No worries, Kit. I believe that the correct thing was done here.
If a press release is to be made it should have the following distinguishing marks:
A) It is made with a user name that signifies the person is tied with the organization. Which your organization has done here, instead of posting it under your pseudonym. That is preferable in these cases.
B) It should emphasis at the start of the article prior to any information.
This did both of those things.
It must be noted as well that editors typically look over these before publishing. I didn't look at this one particular, so it was either Dronon or GreenReaper that had published it after editing. If they had updated that item in italics at the beginning, that's what I would have done as well.
If such obvious disclaimers are not good enough to know where a message is coming from, then I think the problem is with the reader's literacy and not the organization or Flayrah since the transparency is right there.
It may be in Flayrah's best interest to standardize a disclaimer so that the message about it being from an independent furry organization is consistent. Iwould disagree with Growlithe's fears, particularly comparing a non-profit organization in the same light as a for-profit one (Microsoft) when it comes to press releases.
Obviously if Flayrah was getting cutbacks from 'subversive advertising' propagating as news that would plainly be an problem, and that wouldn't happen under my watch. It's another to have an organization offering an opportunity to the community, whether it is to talk about a convention opening in a local area, or a scholarship.
In the vein of the 'new convention' example, the Multiverse Convention article a few weeks back was also a "press release", and I ended up denoting it as such. That one I did edit and had to search out that the person who had written was on their staff and so I felt I had to place a disclaimer about it. Funnily, I had to change a part where they put a quote by themselves in the third-person and I updated it to be in first person after realizing the author was making the statement.
If we don't hear from you, good luck with the moving of venue for Fur'the More.
No worries, Kit. I believe that the correct thing was done here.
If a press release is to be made it should have the following distinguishing marks:
A) It is made with a user name that signifies the person is tied with the organization. Which your organization has done here, instead of posting it under your pseudonym. That is preferable in these cases.
B) It should emphasis at the start of the article prior to any information.
This did both of those things.
It must be noted as well that editors typically look over these before publishing. I didn't look at this one particular, so it was either Dronon or GreenReaper that had published it after editing. If they had updated that item in italics at the beginning, that's what I would have done as well.
If such obvious disclaimers are not good enough to know where a message is coming from, then I think the problem is with the reader's literacy and not the organization or Flayrah since the transparency is right there.
It may be in Flayrah's best interest to standardize a disclaimer so that the message about it being from an independent furry organization is consistent. Iwould disagree with Growlithe's fears, particularly comparing a non-profit organization in the same light as a for-profit one (Microsoft) when it comes to press releases.
Obviously if Flayrah was getting cutbacks from 'subversive advertising' propagating as news that would plainly be an problem, and that wouldn't happen under my watch. It's another to have an organization offering an opportunity to the community, whether it is to talk about a convention opening in a local area, or a scholarship.
In the vein of the 'new convention' example, the Multiverse Convention article a few weeks back was also a "press release", and I ended up denoting it as such. That one I did edit and had to search out that the person who had written was on their staff and so I felt I had to place a disclaimer about it. Funnily, I had to change a part where they put a quote by themselves in the third-person and I updated it to be in first person after realizing the author was making the statement.
If we don't hear from you, good luck with the moving of venue for Fur'the More.