Topic: The 'Invincibelle Spirit' Hydrangea just for you!

I'm sorry but you should read the rules......

Anna, I really hate to do this, and I don't mean for you to start crying again... but I need to ask some questions and point out some things.

Although you might not be benefitting financially (personally) from your posts here, it is clear that the purpose of your thread was, and is, to promote the sale of a product.  Even though you are not selling the product on your own website, you are hoping people reading your posts here will purchase it.

You've told us that you "love" the products sold by that particular company, and you chose one of their products to "promote" as your "cause", because you "trialed" it and you love it.  You've told us when that product will be available and where we can find it.  You've even admitted you are "promoting" the product, and you will "continue to promote" it; because if [you] "don't tell the public about it, [we] don't get any money."  That's promotion, by anyone's definition.

There are two Community Rules that deal with promotion and solicitation on these Discussion Boards.  I guess maybe you didn't see these:

"8. You agree not to advertise or promote any goods or services in the Discussion Boards or Chat Rooms..."

"9. You agree not to solicit anyone to buy or sell products or services, or to [solicit anyone to] make donations of any kind, without our express written approval."

In one of your recent posts, you said, "this is a preapproved program through the Breast Cancer Organization and I have donated in honor of all of you!".  I don't know what that means. Are you saying your promotion of the product on this site has been "preapproved" by the Breastcancer.org moderators?  Or, has the company's marketing program been "preapproved" by Breastcancer.org?  Even if it has, I haven't seen any indication from the Community Rules that it makes a difference if the sale of the product you are promoting here results in a charitable donation.  If that sort of thing was allowed, then we would be inundated with posts urging us to buy pink-ribboned breakfast cereal and can openers and toolkits and ink pens and all the other stuff that's brand-marketed for "breast cancer awareness" during the month of October.  The fact is, even the solicitation of donations is prohibited on these boards without "express written approval."

So, one thing that is bothering me, and some of my BCO sisters here, is that we haven't seen any evidence of "express written approval" from the Breastcancer.org site administrators and/or Discussion Board moderators authorizing you to promote that product here.  If you have received their approval, you could help your "cause" by showing us that approval or having the moderators post a note affirming it.

Another problem with your promotional posts is where you've posted them.  The forum in which you started this thread is called, "I've Donated to Breastcancer.org in honor of...:  Thank you for your donation!  Here is a forum to share with others who you're honoring with your donation."  In other words, the purpose of this forum is to provide a place to announce donations to "Breastcancer.org", the organization that sponsors this website and discussion board. 

You said in your recent post that you "donated in honor of all of [us]!"  'Does that mean you have donated money to Breastcancer.org?  That's the kind of donation for which this forum was intended.  Spending your own personal time and webspace to promote "Breastcancer.org" would probably be worthy of mention, too, even though time and megabytes aren't the same as dollars.

But, I am wondering if you really meant you've donated to "Breastcancer.org" when you said you donated "in honor of [us]."  I couldn't find anything on your website, or the website of the company that sells the product you are promoting, or the Breastcancer.org website, that suggests there is any donation being made to "Breastcancer.org" as a result of the sale of the product you are promoting. Here's the link to the corporate sponsors of Breastcancer.org:  http://www.breastcancer.org/about_us/supporters/corp_sponsors.jsp.  I didn't see that company you mentioned on the list of sponsors.  I suspect you are talking about a completely unrelated "breast cancer organization."

From what I can tell by reading your posts, your blog, and the website of the product you are promoting, a small amount of the purchase price of each item is donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.  BCRF is a well-regarded charitable organization, but it isn't "Breastcancer.org".  You mentioned there were "two organizations", but I could only find that one.  I don't think this particular forum ("I've Donated to Breastcancer.org In Honor Of...") was meant to serve as a bulletin board for announcing donations to, or solicitations on behalf of, other breast cancer-related organizations.  Just MHO, of course; if I'm wrong about any of this, I'll be happy to admit it.

otter