7 Responses

1. Hear, Hear…and also
   and also

   “…helpful comments to assist..other interested readers which must be visible on the site”

   So even if you aren’t promoting a business but just saying “I’ve got a copy of that please call me on….” you aren’t really being helpful to other readers! (I did this in the past and had 26 phone calls asking for the material so it didn’t help ME either!) Stick up weblink or post the material if viable

   Rus

2. ?
   Would some of these responses be innapropriate then?

   https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=179938

   I’ve just removed mine which referenced our web site.

3. Many thanks
   Thankyou for drawing these to my attention Garry – I have removed the ones that fall into the ‘self-promotion’ category. As I’ve said above, I’m sure that this has been unintentional.

   Good point also Rus – in general, if you have something to share, share it with everyone. I love the fact that this forum exists and so many of you want to help one another, it’s fantastic and a great example of Paying it Forward (a good holiday read)!

   Kind regards

   Susie

4. How to help others
   Hi Susie,

   I agree with your action and I have been concerned about some of the postings myself recently, as you know.

   One point of clarification about a matter I have also raised recently with your technical colleagues on TZ.

   Since the contact details of an enquirer are not shown and the contact details of a member responding are also now not visible on the forum or accessible via the profile it is difficult to share materials via an answer.

   Some of the requests to which I have offered materials recently have received several large documents or packages which would be difficult to display on the answers page. The only way I can think of is by cutting and pasting all of the materials to the reply which would be very long and not formatted well.

   I am very happy to share openly and freely with people who have a specific need. I am not inclined to openly publish my materials for all and any purpose.

   Are you saying that materials should not be offered via a contact offline?

   I believe in sharing and have no business to promote.

   Cheers.

5. Dilemma
   Nick Hindley wrote; ‘I am very happy to share openly and freely with people who have a specific need. I am not inclined to openly publish my materials for all and any purpose.’

   Yes, that’s the dilemma I face, I’m happy to help someone with a genuine enquiry or question and in addition supply them with copies of documents, etc. I am not inclined to also provide this paperwork for my competitors and rival companies as it represents work, time and investment.

   If it is the case that the material has to be shared with everyone then I think I would decline to respond with offers of material in future and just restrict myself to discussion and input on the forum.

   One recent example of this would be as follows:

   https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=179983

   The enquiry by Deborah Rensburg who works for Diversition is not in competition with ourselves and I was happy to supply them with materials.

6. Let Common Sense Prevail!
   My advice to everyone is to use common sense – so if a document is particularly large and weighty, and you can’t display it electronically, then please still add your contact details. Equally, if you feel that information that you have is ‘sensitive’ in some way, and you’d like to choose who you share it with, then also put your contact details down.

   I was very careful to put ‘in general’ in my previous message about open sharing – there are always exceptions to every rule, and it is absolutely acceptable to put your contact details in the cases that you’ve both highlighted. In general though, I was agreeing with Rus that it is nice for everyone to share – and that is what is at the heart of this forum surely? – but there will be cases where it just isn’t appropriate.

   Just to clarify: I haven’t, and don’t intend to remove any listings where people have simply put their contact details for further information. But I will be keeping an eye out for ‘self promotion’ which is, I think, quite different.

   I will look into the point that you’ve raised about email addresses Nick, but imagine there is a reason why they are not openly displayed.

   I hope you all keep posting your very helpful comments and insights.

   Best wishes

   Susie

7. Clarification
   Thanks for the clarification Susie.

   I will of course continue to contribute the usual mix of comment and offer more detailed resources, when appropriate.

   The technical reason for TZ not displaying e-mail ID is to do with internet robots of some kind (all very Orwellian).

   The point, covered by yuor technical colleague, I do not understand, being in the category of those who do not programme videos etc, was why, if a member answers on the forum and someone clicks on their profile the e-mail address is no longer available on the member profile, as I believe it used to be.

   Presumably these robots cannot open links and then scan the e-mail from the member profile (or can they?).

   This would be a much slicker and easier route than having to encode e-mail address every time with [dot] etc.

   Thanks again for your support and clarification.

   Cheers.