Boytoys wanted

I would agree Dinalya except that so many people have friends involved in business. Pretty much every club I go to I'm friends with the host or the DJ so I have some ties to the club. If other club employees or owners don't see it as an issue than I wont either. It's not like people are on there shouting about furniture sales. I am just concerned about fairness for everyone.

Something happening immediately and something not constantly and repeatedly mentioned would seem to be ok in my mind. Time-sensitive stuff. So if you have a grand opening or a special sale . . . :)

That reminds me that I never had a grand opening. And people have now visited it . . I've lost the chance for a grand opening :(

Wish I had said or sent something about my seasonal store of 40+ Wintery pictures/scupltures, since that was only up for a short time and now gone :) At least that time more than just my cats saw the pictures :) Some of the family did also :)

;)

I actually had left thinking after joining the Cartel Forum, if I use one of my alts I can deal with instant messages from group and group announcements but it just personally got way too much for me. I have been bit reluctant to rejoin because of this.
I really wish their was another option in how we interact in world with groups sometimes.

Member or not FD, you are always welcome.

Different people draw the line at different places, I guess, and the expanded Cartel group is very new really. So as we get bigger maybe we have to change policies a bit.

I too have been getting uneasy lately. The one above is OK with me, because it's a group of friends sharing a good time right now.

But "Tonight I'm having Best in Blue at my new club" group IM messages seem to me blatantly commercial. Club owners post that exact message to their own groups, and to general club advertising groups as well, and those are the appropriate places for these announcements.

But what about, for example, artists/musicians? For me, now that we're bigger I'm uncomfortable with "vote for me" group notices ... they were fine when the Cartel was just a group of tight friends, but now they're more like advertising.

"I am in an art exhibit" or "I am starting a gig right now" is OK to me as a one-time group IM, which doesn't go to email, because I'm happy to support all artists to some degree. But "Come see my ..." as a Group Notice beforehand that goes to email for many of us ... there are now a lot of members, and if everyone did this, the Cartel group becomes an advertising venue. I have a 'get your own group' reaction.

But I think it would be great to have a "bulletin board" or shared notecard at the Hangout, similar to the business one, where folks could announce music and arts inworld.

Just my personal boundaries. And, Bradley, I very much appreciate the discretion you used.

Aww thanks. I did think of rejoining with my Dagon Grimm alt just in case but how bad is the group messages? I don't mind weekly event reminder but just curious.

Now see, thats different as well. What I mean is rather something along the lines of

(Random chattering going on at hangout when...)

Forum nut 1: Hey, I saw a live performance of sonso in events a bit ago, anyone want to go to that?
Forum nut 2: Oh that sounds like fun, we could make it a forum group event and invade the place!
-Forum nuts in area all agree-
Forum nut 3: Yea!! Lets go, but lets see if anyone else wants to tag along!

enter group chat....

So, thats what I was thinking lol. Not a 'Hey, my friend so n so is hosting, lets go and get in group chat' kind of thing, that is advertisment by association. *takes a deep breath* its a hard line to figure out lol

Bulletin board would be nice idea but that would require those in group with building permissions to rezz stuff, we couldn't do it. And there is a prim limit.
I have a suggestion why not have Forum Cartel blog like at blogger.com where we could post links to events, newest creations, and send messages like my friends and I do could be good idea. I could create one if you guys like with one of my alt accounts or perhaps one of the owners should?
Then we all have to do is look up the group's blog via forum or in world world profile.

A couple of thoughts from the blue chick who is late to every party.

First, on the issue of threads mentioning the Forum Hangout - to me the forum hangout is a completely different beast from any other Cartel-member-owned business, be it shop, community center, club, or, er, cafe. The Hangout is an extension of the forum; it's the same as the forum, except that it's in-world. Additional traffic at the hangout doesn't inure to anyone's benefit except the people who are hanging out there enjoying the company. Heck, I don't even think there is a donation box there. And so I don't see what the objection is to mentioning the Hangout in forum threads. It's not favoring one business owner over all the others - it's an entity that is entirely different from all the others.

Next, on the issue of group IMs. There have been a lot of them lately, it's true, and I've occasionally participated. I do not want to see them stop. I am relatively new to SL and the forum and I am kind of on a forum high, but the forum and the Cartel are some of the smartest most fun and interesting people I've met in SL and I'm delighted and proud to be in their number. So the IMs are a nice reminder that this group exists and I'm a part of it.

It would be nice if there were a way to stop IMs from filling up the chat screen (maybe there is but I have not found it). Opening the IM window does not work, which it should, because opening the "Near Me" communication window does stop chat from appearing on the main screen. Often in my cafe there are busy chats going on and having busy forum group IMs mixed in to that is very confusing. I would like to follow the Cartel chats but I do often wish they could be separated out. (Any suggestions?)

