Are threads for self-promotion allowed in "General Discussion"?

Not trying to stir up drama, I'm genuinely confused. Which is why I hope to get an official clarification from a forum administrator/moderator.

For years, every time somebody made a thread in this subforum advertising their commercial projects (games, art, websites, music, etc.), moderators always deleted or moved such threads, explaining that "General Discussion" forum is for discussion, and cannot and should not be used for any kind of self-advertisement and self-promotion. E.g.:

https://forum.unity.com/threads/whi...tomer-acquisition-sales-and-marketing.535142/



Which is why, acting in good faith, I reported this apparent self-promotion thread created for the sole purpose of advertising commercial assets (guys, I need your feedback on my music... oh, and btw, I sell it... oh, and btw, here are my contacts and my website... *wink wink nudge nudge*).

https://forum.unity.com/threads/i-made-an-orchestral-song-for-a-final-boss-battle.1382706/

Yet, contrary to established forum policies, my report was rejected by some forum moderator with the following alert: "Unfortunately, your recent report has been rejected: Post in thread 'I made an orchestral song for a final boss battle' - Rejected. Please stop reporting this."

Which is why I would like to ask for official clarification on advertising and self-promotion in "General Discussion" subforum. If some members are (apparently) allowed now to make threads for self-promotion, can I (and everybody else) also post threads in this subforum showing off my games/art/assets, followed by links to my Steam/Google Play/Asset Store to boost my sales? I think forum rules and policies should be the same for everyone.

 

There are two sub forums you want to look at, which are dedicated for self promotions, based on Unity related projects.
Made With Unity and Work In Progress.

General Forum is not for advertising or slef promotion. As you have been informed.

Besides, unless it is some form of asset, or library to share with community, showcasing music is not really place on General Forum. While it sounds nice, it could be easily abused by others, introducing mess to General Forum. Hence no exception here unfortunately.

 

@Ukounu Why are you so triggered by this? Jesus.

 

Honestly I too wondered about this. Was also assuming self promotion is not allowed here but then that boss music thread appeared which was apparently supported by an Unity dev.
Feels indeed inconsequent.

 

if you are not a moderator why are you trying to the do the moderators job?

 

Sounds like the dude just wants to be sure he and everyone else are treated fairly. What's wrong with that?

Sure, in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter but I would also be curious to know why the OP report was rejected...

 

Oh don't make me talk about how gravitational potential of goood art, massively good art, could bend forum space-time laws. /s

PS.
Why does "everyone" want to post self-promotional stuff in general discussion?

 

What led you to conclude that it was created solely for the purpose of advertising commercial assets? Was it just the contact information at the bottom? Would you have thought differently of it had the information been in their signature instead of the post?

On a somewhat related note while I have had reports rejected I don't remember ever receiving a message that said to stop reporting a post. Have you reported it more than once?

 

I'm assuming he did because the mod specifically stated for him to stop reporting it. He must have reported many times.

 

This is a case of "this thread needs moving to correct subforum" more than "this thread needs deleting"

 

What subforum though? It wasn't an asset and it wasn't a WIP.

 

Thats a good point, I have often wondered if it would make sense to have a showcase style forum where you can show your work like this, for the cases like this that sort of "fall through the cracks".

Actually wasnt there a thread for that sort of stuff at one point somewhere?

 

The "Assets and Asset Store" sounds appropriate to me. Its description is:

Per the title, it's not just asset store stuff, it's "and".

In this case, repetition of the template does give a vibe of deliberate promotion. Which is perfectly ok, in the right spot.

On that note, this thread is also not in the most appropriate section.

 

Possessing a pair of functioning eyes was a sufficient prerequisite to lead me to this conclusion.

I'm not doing anybody's job - I'm asking for official clarification on forum policy which directly impact me as a forum user. Namely, me being allowed (or not allowed) to make new separate threads to advertise my assets and projects in this subforum. Because any thread in "General Discussion" is guaranteed to get more views and responses than the same thread posted in "Assets" or "Made with Unity" subforums, we all know that.
Over the course of several years I saw a few dozen similar threads where people tried to promote their games or assets in this subforum, and in each and every case such threads were either moved to other subforums, or outright deleted. That's why, until recently, I assumed there was a clear forum policy on that issue. That this subforum is a fair playground where people should actually discuss various gamedev issues, and not use it to promote their personal projects. Hence my confusion.

 

Gee, it's almost like because there's dedicated forums for that, but not the threads you're complaining about.

 

seems like passive-aggressive crabs-in-a-bucket behavior to me.

its the mods job to police the forums. if something slipped you can push the report button. If you pushed it a lot and they told you to stop then there must be some reason. You could PM the moderators to ask if it really bothers you that one random person got away with a thread that you don't like.

The whole thing is childish.

 

My original post wrongly addressed. Ignore it

Spoiler

You don't need any official to confirm tings.

Did you actually read General Forum Code of Conduct?

It clearly states
"1b. Spamming, including duplicate threads or posts and advertising."

