Do you think it works? I thought I had read somewhere here that it was fraught with problems? Can't you have a vendors area but still allow wider posting subject to very strict rules?
There is of course a very strong argument saying that any vendor post will be geared to selling something, however subtle this might be. Even answering questions about a product or service could be construed as ultimately leading to a sale of that product or service but surely we can draw a line somewhere?
This is one of the points i'm struggling with and one of the reasons I said that vendors would still be allowed to post in the main forums. Despite what might be thought, there was no lobbying, I just could not see why a vendor could not be a member and make posts accordingly.
This has happened in the past before we became so embroiled in the current situation. So isn't there scope for both? A commercial area like FF but with some permissions to post more widely, monitored by some 'vendor policing' for want of a better term?
This problem has no easy solutions. I'm not a regular visitor to forex factory, but I can recall a time when vendors stalked threads in search of easy prey. I don't know if this was perceived as a problem, or if this was the reason why the commercial section was introduced. However, the zero tolerance policy has led to a cleanup, and in my opinion at least, an improvement in post quality. There are even trading threads !
The commercial area was transformed into a cess pit by guess who... yes that's right VENDORS ! and ironically the vendors marketing efforts are less effective as the vendor community over there has destroyed their own integrity. No one who enters that cess pit is left in any doubt that it's a buyer beware situation. Ironically t2w probably suffered as a consequence of the FF policy, as displaced vendors made a beeline to other sites including t2w.
In an ideal world i would be in agreement with you, I would argue that vendors should be able to post everywhere, and that there should be a policy on inclusion. However, that takes policing as there are vendors who take liberties. As things stand, I would suggest that you don't have sufficient resources to police such an open policy effectively, or that those resources could be far better deployed elsewhere.
Furthermore, its not an ideal world. At a time where other sites where eliminating the vendor problem, you where welcoming them with open arms, requesting submission of articles, and generally dumbing down content. Managing the transition from an environment where these people have been welcomed to a more draconian environment isn't going to be problem free. So whilst a vendor cess pit isn't ideal, in the short term, its the most practical solution. Having said that, I very much doubt that anyone has the stomach to implement it, and we'd end up with certain vendors being exempt, and you'd lose credibility.
When the vendor badge was first introduced it was simply a means to indicate that the person posting may have a commercial agenda. The philosophy at the time was that you warned members of potential conflicts, and allowed them to apply their own judgement. Sadly we seam to be moving towards a more paternal, almost nanny state state if affairs where you want to provide a safe environment, proactively protecting members.
If this was a forum for preschool children, I could understand the need, but its a site for traders, and ironically promoting the fact that you provide a safe environment probably desensitizes members to potential threats
Whatever you do, vendors who wish to exploit are going to do it. If you set a 50 post rule before allowing them to create threads, they'll just make 50 crap posts, and you'll be dealing with a mountain of spam. People already complain that they report posts and action isn't taken, so multiplying these posts by a factor of 50 is going to shift the problem elsewhere.
At the end of the day, you have to have some core principles, and if you believe that anyone should be free to post, vendors, the criminally insane, pains in the ass like me, experienced traders and noobs, then you have to just go for it and make it work rather than seeking the short term solution that creates a whole range of new problems.
