Prem,
My two cents on this subject: I would think that if a person (such as
yourself or Ray, for example) who is a valuable participant in this virtual
community and has posted many messages that are not just advertisements,
chooses to post a brief non-obnoxious ad for their products from time to
time, as long as it is orchid related and likely to be of interest to the
participants, I don't think there is any problem, and I hope that others
feel the same.

What does bother me is if someone we have never heard of before posts a
message to this and a dozen other newsgroups which are at best marginally
related to his subject without bothering to even stick around to see whether
anyone minds. Since what you did wasn't remotely like that, no problem here.
Joanna

"prem_s" wrote in message
...
K Barrett wrote:
I know, next he'll plead innocent that he didn't realize it was
advertising,
he only wanted to show how neat his calendars are.
K Barrett


Actually, I'll do no such thing...I was indeed advertising the
presence of my calendar to people who've seen my orchid
photography for a number of years. There's been a
long-standing (long before Mr./Ms./Mrs. Barrett showed up)
tradition on (at least) rec.gardens.orchids that posting a
URL to something new and interesting (like an update to your
own plant listing if you're a commercial vendor) is not
out-of-bounds. Posting the contents of your plant listing,
or posting the details of your orchid-related item
(specifications, price, etc.), directly to the nesgroup, on
the other hand, would be crossing the line.

Hence, since I did not cross this line on r.g.o, I see no reason to
apologize or excuse my actions. Now, if I've violated the
charters of the other newsgroups to which I've posted (of
which I'm admittedly less aware), then I would gladly offer
my sincere apologies for any offense caused.

--
---Prem
Orchid art, photography, t-shirts, and related products:
http://www.premdesign.com/orchidpics/