[mcmama]

I just deleted a whole thread where there was a discussion over the permission of copying and pasting an ad that appeared in another forum. Apparently the op of that post in that forum did not want the information duplicated here, although others found it through a link to a personal site.

We have a problem with copy and paste posts, even when they are ads, because other sites often have a problem with seeing their information posted where they have no control. Please refrain from copying and pasting material in your posts.

We delete links to competing forums and deals websites. Links to personal websites are generally ok.

[NikkiLDS]

I'm bumping this up. I just deleted another ad that was copy/pasted from elsewhere. The problem is, when I went to the other site to see the ad, it had been copy/pasted from somewhere ELSE, giving credit to the username, but not the site. So bottom line is, I have no idea where it came from. And I definitely don't know if the OP wants their hard work pasted on other forums.

It stinks, but we need to stick to this. Any member of Families.com is welcome to type up an ad and post it here (even if they posted it at another site too) as long as they did the hard work themselves. We're just avoiding all the petty arguments if someone sees their work here that they didn't post here themselves.

[mcmama]

Thank you for being so vigilant about this. It really is important.

[NikkiLDS]

BUMP!! I just had to delete an ad that was copied from another site.

If anybody has the ad in their hands but doesn't feel they have the time to type it up, PM me and we'll see what we can work out.

[PinkElephant]

Any site where there is chatting about families? I'm not trying to make trouble, I'm trying to avoid trouble, !

[mcmama]

Competing sites are pretty much any site featuring active forums or blogs, regardless of content. And we don't copy paste from websites because of copyright issues in general - we link to the content instead. If you have questions about anything specific, feel free to PM me.

We don't name or link to competing forums or deals sites. We have had difficulty in the past with people joining to promote their own site. For some that meant not only talking up their own site, but using our forum to trash talk everyone else, including us!

We have also found that some competing deals sites ask us to remove a post when it has been copied from their site. So we encourage you to share information, such as store ads, lists, and so on, but write it yourself, don't just copy paste.

Last year someone copy pasted a "Black Friday" CVS ad that had appeared in another forum. Apparently it was copied quite a bit, and was even included in a reputable deals newsletter from another site. People thought it must be true, after all look how many places it turned up. We removed it right away, since it was copy paste, even though many members were eagerly awaiting CVS' s "Black Friday" info.

One thing we found strange was that no one could verify it against an actual CVS ad. Turns out, it was the ad from the year before. It was totally inaccurate. Whoever started putting the information on other sites was either playing a prank, or being very "helpful" by copying old information. Our member who posted it here got it from the other site's deals newsletter, so she thought it was accurate and ok - no harm intended by her. A lot of newbies were really fooled.

So we do not copy paste from other sites, and do not link to competitors. We have enough drama in our lives!

[pamperedpeterson]

Just a bump! We do allow direct linking to the CVS site's printable coupons, so please link directly instead of to another site.

[vanaden]

testing!