Before you blog.

Dear Adholes Friends,

Adholes has undergone quite an evolution since our start in 2004. We're now approaching 5 figures in members, and with that, some adjustments need to be made.

We will now hold blogging to a higher standard than before in order to bring the quality of the content on this site back to where it once was.

With so many new people on the site, it's hard to police everyone individually and lay out the rules (which have always existing but have not been strictly enforced.)

Starting today, we will be strictly enforcing our existing rules to EVERYONE in order to raise the bar and continue offering our users the quality they have come to expect from our free site.

Why are we doing this now? 1) After feedback from users who no longer blog because of the declining quality of the content. 2) After many users seem to think membership on the site and blogging is a right, not a privilege.

Adholes is a private site with public signup. That means we can remove any content, including profiles, for any reason. But unlike Facebook, who has left thousands in the lurch for no reason, we've only removed three accounts in four years, and for the most part these people were almost criminal.

The following are our blogging guidelines:

What we're looking for: 1) Well-written and thoughtful, insightful blogs that talk about advertising, marketing and PR. If you're somewhat in this neighborhood, you're probably relevant. 2) Critiques or invitations to critique currently running work that is NOT your own 3) Profiles of companies that are doing innovative technology, or work relevent to our industry 4) Discussion of office-related and career topics that offer advice to our users 5) Discussion of industry trends you've spotted 6) Sharing past stories and anecdotes about advertising that may be entertaining to our members 7) Any ORIGINAL content that is appropriate for people who work in advertising, marketing, PR, design, etc.

What we will not necessarily delete, but discourage nonetheless: 1) Posts that are simply links to articles on other sites. While we do agree that content on other sites is often appropriate to our audience, placing a link and nothing else is not. If you would like to showcase a link on another site, we suggest excerpting 1-2 paragraphs and then placing your own original opinion on the content or stating why you thought it was something the audience would be interested in, followed by the link to the actual article. The goal is to provoke a response from your fellow users and engage in a conversation. 2) Posts about "something you thought was cool" that is not relevant to everything mentioned in the "what we're looking for" section. 3) Posts that are extremely short (Less than 2-3 sentences) on any topic. We want well-thought out content, not your twitters and brainfarts. 4) "Hi, I'm a junior/aspiring art student and I need advice on how to get a job/what art school to go to/need to find out why Marc English didn't like my crappy illustration portfolio and..." Please look through our archives. This has been covered ad nauseum. We wish you the best of luck with your career and do hope you find a way to become more resourceful.

The following will get your post deleted immediately. Repeated infractions will have your account suspended. 1) Posts that are direct copy-pastes of original content from other sites with or without credit. Instead you should use "fair use" and except the content with a link to the original source, giving them the benefit of traffic for their hard work. 2) Any posts to do with politics that have nothing to do with advertising. Yes, most Adholes swing one way politically. Yes, we swing that way too. Yes, we think he's a terrible president too. But unless we're talking about campaign marketing techniques, posting about the issues of the election is not relevant to advertising and skews the site in a way that alienates users who either don't care or don't agree. 3) Any posts disparaging another user, or a non-public figure 4) ANY POSTS THAT ARE SELF-PROMOTIONAL. If you post your portfolio link for critique, tell us you're looking for work, recommend your company or post a press release, you're really going to piss us off. 5) Any posts that are totally off topic or we as the managers of the site deem to be taking down the quality and integrity of the site.

Other rules: 1) Frequency of blog posts. While we do encourage lots of great content, we discourage multiple posts in a row. Therefore, posters are no longer allowed to post more than two blogs in a row without waiting for another user to blog. 2) If you have any questions about why your blog was deleted, please look at this list. We understand that some of it is subject to opinion, and hope you understand that we're not trying to act out some personal vendetta against individuals. If you still think your blog has been deleted in error, feel free to contact us (The site has been glitchy sometimes!) but keep in mind if you have violated a rule, more than likely your complaining will just piss us off.

Other advice: Write your blog in a text editor before posting. Otherwise your risk the site timing out and deleting all your hard work.

Thank you for your understanding and we hope to see some great blog posts in the future.

ADHOLES