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This has probably been discussed ad nauseam while I haven’t been looking (several months)but
If this forum is now sponsored by a bookmaker doesn’t this mean that the bookmaker has the final say on what may and may not be discussed? If so, how is it any freer than the rest of the racing media?
viewing the site from various countries outside the UK, the only mention i’ve seen of that bookie has been in the text in relation to the 4PP Competition.
all of the straight-out advertising slots have been targeted with great precision to an assortment of businesses (eg car hire) that are local – and not just to the country, but right down to the city – from where i happen to view.
those advertisers are also shown as "sponsors".
what "sponsors" do others viewing from locations outside the UK see on the site ?
it just made me wonder to what extent TRF has direct contact with such "sponsors", or whether maybe TRF sells the space wholesale to an agency which then sells it on(within perhaps certain parameters) to the highest bidder ?
- Total Posts 17716
This has probably been discussed ad nauseam while I haven’t been looking (several months)but
If this forum is now sponsored by a bookmaker doesn’t this mean that the bookmaker has the final say on what may and may not be discussed? If so, how is it any freer than the rest of the racing media?
Hell I never notice who the sponsor was on here…….I thought it was TAPK
Plus you can’t be Zorro…I’m Zorro
This is silly hour isn’t it?
I’m racking my brains here….other than someone personaly attacking their company, exactly what kind of thread do you think Bet365 would find to object to?
The number of calls for a Tote monopoly haven’t been lessened – except by your absence.
Zorro,
I know you’re a tote monopolist, but are you a totesport monopolist?
Never mind this forum being controlled by a bookie, look at the mob who currently have a monopoly on pool betting in this country.
Check out their ad in today’s
Post
, not a single mention of any pool bet in it. It looks like all the other bookie ads.
Yesterday’s ad gave no mention of the trifecta rollover or which race it applied to. Nor was there any mention on the website.
Then we had the increase in takeouts on the swinger announced earlier this week, to a staggering 30%!
It would seem that bookies control the tote in this country and are intent on strangling it.
viewing the site from various countries outside the UK, the only mention i’ve seen of that bookie has been in the text in relation to the 4PP Competition.
all of the straight-out advertising slots have been targeted with great precision to an assortment of businesses (eg car hire) that are local – and not just to the country, but right down to the city – from where i happen to view.
those advertisers are also shown as "sponsors".
what "sponsors" do others viewing from locations outside the UK see on the site ?
it just made me wonder to what extent TRF has direct contact with such "sponsors", or whether maybe TRF sells the space wholesale to an agency which then sells it on(within perhaps certain parameters) to the highest bidder ?
They’re all bet365 ads for me, nothing local.
Zorro –
The forum isn’t sponsored by bet365. They do sponsor a couple of the competitions.
The ad space they have is not part of any formal agreement and we could change it to anyone/thing else whenever we want (we do intend to shuffle these around – the impression that bet365 are a permanent fixture and thus a ‘site sponsor’ is probably a result of us not having our advertising act together rather than being particularly shrewd at it).
They don’t have any say whatsoever in what does or doesn’t appear on the forum nor is there any commercial ‘influence’ which may bias our decision making.David
Wit –
We did (and might do again) sell space to an agency who then bundle it and sell on. In those instances we don’t have any control over content of those ads.
The bet365 ads are simply banners that we upload which provide some revenue on an affiliate basis. We do have control over what appears on those as we place these banners ourselves.The confusion probably lies within our use of the word ‘Sponsors’ above the ads, its misleading regarding the relationship we have with advertisers which I think is where Zorro is coming from.
We’ll do something with that.
Thanks David. Every log on from here (Hong Kong) invites you to join 365 with a £200 incentive. I know sites cost money. And I don’t doubt your integrity. But I had a free lunch once long long ago, and then the purchaser put his hand on my thigh.
I did say it was long ago didn’t I? But that’s the way the bookies start when they want to take control. cf british racing.
Bookmaker are not the bad boys some people like to make out. This is the first time I’ve even noticed the £200 thing.
I’ve got no problem with any sponser, bookie or not.
We should all encourage sponsers when we can.
When I tip up a horse who’s best price with two or more bookies, I always quote b365 if they are one of them. They probably wish I didn’t. That’s not to say we should alter any of our posts for their benifit, which I don’t believe happens anyway.
Value Is EverythingZorro wrote….But I had a free lunch once long long ago, and then the purchaser put his hand on my thigh.
I had a similar experience Zorro when I first began courting my ex-wife and it eventually cost me a small fortune. The hand on thigh bit was nice but it came with a shocking price. Thereafter, whenever I dated anyone I always ensured we sat at separate tables in the restaurant.
A not so innocent question might be to ask if the forum would agree to sell advertising space to Mr. Naughton?
K
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Zorro, in case the presence of the adverts worries or irritates you, I recommend using the Firefox browser, with a terrific ad-on called "Adblock" enabled.
After a minute or so tuning, this will enable you to see sites such as this Forum, Racing Post and Sporting Life almost completely devoid of ads, Flash and all that sort of brouhaha.
Right now on TRF, all I can see in this line is a bit of plain text in the "Latest Offers" section. Everything else is blank, including the big banner section at the top, to the right of the TRF logo.
Just thought I’d mention that I use the Blink eye drops that are advertised on here sometimes, and I find them very good. Am I allowed to say this?
Pinza and Moehat are wittily missing the point. The ads don’t irritate me much. The thought that bookmakers might find a way of getting their claws into this Speakers’ Corner does. Once any publication (term used loosely) becomes dependent on revenue from their advertising it finds its testicles have been removed.
Bookmakers not so bad? Who said that? I think you will find that they are only interested in money. That makes them bad.
Nice question conundrum. What next, eh? Peter Naughton and Thommo’s "Buzzline"?
No Glenn, I’m not. Totesport’s hopeless.
Conundrum – we’ve had many requests from tipping lines to advertise on the forum and have resisted going down this route (I don’t think we’ve ever had one, certainly can’t recall running one in my time here.) As you might imagine the purveyors of these lines eye up TRF and other forums as being a potentially lucrative recruitment arena so they are quite keen, to the extent that some of the less scrupulous ones do take the back-door route and spam the site. Naughty devils.
Never say never though and we do look at each case on its merits. I would view the likes of Timeform in a different way to such as Naughton, for example (Timeform have sonsored a competition in the past).
Zorro – very fair concern to raise and I am sure one that is silently wondered about by quite a few people. I am very much aware that one of the attractions of TRF for many members is its independence and, although the site would be impossible to keep afloat or to improve without revenue, I do try to keep my knees out of reach (and firmly shut).
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