409 Trade Advertising - classifieds and related matters

Hello everybody, as the more regular readers will be aware one of the bones of contention on this forum is people who post for the sole reason of advertising their business. The more acute among the regular readers may have also noticed that we have not always been entirely consistent in dealing with this! The first step in this direction is to remove the classified section. We already indicate we would be doing that and there is a proper classified section where business can advertise their wares in the [url="https://www.italymagazine/classifieds/"]Italy Magazine Classifieds[/url] section. Secondly, the rules for content related to businesses are as follows. 1. No one is allowed to start a new thread with the sole reason of saying: I have a villa for rent or a flat to rent or anything else to sell or buy. All such postings are more than welcomed in the official [url="https://www.italymagazine/classifieds/"]Italy Magazine Classifieds[/url] section. 2. You [b]can [/b]have a link to your business in your signature. This is probably the most efficient way to advertise your company. You can also have an e-mail and a phone number. [b]BUT[/b] the signature should not be in a HUGE font size and should not go over two lines. We also reserve the right to ask people to change their signature if we feel it is too big, etc. 3. You [b]can[/b] answer to a post that is requesting services which are relevant to your business to say to say - "Hey, I have a flat there - get in touch", and you can also add your link. However, if we notice that a person visits the forums with the explicit purpose of advertising their company without contributing to any other discussions then this right will be revoked. The thinking behind this is as follows – we are all part of a community and it is only natural that one member of the community would let another one know what they do and how they can help. 4. You [b]can[/b] answer to a post to recommend a company. We will take the point of view that such recommendations are genuine unless we notice that a particular person is doing nothing but recommending a specific company. Only members that have already contributed in other ways in the forum should do this (i.e. you can't sign up just to reccomend someone and then disappear!). 5. You can not answer to a post to say that a company has been really terrible and you will never use them again in your life because they were so terrible. You can get in touch with us and let us know about this and we will consider whether to let the post go through or not. The reason is simple – we need to verify that a bad review is truthful. Any bad reviews posted without our approval will be removed immediately. Essentially, we are not against people letting other people know about their business. But this is a forum to discuss about Italy. If you are an active member that contributes to all forms of discussion then the occasional plug (if and only if in context) is fine – alternatively its not and will be removed. Hope this makes sense! Ronald.