Posters advertising their business on AAM

LS400

Registered User
Messages
771
Maybe Im too much of a skeptic, but, when I see a poster with few posts signing off with their web address, it kinda waters down the genuineness of their reply's.

I say that in the sense that, new posters need a certain amount of contribution in postings to earn the right on certain privileges, yet some posters with very few posts can advertise their business..

If I were to join AAM and sign off with ls400.ie, to bring you to the "best build car in the world" is that right?, I dont think so.

Im not knocking these business`s, and Im sure their very informative and genuine, i just think it a bit cheeky advertising their wears without building up a somewhat form of credibility with the regular users of a discussion forum/site, as, whats to stop AAM then becoming another free advertising play ground.
 
Hi LS

Here is the relevant guideline

5A Guidelines for Professional Advisors e.g. mortgage brokers, accountants, architects, etc.

Askaboutmoney welcomes professional advisors to post in their own name on topics relating to their area of expertise. You are welcome to put in your website as part of your signature. If you do not have a website, you can put in your email address instead. Many professional contributors have got useful business through askaboutmoney and, of course, many users have found good professional advisors through askaboutmoney. It is very easy for a user to assess the quality of a professional advisor from reading their posts on askaboutmoney.It is also educational for other users. For these reasons, you must post the replies publicly, rather than by Private Message. The main principle is "No advertising". Do not send Private Messages to users, except in reply to their PM to you. Do not invite the poster to contact you. Do not invite posters to send you a Private Message. Do not include your contact details on any post not relating directly to your area of professional advice. Do not use a slogan in your signature "e.g. Ireland's best advisor". It may be better to contribute to other discussions through a separate account. Send a Private Message to me and I will set up a separate user name for you. Example: Liam Ferguson

We interpret it as follows:

1) A new poster who just posts "We are great accountants - call us" would get banned immediately. This happens every so often.
2) A new poster who answers a question or gives useful information and includes their contact details is ok.
3) While it is ok for a financial advisor to include their contact details on a financial post, they should not include them on a post dealing with roofing for example. In practice, we haven't really enforced this. I don't think it happens that often.

If you have examples of posts which you think are not in the spirit, please report them.

Brendan
 
Ah right,

It was actually a professional advisors post that raised my antenna.

Thanks for the clarity.
 
I don't see the problem here. If a professional feels that he/she can give advice free of charge, then great! If the business is advertised then so be it. Personally, I would feel better being advised by a professional in a particular field of expertise. I don't see too many people posting that we're the best solicitors in Christendom and my brother is the best accountant in the world. If "professional" advice was banned the forum would be all the poorer. (Just my opinion).
 
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