Man of Honour
- Joined
- 17 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 17,944
- Location
- Liverpool, UK
yes but the point is if they want to exchange links then they will, PMs would only make that one thing a bit easier but open up many other positive avenues...
I think OcUK have such a solid name that competitors links shouldn't make much difference anyway, they're a great company and people are perfectly aware that there are alternative places to buy but they still stick with OcUK...
In fact, if they allowed the discussion of competitor stuff openly if would cement them at the top of the pile- its the whole thing about not worrying about your competitors but make them worry about you
Do you think an official Ferrari forum would give a crap if its members were discussing Renault Clios
I do see where you're coming from, but OcUK have always taken the stance of "why should we pay for a service so people can freely advertise other companies who could take business away from us". It's a stance I agree with personally. If I were running the forum, I doubt I'd allow competitor linking as well. If it were allowed, every time OcUK advertised a product, someone would come in and say "oh you can get it 2p cheaper from here", potentially ruining threads with off-topic arguments about said company. At least if it's kept off forum, people have to actively go hunting for any cheaper products, and that alone is often enough to stop some people going elsewhere.
As for PMs themselves, they are very useful at times, I use them extensively on other forums, but when it comes to PMs here, it's not about the positives, the decision to not allow them will be based on the negatives only. I would imagine that if OcUK could somehow block competitor linking (impossible I know) then I think they'd allow it. As they can't though, I expect them to stay blocked permanently.
