Issue about advertisements

[xfile007]

Please tell me when did we discuss this? I had not even spoken to you, the optometrist, and yet you dare to say that we have discussed and I had given the OK? I run this Forum and keep to its Rules seriously. The reason for disallowing advertisements for business solicitations is because the USJ dot com Forum does not endorse any product offered. Furthermore, this is a discussion forum where nobody pays any fees. why should the Forum provide business benefits to an advertiser for free? If I have the time and resource to manage paid advertisements, I would have done so but alas, I have a day job and hence we cannot sell advertising space.

For the members' information, I was asked by another member to allow for this discussion thread because he thought that the readers will benefit from the knowledge. Hence the optometrist is allowed to post on condition that he will provide advice and knowledge on eye problems and any new technologies not readily available in other outlets locally. That I think is fair and beneficial to our readers. Any business postings will be removed as it contravenes our rules.

Hence I have removed the telephone numbers in the first post here because that would mean an opening for business contacts, especially when he posted the consultant's name and business hours.

If anyone wants to have a private discussion with the optometrist, there is the Private Messaging (PM) system in place, hence no need for telephone numbers. Let us share the information on this thread openly with no strings attached and certainly no endorsement from the Forum site.

I joined this forum 13 years ago and my very first post (with my phone number) in this forum was actually under this section called "To Buy/To Sell" which allowed members to advertise their services or products. I understand those sections have gone after they were hacked some years ago.

In year 1999, I just started working and offering home tutoring service to earn part time money. Yes, I got my first student from here. But, it does not mean the forum endorsed me nor I paid any fee to anyone here.

I still hope USJ.com will have a section for business folks to promote their services/products and at the same time allow members to discuss or providing feedback.

kwchang, while I appreciate your kind effort in moderating this forum, it is equally important to acknowledge the fact that this forum is meant for the community benefit. I have seen many "bananas" given, some I agree, few I disagree.

For this thread, I see nothing wrong with it.

[kwchang]

I have moved this to a separate thread because it merits further comments and is out of topic in the original place.

In year 1999, I just started working and offering home tutoring service to earn part time money. Yes, I got my first student from here

In 1999, we had not put up our Rules yet, so there was no limitations then. It does not apply to the present day situation... all posts offering tuition, baby-sitting, daycare, rooms to let etc are now removed - can you find any?

I will continue on this to explain why we will not do advertisements....

[eddychan]

I agree with KWC.. if advertisements are allowed, you can be sure that 99% of posts will be spam, and forumers will eventually give up, since you will need to scroll the page 10 times before you get to a non-ad..!

[xfile007]

I agree with KWC.. if advertisements are allowed, you can be sure that 99% of posts will be spam, and forumers will eventually give up, since you will need to scroll the page 10 times before you get to a non-ad..!

Not really.

Look at http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showforum=84. Members go to Trade Zone looking for things they want to buy.

A separate section will do the trick and leave the main forum as it is.

I rest my case.

[kwchang]

...I still hope USJ.com will have a section for business folks to promote their services/products and at the same time allow members to discuss or providing feedback....

From my experience in administering this Forum, I can tell you why we have not allowed for free postings on product/service advertisements.

• in our old buy-sell section, we discovered that scammers have posted job opportunities which ended up with innocent job-seekers getting scammed to pay a deposit and no job was actually offered
• we have no resources to manage advertisement activities
• there is no way to evaluate or check on the product or service
• once advertisements are allowed, we will have to permit any form of posts otherwise there will be complaints of favouritism ... with that it will be a big issue to disallow for suspicious posts by scammers

[leonardchin]

No free lunch in this world. Pretending to offer advice or discuss something, in the end only for their own benefit of business opportunity. So MLM style. In real life already so much of this kind of people, in cyberspace will have much more of this.

I salute kwchang. No advertisement in this forum.

[zinglicious]

I do favor advertisements at right here at usj.com.my. Not for my shop which incidentally sudah "bungkus" at Subang Jaya. And forumers here by now knows I detest advertising my food. Even right in shop then, I be selling healthy aspect of meals boring the diners about issues of MSG , fats and salt.

