Got to get this one off my chest....
Anyone using the forums here knows that they are not to be used for commercial purposes. We are happy for users to put a link to their own website or business in their signatures if they are posting general messages of interest. No problem with that. We just don't want blatant advertising in the message part of the posts. People don't come to view the forums to look at adverts.
But, it seems that people are now abusing the private message facility and spamming members with their adverts, and that's all they are, adverts. Not help or information, just adverts. That's not what the private message facility (PM) is for.
Here's an example. Last week one of our members emailed me saying that his PM facility wasn't working. We spent literally 3 hours trying to sort it out for him and eventually found the problem that was causing it. We emailed him to tell his it was done and he then proceeded to email a load of members (using the PM facility) telling them to go to his website which is just a copy of Eye on Spain! What a cheek. We know this beacuse several of our loyal members sent us copies of the emails that they'd received from him.
We have also been sent emails from people who have been sent messages which are just adverts for other websites such as rentals, property management, etc.
This is not what the PM facility is for.
We therefore ask everyone to NOT spam other members and respect the facilities that we have created, particularly if their sole intention is to drive traffic away from Eye on Spain, which we have worked so hard for for the past 3 years.
If you do receive spammy messages from other members abusing the facilities we would appreciate you letting us know. Thanks.
I feel better now....