[plug] I had a Thought

[Brian Tombleson]

I bet you're all surprised :-)

It's probably been raised before, but I couldn't find anything in my (brief)
search of the archives.

There are occassionally requests along the lines of "who sells/supports
Linux in Perth" .. ie. seeking commercial assistance.

I run a business that offers support of Linux to other businesses (normally
non-tech).  But I believe it to be fundementally wrong to do any
self-promotion through the list because it is supposed to be (and is,
generally) an information source and trouble-shooting help for Linux
end-users, a promotion of Linux in general and in the spirit of the Open
Source/Free Software movement.

Has PLUG considered having an alternative level of membership for
businesses?
For a more significant financial contribution ($50?, $100?, $500?), you
could offer limited benefits to a captive market.

I mean a captive market in the sense that PLUG should be kept (forcibly if
necessary) free of push-style marketting so that regulars and newcomers
alike should still feel comfortable visiting and joining our forums, and
because as such it would make people more susceptible to advice given when
pertaining to commercial activities.

Limited benefits would mean an understanding with the business member that
their promotion within PLUG would be entirely passive - perhaps even limited
to a very small category on the web site with a summary of services provided
and links to their sites - possibly other member's (politically correct -
ie. not flames or abuse) comments about them as well.

I know that Jeremy is already doing something along these lines with his own
site, but that is external to PLUG.

Having such a category means people who ask for some level of commercial
assistance can be directed to the page instead of asking and getting replies
on-list.

The benefit to PLUG is the additional income and a ready list of people to
hit-up for sponsorship when needed for events :-)

I'll try to limit the escape of my thoughts to a manageable level in future.
Kind of like Casurina.

Regards,
Brian Tombleson
<gratuitous promotional sig which is deliberately not generally included but
here for demo purposes>
Paradigm IT Consulting (www.ParadigmIT.com.au)