Description
This article is from the Geographic
Information Systems FAQ, by Lisa Nyman lnyman@census.gov with
numerous contributions by others.
1.3: Can I post a commercial advertisement to this list/group? (comp.infosystems.gis)
In principle, announcement of professional services or products on Usenet
newsgroups is allowed. Because GIS is still a relatively immature field,
resisting commercial postings on GIS-L may mean that genuinely useful
information, which is of interest to a majority of subscribers, is lost.
However,because commercialisation of the internet is racing forward, we must
have strict guidelines if GIS-L is to remain a useful discussion forum.
Therefore, for GIS-L, the following guidelines for COMMERCIAL postings will
apply:
(1) The product which is the subject of the announcement must be directly
related to GIS. This not the place to announce your new graphics package.
(2) Messages should be short (20 lines or one screen page) and should
reference any extended information through a user-request facility
(such as an email address, ftp, WWW etc.).
(3) The address used to post the message must be a valid, accessible internet
email address which individuals can REPLY to. The "Reply-to" address
header in the message must point to your personal email address - not to
GIS-L. Where you are posting to the newsgroup, make sure the "Follow-up"
header field is set to "poster" and NOT to "comp.infosystems.gis".
(4) Messages advertising a product must have an informational content greatly
in excess of their promotional content. Superlative adjectives should not
be used. Stick to technical facts.
(5) Messages of a purely advertising nature, as distinct from product
announcements should not be posted.
(6) An organisation should restrict themselves to occasional announcements
(no more than one per month). Messages should not be repeated unless they
contain new or updated information.
(7) The product must be of truly INTERNATIONAL interest. Announcements
relating to niche products or only of limited regional applicability are
not encouraged unless reflecting significant new or unique development
which is likely to be of genuine interest to GIS-L readers.
(8) It is good practice to assist readers by using informative subject fields,
for example "Advert:", "Product Announcement:" or simply "AD:" prefixing
a three or four word description of your message. Blank subject fields
should be avoided at all costs (personally I ignore all such messages).
Using a prefix and informative subject make it much more likely the people
you want to read your message will actually read it.
If you are not sure whether your proposed posting meets these guidelines
then DO NOT POST to GIS-L. There is an excellent alternative,
if you are using news, then full press releases, product announcements
and any promotional materials can be posted to the group "comp.newprod".
Where an individual regards that these guidelines have been broken they should
email the POSTER and tell them so. Please draw their attention to this entry
in the FAQ. A large amount of incoming email is a very effective means of
discouraging the poster from breaking the rules in the future. Please make
sure you email the POSTER and not THE LIST (check the reply address before you
use the reply function of your mailer. Failing to check this will result in
you receiving lots of email for GIS-L readers unhappy about your behaviour!
This policy may be subject to change in the light of new circumstances.
Thanks to Bruce gittings <BRUCE@geovax.ed.ac.uk>
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