Re: Commercial Links in the Resource area of the web-site

[Erik Olson <erik@thekrib.com>]

On Wed, 17 May 2000, James Purchase wrote:

> Do you think we should remove ALL the commercial listings from the Resource
> section? And the only way that a company can get either a mention or a link
> is by donating a prize? (Actually, probably not such a bad idea........)

Interesting.  I'm on the fence there.  The genie is out of the bottle.  
On the other hand, not playing favorites by not including *anyone* is
definitely an easy approach we could take at this point.  It sounds from
the rest of your message that businesses are already mewing about it, so
maybe it would be good to do this.

> > How about this for a possible compromise:  As soon as we get a donation
> > confirmed from a donor, we put a link on the special "prize page".  Then
> > there is a link from the commercial page to the prize page noting that
> > it's a listing of donors.
> 
> The VALUE of the Commercial section was as a reference for people who might
> not know of what was available. Now that we are at the  stage of soliciting
> and listing Prizes, and giving thanks and hyperlinks on a Prize page......
> that VALUE becomes sort of moot..... doesn't it?

The value of a commercial page -> prize page link would have been more a
courtesy to the businesses. "Well, we didn't really think some businesses
were appropriate/relevant for this page, but we think they're great for
donating a prize so you can find them here."

> One thing we will have to allow though, is the inclusion of graphics on the
> Prize page (i.e. custom banner graphics supplied by the donating
> companies..... Edward from M3 has specifically asked for this....)

Ya sure.  You betcha.  Might want to request some kind of size limit (like
standard banner ad in area, though different shapes are OK).  What would
be really cool (IMHO) is if we could have the company name and logo on the
left column of a table, and a picture of the prize in the right column.
Dunno if it's feasible; we'll have to see what starts turning up (good
start, btw!  David, with all that photo equipment of yours, I am assuming
you could send me some pictures of prizes after they start arriving?).

One other thing, the AGA board was discussing PR on our "other" event (the
November show), made me remember... when we make significant progress, it
might be prudent to make another posting on the APD to get butts in gear
and enter.  I suggest our next milestone be when a few donations arrive
and we have the website modified to reflect this.


> And then later, I followed up with one final comment.....
> 
> If we are going to delete the commercial section of the Resources area, it
> would be best if it is done IMMEDIATELY. I have several responses I have to
> send out to companies regarding this and I would like to do so in a timely
> manner. If I'm going to say "no" to a link in the Commercial Resources
> section, there should no longer BE a Commercial Resources section. Anything
> less would leave us open to accusations of favouritism.

OK.  I'm fine on this approach.  I wonder if we can replace the commercial
section with a simple link to a link farm site, such as Petsforum or Fish
Link Central?  I don't poke around enough in this area, so I've no idea
what is the current "best" site for this.

  - Erik

-- 
Erik Olson
erik at thekrib dot com

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