colcool007 wrote:By default, everything that Commando CO (CL or SM) does, it can be considered as an advert for Commando.
I disagree. As the editor of Commando, Calum Laird is paid to edit Commando. DC Thomson have other employees (I presume!) who are paid to promote their comics (none of whom, as far as I know, post here).
It depends on how broad a brush you want to use to define 'advertisers', and I think using a far narrower definition than the one you're proposing would be the best way to avoid controversy and/or false positives.
It is an unarguable fact that marketing departments exist in the world, in order to aid the selling of products they themselves played no part in the production of, and in this day and age, their remit has expanded to generating 'buzz' on relevant forums. I think this is the thing we should be clamping down on - people who alert us to products because it's their job, not just because they believe we're interested (although they do that too, otherwise they wouldn't waste their time registering here). Somebody who wants the community to give something to them, without being obliged to hang around and give something to the community.
The distinction between an author (or editor of a comic) and a marketer is that, if an author posts a thread saying, "Buy my book!", the only thing they stand to gain would be modestly increased royalties if anyone's persuaded (and an editor doesn't even get that). If a marketer posts saying, "Buy this book!", they've already been paid for it, and they don't have any personal interest in whether it succeeds or not.
