Influx of SameShow "Informercials" on CR 2.0

In the last 24 hours, there have been several postings from what appears to be a China-based software venture called SameShow.

http://www.classroom20.com/forum/topic/show?id=649749%3ATopic%3A61201
http://www.classroom20.com/forum/topic/show?id=649749%3ATopic%3A61339
http://www.classroom20.com/forum/topic/show?id=649749%3ATopic%3A61045

I feel that these posts cross the line into pure promotion. One sign for me is the lack of any contribution to other forum threads by the posters.

I don't want to make it impossible for commercial providers of solutions to participate in the network, as I feel they can both contribute and receive good feedback from the members here. But I also have to make sure that the network doesn't become less valuable to members who end up having to sort through "ads" to get to content.

I would like to invite your comments on this matter. I will not remove the three posts above so that we have a chance to discuss this. If, however, any more get posted, I will start removing both the posts and the posters. I'm making independent contact with the posters to encourage a better understanding of the site and our need to address this.

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Permalink Reply by Laura Gibbs on October 18, 2007 at 9:48am

Thanks for your vigilance, Steve - I had noticed these, too. What a shame that the developers do not use this forum in a more productive way - getting ideas and priorities from teachers BEFORE they go and build the software.

In my case, for example, unless there is an option to upload text files with the questions in them, I will not use any kind of quizzing software. That's an easy thing for the developers to build in... if they think about it in advance. I took a quick look at this software and did not notice any option for using text files to create multiple questions in one fell swoop, so I did not even consider using the software, even though it seems to have some other fine features.

It sure would be great if developers came here while in the process of CREATING the software, instead of just when they want to sell it...

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Permalink Reply by John Tanner on October 18, 2007 at 9:54am

Steve
I like your approach to offer developers some insight on how to use Ning to their benefit. This is obviously not the correct forum for this type of commercial. I suspect they know better. I was disappointed to see these pop up in my reader because they were so out of place to what I have come to expect from this group. Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Connie Weber on October 18, 2007 at 10:36am

Thanks, Steve, seems totally right to me.

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on October 18, 2007 at 2:55pm

I agree, there have been several other posters who sounded like they were "touting" their wares, but also made some comments. I just ignored him.them. I wouldn't condone it or we are going to have to slog through these typs of forum posts all the time.

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Permalink Reply by BrownMark on October 18, 2007 at 7:18pm

HI Steve,
As you indicated: Classroom 2.0 is the social network for educators using collaborative technologies.
If the topics from Sameshow software: PowerPoint tools, Quiz Tools have no relation to educators and the collaborative technologies.
We're sorry for that, Just remove them.

Mark Brown
http://www.ppt-to-dvd.com

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Permalink Reply by kingmarsh on October 18, 2007 at 8:04pm

To Steve
Thanks for raising awareness of our posting here. We apologize for the unhappiness it may cause.
We do not to tend to do things in this way. For this is the first time we came here (one of our customer told us about CR) and we have not yet got to know the rules so completely.
We will try to figure out an approach that benefits both the forum and us.

To Laura
Thanks for your comments. Yes, we know the importance to get ideas from our end users, the teachers. Actually, we did have a pre-release survey to collect feature requests from teachers before we start making the software. We also invited some of our users to have beta testing of it and sent feedback to us.
For software upgrades, we continued to collect more requests from users. To do this, we have created a survey and a feature request post on our site. And our technical support is responsible to create reports for this weekly.
But we still feel the need to get to know the real world. That is why we are here.
Back to your question of our quizzing software, you said you need an option to upload text files with the questions in them. I am wondering if you have a look at this feature of QuizCreator, importing questions from Excel document.
You can create questions in various question types and then import these questions directly to QuizCreator at one time.

To John Tanner, Connie Weber,Nancy Bosch, and others it may concern:
We are sorry for that.

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Permalink Reply by Ian Carmichael on October 18, 2007 at 8:43pm

Good recovery! All the best in your collaboration with us.

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on October 18, 2007 at 8:54pm

Thanks for the retraction, we aren't usually cranky---well some of us are.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Hargadon on October 18, 2007 at 11:16pm

I agree with Ian. Thanks for addressing this head-on. I once listened to the founder of Fed Ex talk about mistakes, and how they discovered when they fixed a mistake that their customer satisfaction was actually higher than for a customer where there were no problems. Not an excuse for making mistakes, but a testament to the power of how much people appreciate making things right.

I left your comments up 1) because I wanted to give us a chance to look at them as a part of this discussion, and 2) because while it might have been appropriate for me to remove them, I believe this kind of a resolution is much better (and serves as an example in the future, since it makes sense that we would model collaboration and cooperation). I also harbor the hope that CR 2.0 can be a place where the interaction with vendors is "natural" and where the emphasis is on contribution and participation, and not "selling." Seems to me that there can be real benefit on both sides: participants have a chance to interact with creators and to influence how products develop, and vendors get access to a passionate group that cares about educational technology. To do so, we agree to leave traditional "selling" tactics outside of the network...

Thanks again for the nice apology.

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Permalink Reply by Ian Carmichael on October 19, 2007 at 1:31am

Impressive all-round I'd say. A good exercise in community problem-solving/conflict resolution. Might make a nice paper ("Web 2.0 and its implications for rapid and effective decision-making") for somebody notching up research points!

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Permalink Reply by Ian Carmichael on October 18, 2007 at 8:41pm

I'm in the 'me too' bin. If there's a main comment which is relevant to classroom 2, which incorporates a link then to a specific resource - that's all I need - otherwise we're in the boat of the "I hate conferences" post, where we've forked out (time in this case) and been handed a sales pitch for our investment. I can follow a link and read. I get enough spam in email and don't need more here. I'm in support of a stern removal policy!

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Permalink Reply by ddeubel on October 19, 2007 at 6:14am

I'm glad there was "dialogue" and it goes to show that it is best to deal with things of this nature upfront (but in a civil fashion).

I have always thought there should be a place for those with honest business related proposals or even just other blogs/wikis/communities, promoting their wares. It is all about the free spread of information to me...... So why can't their be a particular thread or box for all these kinds? If they don't post there, they are kindly deleted and told where to go....? That way it is contained and presented as is but still available to members?

DD