Posted By:
JoannI think it definitely should have been brought up here, on the board, and didn't think there was anything impolite about the way it was brought up.
The lead thread about the added features to VintageCardPrices.com sounds a lot like ad text, and many do object to ads on the main board and don't want to see the lack of commercialism corrupted.
But Robert (the author) is primarily a collector before now, this is a new site and new venture, and it seems clear that the last thing he would want to do is violate board norms. (Sorry Robt - I'm not trying to play mind reader or speak for you at all - this is just my take on the possibilities.) It seems like a natural thing to do to inform fellow collectors of new features via the method that collectors use all the time - the main board.
So this is kind of new territory. People generally seem to understand the line between the BST and main portions of the forum for those businesses that are outright commercial, known dealers, long-time business, etc.
But entrepenurial collectors coming up with new things are something of a transition, and once they become clearly commercial I think they and everyone will understand where the lines are drawn.
I just don't think that exchanges of opinions and hashing out different views of emerging facets of the hobby are inappropriate at all for the main board. This is where the general slant of the community is forged, so to speak.
It's unfortunate that sometimes the negative comments are taken personally, and I don't blame anyone for doing so - I probably would too. But I thought Jay was pretty neutral with his post, and it has started a valid discussion.
Oh, and as to the substantive matter - I agree that it seems like advertising, don't want to read update notices as a widespread practice on the main board, and generally have a "slippery slope" conservative approach to any hints of ads here.
But if I were Robert, and it were my site, and I had just added some cool functionality, I would have done the exact same thing and posted it here without really considering the commercialism angle.
FWIW
Joann