Just because otherwise people will wonder why I may have kicked them out, or deleted their posts if I don't put up rules.

I set this group up for people to discuss ways to promote your store, ways to make your store look more professional, ways to get more sales, ask any questions or queries to other Cafepress owners (such as the affiliate scheme, setting up a premium store etc) and for discussing and showing off new designs.

I've let a few things slide by, just because I couldn't be bothered with the aggro, but there are things I do not want to see on here.

1. Opinions on designs Vs personal opinion

[QUOTE]Just looked at your designs and they look good but what's with the capitalism one? Aren't you participating in it by marking up your products on cafepress?

capitalism |ˈkapətlˌizəm| noun an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.[/QUOTE]

This group is to discuss opinions on other people's designs, the way they look, the lay out, any ideas that may help the seller (make the picture bigger, the text isn't clear etc). What I don't want to see is people saying "Your design is shit because it says Jesus is the way and I'm a Jew/Hindu/Muslim/Athiest etc" or "Why are you promoting Hilary Clinton? Did you see how much of a mess the UK got into with a UK Prime Minister?" or "Why should we support the troops? This war was illegal!" etc. These are personal opinions on the topic, not on the design, and I will from now on remove such content, give the user a warning before removing them too.

2. Promoting yourself/friends in other peoples threads

If it's a free for all such as "Favourite Valentines designs" or "looking for affiliates" then yeah sure go for it, but if someone is asking for opinions on their new designs/new stores don't then say "I have a store along the same lines *hint hint*". Instead please start your OWN topic. There is no limit to how many messages are on here, so promote away! Just give everyone a chance to show off their work, it's only polite and fair! Again, the content will be removed and the user warned.

3. The scroll bar!

Yes I am still letting people add their designs to the scroll bar. But I am fed up of the rude people who demand I put their designs up "here is my design www.mydesign.com and my page www.mypage.com" or "www.mydesign.com, www.mywebsite.com, thanks". I'm not a robot, I know everyone is busy but no one is too busy to say "please" and "thank you", manners are everything in my book! I don't always get time to put things up straight away, so if I haven't done it in a week, just give me a gentle reminder "I sent a message last week about the scroll bar, was just wondering when you might be likely to put it up, thanks". I should get them up faster, but sometimes it's just not possible, and I do apologise for that in advance.

Also note, I do NOT choose the design for you, you will have to choose that yourself. If you have more than one store then you can advertise for each store. And if you want to have your Myspace page added to the list on the main page, please let me know and give me the name of the company so I can link to you.

I think that's the main things for now, though if anything else comes up I will post them on here. I apologise if this seems harsh in anyway, but I only want it to be fair on here and I don't want users being upset or put off from using the group.

Thanks all!

Ah I missed a few off! So these are from the main page before I changed it.

Please do not post "Add Me" thread's to the forum, or your post will be deleted, and you will be removed. If people like your work I'm sure they will add you!

And no "post your shop link here" threads please. Do it for your own shop so then people can view your work and tell you what they think, rather than one thread with 100 replies. It makes it so much easier for us to look at YOUR work! And by all means post in pictures of your merchandise and banners! It's YOUR thread, illustrate and word it the way YOU want to!

I take all complaints seriously and will act on them as I feel appropriate.

I had a complaint last night from a member who told me that another member of the group was using one of their designs, and asked if I could remove a post they had posted with this particular design in. I have removed this, but I have also removed the offending member of the group.

This group is to help people promote their designs, ideas and get help if needed, not to find designs to wrip off for personal gain. I will not tolerate people stealing ideas from other people and any offending members will be removed!

Please read the above post, this rule is something I don't take lightly!

I also do not take kindly to people ripping into people for their disabilities whether it's physical or mental. I had one user who didn't seem to understand that dyslexia is a disability which many people worldwide have, which makes reading and spelling really difficult. Pointing out a spelling mistake is one thing, ripping into someone because they've made a typo is NOT ACCEPTABLE. The user has now been removed.

People who don't use the group regularly who then come on just to have a bitch at other users will also be removed. I have no time for people who only use the group in a negative way. And two facedness will not be accepted on here either.

To make this clearer, that means no flaming under any circumstances.

I've set this group up to help people promote their stores, not for people to big themselves up by making fun of others or by bitching at people. If you don't like the way the group is run, or don't want a place where you can tell people about your designs for free, then there's always a "quit group" button.