Nov. 16, 2007, 12:07 AM: Major Changes

Originally attempted to mail this Nov. 16, 2007 at 12:07 AM to 62 members, but I'm not sure this was successfully sent either.


Hi everyone, I'm not sure if my previous message was successfully sent - in case it didn't arrive, I'm including it at the bottom of this message.

I think I'm basically done renovating the pod.  I didn't delete any posts besides some of my own ads and requests - the rest, I tried to edit lightly just to remove any PayPal addresses, postal addresses, and so forth.

The posts from the donation request boards, the “Your Items, Products & Services” board, etc. were moved into the Relocated, Possibly Edited Posts board.  Upon request I will edit and/or delete whatever you wish.

Regretfully, I must ask you to not post donation requests anymore, since asking for money is against Zaadz's rules.

However, as I mentioned in my previous message, eventually, I will probably begin another, quite similar Donations & Microdonations for Individuals & Groups forum on my own website, where there won't be so many restrictive rules to deal with.  It will be totally independent of Zaadz.

The address will be: http://prosperity.astroblahhh.com/

In case my original message wasn't successfully sent, here's the original message I tried to send at 8:08 PM, 11/15/2007.

—————

Hi everyone.  Someone recently drew my attention to the fact that asking for money via Zaadz is not allowed.

I did a little digging and found this post from a Zaadz team member, posted Nov. 9th:

http://pods.zaadz.com/how_tos_and_faqs/discussions/view/203837

Quote:

2) Never send money or perform any commercial transactions on this site. If you encounter any member asking for money, let them know that it's a violation of our Terms of Use, and then please report them to us, immediately, so we can take appropriate action.

I assume this must be a new policy change which wasn't in force before, because I'm sure the Zaadz employees who joined my pod would have let me know long ago if the pod's activities were against the rules.

So, this means I'm going to have to change the pod quite a bit in order to make it compliant with these rules.

Due to the way the message boards are set up on Zaadz, it's not possible for anyone to edit or delete their own posts, so, none of you need to do anything to your posts on the pod.

I just wanted to let you all know what was going on.  I'm going to set about editing posts to remove requests for money, PayPal addresses and other means of collecting donations, and, upon request, I will completely delete posts (or edit them as you wish).


Anyhow, the above rules make it impossible to carry on with this pod on Zaadz, so, in the future, I might very well simply start a very similar Donations & Microdonations for Individuals & Groups forum on my own website.

It will probably take a while for me to accomplish this, but naturally, you're all invited once it's up and running. :-)  The address will be:

http://prosperity.astroblahhh.com/

Currently that address just redirects to the pod on Zaadz, but, in time, this will change.

The pod will continue to exist on Zaadz, but, unfortunately, no one will be able to post donation requests - which kind of defeats the entire purpose of the pod.  But, no matter, because we're definitely not limited to having the group on Zaadz.

This may be just the motivation I need to really learn how to program websites (instead of just talking about it but not getting around to it). :-)

I hope you're all doing well out there, and Happy Thanksgiving. :-)

Best wishes,
Apollia

Re: Nov. 16, 2007, 12:07 AM: Major Changes

Just a small update.  I still don't know if the mailings I tried to send to the entire pod actually were sent, and I don't want to send out more than one or two mailings in such a short span of time, so I'm only posting this rather than mailing it, for now.

I went ahead and deleted the majority of threads started by me, as well as the mailed announcement archives (which mostly consisted of donation requests).  I will most likely sometime repost at least some what I wrote on my own website.

Some search engines actually penalize sites for having content which is duplicated on other websites, so, this will be better for both me and Zaadz than having duplicate info on both sites.

I also moved almost everything in the pod onto this board, and proceeded to delete the emptied boards. I didn't delete any threads besides my own, though I did have to edit out things like people's PayPal addresses, and statements specifically asking for money, etc.

I skimmed rather than read carefully, so I might have missed some things that need editing.  Once again, if anyone would like me to edit or delete any of their posts, just ask.

