ANNOUNCE: High quality, low price Fmoc-amino acids

[Jill Kellogg]

(S. Findley) writes:
>>
>>Since when is advertising acceptable in this or any newsgroup?
>>(It has been a while since I subscribed to this one)
>>
>>I think it should be discouraged.
>>

>Then there won't be any postings at all!
>As long as the title clearly indicates it's an add what's the big deal?
>There are only 5-10 postings a week in this group so it's not like you're 
>being bombarded with messages.
>
>Jeff Mathers

Jeff, 

I don't know who screens your messages but I receive 20-50 postings a day in 
this group.  And I'd like to hear your logic behind the "Then there won't be any 
postings at all!" statement since the ANNOUNCE posting is the only true ad (not 
add) I've seen in the 2 months I've been watching.

Here's what BIOSCI has to say about commercial actvities in the BIOSCI/BIONET 
newsgroups:
BIOSCI is funded in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF)
which supports the Internet in the U.S. with U.S. taxpayer dollars.
NSF is responsible for setting Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) for the the
NSFNet backbone section of the Internet of which BIOSCI makes
extensive use. Because of these reasons, BIOSCI users should adhere to
the following guidelines.


Commercial activities on BIOSCI are in general prohibited except as

noted below.


BIOSCI readers without any financial connections to a company or a

product may discuss and/or post endorsements of a commercial product.
However, it is standard Internet practice to include in the posting a

disclaimer of any financial interest in the product/company. Note that

postings to newsgroups are subject to libel laws. BIOSCI advises

readers to think twice before taking potshots at products that they do

not like.


BIOSCI users often post general questions about problems that might be

solved through the use of a commercial product. It is EXTREMELY

IMPORTANT, however, that such general questions *not* be answered by

people affiliated with the product or company that might stand to gain

a sale as a result. For example, user X may ask, "Is there a product

that will allow me to separate protein A from protein B given the

following properties ...?", but, if user Y works at company Z which

sells a product that can accomplish this task, user Y does *NOT* have

permission to respond to the question. Responses can only be posted by

other scientists who might have experience in solving the problem in

question and who do not stand to gain financially by promoting the

product in question, i.e., they are not employees, consultants, or

connected to the company via other financial ties. As noted above,

postings endorsing commercial products should contain a customary

disclaimer stating the absence of financial ties of the poster to the

product/company.


Commercial companies MAY RESPOND to a public BIOSCI newsgroup if a

BIOSCI user asks a question directly about one of their products,

e.g., mentions it by name. The response should be limited to a factual

answer of the question posed and should avoid any hint of advertising

hype. Comparisons with competitors' products should be avoided

completely.


Finally, as a general rule, if you are unsure about the

appropriateness of your posting, before you post anything please send

a copy of what you propose to post to the BIOSCI adminstrator at

biosci-help at net.bio.net for review.


BIOSCI will takes steps to terminate network access to any reader who

willfully violates our commercial use policies.


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