Which you evidently posted advertising form of threads. Not one, but multiple,

and

to grab attention, instead of updating your existing thread.

So you matched 3 breaking rules conditions for point 1b.

 

I think you've misread, @Antypodish. The OP here did not start the threads which have caused the confusion.

And it doesn't look like they're still in General, anyway. It turns out that moderators are human, after all.

 

So that's why you're so triggered by this. You know there's more exposure in General Discussion, you tried it and your thread got moved, and because of that you want everyone banned from doing it.

It has nothing to do with you wanting the forum policy adhered to you're just butt hurt that you weren't allowed so you want the universe to not be allowed. How dare anyone.

 

Yeah you right. My apology to OP. I have mistaken with other user.

 

Which confirms that my original report was absolutely correct and justified, and whoever repeatedly rejected it was acting contrary to established forum policies.

I still think that this policy should be specifically explained in forum rules ( https://forum.unity.com/threads/unity-community-code-of-conduct.743180/ ) to avoid any future confusion. Because the way it's spelled currently ("The following are NOT tolerated... 1b. Spamming, including duplicate threads or posts and advertising.") is misleading.

Advertising of commercial products is apparently allowed, as long as it's gamedev-related, and is posted in designated subforums. That's a de-facto forum policy that existed since long ago, and I don't see any reason why it can't be spelled in official rules as such.

 

Why you reported same thing multiple times? It is not that they rejected your report. But the fact, you did it multiple times, by looks of it. Which is counter-productive.

 

Except the reasons they've been taken down probably has more to do with the fact the OP posted three separate threads per track than what you're complaining about and also... it literally doesn't matter. Stop being That Guy.

 

Oh my, the person whom I reported as a spammer keeps spamming the forum with his blatant advertisements, and somehow it's still me being the bad guy for daring to report him.

 

No, it's because you reported multiple times, got told off for it, and then started a thread whining about it.

 

Wow. So many people are acting like it's CRAZY to expect the rules to be enforced with an even hand.... Huh.

 

Turns out Ukounu isn't one of them.

In fact, they pretty clearly want an exception made entirely for their own self-promotion.

 

And why shouldn't they want an exception?

Cllearly, the mods (initially) seemed to demonstrate that such exceptions are available.

 

The rules, specifically, do not cover this. There was not an exception being made.

 

It's not crazy to want rules to be evenly enforced but it is crazy to expect a rule to be immediately enforced with only a hint of a violation. If we were going to start following the rules in that manner a great number of threads would be locked right now. Starting with this one (moderation discussion and wrong section).

That's not to say that the thread in question isn't potentially violating rules. It's just that the aspect of those threads is very minor: a single sentence and some contact info. If the self-promotion aspect is small and low enough in the thread that it could be viewed as a signature is it really the focus of the thread?

What is a problem is the number of threads that they've created. Rules ultimately exist to make the experience of using the forums more enjoyable. Creating one thread per track clutters up the visible thread list making it more difficult to do that. Which @Murgilod already pointed out to them and they responded positively to.

 

Actually we do have a place for it
here: https://forum.unity.com/forums/assets-and-asset-store.32/

Assets and Asset Store
"Promote your scripts, models, prefabs & other assets."

If it is not specifically an Unity project, but is made for (or can be used by) Unity then it belongs in the Assets & Asset Store forum. If it is in progress, then it can go into the Works in Progress sub forum, depending on its nature.
https://forum.unity.com/categories/works-in-progress.673/
(audio would be belong in the art subforum in wip if still wip)

General is not for self-promotion. If you want to promote your asset/project/game there is a place for it on these forums. If your service/product can't fall under one of these areas, then it doesn't belong here.

There are mods and staff that handle the reports. I would say generally we handle stuff the same way. There occasionally might be a minor difference in interpretation. And it is possible that the person handling the report may have misread or misinterpreted the post in question. (I know this is possible because I did exactly that a few months ago.)

I can't see old reports past a certain threshold, so I don't know what happened. But I have moved the mentioned thread above to the art WIP because that is where it belongs. I am also moving this thread to correct place.

 

It is an asset. Anything that can go into Unity for use in a project/game is an asset. (which is distinct from an "*.asset"). Since the poster was asking for feedback and only a single piece, I would consider it WIP, though that distinction is really up to developer in question.

 

You know what I mean. The "asset" in this case would refer to an asset in the context of the Asset Store subforum, which is pretty specifically named for the asset store and not "hey here's some stuff."

Especially since it was more about feedback. Feedback is also more generally accepted as being about feedback for things more directly related to Unity.

 

I do not know what you mean. The title is very specifically named Assets and Asset Store, and the subtitle and read me clearly state that whole sub-forum is for all assets usable in Unity, including Asset store assets. The only contex (which is clearly defined) is it must be usable in Unity. It has always been that way. You can promote your Asset Store item, or your Unity asset stored your blog/git/other, have done for ages. If you have an asset you want to share that is "released" it goes Assets (and Asset Store) sub forum, WIP if not released yet.