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Please Do Not Spam!!!

rules-opinionatedmale-com

Sorry about this folks, but it appears that I need to repeat myself once again…

To all of those who are new to any form of ‘Social Media’, in particular blogs, there are certain rules of etiquette that must be strictly observed, particularly when offering a comment for consideration. New writers please take note – if you wish your comment to appear on my blog, or any other, never ever include a link to your book. There are lines that must never be crossed when it comes to good manners on the Internet. Doing the aforementioned breaks just about every unspoken rule of commonsense and etiquette.

I don’t do it, and neither should you!

While you may see nothing wrong in engaging in a bit of spam promotion on sites like Facebook when commenting, believe me when I tell you that what you are doing is guaranteed to turn people off. Should the owners of the posts consider that your comment is nothing more than spam, all they have to do is report it to Facebook to ensure that you lose your account!

Take a moment here folks. What do we do with all that unsolicited junk mail that comes through our letter boxes at home, or in our email Inboxes? We consign it to the bin – right?

So don’t inflict your internet equivalent on others…

As for adding a ‘buy my book’ link to any comment on any blog, not just mine, it ensures only one outcome – the offending comment will end up where it belongs in the Spam Bin. Even though this is only the third day of a new month, already I have consigned five offending comments there.

There are appropriate blogs for any form of advertising, or in some cases, what appears to be nothing more than sheer desperation, or ignorance, by certain individuals new to the writing game. I mentioned two in yesterday’s post, specifically set up for the purpose.

Once again just for you, here are their links:

Whizzbuzz

Owned and operated by Derek Haines, where for a fee he will do a sterling job in promoting your book or books. The other is Chris Graham’s

The StoryReadingApe

Start by clicking on both of those highlighted links. They are not the only ones. There are many more out there. All you have to do is engage your brain for once in your lives and do a Google search to find them.

PS – If I consider your book worthy of my advertising it by adding its link on any post of mine here on my blog, I will.

Rant over…

30 thoughts on “Please Do Not Spam!!!”

  7. That’s the problem with “unspoken rules” – you can’t know a rule that you aren’t told up front, not until experience takes you down that path. I know there are lots of “guides” promoted out there for marketers, but who has time to read them all? And they contradict each other on a wide range of etiquette. What is okay for some, may not be okay for other.

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    • Common sense dictates the rules in most situations. If you are not sure about something, why not ask first? Surely its better to ask than to find out later that your comment never saw the light of day, simply because it was seen as spam by the owner of the blog, don’t you think?

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      • Once again, experience is operative. Those fresh to the market may not even know whom to ask. They may learn by the example of others, and not necessarily the ones to watch. The world of social media changes faster than most can keep up with. Rules today aren’t the same tomorrow.

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      • True. But commonsense doesn’t change. As for your contention that those fresh to the market may not know whom to ask – I’m sorry but the internet is full to overflowing with information on any and all subjects. Just try Googling Spam…

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      • “Practical Judgement” the definition of common sense, is affected by our experiences either personally or communally. The common sense of one generation or social group may not be the same as another.
        I agree, there is an overflow of info out there. Like I said, much of it contradicts each other and there is a lot to wade through. I certainly wouldn’t apply a link to my work on someone else’s blog out of courtesy, but another person might see this as prime real estate. Mistakes happen. Thanks for the info.

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      • Actually, let me rephrase that: common sense is not sticking your hand on a hot stove because you know it will burn you. Social media rules are not innate practical knowledge. They are learned behaviors.

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      • Let me guess, you’re the kind of person who will argue until they’re blue in the face that black isn’t really black, its grey. Nor is white really white.

        Regarding this blog, the rules are simplicity itself – all commonsense. If you wish your comment to appear – do not spam, do not swear, do not deliver personal attacks.

        Now the obstinate and pedantic among us can’t say that they haven’t been told, can they…

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  8. I have been amazed at how much advertising spam I come across… On occasion I’ve started out interested in reading someones book, but decided against it because I quickly got tired of their hard-sale tactics and didn’t want to give them anything resembling positive reinforcement. Yes, I advertise my blog (and fiction blog) on occasion, but I assume that by actually… I don’t know.. engaging in the community and with other people as an actual person and not a spam-bot people would eventually find their way to read my work (and perhaps even my book, you know… when I get one out there). It’s worked pretty well for me so far. 🙂

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    • Good for you eclecticalli. So far today I have consigned two comments which were nothing short of personal attacks to the same place as the spam – in the bin. Like the spammers, what these people forget is that it is my perogative as to whether or not I approve their comments for publication on this my blog. 🙂

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      • Ugh… gotta love the personal attacks. I had a thread recently that was edging that way .. was fully prepared to do some heavy-handed spam-binning.
        Why don’t people understand that, in addition to not spamming, it’s also okay to disagree but there are ways to do so without personal attacks?
        And I have come to realize that I don’t understand why people do many things….

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  9. I can’t agree more. I do understand how new writers are sometimes not aware of what’s acceptable or not. I’ve privately and politely messaged people who have spammed me and explained that it’s not tactful and can attract bad attention. I also direct them to an author etiquette article I wrote back in January. I won’t link it here, though, so you can look it up if you want. No spamming necessary. 🙂

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