Commercial Posts and Sponsorship

[Bear]

Ladies and Gents,
I think it's great to see so many companies get behind tournament anglers here in WA, but this site has to draw the line somewhere and with a number of posts we have had lately I feel I need to lay down a few rules.

BreamMaster has it's own sponsors from a number of areas so we frown upon commercial posts directly from sponsored anglers about their products. What we don't mind are sponsored anglers answering questions for site members on their products or referrals from sponsored anglers when a site member asks a generic question about styles etc to do with lures, rods, reels and so on.

I hope this makes it clearer about what we will allow and expect.

I'm happy to leave this open for discussion, but keep the personal stuff out of it.

Thanks,

[Bear]

Ladies and Gents, please keep this in mind BEFORE you post about your personal sponsors. We have had a number of posts that breach our site rules and I'd like people to be sure what we will and will not allow on this site.

Thanks,

[Doc_Hollywood]

Maybe a sticky with a list of allowable topics, or a sticky with all site sponsors so we know what we can and cant mention.
I understand where you are coming from bear, but the difference is such a blur. Dror for example has done well lately using Damiki plastics, is now sponsored by them, and has thanked them on this site. Is this the type of post you are talking about. I couldnt see anything commercial about it. Spiro also thanked his sponsors and put up a couple of pics of "His" new rods not mentioning price, where to get them etc, so I dont see that as commercial.
I know it is semantic but can i mention i caught a fish on XYZ plastic if it isn't a site sponsor, if the company gave me those lures to try out and i liked them and said so.
As i said its a blur and what actually is the line you have drawn. Is Damiki a site sponsor and that is why nothing was said then

[phil jagger]

I think it's quite simple.

Blatant plugging of a company that you are sponsored by E.G "I would like to thank my sponsor for my new rods (reels, lures). They are great and so is all the other stuff my sponsor sells. Thanks again, my sponsor is great" and posting of picks is not allowed (unless of course it is a site sponsor, which is fair enough).

Saying "Check out my new rods" with-out the blatant plugging of the sponsor is allowed.

Correct me if I'm wrong Bear.

Cheers,

Phil

[Bear]

In the case you raised Doc, that company are a part of Searing Tackle, otherwise we would be asking Dror or the sponsor to do a similar thing. We don't mind anglers saying they like a certain rod, if they are not sponsored by them and we also encourage sponsored 'ANGLERS' to mention their product, that's their job, but they should also realise limits of peoples patience and that there are good and bad ways to do this.

As Phil has posted, a blatant plug thread will be removed.

HTH.

[Justin Boyle]

One thing I have always loved about this forum is how open it is to these sort of discussions. I am on another forum on a completely different topic and on that forum if you don't toe the line your post gets removed and members get angry. This forum for example has about 20 sponsors and none of them are in WA. When asking where I can source a product the overwhelming obligatory reply was from the sponsors. I replied to that and told them that I'm just not prepared to buy the item on a fortnightly basis over the web and encouraged people to see if we could get some WA sponsors on board. My post was deleted with not even an explanation why.

Breammaster on the other hand has always encouraged a bit of free speech which means we have a far less biased forum and I think that creates a lot of respect around here. For me it also means that any sponsors willing to fork out their hard earned on a forum so open on such topics really believes their product can stand up to the competition. As members we should return the favor and respect our sponsors. It doesn't take rocket science to know when you have pushed the boundaries.

In my opinion a plug by a sponsored member by a non BM sponsor should only happen if it comes up in conversation in someone elses post. I also believe that in no circumstance should that member direct other members on here where to buy one of those products.

Justin

[Dan Walter]

so, Bear the post i put up about my new stash of Damiki hard bodies with photos etc etc, was that ok or not ok? i did read this thread but im still a little unclear, or im just plain dumb

[Bear]

Permission was cleared for that Dan so no stress. It would be crossing the line otherwise as a sponsored angler.

[bream miagi]

Hi guys
Can understand where bear was coming from so no hard feelings here...

was just thanking my sponsors i didnt really think i was going overboard at all.....Which in new light i now know the boundaries and can respect them
regards
Spiro

[Bear]

Justin, this is something we have tried to balance here at BM. It's not easy at times as we also need to pay the bills, but I believe we still have a very open forum compared to most.

[Justin Boyle]

Is it at all possible to setup a paypal account or similar for BM. I know I would certainly give a small donation to help keep the place running. This is what other forums i've been on do. If 100 of us donate $20 that might go part of the way to the website hosting for example. We are a club after all and before the advent of the internet members had to pay yearly fees to even be welcome so voluntary donations shouldn't be pushing the limit I don't think.

[Bear]

We appreciate the idea Justin, but it's always been our aim to make BM free to all users, and it's been a successful idea to date as I believe BM members, more than most, are willing to give new things a try and see how they go. I also believe it's been a great vehicle to manufacturers to see what the publics expectations are.

[Martin Lo]

Hey Bear, what's the go to for posting up giveaways? Last time I tried I attracted the ire of a few fellow members. For sales, discounts and so forth I totally understand but does BM require sponsorship agreements for something free? If so, please PM me. Thank you!

[Ian Sewell]

All the info you need should be able to be found here.
http://breammaster.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45451

[Martin Lo]

Originally Posted by Ian Sewell

All the info you need should be able to be found here.
http://breammaster.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45451

Thanks Ian,

Reading over it now.