Advertising And This Forum

In a different Topic, a regular poster created it about a particular set from an individual company.  The title of the Topic and the written content described the set as giving the player everything he would want in a set.  The author also gave 2 links in that initial post and Topic,  The first was a link to a YouTube video he had made of the set.  The second link was to the company's page selling the set.

The next person to post in that thread commented that there were no pictures of the set and asked/inferred that the Topic was an advertisement for the set.  And at the time I read it, there indeed were no pictures showing of the set.  And the Topic and content of that first post did have all the qualities of an advertisement.

A few hours later I came back to this forum to see the pictures added to the initial post of that Topic.  But even with the pictures the initial post reads like a well written advertisement.

As is typical of this forum in the last 18 months that I have come here, it is common to post reviews of sets with pictures.

It also has been that company representatives have posted about their products that really are advertisements.

Now, I am happy that we have such things happening on this forum.  We have seen sales and discounts given to people on this forum, particularly by one company.  But there is nothing stopping other companies from doing the same.

I also have found out about sales and products that I would have otherwise not known about.  And I have taken advantage of a few of these getting some nice product at good prices.

So, I am all for this "advertising".

On Amazon people write reviews of products.  There is a little sign that verifies if the person giving the review actually bought the product as a verified buyer.

I also read a sentence at the end of a lot of reviews how the person received the product for free or at a substantial discount for giving an honest review.  I have yet to read any negative reviews from someone that has received the product for free or at the discount, interesting.

On this forum we don't always know if the person giving the review bought the product as a typical consumer and then wrote the review or if he received the set for free or at a substantial discount for giving the review, or if the person giving the review might have some other type of financial interest in giving the review, perhaps as a re-seller.  For instance the person that gave the review/advertisement mentioned at the beginning of this post is a re-seller selling a number of sets on eBay.  And if you look at what he is selling it is apparent this is at least a hobby business for him as he is selling the same set in different woods and unopened in some cases.

The moderation of this forum has been pretty much in the background.  They have removed obscenities and spamming type of attacks in the past.  However they have not touched the selling thing, from what I have seen.

Personally, I feel that a disclaimer should be included by the companies and sellers, like goodknightmike.  After all he is advertising the products he sells and also for companies like Official Staunton and Chess Bazaar that he is reselling.

Also, it is my opinion that if a person receives the set for free or at a discount with the intention of giving it a review/advertisement on this forum it should be stated so.

Yes, thankyou for creating this thread. I raised the questions about that thread ( https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/this-set-has-it-all-the-leningrad-chessmen-slide-show-presentation ) and I was blocked for asking what I thought were reasonable questions. I agree that people like goodnightmike should more explicitly acknowledge advertising. ( I can guess the response-- "Why? It's obvious." )

Very surprised that no one here has any reaction at all to your thoughtful post.  It seems like it would be an easy thing for people to agree to. Perhaps people are worried that if anyone acknowledges that they are advertising, they fear chess.com would start wanting a cut of their sales.

I wholeheartedly agree. I also find it strange that Carl from "Official" Staunton advertises openly here (without any written disclaimer, but still very obvious), but ChessBazaar claims not to even be able to answer direct criticism. Instead relying on resellers like Goodknightmike to do their advertising for them.

a disclaimer ?? ..I give sets away on here and discount heavily !! arsehole

I agree. I was able to purchase the highest quality set that I own by taking advantage of a discount that I leanned about from this forum. Thank you Carl.

Actually, it is well known here that Carl is Official Staunton Company.  So, he does not need to post any thing like a disclaimer as far as I am concerned.

Carl is certainly not one of the people that I talked of needing to post a disclaimer.  He has been and continues to be fine.

goodknightmike is pretty much the only person posting on this forum, at this time that I feel needs to post disclaimers or thread or post identifiers.

Yes, he is a collector.  When he wants to post as a collector and pure consumer that is fine.   When we know this we can read and look at his posts understanding that it is the consumer and collector that is so happy about the stuff.

But, he is also a chess equipment seller.  The last time I looked at his eBay store, he had a number of sets made by Chess Bazaar that were the same set in different woods and colors.  He is selling these chess sets that he got for the purpose of reselling.  This is a business.  When he posts about one of these sets or sets from the company that made them, he needs to say that he is a reseller of sets from this company.  This is where the disclaimer is needed.

Of course the wording of that one thread on the Leningrad set reads very much like an advertisement and not an objective review.  But even with this wording he would have been alright if he had been practicing safe disclaiming.

Carl has, and still does, participate in other discussions here, sometimes even going as far as critisizing others in the business (like ChessBazaar). For a casual reader, coming in from search results for example, it might not at all be clear that Carl/GM4U represents another business interest. Having a signature stating that he is the owner of "Official" Staunton is not too much to ask for in my opinion. Same goes for Alan Dewey, Goodknightmike and other business representatives of course.

