This topic was posted in response to a question of ethics on the
Member Items board.
If mentioning the names of other websites, linking to those websites, or naming members of other forums, or linking to posts at other forums gets me banned from some forum, then I did not need to be there in the first place. In fact, the
Doll Bar & Grill owner suggested that if I write a "wall of text" (a long post with few or no images), that I write it somewhere else and link to it from here.
I personally do not mention
The Doll Forum or link there (except for this example). I removed links to
Our Doll Community (ODC) from the
Arimecibo Island Forum when I made the
Website format change to "PG" in January of 2020. Some doll collector (or an underage person) might stumble upon the ODC website, thinking it is for toy or porcelain doll hobbyists.
I have not advertised the existence of the
Doll Bar & Grill at
Arimecibo Island because the DB&G owner has not made an 'official' website launch statement. I don't want to steal his thunder.
As far as I know, the only people who are not welcome here are vendors whose sole purpose in being here is to gain free advertising for their products (spamming the forum). Some doll owners, who are also vendors, get a pass because they observe respectable boundaries about what and where they post.
Somewhere around here we started a "Links" list for other doll forums, doll manufacturers and vendors, which should be updated as new businesses start up and some close. The source for that list was already seriously out of date. Other than that list, manufacturers and vendors can do their advertising on their own websites.
Etiquette in any public forum should be common sense, but it is not common enough. "Dollitics" (doll politics) is mentioned from time to time. Some people inject their personal feelings toward other people, other forums, and businesses, sometimes in clear violation of established rules. If those who do this are in management, then they cannot be challenged without repercussions. Other doll-related forums have sprung up due to dollitics.
