A Few Ground Rules and Comments

[Juls]

We are over 15 million hits a month, so there are a lot of new
users and I thought I'd better take a minute or two to go over
a few ground rules for the new guys.

I don't allow free advertising on the message boards.

They are here for the free and open exchange of information.
The signature files are there for slogans, contact
information or whatever, but it is not there to advertise
your website.

I've noticed a few of the new people with signatures leading
to websites that offer more than personal information.

Now, let's make one thing clear. I'm not trying to put
blinders on anyone, and I'm not trying to pretend that
Walleye Central is the only walleye website in the world.

Here is how it works.

Walleye Central's Unix server alone costs over $1000.00 a
month and we have 2 other servers. We pay alot of money to
keep this website online.

The only way to do it is just like any other media does it,
to charge for advertising. TV, Radio, Magazines .... any type
of media has to have advertising to pay the bills until some
guru comes up with a better idea.

Charging you guys for access to this site has never been an
option, I intend to keep it free and open to the public at no
charge for as long as it's online.

But, and this is a very important but,... I cannot charge
people for advertising if I let you guys do it for free.

Why would a company pay for advertising if all they had to do
was use the message board and post "Come to My Companies
Website". Or they could answer every message on the
board with a www.mycompany.com signature.

Why pay for something you can get for free?

So, in order to keep this a "free and open" site
for all of you guys you have to help me out. I cannot allow
free advertising for a reason, not because I'm selfish or
because I think I'm the only game in town... it's to pay the
darn bills to stay online, to pay the costs of sending a
person to every major Walleye Tournament to do the Live
LeaderBoard and take pictures.... site development... and the
list goes on and on.

So, help me out. Please don't use the signature file to
advertise your website. I need to sell advertising to stay
online, to keep this site open and free to the end user. That
is you.

I guess I beat that up enough, but there's more

---------------------------

This should go without saying, but please use the right board
for the right post.

General Discussion is for just that.. mainly General
Discussion about general fishing.

General Discussion is not the place to discuss political
positions unless that discussion has some merit to the sport
of fishing.

There is a post on the General Discussion Board right now
from a guy looking for lures. That is for the swap board, not
General Discussion. And, it's gonna get nuked too.

If you want to swap, buy or trade... then you have to
register. We have to know who you are when money is being
transfered. I don't allow swapping, trading or selling unless
you are registered. If some lowlife tries to cheat someone, I
want to be able to find that guy fast and easy to make things
right.

----------------

I'll end this with the usual "We don't allow personal
vendettas, slamming or any trouble makers on this
website".

-----------------------

We all try very hard to keep this for what it was meant to
be. A fun place to visit, a place to get or offer
information. A place to find help with a problem or offer
solutions.

Or just a place to goof off, I like that too.

SO, KEEP IT CIVIL, KEEP IT CLEAN, AND KEEP IT FUN!

I'm not pretending I'm a frigging preacher, anyone that has
met me know's I'm not. But I don't try to cause trouble, I
don't solicit gossip and I don't expect to see that here
either. (Not that there is anything wrong with being a
preacher, I'm just not one although I'm doing a little
preaching right now)

Whew, long winded, but I thought it had to be
said........again.

Thanks to everyone for making this site what it is, let's
keep it like it was while we're at it. OK?

Scott Golden