Whether Carl provides big discounts to forum members has no bearing in this matter.

PS: Carl, I do not deserve to be called an "arsehole" for stating these opinions and I hope that you will issue an apology. The way you behave on this forum cannot be good for business.

you only surface when you have a negative comment, it is easily traceable that almost all your comments about me are negative and or detriment.....go find your other stooge-  bronco! he will love to join in with this nonsence! 

my critisim with Chessbazaar is a fair point in my opinion. He produces some nice cheaper sets, there is indeed  a market for them, however his first attempt at the Jaques 1849 was a shambles, it did not in my opinion look anything like any Jaques set I had ever seen. Vik is a real nice person, and a very hard worker, I have NO issues at all with him or his company....but I do take issue with idiots like you and Bronco and those who dont see the good in my generosity. Yep, I take that personally indeed. 

Eye chess. RON...what does it matter that GNM sells the odd set here and there? ..he is an avid collector, I know lots of collectors whom appreciate fine chess sets, reproductions etc etc...why have you seemingly singled him out ? 

anytime! thank you

From my humble experience with HOC sets (3" Galaxy series), the cheap products can still have decent fit and finish.

So my criticism with CB is not related with how they are copycating those high end models from OS or HOS. They are beyond my affordability for the current being. I am just unhappy that they are not paying enough attention to the details of their lower level models (<200USD) to bring them to the same level as HOC 3" Galaxy models (50~60USD). The polish is not shining enough, the dings on Pawns' heads, the cuts in the turret of Rooks not aligned, some pieces with different felts and much lighter weights and smaller bases. So on and so on.

From the pictures of one post about one CB high end model, I think I also saw dings on the Pawn's head, but the owner of that set did not confirm my observation, neither did he deny it.

Carl, I have only singled out Mike because he is the single one on this forum, as of late, that is posting the reviews of sets from the company he sells sets of.  I am sorry but when a person sells sets like he is of the same style but different colors it is a business.  And it doesn't matter how much he sells it still is a business.  He is not simply selling off sets from his collection.

As I said of his reviews on your products, if he would have been saying whether he sold the sets from a company or not does matter.  In the case of your products he does not resell them.  That is not the point.

Also, I am not the person claiming his review of your set was an advertisement.  While it was not, what he wrote sure seemed like one, though.  

Actually Carl the only way you are involved on this discussion, other than what you have posted, is it was your product he has been raging about lately.  He has done this with Chess Bazaar stuff and he is reselling their products as a business.

Carl, maybe if you would curb your temper and stopped calling me (and others) things like "arsehole" and "idiot" I would have more positive things to say about you. This time your tantrum is even more ironic since I didn't actually say anything especially negative about you to begin with. Indeed a small disclaimer stating that you are in the chess set business should not be too much to ask.

In a funny way you are the polar opposite of Goodknightmike. Instead of silently blocking anyone who disagrees with you, you jump down their throats in ludicrous rage.

If (and I say "if") Goodnightmike is reselling sets from vendors such as Chess Bazaar and Official Staunton and making a profit in the process (as opposed to buying a number of different sets for evaluation and selling off the ones he doesn't want to keep), then technically he is a reseller and should either recuse himself from reviewing sets he intends to sell, or as Verylate has stated, post a disclaimer disclosing his affilation with the vendor whose set he's reviewing.

This forum attracts a number of people, me included, who collect chess sets and accessories. As collectors, it's only natural that we would share our passion and enthusiasm by posting pictures and reviews of our sets (including price and availability), recommend products we feel might be of interest to fellow collectors, and inform others of any special offers, sales, etc. that might come to our attention. Much the same as any forum catering to the hobbyist, collector, or enthusiast would do.

I'm not asking for full disclosure, but as a collector, it would nice to know if a member recommending a product also has a vested interest in the sale of that product. A fact that would gravely impact his impartiality, and therefore, the validity of his review.

I don't have a problem with anyone selling equipment through this forum.  When this whole thing started, I just asked what I thought were innocent questions. I thought the description reminded me of an ad and I suppose I was mildly annoyed that whoever made the post didn't post any pictures and was asking people to go offsite to see a video. I always hesitate to click on YouTube links.

I didn't think it would cause offense to ask if it was an ad and why no pictures were posted. 

Ron, this isnt you is it? :)  ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5BTgLsKUl8

No, that certainly is not me 

I am a  doctor, optometrist, not an optician. I write the prescriptions so the glasses people get from my prescription are authentic.

Press

@raffa8  your above post would be much more relevant on the Forum heading "Clubs and Teams".  I would think you would get a much better response since the readers of this Forum only concentrate on books and equipment.     Good luck with your club, I do wish you well.

Ok