Mia, 

thank you for posting this and for trying to clarify what is potentially a delicate issue. As a commercial vendor, I often struggle on whether to post content that may be of interest to the list, although it obviously comes from us and on many occasion talks about the work we do commercially. At the same time, it may be relevant when people on the list ask for examples of projects or advice, but how do you separate self-promotion from being genuinely helpful? If someone asks for examples of crowdsourcing projects and we have done a rather relevant one (which I won't name, but I'm pretty sure everyone knows what I am talking about) - should I refrain from posting it because it (directly or indirectly) promotes us and our services?

Regarding individual points on the guidelines and the more general Jiscmail acceptable use policies.

> We also ask that you don’t advertise commercial services (yours or otherwise) without invitation, by which we mean promotion of a paid-for product or service outside the context of discussions of relevant products or services. If a user asks for examples of “product X”, you may share information about a product you are or are not affiliated with.

This is very clear. The same applies to the acceptable use policies:

> The posting of unsolicited commercial or advertising material is against the JANET Acceptable Use Policy (http://www.ja.net/services/publications/policy/aup.html), which applies to the use of JISCMail.

which is also quite precise. But this is followed by:

> However, publicising items of potential interest to list members, such as new releases of software packages, publications, training courses, websites, job vacancies, conferences etc can be to the benefit of the list members, and this is permitted provided the following conditions are met:
> 	• The sender of a promotional message must seek permission from the list owner before posting, unless the listowner or list guidelines have already stated that this type of posting is acceptable.
> 	• Promotional messages should only be sent if they are related to the subject or purpose of that list.
> 	• Promotional messages must be sent from a clearly identified and contactable source.
> 	• Such messages must not be part of a commercial exchange - list owners may NOT charge for the posting of such messages, nor will JISCMail forward messages for a fee.
> 	• List owners may grant comprehensive permission for certain types of posting (such as job announcements), or to certain organisations. List owners can always consult the JISCMail Helpline if they would like advice or support in this matter.

All of this confuses me. Can we or can we not? Should we seek permission to post when we think we may be promoting our services? From whom?

Thank you for your help.

Best regards,
Cristiano

----

Cristiano Bianchi
Keepthinking

UK
43 Clerkenwell Road
London EC1M 5RS
t. +44 20 7490 5337

US
244 5th Ave
New York NY 10001
+1 212 372 7351

www.keepthinking.it  







On 22 Feb 2013, at 11:56, Mia <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Dear MCGers,
> 
> we’ve put some draft 'Museums Computer Group JISCMail List
> Guidelines' online for comment:
> http://museumscomputergroup.org.uk/email-list/mcg-email-list-guidelines/
> 
> We’re particularly interested in finding out whether they clarify things
> enough, particularly for people who aren’t sure when it’s ok to talk about
> their commercial work without spamming the list.
> 
> Also, should we be more proactive about trying to widen the range of voices
> heard on the list? Let us know in a comment on the post, on twitter
> (@ukmcg), a post to this list or via email.
> Cheers, Mia
> 
> --------------------------------------------
> http://openobjects.org.uk/
> http://twitter.com/mia_out
> 
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