There's rules and there's rules - we obviously don't want Mr Payne to start a thread on here saying "Paynes are the best" but there can be nothing wrong with a response to a question "where can I get...?" with the answer being a company name or a link to said company. It's not advertising, it's helping people. This is a great forum but, IMHO, it is spoilt by this ridiculous and often inconsistent insistance on starring out company names etc. No other forum I have ever used (and I've used a few) has such a policy...
In essence,
However, I'd add my incomprehension of how my giving two RIVAL suppliers for different designs of nominally the same kit could possibly have been considered commercial promotion.
I'm a simple consumer.
I've learned a lot on this forum about the good and bad points of different bits of beekeeping equipment from different suppliers.
For which, my thanks.
I've learned of one supplier that should never be sent a deposit. But oddly, that consistent customer experience is not to be found in the Directory.
I think that the sharing of such experiences (good and bad) is a great benefit from the forum.
But
the current implementation of the "non-commercial" policy seems to be demonstrating the absurdity of overly-literal enforcement.
By all means have a no-promotion policy, but the skill in implementing such a policy lies in the deftness, care and skill with which it is enforced - recognising the difference between overt promotion and constructively critical review.
The
nutcracker lacks any such subtlety!
I think that whether a supplier is referred to as P's, Pains, P*yn*s or even Pa
ynes is
not the important point -- its what's being said that matters. A reference or review of ****'s product, without the means of recognising what is being discussed, is an all-round exercise in futility. And 'cloaking' the identity, so that only the cognoscenti recognise it is only likely to hurt those that could
most benefit from the shared experience.
Its difficult, I know.
Its a lot more complex than ****ing asterisks.
In this case, I'd respectfully suggest that the problem lies in the asking of a purely commercial question by the OP.
And therefore that whatever 'moderation' would accordingly be better directed in that direction.
Is the question actually "As a (would-be) commercial supplier of nucs, I am looking for a large number of essentially disposable nuc delivery boxes - where (worldwide) can I buy them cheapest in order to maximise my profit?"
The question isn't about performance or user satisfaction - ONLY the commercial aspect.
Personally, I haven't a clue what the answer might be, but I fail to see how the question could possibly be answered non-commercially.
/And I suspect that the actual answer might depend on frame type and quantity ... all-in-all a pretty bizarre question, unless specifically intended to test the 'commercial' policy. Which again would be something to be brought up with the OP, rather than the respondents.
