When does a blog become spam?

[Former Member]

After refreshing my memory on the Community Guidelines, in particular the General Rule that states: "No solicitations or advertisements are allowed", I have been wondering why community members are permitted to post blogs that appear to be clearly advertising a product or service.

This was the most recent example that got me wondering, but there have been many others:

/people/clinton.jones2/blog/2011/06/17/sapinsider-amsterdam-2011--some-perspectives-from-the-front-line

Can someone please explain why that is not considered advertising?

[ChrisPaine]

Hi John,

I agree with you, I suggest you vote, if you haven't already on the "insert abuse button in blogs" idea in Idea Place.

https://cw.sdn.sap.com/cw/ideas/3560

I see far too many blogs that blatently promote external interests.

problem is that athough the guidelines are pretty clear, there is a world of interpretation applied.

What we really need are some clear examples of what is and what is not acceptable.

as you can see - in the link that I posted on the idea - sometimes action is taken.

Cheers,

Chris

[Former Member]

They must have taken action on the example you linked to, because it seems to have dissappeared.

Yet another blog today, almost identical in terms of embedded company links etc:

/people/clinton.jones2/blog/2011/06/27/the-difference-between-a-poc-a-demo-and-prototype

I guess they're not so much rules as rough guidelines, eh?

[Former Member]

You can't see the multiple references to the Winshuttle product? Or the link to the Winshuttle web site? Or the link to Winshuttle Query on Ecohub? Or the Winshuttle sales graphic in the lower right corner? Are we looking at the same blog?

I wasn't just picking on Clinton's blog, there have been plenty of others.

[Former Member]

I can see your point. There are references to his company, so it contains advertisement indeed. I was only skimming the blog, for me it doesn't constitute spam because the advertisement part is relatively small compared to the overall blog size (IMHO). So I consider the blog to be OK. Maybe I am too uncritical here? The content quality cannot be judged by me, perhaps someone else can add some remarks. Often I wonder about blogs which should have been better a Twitter message because of their tiny size (or let's better say content).

[Former Member]

I am not familiar with the topic discussed, for me the advertisment part is not clearly visibile or too prominently posed. Clintion is of course refering to his company, but the blog mostly consists of personal opinions. I believe it is almost inevitable for a subject specialist not to mention his company's approach on the topic. So for an outsider, I wouldn't consider this to be spam. Maybe you have some example which is more obviously spam?

Regards,

Mark