Discussion on Sponored Content

[halo]

Why wouldnt sponsored content go in the Buy Sell Forum, like everyone else does who pays for a membership to post items for sale? It does seem deceitful to slip it in a forum thinly disguised as a regular poster. If people have something to sell, dont they buy ads that show up as sponsored ads?

The poster posting these things needs a different title to show that she is only here to sell content.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Nope. Featured content and contests are very different from user's posting individual items for sale. If a BYC sponsor was interested in listing individual items for sale on BYC, then yes, we would require them to post those items in our BST section.

As mentioned before:

The articles, contests, etc. in this section of BYC are brought to us by our valued BYC sponsors who help to keep our site alive and growing while also allowing us to have some really fun contests and great content. Sponsors often have a tremendous amount of experience in their respective areas, and we feel that the information being posted can bring some of this industry advice and worthwhile content to our community.

Please note that this topic, as with others, was put in to this specific section because it is "Sponsored Content" and we intentionally want to demarcate it from the rest of the forum threads. There is no hidden agenda, secret meetings, or plans for world domination... well, not unless promoting happy / healthy chickens in your backyard will lead to the cure for cancer, limitless free energy from cold fusion, and world peace.

As always, we appreciate our sponsors that help keep the site free, allow us to handle the growth we've seen over the years, and have fun contests and prizes. We are very thankful for our members that support our sponsors and let the sponsors know that they appreciate their support of BYC.


We've listened to our members friendly and helpful feedback and we'll be making sure all featured content will have a notice at the top of the first post to the effect of: "The article is brought to you by BYC Sponsor..."

 

[m.kitchengirl]

I read the article concerned & didn't think there was anything "veiled" or "sneaky" about it. I saw it in sponsored content, but I also think there were a lot of things aside from its location that gave it away as sponsored content.

To me, it is neither here nor there.
I take all content here, and anywhere on the web, tv, radio, magazine... with a grain of salt. As I feel we all should. If keeping chickens has taught me anything it is that experience & my gut instincts are my best guides. Not to belittle any member of the forum, but I don't handle my management practices based solely off of one thread, or one response.
Every web site has imbedded advertising. Much of it controlled by Google or other search engines & the data they store from our daily activities online.
I don't think any of the mods have time to sneak around behind our backs, or do underhanded things, and I find it interesting anyone would accuse a free site of trying to do anything but keep going, and stay free.

Thanks, mods, I don't envy your position, and I thank you for your diligent service.

 

[jadoremesfilles]

I appreciate BYC allowing this conversation and I want to repeat that I have NO PROBLEM with sponsors and advertisers being invited to participate in the BYC website. I also appreciate that these companies have useful products from which many of us can benefit (I'm in Canada, so many of them aren't available here), and would actually enjoy reading testimonials and the personal experiences of BYC members who have used those products.

That being said, my only request is that it be very clear when something is an ad or a paid testimonial, because it can (and should) make a difference to how the information is processed by the reader.

Keep up the good work, BYC!

 

[jadoremesfilles]

P.S. Thanks, Rob, for your thoughtful responses. Adding "The article is brought to you by BYC Sponsor..." would totally satisfy me!

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

We definitely listen to all feedback and make changes where needed. This sponsored content is new to BYC, so we're still working out the kinks. We felt that putting the content in a section specifically called "SPONSORED CONTENT" would be sufficient... just like topics on killing chickens and eating them goes into a section called "Meat Birds".

I guess I'm just a little bothered because there are often a small subset of members (usually new and unfamiliar with our great 12 year track record on this site) who question everything and apply a bit of conspiracy theory to regular ol' forum stuff. (for example, a couple people got all excited because a brand new member won a contest and thought it was a conspiracy to rig the contest

)

Fortunately for every member that thinks we're being deceptive, dishonest, crafty, etc. (again usually new members with under 500 posts) there are thousands of long-term members that have learned through experience that our focus is for the benefit and growth of our wonderful community.

Are we perfect? Nope
Will we make mistakes? Yup
Will we listen to helpful and friendly feedback and make changes where needed to help the community we love: ALL THE TIME!

 

[NashobaLosa]

While I was able to tell very quickly it was an ad, I think the problem is that it was a featured article on the front page. Just loading the page and casually clicking on the article you may not realize what section its in. A small header across the photo to indicate it's sponsored would be enough.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Honestly, the very first sentence being "The article is brought to you by BYC Sponsor..." should be plenty of notice to anybody who finds the article from the homepage link, Google, or any other source other than from the regular navigation.

 

[Daisy8s]

Honestly, the very first sentence being "The article is brought to you by BYC Sponsor..." should be plenty of notice to anybody who finds the article from the homepage link, Google, or any other source other than from the regular navigation.

I am glad you've added that sentence now. It was not there when I first made my posts questioning who Jenni011 was and why she was writing an ad for a product disguised as an article.

 

[DuckLady]

This topic has run its course. The points have been driven home and resolved. No need to keep on about it.
Thanks for the discussion.