Oliver - no problem, I do like to throw in a good word for the guys & gals that keep the lights on though. I really don't mind if someone says they got a good deal and good service from someone else and I don't mind if you or others post that. I do wish that people give our sponsors a shot when they can because I feel they'd be happy (they might even save you a couple extra bucks if you say you're a member here
). I won't put up a sponsor unless I've used them personally or unless someone recommends them or they have a good rep. Most of the shops, I've used persoanlly on numerous occasions to my MY stuff
...
What I don't like to see is people who own a shop or push a product jump on the board and start dropping all kinds of self promotions for several reasons:
1) I ain't a rich philanthropist and can afford to toss a site together for free (therefore someone has to kick in something) and if I was rich, I'd probably have no advertising, purely Word-O-Mouth
2) I find it very irritating when someone who has never contributed word one to helping people out here or joining the fun starts dropping reports off to no end and pushing their business. I'll give an example of the most annoying case I've had here, last year, Mike Bartlett from B-Fast kept on dropping reports in every week not only pushing his guide service and the people he had aboard but he was also putting the names of other tackle shops in his reports! And it was the same cookie-cutter report on 47 different websites. This was also before we had a few charters supporting here. Now I'd asked him nicely not to do it and even followed up with an e-mail (which I never heard back from) yet he proceeded to do it again. I though it was pretty rude. I don't like rudeness....
We have a great site here with people that have opinions that others want to hear. If you have a good report from someone, that's cool, go ahead and put it up. At the same time, if yer in the market for a reel or something and one of our sponsors is convenient via walk-in or web, give them a shot (make sure you say you're a member here)...
As for charters, there are a couple here that float thru and contribute knowledge (and soon hopefully Sponsors - I'm working on something new & reasonable for that ;p ) and are liked & respected members of the S-B community. They get a little more slack (you know who you are
).
.... As a side note, I've been slacking on updating the User Agreement and adding more info about "SPAM" or "Commercial Advertisements" on the boards and I'll do that if I get a chance tonight...
Anyway, enough ranting from me but in a nutshell (OK, almost enough ranting) this site still costs me money out of pocket every year. We've never broke even, I will need to soon but I'm not trying to make a living on it either. The people that do help keep the lights on and the CPU fans turning are the shops, guides, & custom rod & bait people we have, and those of you that chip in when we have these raffles/auctions... We don't even charge for our Tourney Legs
---- Again, sorry for the long wind...
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