Advertising pictures on SL.com homepage

Should people be allowed to use the pics on the front page to advertise, as shown below in the right hand snapshot?



I personally think it is pretty cheesy. It is one thing to show off some thing you have made - it is another to just put an ad that is not even a live snapshot of SL, but a snapshot of a texture.

I've got mixed feelings about it myself. On the one hand - it is pretty cheesy, considering the spirit behind your service.

On the other hand, limiting it has some implications I'm uncomfortable with. Not to mention - considering the audience viewing the home page..... how effective is an 'ad' posted on snapzilla or to the SL webpage in reality?

The ad I see you listed as an example doesn't make me personally any more or less inclined to do buisness with Nexcom, IMHO.

Sure it's alright if one is into the commercialization of SL.

Just another day in buy-sell paradise, where, fortunately, not everything has a price.

Oh, I voted No.

Just as a side note - this isn't about my site actually - the picture was removed as it violated the terms of use of the site. I question how effective advertising is on the home page too - since the audience is people who aren't even in SL yet.

the problem is, once one person starts effectively using this marketing technique, all of their competitors will feel pressure to do the same. That would totally defeat the purpose of having images on the website showing prospective users a broad-based sample of what is going on inside SL... and will only result in images being pulled. If LL wanted to show advertisements, they would have charged money for the damn slots.

so i say exercise restraint, or at least learn the art of subtlety in your photography for crying out loud.


It is an unfortunate aspect of human nature that we test the bounds of everything to see just how much we can get away with. It's why we're destroying our own planet... of course, it's also why we put a man on the moon...

I think trying to sneak free ad space this way may do more harm than good to the advertiser. It has a certain flim-flam, late-night infomercial feel to it that doesn't inspire much confidence.

I don't know if it's actually wrong. It just seems a bit tacky. I'm not anti business but I'm never thrilled to be bombarded by ads. But maybe LL intended to have some of the front page space for player advertising. Personally, I'd prefer to see non commercial images.

That looks like something I would have done.

Can we post clickable referal links through Snapzilla?

Muwahahahahaha.

(Serious answer is yes, posting ads on SL's home page is cheesy)

I imagine it wouldn't be effective at all, so an advertising pic becomes more a satire of greed than anything else. I personally don't really have a problem with it since it'll only be up there for a few minutes and whether people like it or not, commercialism is something that goes on in SL. I don't see what it can hurt aside from the reputation of the product being advertised. What current SL resident is going to do anything but roll their eyes when they see it?

Exactly.

My official answer was Other, due to the wording. Is it "alright" to do it? Sure.. it's alright, I guess, because it is allowed. Is it affective, good business practice, anything less than used-car-salesman? No.

Eeee ... I completely forgot the pics we take get viewed on the homepage. I've been taking pics of my nostrils and everything.

No wonder I havent seen as many newbies in the Welcome Area...between Business Ads and Lash's nostrils on the SL Homepage, they have been running away before signing up.


hehehe

On the flipside, they sign up in droves when she takes snaps of her other 2000 parts.

To play devil's advocate here...

Say i complete a custom build for a client and I'm particularly proud of it. If I send in a few pics to Snapzilla, with the caption being like "another satisfied customer" or some such... woudl that be Bad Form (tm?)

LF

Not in my view. To me, there's a difference between taking a picture of a build or other type of creation, and taking a picture of a billboard/sign/vendor.

Now, if you captioned it with, "Get your own build by Lordfly Digeridoo in just 18 easy installments of only $99.95 each! (Void where prohibited.) IM me, Lordly Digeridoo!" then yeah, I'd say that was tacky.

Well, what's the difference? In my field of "work", builds are my billboards.

LF

Well its not really the same. On the frontpage that house would just look like a random nice house. On Snapzilla it would have the captions, but it could be deleted etc because snapzilla is moderated, the frontpage I think is a free for all.

*That* is precisely why I voted "undecided". Clearly (to me at least) it wouldn't offend in the least if Lordfly posted a pic of one of his tastefully done homes, with the hope being that someone would see it, and contact him to build something similar.

Where does one draw the line? Because I don't think anyone can - I seem to be more comfortable just putting up with an occasional 'roll of the eyes ad' to allow more subtle ones to flourish without restriction.

Hrm.... I seem to be nearly falling off of this fence I've been sitting on

Actually - all it would take is a little Photoshop magic and a 10m x 5m flat prim strategically placed in front of LF's masterpiece. Make sure you use a readable font, with high-contrast colors and you're g2g.

Snap pic - upload - instant marketing.....no 'zilla required

i think it depends, if its a shot of someones logo for thier inworld business Zoomed in on or a whole slew of thier product vendors then yes it's questionable in taste, on the other hand (for example), i had my shop on there and i see nothing wron g with that becasue you really couldnt see the Marquee for one and also i built the shop myself with custom textures and i'm quite proud of it. the build itself not just the business has some neat features imo. I would hope others come to see it. just my two $L

Builds are your billboards, but not cheap ass photos of photos of those builds, with pleas for business, right?

It's the same difference of me taking a photo of my av in some clothing I made, or taking a picture of my sign or boxes of clothing on my wall.

I think most people know the difference.

I always thought that pic feed on the home page was moderated. Considering all of the things that could be snapped and sent (nostrils, etc.) - an unmoderated feed is dangerous. Advertising is the least of their worries!

The feed should be moderated by Lindens. Voted "other."

It's cheesy and probably won't increase their sales. I think at least take a picture of a new product or something.

I don't see how the pictures could be moderated as it doesn't really scale. It's a waste of Linden time to be the photo mod although it is pretty brave to allow unmoderated images on their front page.

honestly i thought someone was monitoring and i dident think it would work. sry if it upset anyone.

I'm sure someone will - just like someone will use keys to send ads to people eventually - just like folks had auto give notecard droppers at one point..

If LL decides to allow it, they allow it... If you can, someone will.

That being said, I'm of the opinion that *HOW* you advertise and your practices reflects on you... especially in SL where a good portion of businesses are tied to one or two AV's.

So I usually sit back and think 'is this how I want to be seen or thought of?' before embarking on any kind of venture.. This is an example of something I wouldn't do - but in a backhanded way I like when folks do things like that... it lets me know who I don't really want to do biz with.

Siggy.