is easy to use ect. On another site I was recommended a pair of binoculars and as they were for bird and wildlife watching. If this make were not recommended by people that use the product I would have bought something totally inappropriate and probably spent a lot more money in the process.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Kayleigh

In the future I would like to buy a camera with a macro feature and as I now nothing about camera equipment it very useful to know in advance what products are worth spending money on. What sort of equipment is good for a beginner and is easy to use ect. On another site I was recommended a pair of binoculars and as they were for bird and wildlife watching. If this make were not recommended by people that use the product I would have bought something totally inappropriate and probably spent a lot more money in the process.

I dont think stu is talking about people recomending brands - the way i understand it the issue is with recomending specific retailers

ergo there would be nothing wrong with me suggesting that a good camera with a macro feature is the fuji s9600 - but I would be in lumber if i told you you can get a good deal from ..... etc

[StuartDH]

Originally Posted by eeyore

I know some other sites deal with this by having a disclaimer that says that the views expressed in the forum are not necesarily those of the site or the charity behind it - would that work for us ?

I hold my hand up to having given a certain ebay trader a number of mentions but it is hard not to do so when people ask for a recomendation or ask where I bought a certain lense/camera/whatever - Whilst i will obviously abide by whatever you decide my opinion would be that so long as the trustees or charity arent actually endorsing a certain vendor the charity should not be liable for what members who arent authorised to speak for the site have to say

That's the way it's always been in our T&Cs, and hopefully it'll be enough for the Charity Commission. The charity doesn't gain anything from promoting any one supplier, in fact we loose out because they don't have to advertise through the google ads.

I think we'll be OK with the odd reference, but there has been lots of support for some suppliers that make them almost a beneficiary of the charity's website. We have to draw a line somewhere and I'm happy to put it at keeping references to an absolute minimum.

I've deleted a lot of support for one supplier over the past couple of days. In more than half of all cases I've replaced it with just 'ebay trader' or high street' and it hardly loses anything in the translation.

Looking through some of the threads it says that ABC is a friend of Wild About Britain, or supports WAB etc. This simply isn't true and it could potentialy put the charity in hot water. We'll allow the occasional post where it's necesary, but we'll delete anything that looks like an ad or an ad on behalf of....

[galanthus]

seems like a shame really. I had a really bad deal and process with a company and wouldn't want anyone else to have the same problem, I've also had fab deals and very good service from another 3 companies and wanted someone to benefit. So many pitfalls when you start to buy equipment and you don't know who does good deals. As I said is a shame

[StuartDH]

Originally Posted by Kayleigh

In the future I would like to buy a camera with a macro feature and as I now nothing about camera equipment it very useful to know in advance what products are worth spending money on. What sort of equipment is good for a beginner and is easy to use ect. On another site I was recommended a pair of binoculars and as they were for bird and wildlife watching. If this make were not recommended by people that use the product I would have bought something totally inappropriate and probably spent a lot more money in the process.

At the moment, brands don't seem to present a problem, but if a certain brand of bird seed etc gets continually pushed on the site then we might have to take action on that too. Personally, I can't see Canon complaining about support for Nikon cameras because it won't dent either manufacturer's sales, but smaller manufacturers might complain about favouritism for their competitors products or services if it gets too much and they start to lose out. Everything in moderation.

[Ambriel]

Originally Posted by StuartDH

It will if there's a particular vendor being highlighted as the place to buy the items. The review should be about the product, rather than where to buy it.

Disagree. Quality of service is in some ways just as important as quality of product.

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by Ambriel

Disagree. Quality of service is in some ways just as important as quality of product.

Your missing the point. The reviews are about products and NOT suppliers. Obviously service is important, but it's not our position to have store or supplier recommendations.

[Pete W]

Sorry but this is ridiculous...... You just need a disclaimer to say the views expressed by individuals are not a reflection of this charities/sites views... What happened to free speech.....

As long as it is not a moderators or admin doing the recommending for a good place to shop, i.e price or service then it should/is not a problem...... We are talking about peoples personal experience that they want to share....

Sorry I think you have got this totally wrong...... Next we won't be able to say one species of animal is better than another......


You are on a slippery slope...

Things that could be slanderous or unfounded are the only thing that should be considered for sensoring....

[Boddie]

Originally Posted by Pete W

Sorry but this is ridiculous...... You just need a disclaimer to say the views expressed by individuals are not a reflection of this charities/sites views... What happened to free speech.....

As long as it is not a moderators or admin doing the recommending for a good place to shop, i.e price or service then it should/is not a problem...... We are talking about peoples personal experience that they want to share....

Sorry I think you have got this totally wrong...... Next we won't be able to say one species of animal is better than another......


You are on a slippery slope...

Things that could be slanderous or unfounded are the only thing that should be considered for sensoring....

I agree Pete but if a complaint is made then the Charity must obey the rules set down by the commission.

It does make me wonder who had the time to make such a complaint

Sad that you can't relay good service and keen prices from a source who is competetive. However I can see that phrases such as 'friend of the site' etc could be a bit too much (I may have penned this one myself)

AS Stu says - everything in moderation.

I am surprised that it is forbidden by PM though

[Tormentil]

Originally Posted by Boddie

I am surprised that it is forbidden by PM though

Perhaps the Commissioners are reading our PM's ??