Friendly Flagging?

WW-Christina ?

Still wondering what happened. I didn't receive a message in my email yet.

~ thank you

You haven't received a response from WW yet Hayley??? This post obviously makes a HUGE statement.

@Hayley - This all occurred Friday evening of a long weekend, so I have not had the chance to review your email or the thread in question.

But yes, the thread was flagged down by community members for advertising.

Please remember, that advertising for your vendors has always been against the guidelines of our Community. In general, I have been extremely lenient with letting our community share codes and brief vendor deals that they find with fellow users. I love that everyone enjoys sharing tips and coupon codes that they find! It's a great testament to the helpful atmosphere of our community.

However, from what I was briefly able to look over before responding, is that this thread was a giant free promotion for this particular vendor (vistaprint), which we do not promote.

I will look into the specifics of this immediately and get back to you @Hayley. Thanks!

Wow. Second thing this week to leave me speechless.

What is with all the flagging? Aren't we all adults? I don't get it.

I got flagged for the first time in the sex in vows post and I didn't get an email. It's weird. I don't get it. Why flag stuff?

WWChristina...She was not advertising or promoting for VistaPrint, she was promoting free stuff for us...just as she always has.

@Mrs Clark - @Hayley has always been a valuable and consistently helpful and welcoming member of our community, we do not deny that!

But you all have seen us remove posts before where users actively want to brag about and promote their vendors. It's completely understandable (when you're excited and love a vendor you've used!), but has always been against our guidelines. Answering questions posed by a user in need is one thing, and I know that everything posted is meant with the most helpful of intentions.

Vistapring DOES have a WeddingWire account - let's let them do their own advertising

I've also contacted @Hayley directly about this, and apologize for the delay over the long holiday weekend!

@Tabatha - I'm not sure which comment of yours was flagged, but you're welcome to reach out to me if you have any questions! There were several obscene comments that we pulled, for reasons that are self-explanatory. I'm always happy to clarify if someone has a question!

Sad face =(

So would it be better to say

"I HAVE AWESOME VP STUFF TO SHARE"

and then say PM me if you want details of the awesomeness?

I didn't view Hayley's post as advertising, she said hey heres a sale and heres the awesome things i did with it. type stuff.....

Christina, In the past, I have promoted/shared the good work of a vendor who actually posts on WW forums, and my posts were not flagged. I speak specifically about Kelly King of

www.affordableweddinginvites.com.

I believe she posts under Goskell or Gossett. Did this violate the guidelines and should it be flagged? Should I stop promoting Kelly's work when a question is posted asking about invitations.

Bump so Christina can see this. Thank you!

@Carole - It's a great question! I assume we can all see the difference between posting a picture of something you've received from a vendor and correctly crediting them (as many do with their post-wedding posts), answering a specific question from a user ('Any suggestions on a great invitation designer?!' or 'Has anyone used Vistaprint?! I'm so confused!' and offering suggestions, and then actively promoting a pro by creating posts to showcase deals, freebies, etc. in an ongoing manner.

the occasional sporadic Groupon deal or coupon has never been made an issue here, either. I do know that the intention here is to help and aid fellow brides, which is obviously supported by our team.

No one is denying that @Hayley is a wonderful contributor, and I'm sorry she became an example here. This should be a general guideline that we all follow!

I am sorry for any confusion! Please feel free to contact me at cfields@weddingwire.com if you have other questions!

So...if I or another bride asked "How do I get free stuff from VistaPrint?" and Hayley answered using the same text and pictures she did on her thread...there wouldn't have been an issue b/c it was asked?

I definitely don't want the rules to feel inconsistent, and am open to making them more cut-and-dry if all of this is too confusing!

Edited to add: @Cydney, that's a great point. I would still say that that is answering a question as opposed to ACTIVELY promoting a vendor on your own. But it is a good question, and perhaps illustrates too much inconsistency.

In all honesty, I think we just want to clarify that if we post a question, it's okay for someone to answer in a tutorial type way (giving codes and ways to get freebies)...you just cannot post it as an original thread?

Hey Hayley C. I dont know about anyone else, but you have helped me out so much. Thanks for the post with the free stuff. Forget what anyone else said that stuff came in handy for me, isnt that what we are here to help each other do anyways? ;What's the big deal?

Thanks for your reply, Christina! I am still not clear what the difference is. Kelly can make money from my post, but Hayley can't make money from her post. Cate's baker can make money from my show casing her cake.

Heck, every time I answer a thread about a honeymoon and I plug my favorite resorts, am I breaking the rules? I don't understand the difference.

Cydney, That is a good question.

Not to argue but I think those VP links are incredibly helpful. They seem like more of a PSA than advertising. It's not like the VP account posts those links to alert members of their promotions, do they? If someone doesn't post them, people might miss them.....

Hi Ladies...this infamous promo STILL WORKS!!! I clicked on each of the free thing that are listed in the post on the fist page of this thread. After I got the 10 items in the cart I had to upcard on of them so i had to pay at least $1, so I just added a back cover to the free notebook which was $1.99 and then i went to www.vistaprint.com/emptymycart and went to my cart and checked out.Hip Hip Hooray....there is alway a way around oppression lol....I dont think that post should have been flagged. I hope you ladies can complete your orders,if you need help just ask me.