Hi, I was just reading the Forums rules (first time I found any - are they new? I'm glad I finally found them, anyway...)

For maybe a year (?) I've been posting my late husband's photography equipment on APUG Classifieds, have made some sales (thanks everyone!), but I'm not a photographer, so when I saw the following in the Rules, it gave me pause:

"-Spamming is not tolerated. If it becomes blatant that your signature and user account are nothing more than a ploy for self promoting your products you may be warned or banned..."

Everyone in APUG has been incredibly kind and helpful and I certainly don't mean to take advantage of anyone. I'm posting this to check with the community: Is it OK, what I'm doing? I don't have any photography knowledge to contribute to the group, I'm just hoping to find good homes for my husband's camera and darkroom equipment. I did have an encouraging email discussion with Sean when I found the site, and I do have (and will continue until I've got everything sold one way or the other) a subscription to the site. I tithe back to APUG whatever I get paid from selling things here. Is there anything else I can do to be a responsible member, without actually being a photographer? :)

Terry Hickman

As I understand them, the no-spamming rules apply to the general forums rather than the Classifieds. Some people in the past have simply posted "me-too" replies to questions and a link to their commercial web sites without contributing any meaningful answers to the site.

Certainly, I would submit, someone in your position is more than welcome to use the classifieds section. That is an entirely different situation.

Cheers, Bob.

Terry
In my view you are doing fine, so keep on doing what you are doing. And I wish you luck with your efforts to find new homes for all that equipment.

gene

Sadly, and for the same reason, "asrafferty" (Amy) has had to do the same thing you've been doing. It's absolutely not a problem. Were everyone as ethical, and conscientious as you and Amy, spamming wouldn't exist here ever.

Rules are meant for breaking, and Sean will have to speak for himself, but he seems to be flexible for the right reasons.

There are some people, not you, who are blatantly using the Classifieds as a shop front. You've always been honest about why your selling items, and you aren't the only person selling equipment for the same reason. We can't object to that, and I'm sure your husband would have wanted to see his equipment going to people who will give you a fair price and treat look after the equipment as he did.

So good luck, it can't be an easy task.

Ian

Spamming is a term reserved for much more insidious and annoying behaviour. Usually, spamming is characterized by utter disregard for the community. I'd say that you're fine.

Absolutely, not a problem. You are in no way operating a commercial enterprise. I think most of us appreciate what you are doing and the way you are doing it. Thank you :)

My sense is that there's no problem since you are keeping it in the Classified section.

Now, if you responded to every new thread in any category with "oh yeah, and check out my new items over in the classified section" with a little HTML tag link I think it would fit the definition of spamming.

I am sorry for your loss, and I hope you find your experience selling his equipment here to be pleasant and relatively trouble-free.

Terry:

There is an infinite number of ways of making a contribution to this community. Just by asking questions like this, you contribute. Offering equipment for sale is also a contribution.

I'm sorry for your loss, and hope that you have enjoyed visiting APUG, and that we have provided a source for some comfort.

Matt

No problem at all, Terry.

The spam concern is more about commercial vendors, like camera shops, or maybe collectors who are not really photographers but are just speculating in camera equipment. If a camera dealer, for instance, were to post 20 classified ads in one day and crowd out all the individual ads posted previously, that would be unacceptable behavior. Those kinds of dealers have the option of becoming advertisers and using the sponsor's forum for announcing items for sale, within reason, without disrupting the general flow of conversation or the community atmosphere on the site.

Wow, thank you everyone! I have absolutely been treated wonderfully here, with two local-area APUG members even coming over and spending almost a whole day with me sorting things out and telling me what to call them and how to describe them! This is a great community and - oh yeah, by the way, I love looking at the photos you post (when I have the time! Which is unfortunately not as often as I'd like)!

I'll keep A-PlUGging away (*groan*) offering a few items at a time, pulling the ones that don't sell after awhile...I want to be notified if I make a faux pas, mis-step, or break a written or unwritten rule! The last thing I want to do is introduce ANY difficulties or unpleasantness in your terrific community.

Terry

Terry, as John mentioned, I'm in precisely the same position... I was moving my lips as I read your first post, I might as easily have written it. There's simply no way I'd have come through the four months since my husband's death without the support of the photography community, most especially Sean, but the many people here who knew Ted and just drop a PM or a note to see how things are going.

It's an awful thing to have to do with the physical and emotional corner of the house that was sacred for so many years... and, like you, I feel like I have to identify and describe in detail what each plant in a rain forest on Mars is, with just about as much hope of succeeding. Again, the folks here have met me more than halfway and guided me honestly and in good faith in figuring out what the hell I'm doing.

There really needs to be a wing in heaven reserved for photographers who understand the position you and I are in. And, I'm betting you feel exactly as I do -- that the only comfort there is in this exercise is getting these things into hands that will use and treasure them just like our husbands did.

Hang in there... and, for what it's worth, I actually teach ethics courses in graduate degree programs, and thought long and hard about whether I was imposing here. The truth is, it's one of the few ways to turn life's biggest lemon into something resembling lemonade, as everyone here has made clear with their kindness.

(and, naturally, I love reading the ethics and philosophy forums, just as I did when Ted was off reading about developers)

My best to you,
Amy


Wow, thank you everyone! I have absolutely been treated wonderfully here, with two local-area APUG members even coming over and spending almost a whole day with me sorting things out and telling me what to call them and how to describe them! This is a great community and - oh yeah, by the way, I love looking at the photos you post (when I have the time! Which is unfortunately not as often as I'd like)!

I'll keep A-PlUGging away (*groan*) offering a few items at a time, pulling the ones that don't sell after awhile...I want to be notified if I make a faux pas, mis-step, or break a written or unwritten rule! The last thing I want to do is introduce ANY difficulties or unpleasantness in your terrific community.

Terry

Thanks, Amy. I"m so sorry for your loss. I lost my husband in Oct. 2006 so I'm only a bit farther along on that tough road than you are. Concering the photography equipment, I'm maybe a little better off because he had boxed everything up before I even met him in 1981! His perfectionism had got the best of him, I fear. Fortunately I have many of his beautiful works. And he took such great care of his things, and packed them carefully.

Since I'm on here, I think I will add a plea to all you photographers: please, please, PLEASE take the time to record a list of your equipment! Just ten minutes a day to write down a few items and their descriptions would be SO helpful should anything happen to you, and your grieving loved ones have to dispose of the equipment. Record if you have someone in mind to receive certain pieces, too! This project takes up 1/4 of my dining room and so much time, when I could be doing other things, like keep the house and yard up better, or pursuing my own interests.

Please start making a list now. It's just a fact of life that anything can happen, at any time.

Terry