Commercial Use Policy

**Derek Zeanah** · October 14, 2012, 10:29 AM

Over the past decade THR has grown into the premier online shooting community. What started as a great place for shooters to hang out and talk about our hobbies has become a great place for commercial interests to try to sell products or generate interest in new offerings. As we approach 8.5 million posts and 170,000 members it has become necessary to introduce our new commercial use policy to battle problems that were less of an issue to our earlier, smaller self.

The goals of this policy are as follows:

Identify commercial members as such, so that their comments in threads that discuss their products (or those of their competitors) can be given an appropriate level of scrutiny.
Segregate the posts in the buy/sell/trade areas of the site. These were originally intended for private sales, but we have quite a few members who have a handful of posts on THR that contribute to their post count, but have hundreds of posts in the buy/sell/trade areas. These retail sellers should be more easily identified by users who are trying to facilitate a person-to-person sale.
Clear guidance needs to be given to members with regard to advertising. We are noticing an increasing number of new members who only join in order to promote their business. That's not why we exist, and these kinds of promotional posts do not help THR in our mission of promoting responsible gun ownership.
Provide funding to THR. This is listed last because it is the lowest priority among the goals, but it does exist as an ongoing need.

It is not our intent to discourage the contributions of members who happen to make a living from shooting-related activities; this is about correcting abuses that we see and providing guidance to members on what is and is not appropriate.

Acceptable behaviors

Things that have been allowed since the beginning of the forum and are still allowed from all members include:

The sale of personally owned firearms and accessories in the non-commercial buy/sell/trade forums. A new restriction has been implemented, though: twelve threads per forum category per 12 month period. This should be enough to sell an entire collection if necessary.
Promotion of your shooting-related business via your signature line.
Contribution of your experience in threads where you have a commercial interest, provided that commercial interest is disclosed. If you make the best widget and want to say so in a thread about widgets then go ahead, but make sure you include the fact that you are something other than an unbiased but happy customer. There is nothing wrong with being proud of one's products and services, but there is quite a bit wrong with promoting your services by pretending to be a happy customer.
Starting threads that have a "marketing research" feel to them. If you are trying to determine whether there is interest in a given product with xxx features and yyy price point, then go ahead.

Please note that these are not unlimited freedoms. Abuse will certainly happen, and staff reserves the right to tell a user to either knock off a certain behavior, upgrade a membership if they wish to continue doing what they're doing, or change the behavior entirely. Expect these guidelines to change over time as we gain experience and come up with changes to cover the gaps we see.

Commercial behavior that requires a membership upgrade

The basic thinking here is that if you're using THR as an extension of your gun store counter, then you should pay for the privilege.

The most noticeable change is this one: commercial sales are no longer allowed in the traditional buy/sell/trade forums. Instead they must be posted in the commercial buy/sell/trade forums, and only commercial members with a paid subscription can post new threads in the commercial sales area. Click here to upgrade to a commercial membership.

Unacceptable behaviors

These should be self explanatory:

Spam. Don't join just to post advertisements, and don't contribute meaningless comments to threads in order to get more exposure for your signature line.
Spam. If a third party site is running a promotion, say giving away an AK-47 to the person who has the most click-throughs on a proprietary link, then don't promote your link here. If you do you run the risk of being banned.
Shilling. We take a poor view of companies who have employees post here as if they were customers. This also applies to "hardcore fans" who post primarily in support of a given vendor's products.
Attacking competitors. If you want to raise legitimate issues about a company that happens to be your competitor or its products, then so be it -- standard THR policies about civil discourse apply. Joining in order to disparage a competitor is something else entirely. This is now and will continue to be considered as acting as a shill for a company.

October 14, 2012, 10:29 AM	#1
Derek Zeanah System Administrator Join Date: December 20, 2002 Location: Statesboro, Georgia Posts: 6,462	Commercial Use Policy Over the past decade THR has grown into the premier online shooting community. What started as a great place for shooters to hang out and talk about our hobbies has become a great place for commercial interests to try to sell products or generate interest in new offerings. As we approach 8.5 million posts and 170,000 members it has become necessary to introduce our new commercial use policy to battle problems that were less of an issue to our earlier, smaller self. The goals of this policy are as follows: Identify commercial members as such, so that their comments in threads that discuss their products (or those of their competitors) can be given an appropriate level of scrutiny. Segregate the posts in the buy/sell/trade areas of the site. These were originally intended for private sales, but we have quite a few members who have a handful of posts on THR that contribute to their post count, but have hundreds of posts in the buy/sell/trade areas. These retail sellers should be more easily identified by users who are trying to facilitate a person-to-person sale. Clear guidance needs to be given to members with regard to advertising. We are noticing an increasing number of new members who only join in order to promote their business. That's not why we exist, and these kinds of promotional posts do not help THR in our mission of promoting responsible gun ownership. Provide funding to THR. This is listed last because it is the lowest priority among the goals, but it does exist as an ongoing need. It is not our intent to discourage the contributions of members who happen to make a living from shooting-related activities; this is about correcting abuses that we see and providing guidance to members on what is and is not appropriate. Acceptable behaviors Things that have been allowed since the beginning of the forum and are still allowed from all members include: The sale of personally owned firearms and accessories in the non-commercial buy/sell/trade forums. A new restriction has been implemented, though: twelve threads per forum category per 12 month period. This should be enough to sell an entire collection if necessary. Promotion of your shooting-related business via your signature line. Contribution of your experience in threads where you have a commercial interest, provided that commercial interest is disclosed. If you make the best widget and want to say so in a thread about widgets then go ahead, but make sure you include the fact that you are something other than an unbiased but happy customer. There is nothing wrong with being proud of one's products and services, but there is quite a bit wrong with promoting your services by pretending to be a happy customer. Starting threads that have a "marketing research" feel to them. If you are trying to determine whether there is interest in a given product with xxx features and yyy price point, then go ahead. Please note that these are not unlimited freedoms. Abuse will certainly happen, and staff reserves the right to tell a user to either knock off a certain behavior, upgrade a membership if they wish to continue doing what they're doing, or change the behavior entirely. Expect these guidelines to change over time as we gain experience and come up with changes to cover the gaps we see. Commercial behavior that requires a membership upgrade The basic thinking here is that if you're using THR as an extension of your gun store counter, then you should pay for the privilege. The most noticeable change is this one: commercial sales are no longer allowed in the traditional buy/sell/trade forums. Instead they must be posted in the commercial buy/sell/trade forums, and only commercial members with a paid subscription can post new threads in the commercial sales area. Click here to upgrade to a commercial membership. Unacceptable behaviors These should be self explanatory: Spam. Don't join just to post advertisements, and don't contribute meaningless comments to threads in order to get more exposure for your signature line. Spam. If a third party site is running a promotion, say giving away an AK-47 to the person who has the most click-throughs on a proprietary link, then don't promote your link here. If you do you run the risk of being banned. Shilling. We take a poor view of companies who have employees post here as if they were customers. This also applies to "hardcore fans" who post primarily in support of a given vendor's products. Attacking competitors. If you want to raise legitimate issues about a company that happens to be your competitor or its products, then so be it -- standard THR policies about civil discourse apply. Joining in order to disparage a competitor is something else entirely. This is now and will continue to be considered as acting as a shill for a company. __________________ "We're going to suspend your rights to protest, bear arms, privacy, and trial by jury." "Why?" "To protect you from terrorists." "Why do we need to be protected from terrorists?" "They hate you for your freedom."