Re: What's with the non-iboats advertising on the forum?
Many of the members are professionally employed in the marine field and could legally send a bill to iBoats for the answers given online.
Yes, they
could legally send a bill....but there'd be no obligation to pay it. In fact, I bet you could hear them laughing all the way from there
I'd return his billing with a note attached:
"Please foreword a copy of the contract between yourself and us and we'll cheerfully remit. Sans that, consider your billing "Refused for Fraud". Have a nice day."
It could be construed that iBoats is soliciting by inviting the public to join the forums. Depends on the state and how good your lawyer is. Either way, iBoats is profiting from advice given by third parties.
They profit from purchases of hard goods. That and moneys from paid advertisers for the privilege of flying their banners. Increased traffic could and probably does add to their bottom line but IMO your line of thinking is quite a stretch. No offense inteded but this is kind of silly.
And if a "good" lawyer could pull off this stunt, I'd say he has done this great country yet another disservice. Lawyers seem to be good at that.... and getting better. Especially when they receive the assistance (aiding and abetting?) of the grand po-bah lawyer in the high chair with the black curtain draped over his shoulders.
Again, no offense intended, but I think the country's got enough problems without adding things far fetched. Enough of what the "courts" (and other government douche-bags) get away with is patently absurd as it is.
Besides, much the advice received should be taken with a grain of salt. If the arguments that arise aren't proof of that, the simple fact that it's a public forum and any idiot who can type can come on board and post any old thing off the top of his head should drive home the point. The only reason most of government is still in 'business' (or ever was in the first place) is because everybody is
forced to pay for it.
(On that note... maybe your idea isn't so far fetched after all....
)
On the topic, the ad in question seems to have disappeared after clicking on a few different pages/forums/topics. As some reported above, I couldn't see any X button. Neither was it wasn't a regular window or regular pop-up ad on my screen, with the normally appearing close button at the top and an icon at the bottom. This was just a picture of a pickup truck taking up about 1/3 of the screen with text flashing back and forth across the bottom. I generally ignore ads but this one was kind of annoying. Side banners don't bother me unless they include a lot of motion or flashing, then they can be a distraction and significantly lessen my browsing experience.
I"m glad it's gone.