Finally, last weekend a mellow little impromptu party developed at my cafe, and I did send an IM to the Cartel group inviting any and all to stop by if they were so inclined. Several did, which I appreciated. But, it seems that there are some who feel that what I did is an abuse of the Cartel group and for that I sincerely apologize. My cafe is new and it's very exciting to me that people are enjoying it - and since I had seen other similar IMs coming across the Cartel group line I thought it would be okay. I certainly won't do it again if a consensus seems to be developing here against the practice.

My 2c then .....

I have a couple of very active music groups that during busy hours spout IMs every few minutes. If I'm not interested in them for that evening I close them down and that's that.

Same goes for the Forum IMs... last night was a good example.. I enjoyed the banter for a while, when I'd had enough I left the group IM.

As for the "advertising".. I once received a Forum group IM to announce that someone had their opening live music event. I was glad to receive it, hopped over and had fun.
I wouldn't mind receiving notices about events organised by group members, BTW. If I don't want them I have the choice to turn notices off

As for why it would be okay for the occasional thread about the hangout or activities there to appear here......... IMHO, the hangout wouldn't even exist without this forum.

I don't exactly frequent the place mind you, but the few times I've been there, it's been a very friendly and welcoming place. (It's also occurred to me that I seem to have left at the right time on those occasions )

Also, it strikes me that many of the forum group members who post here regularly, make a point of mentioning places like the Shelter, NCI etc. whenever it's appropriate.
I have never felt that the Forum Hangout was being "advertised" any more than any of the other place we all refer to as new-resident-friendly.

That's all, now back to the regular schedule

Just my 2c, IMHO, YMMV, etc.

ETA I can't believe I just posted in this thread

As part of the anit-political-correctness-absurdity commitee, I have to point out the pathos of needing an outside forum to descuss forum policy for the forum cartel...

There is an option in your communications tab in preferences to show or not show IM in chat.

There is?! *remembers to check that later*

Get creative. How about a Grand Non-Opening? Er, that doesn't sound right....maybe "Thank You Sale for Our Loyal Customers"...mmm, leaves out the NEW customers...ah! "BELATED BIRTHDAY SALE EVENT!!!!"

The advertising could be cheerfully self-deprecating -- "Hi, everyone! Lexxi's Place has been open for XX years now. I was looking over the old photo albums the other day, and realized that we'd never had a Grand Opening sale, way back when we started. So, what the heck, we're going to have one anyway! Come to our Belated Birthday Bash..."

/hug Sally

You're use of the Group notice was Fine. you invited group members to come to your place. Nothing wrong with that.

Get creative. How about a Grand Non-Opening? Er, that doesn't sound right....maybe "Thank You Sale for Our Loyal Customers"...mmm, leaves out the NEW customers...ah! "BELATED BIRTHDAY SALE EVENT!!!!"

The advertising could be cheerfully self-deprecating -- "Hi, everyone! Lexxi's Place has been open for XX years now. I was looking over the old photo albums the other day, and realized that we'd never had a Grand Opening sale, way back when we started. So, what the heck, we're going to have one anyway! Come to our Belated Birthday Bash..."

Speaking of the Forum Cartel Dagon Grimm and few members are there right now if you're lonesome or bored.

if i was entertaining a "Shelter" forum, i would absolutely expect a constant discussion of the Shelter hangout.

if i went to the shelter forum and regularly discussed the cartel hangout and pushed for attention, that would prove inappropriate.

the forum hangout was created by these forum members for these forum members. if you are reading this, you are invited to be a forum member and come to the hangout, or jsut come and not become a member. anyone is welcome. if you aren't interested in visiting, then don't.

I respectfully disagree, 3Ring. The Shelter forum (and there is one, in fact) isn't the 'Official Second Life Forums' nor owned by Linden Lab.

If the hangout was on Linden Land, and a Linden venue - I'd be completely with you. But at the end of the day, the Forum Cartel Hangout is a resident-ran venue just like any other... as special as it may be to those who call these forums home.

Y'know.... I bet if you guys contacted Torley - and proposed the idea of Linden sanctioning an in-world forum hangout.... they might just do it

FWIW: At this moment there are 6 handsome men plus myself sitting at the hangout.

Hey gals there is tons of men right now in Cartel. They all are asking; Where is the Women?

I wasn't singling you out, Madhu. In fact, I don't specifically remember your IM. As I said, I was equally excited about my business starting and did the same. I just noticed it becoming more and more of a trend lately.

For the record, I want to stress it does not offend me or affect me personally at all. I am not in the club business. I no longer work as a host. It's just that if there's one fault I have it's wanting balance. I am a Libra. If it's not a big deal, which apparently it isn't, then that's wonderful.

Awe. Apparently, I am now a lesbian teacher.

Yeah, I'm deleting my post about what's appropriate in group IMs. I enjoy the Hangout no matter what happens, Madhu's post was fine - I even went to her cafe then, lol! - and no sense getting my knickers in a twist about the rest. I'm a member of a lot of shopping groups, and have I guess witnessed too much commercial spam there, lol! The Cartel group is nothing compared to those.

so nvm, and i'm sorry if i bothered anyone!