Welcome to the Neighborhood my friends! Why don't you slip off your shoes and have a seat so that we can chitchat about this great community we have growing here…

*What is the SocialSpark Community?

As you know, SocialSpark is a social networking community. It is intended for everyone to get to know each other and to interact with one another in an open and inviting environment. We encourage everyone to exchange ideas, begin discussions, share opinions as well as facts & tips, ask for advice and to be open and honest. Ultimately, we want all of you to feel comfortable participating fully in this community.

The SocialSpark community is one that is boiling over with creative thinkers. After all, we have an entire community of bloggers who are itching to get their opinions out there and to have their voices heard. And we wouldn't want it any other way!

We value your creativity and individuality. We want to see your personalities explode outside the confines of your profile walls!!! We want to hear what you are thinking about other bloggers, other blogs, advertisers and opportunities.

We want you to get out there and meet one another. So go ahead and walk out onto that metaphorical front porch of yours and meet your SocialSpark neighbors. Bring someone a fresh glass of homemade lemonade and start swapping stories. If you start with a simple "One time my daughter put a plate of mud in the microwave because she wanted to make a mud pie" you might hear a sympathetic "That sounds like when my son put play-dough in the oven because he wanted to make cookies" in return, and poof, you've found your very own SocialSpark BFF!!!

*What is considered inappropriate in the SocialSpark Community?

With creativity comes passion, and passion is a very valuable thing. I mean can you imagine just how exceedingly mind dulling it would be if there was no creative juice flowing through this place?!? It would be terrible, absolutely terrible. So we ask that you passionately bring forth your creativity!!!

We simply ask that you don't use your passionate creativity to offend others. Should we find anything aggressive, attacking, insulting or disrespectful; we reserve the right to edit or remove the offending content. In extreme cases, we may ban a user from the community altogether.

Additionally we DO NOT allow spam or inappropriate content in any manner in the SocialSpark community. Ever. Period. Spam is considered any content, usually lacking in merit or value, that is placed unrelated into a comment box or message strictly for promotional or traffic purposes.

This includes soliciting props or soliciting opportunity slot requests. The comment sections of SocialSpark are NOT intended to be a waste receptacle for spam.

*Props/Drops Etiquette:

Sure, it is ok to prop people, and of course we want you to do that. Propping other bloggers as well as advertisers is a great way to let others know you like what they are contributing and that you are interested in their work.

We just don't want to see you solicit props from others solely for the purpose of increasing your traffic or your ratings. In particular, we greatly dislike prop fishing by propping other users and then leaving in your wake an invaluable comment similar to "prop for you, prop me back". Please, please do not engage in such behavior. Serial prop seekers will be reprimanded for poor conduct and comments will be removed by a SocialSpark staffer.

Conversely, dropping someone helps people to realize that they are doing something incorrectly and is always best received when it is accompanied by some useful feedback. Send a message or leave a worthy comment suggesting a way for the user to improve rather than simply leaving an anonymous drop.

However, please remember that it is grossly inappropriate to drop an advertiser or an opportunity just because you are not eligible to take it. All advertisers have the right to segment their opportunity in any manner they see fit, and simply because you do not meet their segmentation is no reason to drop their opportunity. How would you like it if people went around dropping you for no other reason than that you live in Sweden and they don't live there (which clearly means they aren't as awesome as you) and don't want to be friends?!? Uh uh, not cool.

*Comments Etiquette:

We whole-heartedly value feedback regarding our advertisers and our opportunities and we welcome it in our community. However, comment sections on an advertiser profile page or an opportunity description page are not meant for slot requests. Please send an individual message to an advertiser if you would like to request a slot.

It is also not appropriate to inquire about the status of your post within the comment section of an advertiser profile. If you are curious about whether or not your post has been approved please contact Customer Love instead of leaving a comment for the advertiser.

Likewise, advertiser comment sections are not intended to be a place for individual questions to be answered. If you are confused about any part of an opportunity please submit a help ticket to our Customer Love Department by clicking on "contacting support".  Or visit our boards at http://boards.izea.com/ where someone else may have already experienced the same issue.

Advertisers love to hear your thoughts about their products, their opportunity or anything else that contextually relates to the advertiser when it is presented in an appropriate manner. Please take a moment and put some time and thought into your comments before you leave them.

Comments cannot include any inappropriate content, which means that comments cannot promote or support; excessive profanity, violence, or racial intolerance, illicit drugs or drug paraphernalia, pornography, adult or mature content, or any other content that promotes intolerance, illegal activity, or infringes on the legal rights of others. And again, we reserve the right to remove any inappropriate content, and ban the author(s) of such content from the community entirely.

Finally, we want to reiterate that we want you to become fully active members in the SocialSpark community. We look forward to seeing how your creative ideas materialize and we can't wait for the intriguing conversations to begin.  Of course most importantly we are excited about getting to know all of you, our SocialSpark neighbors.

Posted by Annie Kabourek at 01:25 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)