Clarification from Moderators Please

I would hope in the spirit of fairness, if one was acceptable for whatever reason, then another similar should be as well. Or if both were deleted, that would make even more
sense.

david

While I did not edit your post I can help a little here...

The intent of the rule is to not have anybody with a conflict of interest or a sales pitch in the threads. Caring bridge is a common family based website centered around illness. But I have no ties at all to the site and I have never solicited that anyone needs to donate to the site. I simply use the site to post to my journal. It is an approved website at HW. Funny. I have used the site for several years now and I have never donated to it.

Now if conversely I worked at CaringBridge or I was using the site to raise funds that would be a COI situation and I would be wrong to post it. In another example many guys and gals here turn to prostate cancer events after they have been affected by a cancer diagnosis. These events commonly raise money for research or support or whatever, you cannot post that here. So it is that I post the results on the Las Vegas "This One's For the Boy" walk I co-founded and host but I cannot put the link here while donations are being accepted. I am directly involved and the COI situation is evident. Heck we've had to boot some prominent PCa guys posts off the threads because they were fundraising. Dan Zenka from the Prostate Cancer Foundation, David Emerson from FLHW are a couple that I personally had to wipe the links out with. David put the (FLHW) on his screen name which we allowed but probably shouldn't have. But it had no links to it and it identified David as most here remember him as doing some fantastic charitable work before he left us last year.

Also another example. Cancer Treatment Centers of America and several others like Johns Hopkins, 21st Century Oncology etc. all have places on their websites where charitable donations are accepted. But we allow linking the site for information, doctors, research papers, etc. because the posts are not COI from the poster.

I hope this helps.

Tony

Mel,
I think your hormone therapy has made you quite a bit more witty.

Or you all can send checks to me and make it out to Crispino's Assistance Service Helpdesk or simply CASH on the payee line.



Tony

Tony said...
The intent of the rule is to not have anybody with a conflict of interest or a sales pitch in the threads.

I understand completely. As I noted, I have no problem with your CaringBridge link. As matter of fact, I've checked it now and again over the years! I would not want your link to go away.

That said, I'm guessing Tall Allen does not have a conflict of interest with the StartACure site, but the the Moderators (I'd guess 142, but I'm not sure) chose to shut it down and delete my post with no comment.

I'm afraid I'll still have to ask; who decides what requests for donations are acceptable and what are not? Perhaps the Moderators could get together and decide and let us know.

Peace (sincerely) to you too.

Paul

Post Edited (Paralleli) : 5/22/2013 5:45:37 PM (GMT-6)

Ultimately,
If it's questionable or borderline we can appeal to Peter Waite. But he tends to give less support for it and has typically asked his mods to do their best in blocking fundraising. As he told me in the past in the early days there were so many solicitations at HW that it ruined the flow of the website. So the rules of spamming were strict and the rules of fundraising went out with spamming.

It's a good rule as we all probably would not be here if they were allowed to dominate the posting.

Tony

Is it okay that I have the name of an organization that I support in my signature?

142,

Thanks for your clarification.

Tim

Moderators,

Caring Bridge is a
501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation

Start a Cure/MaleCare is a
501(c)3 nonprofit corporation

Neither are commercial sites. However, the Moderators have decided that one is O.K. and one not. Interestingly, the Moderators decided the one concerned with cancer research was not acceptable.

Please clarify, or ask the Owner what is acceptable and what is not.

Here's the entire view of rule 4:

4. No advertising or links to advertising or "Spam" is permitted.

>Advertising or spam is defined as posting a link for the purpose of selling, soliciting or promoting something.
>Links promoting fundraising, advocacy, etc. are not permitted.
>Links to personal blogs/homepages are allowed in member profiles and signatures
>Sharing of links to helpful and relevant web sites and resources is allowed if they are not used for a promotional purpose.

Tony

For the record, It was myself that deleted the link. It was a bit over the top with each research project asking for funding. It was innocent enough on Allen's part. And he understood when I spoke to him today.

BTW. it was great to talk to Allen today. He is a very smart but very kind man. His work in prostate cancer support groups is very commendable.

Tony

It's really a shame that moderators have to take hits for doing what they volunteer of themselves to do.

I had the fortunate pleasure/privilege of meeting both 142 and Peter in person. You honestly could not ask to meet nicer, more compassionate, or genuine people.

I also have the privilege of seeing Tony's everyday life style via FB. The same holds true for him.

Maybe when we have trouble understanding and/or following the rules and they have to enforce them... we should give them a break and be thankful for them for volunteering their time.

Some might not like every single call that is made, but please remember that they are human too.

Perhaps we could all try to not give them so much bickering to decipher through.

Don't Forget save the Seals foundation