Guidelines for Commercial Members / External Links

[Dan]

As a direct result of some confusion and questions related to a couple of important points, I decided to commit these to writing - so that everyone might see, and understand, how these issues are to be treated here at PL. They deal with the following topics:

* Advertising on PL
* Agency Owner Participation on PL
* Competing/Alternative Boards
* External Links in General

Taking them in order:

Advertising on PL

PL was established as a free-to-the-members venue for the exchange and sharing of information related to pursuit of relationships with women from countries across the globe, and it remains so today.

A variety of facilities are made available to the members for advertising their services and products, including the option for paid advertising. Presently, the TopSite offers banner advertisement, the Reviews Section offers the opportunity to say a few words and offer your service/product up for review by members, and we have one dedicated section in the Forums (Products/Services Exchange) for periodic listing.

With the variety of advertising sources available on PL, it is inappropriate for members to use PL Discussion Forums as an advertising medium. We have experienced very little problem with this in the past - but it is worth reiterating that the Discussion Forums should be off-limits to those seeking to advertise their wares.

Agency Owner/Affiliate

Agency owners (and their affiliates) have always been welcomed on PL, and that will not change. We ask that all agency owners (and/or their affiliates) self-identify their status (via PM to me), so that we might 'flag' their profiles with the phrase "Commercial Member." Some of you may have noticed that most, or all, of the agency owners participating here are already identified. This practice is to insure there are no misunderstandings as to possible hidden agendas and later ill-feelings.

Please pay particular attention to the PL Terms of Service, which includes this paragraph:

"You agree that you will not send SPAM messages to other board members, nor make SPAM postings on the board, nor make any efforts to utilize the board for your commercial gain, except for those provisions the board has explicitly allowed. Prohibited behaviors include; selection of a username which promotes your business, masquerading as a member and acting as a 'shill' to promote your business, posting messages which have little, or nothing, to say in response to another members post, but are made primarily to promote your business, and any other similar commercially-focused behaviors."

Competing/Alternative Boards

Competing/Alternative Board Owners and their Representatives are welcome to join PL and participate as any other member. Competing Board Owners/Representatives are NOT to use PL as a source for recruiting new members. If they wish to post a link to any alternative competing board, they must agree to post an equal number of references to PL on THAT board/site. If they cannot agree to this, then they must not post links on PL. At any time, if any of the PL/IR management asks them to demonstrate link reciprocity, they shall do so. Failure to do so will result in their PL membership being suspended. This policy applies to links posted in messages, and to any PM's they send.

Note also that links to any site known to promote/encourage any illicit activities are prohibited.

Posts Containing Links to External Sites

First, a bit of background - PL owners and members have put a great deal of effort in building the premier site of its sort on the internet. We believe that PL members and visitors should offer some consideration for the venue which has been created for their use by not making a habit of providing links to alternative websites - especially those which may be considered competitors to PL. This includes posts on the open forums, and use of the PL Personal Messaging system.

PL members are encouraged to provide reference to PL resources wherever possible. In those instances where other websites have superior information, links to external websites are allowed. If a member is observed to be making repeated postings to an external website (or sites), particularly a competing website, the provisions for a Competing Board Owner/Representative will apply.

Please advise of any questions.

- Dan