Quote:
Originally Posted by tryphon
At the risk of playing with matches and gasoline...
I've followed what went on at B&B (but not SMF) - basically, what happened was that you attempted to use your involvement in the group to advance your personal commercial interests (outside of the vendor and buy/sell sections).
In addition, you made inaccurate statements about your products (specifically that the rose soap was all-natural, despite using artificial scenting agents). You were taken to task on this by Joel and reacted in a very hostile manner.
You also reacted in a very hostile way to a negative review of your soap. Part of your response included posting pictures of how well your soap lathered, but posted pictures showing a weak lather - which you then attempted to substitute with photos of better lather after several board members commented that the lather looked weak. This attempt to cover up the initial poor pictures was caught by the moderators and you were again taken to task regarding your marketing activities on the board.
In short, before being banned, you were warned on more than one occasion as to what type of behaviour was acceptable.
I believe the final straw came when you had words (PMs) with Joel and then used B&B to post ads for your rival/copycat site - at which point you were banned.
Clearly your conduct over at B&B has had repercussions for your attempts to become an SMF sponsor and I make no comment on what happened over at SMF. What I do object to is your attemps to downplay and feign shock/innocence that you might have offended B&B members. Whether you agree with the action taken by the folks who run B&B is one thing, to pretend not to understand what the fuss was all about.
With regard to your involvement here, I've scanned your posts and the majority of them relate to the promotion of your business interests. Unlike many other vendors, your non-commercial involvement in SRP is quite limited - which is fine, but does suggest that you view membership in SRP as primarily a way to advance your business interests.
I have no problem with vendors promoting their commercial interests on a site such as SRP, so long as it is done appropriately (all claims regarding products being accurate, reacting in a mature way to criticism, promotional activities being conducted in the vendors section, etc.).
I realize that this will likely spark a powder keg, but I thougt that Tryphon's attempts to minimize the reasons why he might have "upset" members of B&B should be clarified.
To be perfectly honest, I personally don't care about what's happened on other boards - so long as Tryphon is willing to comply with the rules and decorum that apply to membership in SRP, I'm happy to have him as a member and look forward to hearing about his company and products.
Let the flames begin!
