Sale adverts in weblogs

[quote]We can't -- and shouldn't -- expect every post to be about classical Greek theater or bonding mechanisms in polypeptide chains or an abridged history of rock and roll. [/quote]

I didn?t mean it like that. I think ads can be very interesting.

The posts above me were discussing how blog posts should relate to cels.
Everyone here engages in buying, selling, and trading cels (otherwise they wouldn?t have a gallery). It isn?t surprising to think that a person who was interested enough to visit another person?s gallery to look at their cels would be interested to know if the gallery owner is selling something while viewing their collection.

[quote]we want to make everyone comfortable in a community, even if it is a mundane one, rather than always feel like someone is pointing a billboard at them. [/quote]

It only acts as an ad to visit a person?s site while it?s on the main page, and the main page only held a few entries. Everyone has a blog, and if there is nothing of interest to whoever is looking at the main page they have the opportunity to post something they find interesting. If most people don?t like looking at ads they should take this as an opportunity to post something in their blogs.

I think:
Putting rules and restrictions on the blogs will only lead to confusion about what is appropriate. There already is a rule against using your gallery as a store. More restrictions are going to have the greatest effect on ?Joe Cel Collector? who is probably only looking to make a few bucks because they want to buy another cel, or they need the money for something else.

I?ve almost only read the blogs that mention sales, because I collect cels.

I have used a Live Journal account for years. I've had to hide my account for the past year because it caught the fascinated attention of a troll and I hate drama, but I still have it and I still use it.

Since I don't believe my life is all that interesting, the majority of my posts to my LJ are private, meaning only I can see them. BT (Before Troll) any post that I suspected was controversial, but still wanted to discuss, I friend-locked so that only LJ users on my friends list could read it. Posts about auctions I had won, or harmless cel posts and fanfic writing updates were posted in public where anyone could read them.

I know some people cross-post when they have multiple journals, blogs or forums. As I said, I don't consider events in my life interesting enough to the general public to cross-post to my RS journal. I'm a rather private person, so some of the horrendous trials I've had this year (it's been a simply hideous year!) haven't been posted to my RS blog at all. It's not that I don't want to share, per se, it's just that I have other avenues when I need a virtual "hug".

Jason, I know that you don't want to get bogged down on one project like the blogs, especially when they are an added feature to the site, rather than a main component. However, is it possible/easy enough to devise a way to auto-sort blog entries based on the title? For example, any blog title with the word "sale", "offer" or "cel update" in it could be sorted into a channel on the left, and all other blog titles could be sorted to the right? That way ten blog updates could be shown at a time, five that are of a sale or update nature and five of a more general nature. That way each user could look or not look at that person's preference, and it's easier for the mods to spot any infractions. As always, just a humble suggestion!

Wow! Al and Nic go berserk! Well, Al and Nic, I've been a member of RS since the beginning. I was one of the few people who defended it when others were trashing it. I think I have a right to voice my concerns when I see the blogs being used to flame others and bypass our forums. Now, read this carefully: I DON'T CARE IF YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT YOUR PERSONAL LIVES! I DON'T CARE IF YOU MENTION SALES IN THE BLOGS! JUST DON'T CREATE A BLOG SIMPLY TO GET YOUR SALES PUSHED TO THE FRONT PAGE!" There, simple enough request. Or so I thought. So, think twice before using words like troll, and "too much time on my hands." I was there when Anime-Alpha broke down. I watched Animanger get cancer of the board. And if you think the very same thing can't happen to RS, you are dead wrong. All it takes is for good people like you to sit back and do nothing. So please, can we debate this topic without taking cheapshots at members? And thank you Wendy for seeing my point and not getting bent out of shape over it. It was just a suggestion, and it should be treated as such.

Blueheaven, my apologies. I'm the one who used the word "troll" about a Live Journal user who has forced me to hide all my Live Journal posts. I never meant to imply that anyone on RS is a troll. (I think I'm the only one who used this particular word, so please don't get upset at anyone else over it.)