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Is it ethical for members/former members of this site to solicit PW members for a competing Piano Forum site?

ethical? competing?

I cross reference pianoforum.net on this site all the time.

I didn't know there was any competition involved.. They are all resources, use them as you wish.

-Paul

No.

Yes. Let the free market decide. :p

a non-issue IMO.

I used the word solicit. There is a difference between mentioning a site, and actively soliciting members.

Is it ethical to solicit?

Round here, you can get picked up on East Colfax for soliciting ...


As for other sites, mentioning is ok, saying it's a cool site is fine, soliciting members from here is *ALSO* fine provided there is no money involved on either side (i.e. loss of $ here or gain of $ there). Since it's almost impossible to figure out that last bit about money, that makes solicting a gray area IMO.

When a forum gets as big as this one, splinter groups will naturally form. I see nothing wrong with someone creating another group and inviting people they think might be interested to join. It doesn't mean people have to choose between one or the other, though they might. Does this group actually exist? Is it seeking to recruit people away from PW, or just recruit people from PW? If it exists, why was it created? What motivated its creation?

There's lots to consider (and much more information needed) before I could decide on the ethicality of it.

I think the best way to deal with that issue is to abide by the rules Frank has established. I think the applicable rule is this one:

There might also be some prohibition against spamming/selling things (although I couldn't find one), but that's not applicable to the situation you describe, I think.

The only way it wouldn't be OK would be if Frank decided it wasn't. So far, he hasn't so far as I know.

I never saw it before. It's hilarious! They are a bunch of people with absolutely nothing to say.

Some old favorites are there. To give you an idea of the tone of the place, check out this post from kathyk:

Okay, I'll start off saying this is not original - I got the idea from another unamed forum...

You gotta love 'um.

Is it ethical? Don't know.

Does it matter? No.

It's not like PW is at any risk.

might thin some of the riffraff.. might be a good thing...

Kind of the Dark Matter Piano World. Everything in black and hard to read. I'm going to join as a sockpuppet, they won't know it's me till it's too late. HA HA HA!

I agree with Matt. It's the internet forum version of a free market. Besides, a little attrition never hurt anybody.

I just wrote this nice long post, and it was deleted because of an internet error. I HATE THAT!!!!

Anyway, I was just making fun of that other website, regarding the issues that they were addressing; ones that we talk about all the time in here, except in here we contribute on a MUCH higher intellectual level. (as compared to what I saw there)

For example they would have stuff like:

"What do you think of this homosexuality topic?"

You might as well have:

"Has anyone heard of this Inter-Net technology?"

"What do you think about this Iraq war?"

or

"Has anyone ever listened to Rachmaninoff 3?"

Haha!

Point taken.

That which is not expressly forbidden is implicitly condoned.

Yet...what if the solicitation was monetarily damaging to Frank?

Hmmm, that gives me an idea! We should form a large gang of normal CR members (30 or so) and just go over and terrorize that forum, and run them outta town! This is OUR turf!

If you're talking about pianoforum.net, it's not a competing site. This site is geared more towards the technical end, and pianoforum.net is more toward pianists. The members tend to be a lot younger too.

I've been a member of pianoforum.net for almost as long as I've been a member here. I've never solicited any members from one forum to another. I don't think it's wrong to encourage people to post in another related, but not competing, forum.

I've gotten information from the other forum that I would not have gotten here, and the reverse is true.

It's non-issue.

Both Nils at pianoforum.net, and Frank at PianoWorld are busy people, and they don't need trouble made over this.

You stalk her all the way to that other site? You must really miss her, a lot!

i miss kathy too... such a stubborn woman