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The number of people who just jump in and post something without reading the forums (or, all too often lately, even reading the forum names) is just staggering.
We're starting to get something of a broken window effect: People marketing books see other people marketing books and posting, well, everywhere, so they do the same. So more of them do it, etc.
One of the things I learned a long time ago as a forum mod and admin: telling forum users not to post something is like telling cats not to claw the furniture. Users, like cats, have certain instinctive drives, and they will obey them. So for cats one needs to provide scratching posts, and for forum users one needs to provide appropriate boards.
Hence the need for a "Promote your ebook" board (and a rule of no more than one topic per book or series on that board). Otherwise, every other board, at least on the top half of the page, is going to gradually fill up with people selling books. And, while the book announcements are certainly useful -- we are, after all, by definition avid readers, and I think most of us are always looking for books worth reading -- the purpose of MobileRead is discussion of ebooks, readers, and reading, not to provide a captive audience for everyone with a book to sell.
So how about it, admins? Is a "Promote your ebook here" board a possibility? It looks to me like a win all around.
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