Quite a while back I posted an article entitled Vendors and Online Communities, written to be a resource for vendors/manufacturers/retailers of commercial goods who want to try and sell to a related online community.

Picture a manufacturer of bike parts and supplies finding a site like http://www.bikeforums.net/, or a tool manufacturer finding a site like http://forum.doityourself.com/

From the vendors perspective, they just hit the jackpot.  This community is made up of hundreds - thousands even - of members of their prime target audience.  The vendor browses through the forums, reading thread after thread of people directly asking about certain products, posting questions about problems that the vendor’s product is designed to solve.

Finally - the impulse is too great to withstand, and with visions of upward-trending sales charts dancing in his head the vendor registers on the site, logs in, and begins posting in those threads.

This is where Robbie the Robot should appear on the computer screen - flapping his bowling-ball arms and yelling “Danger!  Danger Will Robinson!”

Here - this is a case where “show” works better than “tell”.  This is the interaction between a vendor and an online community, and is a text book case of what not to do.  I’ve removed the specifics and names because they aren’t important - this applies anywhere on the internet.

Background
In the forum, there is a category entitled Forum Rules and Guidelines.  Most forums have these - it’s where they tell you to play nice with each other, how big your images can be, what the forum policy on obsenities and “NSFW” (Not Safe For Work) type posts and images is.

Typically the forum will post it’s stance on advertising in these guidelines.  The forum in question has the following:

Advertising
Not allowed here. Also I don’t sell commercial space for ads, or accept any form of $$$ for advertising of any sort. Anyone caught spamming will be banned no questions asked. If in doubt contact me first by sending me a PM. I don’t mind if you want to be a member here, I think that’s great. This site is not a site for you to sell your items though. We are funded through voluntary donations from members to keep this site ad free. Good vendors that are members here don’t need to advertise, the members here do it for them.

The Offense
The vendor in question didn’t bother to read the forum rules and guidelines.  He found a thread that was related to his product and posted something along the lines of (his actual post has been deleted, so I’m paraphrasing):

Hey Guys - another option is our product: http://www.myniftywebsite.com Our product is made in Australia so is of the highest quality.

The biggest issue with this post?  The thread had been dead for eight months.  Our vendor was obviously using a public search engine to find places talking about his (or his competitor’s) product and the thread from the forum was a result of his searches.  He saw the thread, and quickly registered on the forums to post a response, not bothering to investigate the rest of the forum. 

So his first post was a sales pitch on a dead thread - clearly a violation of the posted rules.

The Community Responds
Our vendor’s post was noted by a moderator, and brought up in the forum area that’s only visible to moderators. The site owner sent the Vendor a PM (private message):

Hi *****:

I don’t allow advertising here except in special cases. I especially don’t allow it when it’s your first and only post. If you’d taken the time to join the forum and become part of the group and let us know what you did or sold then that’s fine. But joining and posting “buy my stuff” right off doesn’t sit well with me.

Feel free to stick around and learn and add to the discussion but please refrain from adverting in the future unless you ask me first.

Thanks.

Vendor
I didn’t think I did anything wrong, especially when I found via a commercial site here in Australia talking about their product.  If you don’t wish your members to be introduced to high quality product then that is you call. I did not set out to break rules which were not available to read.............

The Site Owner:
*****, our position on advertising from vendors is clearly noted in this thread (link provided).

Vendor:
My friend we may be from down under but we are not stupid and don’t appreciate being preached to.  Please delete any contact with us, we are too busy to play games.

And the site owner’s response?  Complete banning of the vendor from the community.

The Lingering Bad Taste
What our intrepid vendor doesn’t realize is how connected his online marketplace is.  Site owners and moderators at one forum are often members of other similar, related forums.  You can bet that anytime a discussion comes up around our Vendors product niche, his offensive actions will be remembered and communicated to prospective buyers.  Or blogged about somewhere.

The Moral of the Story
If you are a vendor and are thinking about using the internet as a sales/marketing tool, approach online communities with great care - they can be your greatest ally or your greatest enemy.  Be respectful, and be aware that your actions may seem quick and temporary, but the internet and it’s users have long lasting memories.  Posts to websites and dicussion forums might be found by potential customers years from now.