On the forum on my site, we'll definitely have more freedom of speech. :-)  I'm not sure how soon I'll have the new forum running - it might actually take quite a while, since, I'll admit, running a forum, in many ways, isn't exactly my cup of tea, and I also need to ponder issues like the design, and whether I should (or even can!) implement nifty custom features such as maybe some features inspired by the exceedingly clever forum at DonationCoder.com, which is microdonations-enabled. :-)

But, in any case, the new Donations & Microdonations for Individuals & Groups forum will eventually be located at http://prosperity.astroblahhh.com/ , and you're all invited. :-)

Best wishes,
Apollia

Re: Nov. 16, 2007, 12:07 AM: Major Changes

Hi again, everyone.

Here's ~Matthew's very helpful explanation for why asking for money, and sending money, on Zaadz is now against Zaadz's rules:

http://pods.zaadz.com/zaadz_support/discussions/view/206382#206543

My reply to that thread also contains some more details of my future plans for the new forum, etc.

This pod no longer can permit donation requests or advertisements of anything for sale (though according to ~Matthew I needn't worry too much about deleting stuff, so I guess the ads that already are here can stay; and, as I mentioned before, I already edited lots of posts).

But, discussions are still permitted, and I plan on keeping this pod open for discussions indefinitely.

As for the new forum - as I've mentioned before, it may take a long time for me to get that started, especially since I'm rather in the mood to concentrate more on other projects.


There is actually a whole other microdonations board already in existence over at the Quantum Social Networking social network started by Visionary Architect.  Here's the address for that social network:

http://quantumwork.ning.com/

The microdonations board over there is called “Microdonations Pathway”.  Here's a direct link to it, except you have to be logged in in order to see the board:

http://quantumwork.ning.com/group/microdonationspathway

The only problem might be, any posts there would have to follow Ning's terms of service, so, I'm not sure if we could carry on as before over there any better than we can on Zaadz.

Best wishes,
Apollia

Re: Nov. 16, 2007, 12:07 AM: Major Changes

Hi Apolla,

Why cant zaadz donate to whoever that is in need.  I believe this pod has been here for a long time, so why did they allow the existence for the first time.

Regards,
Aijay

Re: Nov. 16, 2007, 12:07 AM: Major Changes

Hi Aijay.  ~Matthew (a Zaadz employee) explained the reason for the change in policy here:

http://pods.zaadz.com/zaadz_support/discussions/view/206382#206543

Quote:
Why cant zaadz donate to whoever that is in need.

Do you mean, Zaadz itself?

A good question, but, even though Zaadz is now owned by a very prosperous company (Gaiam) ever since being purchased in an apparently multi-million dollar deal, I'm not sure Zaadz itself really has the resources to do things like that, even if Zaadz wanted to.  (And maybe Zaadz doesn't want to for some reason - though it's hard to say whether or not that is so, without asking whoever is currently in charge of Zaadz).

With the exception of the Zaadz Scholarship, I don't know of any case where Zaadz itself has actually given any money away - though there might be other, similar things they do that I haven't heard of.

Actually, I forgot all about that Zaadz Scholarship until writing this reply.  Sorry I didn't remember it until now.  I guess since you were hoping to be able to pay tuition, you might be interested in that, though, since only 2 people out of possibly thousands of applicants are going to receive one of two $1,000 scholarships, it's not something anyone should count on receiving.  It's probably more likely than winning a lottery, but, still a long shot.

http://scholarship.zaadz.com/

Quote:
I believe this pod has been here for a long time,

Well, only since June 24, 2007.

so why did they allow the existence for the first time.

No doubt only because then, it wasn't against Zaadz's policies.

It was probably a mistake for me to start it here rather than on a completely independent site where I wouldn't have anyone else's policies to worry about, but, I just never expected such a policy change to occur.

Anyhow, though, eventually the pod will hopefully have a new home on my own website, and when that happens, I will announce it.

Best wishes,
Apollia