Is this true? And if so, why? Is this becuase Military Advantage can't get their meathooks into a piece of the pie?
The CG Channel, and more importantly Tam Fraser, provide a much needed source of education, history and pride. In my recent memory Tam and his company go back to at least the mid-90's with the television show Coast Guard.
I am not sure about being "banned", but I can confirm that TAM was issued a 10 day suspension by Mil.com for soliciting an unaffiliated website. The Coast Guard Channel is not affiliated with Mil.com. If we dont allow anyone else to solicit, we have to enforce that across the board.
I guess my question is CG channel has been linked on this forum for quite a while now.
Is there a page that has all of the affiliated websites?
To be completely honest, I assumed the threads on here from Tam were authorized. I think all of us did, which was why no one ever said anything about it. Ill ask Rob about the affiliated sites, there has to be something somewhere.
YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE! MILITARY.COM AND MILITAR.COM FORUMS, YOU ARE HEREBY INFORMED THAT I AM SUSPENDING YOUR PRIVILEGES TO THIS BROWSER WINDOW FOR TEN DAYS FOR HAVING NOT A LICK OF SENSE. YOU SHALL NOT BE ALLOWED IN MY BROWSER WINDOW DURING THIS PERIOD. ANY ATTEMPT ON YOUR PART TO BYPASS THIS SUSPENSION BY POSING AS ANOTHER MILITARY SITE WILL BE MET WITH PERMANENT SUSPENSION.
YOU MAY APPLY BY EMAIL IN TEN DAYS TO THIS BROWSER TO HAVE YOUR PRIVILEGES REINSTATED.
All about the money, eh Military.Com? It's never been about the service member, right? Soliciting an unaffiliated website? What would those be? VFW? American Legion? Legion Riders, etc.? We're supposed to just bow to the wishes of a bunch of suits at your parent company who've never donned the uniform, right?
Reminds me of the time when I couldn't put a link for Frank Antenori in my sig line when he was running for office in Arizona. Frank, for those that don't know, is a retired Army SFC who served most of his career as an 18D in the Special Forces. They told me, "We don't endorse candidates". Well, you WEREN'T endorsing a candidate, I was.
I decided to leave this place behind and start my own site. Your fellow Coasties know the place.
I just don't get it (or want to I guess), is the Coast Guard posters being "discriminated" against? Did us lower looked-upon branch of the military service step on someone’s wee wee about the spamming of the Coast Guard threads with stuff that has NOTHING to do with our service? But I've been trying not to post (just getting tired of all the BS I guess) but this spews foul from here to the other side of the planet. Same on you MIL.COM. Shame.
It's not just the CG, tc1. They loathe us all equally. We're a money-making venture for them. Profits, profits, profits. The servicemember be damned. There is no reason for them to deny a member the permission to post a link to something else that interests them. Let a "CG Mod" try to defend that one.
Probably because Mil.com isn't getting a piece of the advertising pie and therefore they get pissed. burnsk73- I completely agree about the thing with Frank. I was pissed off about that as well because like you said I was endorsing him (a fellow member) and not asking Mil.com to. This stuff really gets old.
Perfectly reasonable bussiness decision! I appreciate mil.com giving us this forum for free use. I am amazed that they do it without more intrusive advertising than they do! Been to google.com lately? YAHOO.COM? Weather.com? I'll bet the bottom line to keep this site up and running is pretty high!
Hopefully TAM works out a good deal with mil.com as they are both businesses and they both have a deep sense of admiration for US.
Sorry but for once I have to disagree with you MC. I know the CG Channel is a business but what they provide is well above the norm. Look at all the free clips...interviews....stories that they provide. I do not think they deserved to be suspended without notice or informed the way they were.
This is a portion of what Rob sent to them:
"....I must say that I am dismayed that you are "surprised" at your suspension. You should, instead, be ashamed of yourselves and your behavior." "Your suspension is currently set for 10 days. If at the end of the 10 days you return only to resume your devious and shameless parasitic postings on our forums, I will personally (and permanently) remove your posting rights."
Would you like to receive this blunt email? It doesn't sound very professional to me.
It also appears that all the stories that members have contributed have also been removed!
I suspect that after the mods read this I will join their ranks also ...so be it.
Dick; That surely looks like an inappropriate way to respond, no doubt. TAM Comms truely cares about us, as I believe Mil.com does. It would be my opinion that if that was sent as a representative of mil.com, it was a great disservice to both TAM and Mil.com! Shame, Shame!
Still, I can not blame mil.com for APPROPRIATELY asking people to keep bussiness out of the forums w/o compensation. That's why I often mention a certain company that can provide people EXCELLENT CG Artwork, at reasonable prices, made with true love! I dont make a dime for any of the great mugs, etc that the referenced company makes and sells. So when I say LOOK AT www.levesque-art.com for great products, it is just one Coastie reporting a great find to others!
By the way- I doubt anything you (or now I) have said will be a suspendable thing. They know that even though certain companies write the checks for advertising, we are the ones 'paying that bill,' through our patronage to the advertisers.
Give them H$#@. Tam has a right to post on these boards doesn't he?