The reasons as compared to open advert in MSM is that no feedbacks or avenue to question or complaint about the products or service. Sometimes we might be too busy, timid or wanna to ask addditional questions before we decide to buy the products. By having advertisement in the public forum is great as it provides 3 dimensional communications - info, inquiries and feedbacks .

Many a time I was looking for service and supplies. For instance, my car broke down and I am looking for reliable mechanics. Where do I get the info? I took the short cut which I called Chang or Patrick. How many of you guys know thier numbers? I was pretty lucky as they patronise my shop then. And sometimes Paiseh to trouble them.

With the open forum, we can see what's up with the advertisers. And I can tell you usj.com.my is the place where angels tread to go as they would be unsatisfied forumers that would Tembak you. Even the free service column from Rajiv corners, he got to take Panadols each time he open up usj.com.my sites. And by having this column, we can access the performance and feedbacks.

Like the previous thread - Oops kopi on my laptop - I had to run around for computer shops for quotations for repairs as none of them named the shops for repairs. Only advices were given then. I am sure there owners of computer repairs from the forumers pool. By accessing to the threads, I can decide whether to take it to his shop or repairs. Moreover, I oredi given free quotation or info or possibly advice by him or the other forumers who felt I being charged way too high Rm200 ringgit just to replace the keyboard.


So, my take is go Republic with advertisement though forumers are suppose to do business with Caveat Emptor or Buyers Beware with scams advertisement of get rich quick scheme to free massage. Right now, I am thinking aloud which and where should I get the best massage for the pain in the neck? And how much would they charge? ( seriously, I am wearing a cervical collar now where I have real pain with cervical spondylitis and taking doctor prescription drugs and self prescription booze to sleep. Hic* hic* )

[bslee]

I don't favor nor appreciate any long winded commercial type or near kind adverts here, They clutter the website if becomes out of control and overwhelming.....period.
Limit it to flea market for selling or buying on a personal basis.
I just like this place for forum discussion, minus any commercial kind adverts. I don't mind any kind of pointing or prompting some event of sales discount, stock clearance, product promotion, warehouse sales for very well established or household names, brands and goods.
Lastly I'll not argue and fully support KWChang's management and handling of suspicious or controversial content.

[currymee]

I don't favor nor appreciate any long winded commercial type or near kind adverts here, They clutter the website if becomes out of control and overwhelming.....period.
Limit it to flea market for selling or buying on a personal basis.
I just like this place for forum discussion, minus any commercial kind adverts.

Hear, hear - SOKONG 100% although I am sometimes gulity of saying a few too many good words of my favourite makan place ... Choy Kee currymee ...

[bslee]

although I am sometimes gulity of saying a few too many good words of my favourite makan place ... Choy Kee currymee ...

I don't see anything wrong with that.
Hmmmm... trouble is.. like in one bread thread... suddenly put in a taboo word like "trans****"... the thread can suddenly derail for a moment... typical?

[currymee]

I don't see anything wrong with that.
Hmmmm... trouble is.. like in one bread thread... suddenly put in a taboo word like "trans****"... the thread can suddenly derail for a moment... typical?

hahahaa ... BSLee, that is the BEAUTY OF USJ.COM.MY, amidst the seriousness of the discussions and topics, one may every now and then see the "lighter" side of life just like real-life kopitiam chat ....

It goes to show that behind each and every nick is another REAL LIFE person that you are interacting with ....

[zinglicious]

Actually, I do enjoy long winded story or rather info as in the thread started by the two eyes of usj Optometrist for instance. He took the effort to answer inquiries which I might not know how to ask. Knowledge is power, my man.
From no eye deer, I know something about one of two eyes problems. This is the feild I neglected during my days with the pharmaceutical as I specialist in analgesic, oncology, radiology and pills for women and men only. If we were to seek consultation witheither the opticians, optometrist or eye surgeon, do you think we get this kind of eye opener knowledge? And how many professionals from lawyers to doctors would give a detailed info without charging?
I am grateful if the forumers can contribute thier thoughts or opinons whether I agree to it or not. If not, I dont even bother to read it and even ignore reading it under the nicks.
One fo my favorite collection are those free distritution colorful magazine leaflets. But unfortunately, they dont actually disclose free consultation online and thier customers service sucks when I asked for additional info!!!