Re: consensus and links

["James Purchase" <jpurch@interlog.com>]

Justing wrote:
"Wow, I hadn't realized that a consensus had been reached! Maybe the list
server is broken? "
...
"I really like the idea of
keeping simple links to valid "resource" businesses, and nice banners on the
sponsor page(to scratch their back)..."

O.K., let me re-phrase that...... it's nice to see that no-one is violently
opposed to the removal of the "Commercial Links" section.

As I explained in my earlier post..... , my initial intention of listing
some companies in the first place was merely as a sort of "resource starting
point" for people who might not be as familiar with the range of products
and services offered to aquarists on the web as I am. It was never meant to
be an all inclusive "link farm" sort of thing.

But I have fielded numerous requests, from both companies and individuals
with personal web pages, to have a link to their site placed on our web
site. As I said earlier, I politely declined most of those requests, for the
reasons given earlier. This really has very little do do with how good or
bad the individual web sites are.

With this last issue, there was a fair bit of urgency to my posting to the
list and getting some timely feedback - I had received e-mails from several
potential prize donors, all asking the same questions and I had to make a
decision relatively quickly, so that I could get back to them in a timely
manner. While there were a range of positions expressed, nobody seemed like
they would be violently opposed to the removal of the Commercial Links
section, so I asked Erik to pull it.

Many of the links given in our Resource section lead to sites which contain
extensive list of other web sites. I'm just trying to keep our site focused
on our subject and avoid having any company feel snubbed by failing to give
them a link.

The problem stems from deciding where to draw the line? We can never satisfy
_everyone_, and the only way to be fair is by either being all inclusive
(effectively saying yes to everyone who asks, turning our site into yet
another link farm) or being all exclusive (dropping the Commercial links
totally and merely having a Prize page where we can provide links and
graphics to the companies which have donated prizes).

We have neither the time nor the volunteers to effectively manage a huge
array of links and to ensure that they are constantly checked for validity.

Again, Justin, I'm sorry that you didn't get a change to voice your opinion
before I made the decision. On most things I like to hear the full
discussion first. But sometimes, the luxury of time doesn't exist and I
guess that this was one of them.

James Purchase
Toronto

P.S. - during the next little while, as companies get back to me regarding
Prizes, and I continue to "beat the bushes" looking for sufficient Prizes
for all of the categories, it may be necessary for OTHER urgent decisions to
be made relatively quickly, should more issues similar to this arise.
Periodic checking of the postings via the archives might be an easier and
more timely method than relying on the daily mailing of the digest version
of the list. I will continue to post any queries to the list for public
comment, but I can't guarantee that I can wait days before making necessary
decisions.

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