Greetings forum members,
 
Melanotan.org has over the past few months been contacted by various individuals about the possibility of advertising on this site. Melanotan.org has been around since June 1999 and in that time the site has never earned any sort of financial remuneration for providing the information it has. All of the expenses for the site have been covered by myself in one way or another. The primary mission for this site has been from day one and continues to be that it is an excellent source (dare I say the best?) of information for melanotan peptides as a free public service naturally corresponding to the site's domain name. This to spread and share knowledge about these extremely interesting peptides and their usages. At this point however with the forum passing the 4,000 mark in the number of members, it is starting to need more attention and active maintenance and development. I have time to do some of this but I am thinking that the site could probably be somewhat more effective if I could hire folks to do some of these things. So, given that there is a demand to advertise here and given that some revenue would tend to help in developing the site what I am wondering is what do you the active members of the site think about this idea of advertising?  
 
Please share your thoughts on this matter and if you have alternative ideas then please don't hesitate to share them as well.  
 
I look forward to hearing your views.
 
Thank you,
-Scott (your friendly neighborhood Melanotan.org admin) .

I've spent a lot of time digging through the buying/selling section for links to suppliers' sites, so, yeah, it may be good to have some of those links available through ads.  Of course, implementation is everything.

I wonder if this would violate any State or Federal laws? Have you discussed this with your attorney?
 
I would hate to keep having pop up Ads appear. If it is legal, I think you could put a colorfull poster at the top of the site saying " Click here to see our sponsors and link with them ".

Quote from Pseudonym   on 03/25/07 at 12:47:11:

 
This is the part that worries me also. I seen things happen when sponsor's are involved on many BB boards ..
 
If negative feedback is deleted (It happens on many boards) ..bad vials ..ripped off  that's what I'm worried about.
 
Bad batches is my main concern and needs to be in the open..after all this stuff is not approved and our health comes first.
 
I'm for it if we are allowed to continue posting as we do now.
 
Plus I hope it doesn't raise the prices back to where they were the last several years. The suppliers might pass the fees on to us buyers.
 
Just a few things to think about.
 

 
Blue
 

Quote from Socalguy   on 03/26/07 at 02:17:34:

Socalguy, your concerns are valid and I honestly don't have a direct answer. Given that this site came into existence years before the creation of Epitan/Clinuvel I doubt that the site would ever have a problem existing unless it were to try and pass itself off as that company, which will never happen. This idea for advertising corresponds to an understanding that the companies selling Melanotan II (which is what is to be advertised) have the right to do so. If those companies have the right to do so then I don't see where a problem lies. In fact I believe the primary patents for melanotan II (and probably the first version as well) have expired as of last year. As well Palatin Technologies has developed their own peptide apart from melanotan II (ergo the name bremelanotide).  What Clinuvel is counting on is the combination of Melanotan and a delivery mechanism to ensure that they will not have the market taken from them. Lets face it, the average person is not going to want to inject melanotan as it has to be adminstered currently rather than utilize a simpler patch or cream system (or even the miniscule implant). This is where Clinuvel's position is strong and they are not threatened by those selling melanotan II because they are developing more user friendly administering systems.
Does that better explain the situation?
 
-Scott

Scott, you wrote,
This idea for advertising corresponds to an understanding that the companies selling Melanotan II (which is what is to be advertised) have the right to do so. If those companies have the right to do so then I don't see where a problem lies.
 
That's exactly where the problem arises. melanotan II & Bremelanotide are both injectible substances that have not been approved by the FDA or any other government agency on earth. If, as you suggest, they have the right to do so- then they could just as well put ads in Gentlemens Quarterly,Hunting and Fishing and Vogue. I don't think so.
 
When this site came to exist has no bearing on legal patent rights. Clinuvel and Palatin may or may not care at this point since their products have not been approved yet and are not competing for sales.
 
I know nothing about this but are .org designated sites allowed to have paid advertisers or only to request donations??
 
Other comments?

The problem comes in when you start talking about, and as if it has to be, suppliers of melanotan II and melanotan-1 advertising on this site.  You know, just speaking from a business stand point, if I was able to advertise myself on this site before without paying anything (posting in the buying and selling) why would I want to pay for advertising now.  Unless, you plan to close the buying and selling section which would anger a lot of people on this board.  If you remove the buying and selling section and only have paid advertising you now become a sponsor for the sellers of melanotan-1 and melanotan II and lose your objective and legal separation from those selling and advertising.
Why does it have to be melanotan-1 and melanotan II sellers?  You know, there are plenty of advertisers out there that would be willing to pay for banners and ads on this site, advertisers not selling melanotan-1 or melanotan II.  Yes, this site is directly related to melanotan-1 and melanotan II so that seems to be the most profitable and logical people to approach about advertising but it is not just about the melanotan-1 and the melanotan II.  When you go to a soccer game do you just see advertisements for soccer balls or or uniforms.  No, of course not, what you see is all kinds of advertisements under the sun and those companies base their decision to advertise, not upon it being a soccer game but upon the amount of people the game attracts.
So, my opinion would be, open to advertising but do not allow any advertising that would ruin the reputation of this site or cause it to come under any legal scrutiny.

Ads - ideally something more along the lines of Google ads than ones for Melanotan suppliers than could hurt impartiality like so many similar forums - would seem a better alternative to donations.  I see absolutely no benefit that justifies paying the $20 a month from the private forum section.  I run a forum out of my own pocket, without ads myself too, so I understand the situation though.
 
And yeah, I know this is an ancient thread, and that probably no-one cares anymore.