Frances Bell

Hi Lesli,
I can't see you as fox or chicken!
My concern, and possibly shared by others from what I have read in postings, is that when partners (and I have only seen one do this) very quickly come in to shut down non-partners when they make any reference to their commercial services, it seems to be more than a little unfair. Do look at the Wiki, under Advertising
http://docs.moodle.org/en/Development:Moodle.org_forums_code_of_conduct
What you are describing does not sound to me like advertising. Exploring this in discussion helps establish what is mentioning services in the natural flow of conversation and what is blatant advertising.
However I do think it would be helpful to the forum if you explained what Faculty Room is and how it operates, as FR may not mean much to some here.
There is another point though - that Moodle Partners can form their view on what is acceptable with regards advertising and either work to change the statement in the Wiki, in collaboration with the rest of us, or make it clear if they support it.

Well that's one approach Tim but not the one taken in the Wiki entry that kicked off this discussion. So I guess that is part of what this discussion is about.
My understanding is that Moodle Partners advertise their services on the front page in the Partners block, but on the forums, they are expected to mention their services as part of the conversation but not advertise - the same as is expected of all Moodlers.

“Advertising

• It is not allowed to put all-out advertisements (Moodle or otherwise) in Moodle.org content, such as forum posts. The only exceptions are the Partner blocks and the books etc. on the front page.
• There is no restriction on anyone mentioning their services in the forums if it's a natural part of discussion. “

http://docs.moodle.org/en/Development:Moodle.org_forums_code_of_conduct

(Sighs wearily) No I am not trying to stop you from participating in this or any other thread, or asking you to seek my approval before posting. I doubt that there is anyone who hasn't figured out that you will speak your mind, come hell or high water
Communication style, rather than intention, can exclude others. If you don't stop to think whether or not people 'approve'' before you post, do you ever stop to think if your post will actually encourage others to participate?

Steve,
OK, you found out someone making a verbal inconsistency (well we will all have done that at some time or another ). Personally, I am glad that Howard (as a Moodle partner) is here joining in the discussion. I certainly don't feel that he jumping on the bandwagon. This discussion is about whether guidelines can help with people achieving their goals in the different areas of Moodle, one specific issue being advertising/promotion. You tried one approach Steve, and have already told us about that in this thread.
How about we try to make this discussion inclusive? We can still disagree without point-scoring or settling old scores.

It's good to know where to raise specific incidents Martin. I had already posted a link to the Tracker, Wiki and this discussion (Codes of Conduct) in the Moodle for Business Uses Social Forum as I thought it would be good to encourage involvement of that sub-community. I don't know where else this topic could usefully be discussed but there has been limited contribution to the Wiki so far.
BTW, I would rather have these named as 'guidelines' rather than 'rules' or 'codes of conduct', just my two pennorth