A few rules of the road so there is not total anarchy. Rules ... er guidelines will be added as needed. General Forum rules apply (see Introduction) unless an exception is stated here.
1. A vendor may be nominated by any member in good standing and who has been a member for at least 3 months and has at least 25 forum posts. Nominate a vendor for this listing by posting in this topic sans links. The nomination must come from a member who is not affiliated with the vendor being nominated.
2. A nominated vendor must sell at least 5 different teas specified in a particular "nomination topic" (for example the BLACK Tea Nomination topic) in order to be considered for that specific listing, at least 5 different offerings.
In the event a nominated vendor does not offer at least 5 teas specific to a Nomination topic, I will ask if there is a "second to the nomination" from another QUALIFYING member. If there is a second, the vendor will be placed on the list for that nomination topic.
3. An individual vendor topic will then be created by yours truly and linked in the Nomination Topic in the OP, Original Post. This will lend some uniformity to the process and greatly enhance accessibility to the vendor topics.
4. There will be one and only one official vendor topic per nominated vendor. Individual Vendor Topics can be generated by more than one Nominating Topic as well, for instance the Green tea and Black tea nominating topics. But there will only be one topic per vendor regardless of how many Nominating Topics the vendor has been nominated to.
By all means nominate a vendor for multiple Nomination Topic listsings. If a vendor sells more than one general type of tea, but already has a topic, it is still beneficial to have the vendor on multiple Nomination Topic listings!!!
5. The nomination period is open ended, no time limit. The Nomination Topics will remain as a Sticky atop the TeaVendor Forum while the new vendor topics will float as a regular topic. Although as new ones are added, I may sticky them for a few days.
6. No head starts, in other words, a NEW "Official" topic will be created and linked here, not a preexisting topic. Although Japanese Green Tea vendors are already running.
7. After posting your nomination(s), please PM me a link for each one!
8. The nomination should remain simply a nomination, no links, save the endorsements for the vendor topic. Unfortunately, posts violating this particular guideline will be edited accordingly.
9. In each Vendor Topic, members will be encouraged to post replies, declaring if they are a fan and/or customer. Positive reviews are encouraged as this will most help members figure out what to try.
Reviews may be posted by any member in good standing and who has been a member for at least 3 months and/or has at least 25 forum posts. This will be at the discretion of the Moderator to interpret this rule. For instance, 3 months (or 3 years) and virtually no posting will not likely be OK.
If you had a negative experience that you want to convey in the vendor's topic,
please give careful consideration before posting. If you have a negative review of a product tested, please be specific (in other words,
don't say something like, "tried this vendor and did not like").
While I would like this forum to remain as positive as possible, I realize that change for the better can come through constructive criticism. A question to ask before posting a negative experience is, "did I communicate the problem directly to the vendor? Did I receive satisafaction or a satisfactory reply?"
Not everyone will like every tea from every vendor. Sharing what you do like is most beneficial. IMHO.
10. The vendors may comment in their respective topic, post rebuttals, but at this point, may not post links and should limit the post to the non sales information. TeaChat is a spam free zone, this is an experiment that I think can work with cooperation from everyone, including the vendors.
***Rebuttals by vendors*** In the event of a negative review, etc by a posting member, the vendor may request permission to post a rebuttal. They must FIRST ask me for permission! No exceptions. Rebuttals posted w/o permission will be removed from the topic.
If the vendor does not wish to join the forum, I would have to post the rebuttal for the vendor.
Regardless, the vendor should contact me either via the forum's messaging or via email at
teachat@adagio.com
Vendor Topics can be removed at the discretion of a Moderator for review.
11. New member posts within the official member topics will be monitored closely, and suspected false testimonials will be deleted. This is a judgement call, albeit, but historically, false testimonials have been a significant source of forum spam.
Vendor Topics can be removed at the discretion of a Moderator for review.
12. Members will be able to actively post throughout this forum, I will attempt to keep every single topic open. Members will not be able to post new topics in the TeaVendor forum for several reasons including fairness to vendors and members, and to prevent chaos ... keep some order.
OK, let the nominations begin!