While I agree with you and Doug about you helping along forum members and thus keeping a direct line open with your customers, it is hard to ignore you both preparing articles in advance (with almost every big new product), with information supplied to dealers, that can only be read on the respective sites of your companies and post these in separate threads. It is a fine line between an advertising campaign and sharing experience with the product. You both can be found on both sides of it, even if it is in a very transparant way.
All in all I do value your contributions highly, it makes it easy when all the info you need can be found in the same place.
I understand a bit what you're saying, although I have to go back to the fact that many members post content that is embedded in a URL link taking you outside the forum. And so in those cases it is ok that whoever is hosting that external site gets some people from the forum to visit, but in our case, 2 forum members who have contributed to the forum for years should not? Since major product announcements from our respective primary partners happen, what, 2-3 times a year, it seems like a relatively modest point. Also, keep in mind that many of the links that we post are not new product announcements, but some other relevant technical information, product performance evaluations and tests, etc. The content from these links do not always translate easily to a forum post.
I do understand your point about having separate threads regarding a new product announcement. Unfortunately we are 2 separate, and in some ways, quite different companies, and while the information can be similar, there are often differences in the content or perspective of what we are posting.
Ultimately, I do see the points that you (and Gerald) are making. It's really not my call or Doug's about whether this continues. If the membership votes for no embedded content and creates a rule, then of course we'll follow it. It just seems like a fine line, as you put it, that we would not be allowed to post embedded helpful content links.
I will say for my part that maybe as a compromise, whenever it is possible within the constraints of time and formatting, I will paste-post as much of the content as I can into the forum thread itself, but I still feel it makes sense to have an external link posted alongside. Much of the content is multi-articled (hey, a new word?), meaning there are numerous related links for content associated with the primary subject (for example, initial performance tests, numerous perspective and context-based editorials, etc.), and some may find having theses associated articles together to be beneficial.
Steve Hendrix
Capture Integration