A&Q Guidelines/Rules

[Dusty]

Forum Wide rules as a reminder.

No text talk. Apart from the occasional 'lol' or 'ftw' etc Text talk will not be tolerated. We also ask that posts are in english or a decent attempt at english. We realise some of you aren't great at speeling and punktuation but mindless chat/drivel and abbreviations will be dealt with accordingly.

Topics must be paintball related. Even if its only marginally. If the odd thread goes off topic and its interesting/funny enough then it may stay, but as a general rule if its not paintball related then expect a deletion and a ban.

A&Q Guidelines

All topics must be vaguely paintball related. We don't want to see topics asking about your PC or wireless problems. Don't be tight, pay for Plat status and you will be free to discuss most topics it the Plat Forum.

Anything which can be answered by phone or email should be done in such a manner. The best people to answer questions about a company's products are the companies themselves. If you want to know when a random headband will be back in stock, call and ask.

USE THE SEARCH BUTTON. It was put there for a reason, and then we won't have a gazillion threads about the same thing. If it still doesn't answer your question by all means post away.

Any posts we deem to be inane or total rubbish/inappropriate for a PAINTBALL FORUM, will be deleted and the user dealt with. this could mean a warning by PM or a straight out ban.

You have been warned.

 

[Mario]

R.E. sig sizes and content. READ ME

I'll be going on a rampage in the next 24 hours checking sigs and deleting if i feel they are too big (The sizes we are allowing are a maximum banner size of 500 wide by 60 deep (high) and 3 lines of text OR 6 lines of text.) or have inappropriate content. Inappropriate content is anything that gets on my nads.

Its as subjective as that ladies and gents. Your signature will be deleted in whole.

That is all.

 

[Robbo]

Heads up to Site Owners !!

It has been the custom of this website to allow site owners to advertise and promote their training days etc for no charge ... I'm afraid this is a luxury that can no longer be afforded and the reasons are very simple.

Firstly, I have a group of about twelve advertisers on here, all of whom pay to promote their companies and products in the form of banner ads and forums ... this is how things work in the real world and basically we all pay for what we get .... it makes the world tick!!!
It's not fair to them and it's not fair to me in allowing free advertising on this site when they have to pay.

For an awful long time now, paintball sites have been allowed to promote their up and coming events at their site.
Now, some of these people never even ask if it's ok or even say 'thanks', they just take advantage of what's here.
No real problem in that because that's the way it's been.

One of the best things about our site is, it basically covers 99% of the tournament player base and a fair proportion of other sections of our beloved sport.

And for someone wishing to promote training days and seminars, our site is a god-send in terms of hitting the right demographic when advertising.

Not so long ago, Yorkie from Brickett Wood called me up and asked me if he could take out a banner advert and start advertising up and coming events at his site.
This was the first time anybody from a site has done this and I was amazed to put it bluntly.

He was being professional, respectful and polite but more importantly, he was being realistic because everywhere else in life, Yorkie was paying for what he used.
I told Yorkie, to not worry about it and he could do what he liked and when he got going, then we could maybe talk.
He was a true professional because when I got back in touch a week or so ago, he had no problem in agreeing upon a more formal arrangement between us whereby he would begin paying for his advertising.

Bottom line is this guys .. from now on, if you wish to advertise your businesses upon our site, then you will have to enter into a more formal arrangement with myself otherwise there will be no site promotions allowed.

My mods have all been instructed to delete any such posts that are outside of any arrangement with myself.

I'm not gonna take the pis$ here, I am asking for a nominal sum really; I am just making sure, nobody takes the pi$s out of me.

One thing however, in the past, some people have seen fit to try and buck the system.

They will decline any such agreement between themselves and P8ntballer but still try to promote their sites either through direct promotional posts or by a more subtle means of just 'mentioning' up and coming events at certain sites embedded in an innocuous looking post.

If any of this is done, there will be a one-time warning only, if this is ignored, then all those people making posts that promote events will be banned and that particular site will never be allowed any agreement between myself and them, NO matter what money is offered afterwards ...

I have done this before and stuck to my word and I will do it this time.
If you take the pis$ out of me then you will be treated accordingly and there will be no way back ... that I promise.

This all sounds a little dramatic and maybe unnecessary I know but in the past, we have had many occasions when people have done exactly what I have suggested ... some people just can't help themselves .... and this is why you don't see certain companies on here .. I don't want them here because of their past behaviours ...

Two companies who did take the piss out of me and consequently were never allowed to be mentioned again on this site, one lost all his business in paintball and is no longer around and the other is now going through its death throes.

If we work together, things work out well, if you don't wanna work with me, then fine, no problem but please do not break the rules of this site otherwise it all tends to get rather messy.

And so, if you wish to play ball, and we all do, please get in touch with me and let's work things out professionally and respectfully.

Many thanks

robbo@p8ntballer.com

 

[Rat]

What about normal users suggesting sites/events to other users?

 

[Liam92]

also does this cover letting people know about any walkons that are going on?

 

[Robbo]

Al good point mate, and this is where it gets kinda tricky because some sites who think they can get away with sh!t will use 'normal' posting to promote their events ... lord knows why people do this because it's such a short term policy because it just means everybody concerned gets banned and that site gets a bad name because of it ... I think it really only applies to sites who have specific events coming up much like training days or seminars such as the one like Clint is doing at Yorkie's site in Brickett Wood.
But to answer your question Al, I think we are going to have play this by ear and see what happens mate; if myself or my mods see any case of blatant or 'less than blatant' promotion, then a warning will be given, the offending posts deleted and that's that.

If we all use a bit of commonsense then everything will be fine because we ain't trying to be as$holes here, we are just trying to run a business and not a charity .. I hope everybody appreciates and understand this ..

I hope you are well Al and say 'hi' to mum and sis for me please mate.

 

[Rat]

Thanks for answering Pete, didn't want to face the wrath of yourself and the mod team for helping out a new user etc.

Mom and sis on half term, we all say hi to the Robinson clan!

 

[Robbo]

also does this cover letting people know about any walkons that are going on?

Liam, another good point and I'm afraid it has to mate because people will take liberties here.
These sites make money out of these walk-ons, that's why they hold them Liam and in any other sphere, people who advertise and promote have to pay .....

I can see it's gonna get a bit sticky but I have to see how this goes otherwise I am not being fair to myself or my existing customer base .. and what rankles me is, some sites are beginning to take the pis$ and that kinda gets to me.

But the irony is Liam, I ain't talking about big bucks here... it's hardly anything in the scheme of things and so it makes a huge dollop of sense to just come to an agreement, it ain't gonna be breaking any banks I can tell ya mate.
But even though, it's a nominal sum, I am sure there will still be some who try to get round the rules, they're cheap operations ran by cheap people ... we shall see who's who soon enough Liam.

 

[lettucecheesecake]

I can see it's gonna get a bit sticky

Maybe thats the way to do it, pay for a sticky that lasts x amount of time for £x?
No sticky, thread's deleted.

 

[Robbo]

I was thinking either a one month payment whereby you can promote any amount of events during that month or for it to be a one time paymment per event ... I hadn't really thought of a sticky payment but it's an idea I should maybe discuss with my mods .. Cheers Lettuce, much appreciated !