An Industry Contributor is an industry member who helps to support AudioCircle financially. In return, Industry Contributors receive support from AudioCircle by the provision of space and bandwidth to help them promote their products or services.
Industry Contributors receive a number of business-related benefits, according to the level and type of contribution. These benefits include:
- Increased personal message (PM) storage
- A dedicated forum aka "circle"
- Listing as a commercial supporter
- Front-page exposure
- Advertising placed on community circles
- Ability to contract for custom development
To be an Industry Contributor, you must be a legitimate participant in the audio industry. You must have products or services related to audio and hifi. At Level 2 and above, you must have a website listing those products and services.
- Step 1
- Start one thread in Industry Introductions introducing yourself and your products. The name of the thread should start with "Introduction to..." or "About..." or similar, as this will be the first thread in your circle should you start one later. Keep this thread active for between 30 and 180 days before proceeding to Step 2.
- Step 2
- Prepare the information listed below. Once you have done so, contact JohnR to request an upgrade of your status to Industry Contributor.
- Level 1: Your full name, business name and Paypal email address
- Level 2: As above plus circle tagline/slogan and your website address
- Level 3: As above plus a 160x90-pixel PNG image (any image that is not PNG format will not be accepted)
- Step 3
- If your request is approved, your introductory thread will be moved to either Industry/Sponsored Threads (Level 1) or to your new circle (Levels 2 and 3). In the latter case, you will also be asked to create a sticky Welcome/Guidelines thread.
Limits
You can run your thread in Industry Introductions for up to 180 days. If by that time, you have not become an Industry Contributor, your thread will be closed and you will no longer be permitted to engage in commercial activity anywhere on this site, with the sole exception of participation as an employee or dealer in a Sponsor-level (or higher) circle.
Contraindications
You will not become an Industry Contributor in the event of any the following: you have not kept your introductory thread active; you have been insulting or threatening in any way to any member of this site; you have posted defamatory or untrue remarks about AudioCircle on this site or anywhere else; you have contravened any site rules or guidelines; you have become argumentative with site members; you have ignored or refused to follow a request from Site Admin or the Site Owner; you have engaged in any activity that provides doubt in the eyes of Site Admin and the Site Owner that you will be a productive contributing member of this site; there is any doubt that you are conducting a legitimate audio business with high product and ethical standards and acceptable delivery times.
Final say
The Site Owner reserves the right to refuse any request to be an Industry Contributor or to cancel any Industry Contributor account at any time.
Following are the available contribution levels. Subscriptions are aligned with the calendar year and are invoiced either yearly (Levels 1 and 2) or six-monthly (Level 3). All Industry Contributors must be legitimate members of the audio industry.
- Level 1 ("Advertiser")
- This level confers access to Industry Ads and Industry up to three active threads in Industry/Sponsored Threads. It is suitable for individuals or small businesses that would like to enjoy the exposure from participation in AudioCircle but do not want to take on the responsibility of maintaining their own circle. The subscription fee is $200 per year.
- Level 2 ("Supporter")
- This level provides you with your own circle in the Audio Bazaar or Designer's Corner, as well as access to Industry Ads. This level is limited to single-person businesses that engage in direct sales only, and specifically disallows other industry members from participating in your circle. The subscription fee is $300 per year.
- Level 3 ("Sponsor")
- This level provides you with your own circle listed at the top level of the Industry Circles, front-page exposure, and a rotating side-banner on community circles. You also have access to Industry Ads for front-page exposure. This is the standard level recommended for small to medium audio businesses. The subscription fee is $500 per year.
- Level 4 ("Premiere Sponsor")
- Currently not available This level allows greater control over your circle, ability to create sub forums and galleries, and ability to appoint additional facilitators. Please enquire if genuinely interested.
- Level 5 ("Custom")
- Currently not available This level provides a complete custom installation at its own website address suited to your needs. Costs are not fixed but contracted on a "time and materials" basis. Please enquire if genuinely interested.
While your contribution is appreciated, please remember that the site is a shared resource. You are (only) one of many contributors, and your contribution does not entitle you to run around the rules or initiate any kind of action with site-wide implications. In particular, we do not ban or restrict members at your request, and requests for content deletion or editing outside of your circle will be considered only if the content clearly violates site-wide posting guidelines. You are not entitled to make demands of other Facilitators, of Admins, or of the Site Owner.
You are not allowed to have more than one account, or to deploy a "shared" account. Each person associated with your business must create and use their own account. See Account Usage.
Please never use the phrase "I pay for my circle therefore..." You do not pay for your circle, you sponsor this site. If you are not happy with what you receive in return for your sponsorship, then you can discontinue doing so and the Site Owner will decide what to do with your circle in the best interests of the site and the community.
In the unfortunate circumstance that one of your customers runs amok outside of your circle, they may be subject to site-wide restrictions at the sole discretion of Site Admin.
You are expected to conform to the same principles as all other members, described in Posting Guidelines, as well as those described in Professional Conduct. You are required to follow the procedure in Moderating a Thread in the event such becomes necessary.
Special note: please don't engage in:
- STARTING THREADs WITH ALL CAPS TITLES. This is generally considered a cheap attention-getting tactic, and you will either be asked to stop it or the threads will be changed for you.
- Constantly bumping threads for no good reason. Same as above. Let the discussion be "organic" is the most productive way to go.
Here are some specific things that are not allowed:
- Religion and politics - these topics are strongly polarizing and little positive benefit is likely to come of it.
- Posts or threads specifically intended to create controversy or pit members against each other.
- Defamatory or disparaging remarks made about anyone.
- Insulting or "calling out" anyone.
- Disparaging remarks made about any audio product or its or manufacturer. (Verifiable facts of a technical nature are not considered disparaging. A measurement, or an analysis of a circuit, for example. However, any "interpretation" or "embellishment" with your opinion may be in violation of this rule.)
You and any of your employees and associates that use this site are expected to maintain Professional Conduct at all times. You should view your relationship with AudioCircle as a collaborative one, and we are only able to keep our rates very low as long as every Industry Contributor works with us this way. You and your employees and associates are therefore expected to maintain good relations with the Site Owner and Site Admin, and faiure to do so may result in closing of your contributor account and/or restriction or termination of your posting privileges.
Please also note that even though you are an Industry Contributor, you are not allowed to promote your products (or those of your associates or friends) in non-commercial areas of the site. In non-commercial areas, you must limit your responses to technical information in response to specific queries, and for all other information, move the discussion to your circle or industry-sponsored thread.
You are permitted to have an avatar that is or incorporates your business logo. However, please make it primarily graphical (not textual) and don't make it look blatantly like an advertisement. (Remember that your avatar appears anywhere that you post, including in non-commercial areas.) Avatars that are deemed to be site-wide advertising may be removed.