It would be good to see posts from you that didn't say, go look into
buying DRAZOR, it will do what you need. Put it in your signature if you
like. Those of us MVPs who have items in our signatures or stuff on our
websites aren't usually making profit on them with a couple of
exceptions, usually it is barely enough to cover the stuff we publish
for folks. My book was a huge loss financially for me, if anyone made
money it was O'Reilly. I worked on that book mostly because I wanted to
help folks and there were a lot of issues in the book that needed
correcting. Ditto for spending any time in the newsgroups, lots of bad
advice out here with folks thinking the only solution is something that
they have to pay for or worse being told things that are absolutely
incorrect. My joewear stuff and Amazon ads just pay for the hosting. I
make far more money consulting for companies and going in and getting
paid, everything else doesn't even ad up to poverty level income.
That being said, I will still come out here and help because, as I
mentioned, I don't do it to make money. I also don't do it for the
reputation, I don't need it, I am well known in the fortune 25 companies
and govermment/militaries for the work I have done for them. I do all of
this to help people get past issues that are causing them problems,
stave off bad info that is put out by alleged experts, and actually to
learn more about the kinds of issues people have to come up with more
solutions for them.
I have a set of solutions that I will be selling going up onto a new
website at some point in the hopefully near future and I fully intend to
recommend those as well when they make sense but they won't be the only
posts I put out in the newsgroups, they will be a slight sprinkling of
all of the posts I write.
I don't think you are a bad person, but it is extremely annoying to see
a name over and over again and the only response it ever has is hocking
of their product. Respond with some posts on how to do things without
your product, etc. Become a productive member of the community. You are
correct in that there are no rules of conduct out here. However, most of
us would like to see it as a place of answers and not a place of
advertisements. Sure advertise, I have no problem with that, but do more
than that. Better than that, if you want, contact me off line (use the
(e-mail address removed) and put [MVP] in the subject or [DRAZOR] if you want)
and I can talk to you about getting your product into the hands of DS
MVPs who can play with it and then if they like it point it out to folks
as a possible solution along with others. I personally likely don't have
time to play with it but there are many DS MVPs that likely would. Then
you don't have to be the sole advertiser and it will give you time to
post other types of responses.
joe
--
Joe Richards Microsoft MVP Windows Server Directory Services
Author of O'Reilly Active Directory Third Edition
www.joeware.net
---O'Reilly Active Directory Third Edition now available---
http://www.joeware.net/win/ad3e.htm
Ken Aldrich wrote:
Joe and other MVPs,
The last thing I want to do is get into an argument with you over
usenet. I respect you, your advice, your books, everything. Not just
you, the other MVP's that frequent these areas as well. Without your
help this would not be the same place.
I want to point out that I am not some sales guy indiscriminately
posting around newsgroups. I am providing very specific advice to help
people resolve their problems. I also do help out, make posts, and
provide solutions that do not involve the products offered by the
company I work for. I am genuinely trying to be helpful.
Some people prefer non-scripted, non command-line, easy to use, fully
supported solutions. And they do come here looking for them. Just
because you suggest a free tool does not mean it is the best tool or
the tool the requester would like to use. Many people will agree that
free is not always the best in a given situation.
Also, I would say there is a fine line between the solutions I post
versus the solutions you post. Many MVPs have links to their websites
or blogs or links to buy books written by them in their signatures or
posts. You use this as a venue to promote yourself as knowledgable and
hope to build a reputation and sell your books, drive people to your
site to seek written faqs or software solutions. While it may be
"free", you're also showing off advertisements for anything from
frisbees to software. I'm not complaining, but I think that there is
not a huge difference. And its not the seekers of help that are
complaining, its you guys that somehow feel bothered by it.
I will tell you that many people genuinely appreciate my posts and are
thankful for the solutions. I regularly talk to people that thank me
for posting a solution. They like the ease of use and the fact that it
is supported. Of the solutions offered, free or not, sometimes we are
the one chosen and the best fit for that particular person requesting
help. That makes me feel like I have contributed to the community here.
I hope you guys can see my point. I'm not just spamming or blatently
forcing people to read "ads" as you call it. I put thought into my
posts making sure they are appropriate and useful. And I do not see a
huge difference between me linking to a commercial website and offering
to hold someone's hand through a problem versus your linking to your
own website which has offers things for sale.
I do not want to get into a nasty back and forth argument. This really
isn't the venue and I hope you see my post in a good light. As I said,
I really respect you guys, and I hope you realize the help I have been
offering has been well received by people looking for it.
