Has anyone else noticed

I haven't Carol.

Hmm I havent seen any.

I have seen them, Carol...and to the best of my knowledge, they are not supposed to do that. Contact support@gather.com and report it.....

Carol----

I have noticed Gather HQ becoming more and more lax about a lot of things the past few months (especially copyright infringement and plagiarism).............

Hmpft - the only thing Gather should be selling is author's novels !!!!

(ha ha)

No, sorry, no offers in my gather mail or articles I have read.

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I hadn't noticed. I've seen product reviews, but those are different.

I haven't noticed yet anyhow. That sounds strange offering friendship.

I have noticed and I believe it is against the TOS. I've even been asked for a date by some woman who clearly doesn't know who she is talking to.

Yes, I have noticed and reported.

It is against TOS to sell anything on Gather.

I haven't seen or received any. I've been asked via e-mail to let someone hook me up with their father, but I turned it over to the Gather Team.

I've seen a few but not too many ...

I have noted a sharp increase in this type of article being published. In fact, some mornings almost 40% of all articles published are designed to sell something and direct you to a website outside of Gather. On average the ratio is 20% of all articles published.

Sadly, most of these articles are written in such a way that they are allowed under the Terms of Service (TOS).

...not that it matters though, as Gather regularly disregards their own rules when it comes to content reporting. I don't even bother reporting spam anymore.

Note: It is NOT against the TOS to sell a product or service on Gather. In fact, you can sell and promote just about anything, depending upon how you do it.

I have an idea....do you think I should hold a live chat on how to sell your goods on Gather?

Kevin - I have concerns about this because I think that being able to Digg articles on Gather helps promote Gather. In fact, I have dugg articles and have seen some of them do quite well, getting views they might not get otherwise.

Although there is no requirement to do this, I am wondering if we should ask people before we Digg their articles. I assume that the regular columnists DO want expand their audience, though. Sometimes I Digg those articles and spread the wealth of Gather, getting views back here.

However, people at Digg are not tolerant of what appears to be SPam. Selling stuff appears to be SPam. It is a fine line because what about authors who want people to know about their work? Some of them have been strong contributors to Gather, writing article after article. If their book comes out, don't they have a right and don't they deserve to note that it is for sale and where it can be found?

However, if someone comes here, rarely participates and JUST wants to sell stuff, that is another matter. I hope the difference is clear. I'm not sure it is.

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I just skip the articles selling things and move on.

I've noticed it, and it makes it a lot more difficult to find something of quality to read.

Okay, I just wrote this article about my take on Spam and there are NO links to anything outside Gather: Good links and bad

I have not seen any~

I get them now and then. I flag them as spam.

I truthfully haven't checked my mail as yet.

I've noticed it too!

I don't get any personal ones, but have seen some in my groups.

Jo,

Spam to Digg is not the same as spam to Gather. Spamming Digg has little to do with content here which is considered spam.

The issue to which Carol's article is directed has nothing to do with 'Digging' articles or remitting any content to social bookmarking sites.

Jo,

"However, if someone comes here, rarely participates and JUST wants to sell stuff, that is another matter."

The amount a member participates, or the length of time they have been a member of the community should NEVER be a factor in determining if their content is spam or they have broken the publishing guidelines in some other way. Adding this to the equation would cause the entire system to collapse...rendering it even more useless than it is today.

I have not seen any Carol.

I haven't seen any

I rarely come across an article on Gather that exists to sell something.

It is my comprehension of the Gather Terms of Service that OVERT selling is not permitted. COVERT selling, on the other hand, is apparently allowed.

I haven't Carol.

Hi,
I don't like it when someone asks me to be my friend but in reality they are selling me something. Maybe Kevin, a group to sell things might be in order.

I haven't spent as much time as I did a couple of years ago, so no, I have not noticed. Friendship for sale? That's bad.

But I guess it's not against Gather rules.... People post referral links and all other money-making articles all the time.

I haven't seen any articles like that, although I know some contests encourage soliciting connections for the purpose of winning the contests. For example: the music contest.

I hadn't noticed. But then, I junk a LOT of the gather email I get without reading it too.