Sponsored experts

[Newton]

I think this is an interesting thing to do........it certainly shifts the credibility of the vine......I am unsure which way...........

I believe that advertising should be exactly that.........

In my professional life I give impartial advice. Expert advice too! I do not recommend specific services or products as I believe this may taint the advice in some way.

However I look forward to seeing how it goes with this initiative........alys fowler didnt hang around long did she!

Good luck to the experts! And the owners.......

What happens when we need expert advice on say fruit?

Do we turn to our new fruit expert.......who's getting free advertising? Or FB who posts here and has built up a credibility second to none.

Let's see. Before i get my tin hat out I would like to clarify that I am not for or against this idea.......just exploring the issue.......

[Two_Sheds]

by the way, I'll be selling cuttings, plants and comfrey on eBay soon. Links to follow. Links will be found in every one of my posts.
Buy me

[Thelma Sanders]

by the way, I'll be selling cuttings, plants and comfrey on eBay soon. Links to follow. Links will be found in every one of my posts.
Buy me

Can you tell us a bit more about yourself first - are you an expert?

[binley100]

Who/what defines an expert ?

[veggiechicken]

Who/what defines an expert ?

The quality of the advice they give? Then we can decide for ourselves

[Glutton4...]

I'm an expert!

Just trying to work out what at...

[binley100]

ermmmmmm..........wallowing ?

[Nicos]

I think time will tell how interactive and helpful the Experts will be.
Apparently there will be other Experts joining the panel eventually- covering different subjects.

You can ask any questions directly to them- or just post a new thread in your usual way. You don't HAVE to ask them!
If they spot something they feel they can contribute to then they'll join in the main forum.

They will not be allowed to hard sell- their banners and advice are as far as it goes.
If anyone feels they are being way too pushy, please feel free to report the post to us in the usual way ( grey triangle at bottom of post) and we mods/Admin will look into it.

Our usual experts ...and fellow Grapes....will continue to be much respected and , as ever, we will respect their advice.

I think we just need to sit back and just get on with the Vine as we know it and see how things develop.
Any comments - positive or negative will be appreciated over the next few weeks- but please allow the Experts to get through any teething problems

2sheds.. " Buy me" ????
....my OH has said he'll buy you for 5 hens, a couple of bunnies,a stere of wood and a few pots of jam...so long as you are willing to get stuck in with the building work!..but he wants to know how good you are at darning sox first!
Would your OH be up for the exchange????

[vikkib]

I think I'd feel more comfortable if there was some kind of 'advertorial' or 'advertising feature' warning...

I wonder if we'll have anyone given the big red shiney 'Grapevine xxxxx Expert' badge who hasn't paid for the more standard form of advertising on the site already!

[VirginVegGrower]

I think there will be some who have used or have seen this, or who garden in an experimental way and are therefore interested. If I am not interested in something then I will just ignore it as that more often than not speaks volumes. I am open to experts if GYO have deemed it so and like a library if I want info on it then I will go in and take a book. I just hope they read some of our threads and pull in the punters we are interested in.
If Real Seeds came on would people be interested in them?

[veggiechicken]

For what its worth here's my take on this.
Its a shame that the Announcement wasn't made in advance of the first post by an "Expert"; also that the parameters of their input into the Forums wasn't made clear at the same time.
The "Expert" has been treated as we would treat any person who advertised on here - as if it was unauthorised. Now that we know that they have a right to be here, we should treat them with courtesy. There is no point in biting the hand that feeds us - we should accept that without advertising the Vine would not exist.
We don't have to ask them for advice, they are there if we want to ask for it. Whether we accept their advice is entirely up to us, just as we choose whether to accept the advice given by our own home-grown experts.
We should give them a chance - not tear them to shreds before they've had an opportunity to speak.
As usual, you can totally ignore me if you wish

[VirginVegGrower]

For what its worth here's my take on this.
Its a shame that the Announcement wasn't made in advance of the first post by an "Expert"; also that the parameters of their input into the Forums wasn't made clear at the same time.
The "Expert" has been treated as we would treat any person who advertised on here - as if it was unauthorised. Now that we know that they have a right to be here, we should treat them with courtesy. There is no point in biting the hand that feeds us - we should accept that without advertising the Vine would not exist.
We don't have to ask them for advice, they are there if we want to ask for it. Whether we accept their advice is entirely up to us, just as we choose whether to accept the advice given by our own home-grown experts.
We should give them a chance - not tear them to shreds before they've had an opportunity to speak.
As usual, you can totally ignore me if you wish

I'm not...ignoring you... and hear hear!

[zazen999]

I think I'd feel more comfortable if there was some kind of 'advertorial' or 'advertising feature' warning...

I wonder if we'll have anyone given the big red shiney 'Grapevine xxxxx Expert' badge who hasn't paid for the more standard form of advertising on the site already!

Announcements - Soil Expert

[chris]

For what its worth here's my take on this.
Its a shame that the Announcement wasn't made in advance of the first post by an "Expert"; also that the parameters of their input into the Forums wasn't made clear at the same time.
The "Expert" has been treated as we would treat any person who advertised on here - as if it was unauthorised. Now that we know that they have a right to be here, we should treat them with courtesy. There is no point in biting the hand that feeds us - we should accept that without advertising the Vine would not exist.
We don't have to ask them for advice, they are there if we want to ask for it. Whether we accept their advice is entirely up to us, just as we choose whether to accept the advice given by our own home-grown experts.
We should give them a chance - not tear them to shreds before they've had an opportunity to speak.
As usual, you can totally ignore me if you wish

You're totally right in what you say. We relayed the same info onto Admin ourselves.

There was a mix up, which unfortunately a few of you saw CG's post. It has been addressed now, so future possibly events shouldn't come to light before they should do.

[zazen999]

And peeps - it's not like we've never seen an ad before.