Should we ban 'pay and I'll unlock your phone' type advertising on the HowardForums?

**howard** · 01-03-2002, 09:23 AM

For some reason or another one type of spam that has always pluaged the howardforums from day one is the 'pay me and I'l unlock your phone' type advertising. I've had to ban a couple of users and all but one of them was for excessive unlocking spam. I have stuck some clauses in the rules which address this sort of advertising but I get the feeling that no one actually reads them.

Before I go further some of you may ask what is wrong with unlocking spam? There are 3 main things:

1) unlocking spam takes away from the site's advertisers. The forums are free for everyone except me. I pay quite a bit each month to run them and pay for hardware upgrades etc. If ppl get to advertise for free then my advertisers will be less willing to pay for the banner ads which pay for the site.

2) unlocking spam keeps myself and the moderator team from enjoying the forums since we have to keep an eye out for this sorta spam and delete/edit messages and warn users, plus I have to do a lot of investigation whihc I don't like doing.

3) Unlocking spam annoys most users. Let's say a member asks a question: Which software do I use to unlock? and an unlocking spammer replies: Send me 69US and I'll unlock your 8290. The question never got answered. (among other things)

So I've had it with unlocking spam. I will be banning (censoring) all types of unlocking spam in the next day or two, but before I go ahead I'd like to get your opinions on it first.

Now some posters have complained that there is no free speech on the forums. I have news for you, this isn't the usenet. The forums are my private property, there are rules at the HowardForums. If you don't follow appropriate action WILL be taken.

**Her.ph** · 01-03-2002, 09:30 AM

times 10^10.
'nuff said.

**Melisande** · 01-03-2002, 11:48 AM

Agreed. It's excessive and annoying.

**~BabyPants~** · 01-03-2002, 01:23 PM

Well, if it stays in the "promote yourself" thread I think it's ok.

**SVWComm** · 01-03-2002, 01:36 PM

I think you should ban it, or else you will not get a lot of advertiser.

**Rukawa** · 01-03-2002, 01:58 PM

How about creating a space for them and charge them a few dollars for advertising?? I don't think that banning the advertisement of unlocking will work very well as time goes on. Some unlockers may PM the people who ask how to unlock their phones in the forum. The better way is to manage these unlockers so that's why I think Howard should create a space for them. These unlockers only can advertise their service in a specific area.

**RicE BoyeE 2** · 01-03-2002, 03:00 PM

yes, ban it please.

**howard** · 01-03-2002, 03:23 PM

Hmm good idea. Maybe I'll charge a certain amount each month.

**AdmiralAK** · 01-03-2002, 04:19 PM

Well...yes and no---

I found this forum while trying to unlock my phone ... so I am sort of against it. I do think though that it SHOULD be regulated, it should stay in the promote yourself forum ONLY and it should NOT be spam. Once is enough, announce it and then end it. Dont repeat.

The reason why I started to unlocking FAQ is to alert users on here that there are ways to unlcok your phone without resorting to this. People should be aware of this fact, but there are instances when you cant unlock the phone from a provider for some reason (or you bought it off of ebay and you were royally scrood -- you should have watched out but hey ) --

Just regulate it and tax it lol

I think if people with these ads get rude and spamming in their ways they should be banned. Otherwise, if they announce it once and they stop it should be ok --

just my 1.xxx euros

Admiral

**DarrenGuy** · 01-03-2002, 04:29 PM

I could handle it only the the Promote yourself section. No exceptions!

**tuffdog** · 01-03-2002, 05:22 PM

At most let it stay in the promote yourself section. If someone is found cross posting or advertising in another thread can them

**MAX_LT** · 01-04-2002, 12:44 AM

I think people who can unlock phones should be encouraged.

This site is all about getting the most out of your wireless handset... and being able to unlock it is a big part of that.

I also agree that it should be contained so that it doesn't annoy people who don't need the service.

How about making a seperate forum for it so that people who want their phone unlocked can go there and search for someone nearby that can unlock their specific model.

-LT.

**hydrazine** · 01-04-2002, 01:36 AM

I think it should only be tolerated in the "Promote yourself" column too. It's okay for unlockers to tell ppl they can unlock phones, but this is getting a little too far. I think we should set up a "Services" column and let the unlocking go there. Ppl who wanna pay others to unlock would find it beneficial while others can keep the regular threads spam-free.

**obsidianic** · 01-04-2002, 03:43 AM

i think it is okay if it is in the "promote yourself" forum.

if someone asks "who can unlock my phone" or something similar, users should just point him/her to the "promote yourself" forum.

i don't think it should be 100% banned from this site though since people here DO want their phones unlocked but don't know where else to turn.