ElectriciansForums.net was launched 2007-ish. Under the domain ElectriciansForums.co.uk. We changed our domain to suit the traffic we were getting in 2019, and this is the same for TilersForums.com and PlumbersForums.net.
Members get access to the forum for free. You just sign up an account, login, and post a question and get involved. But the hosting of all that content over the years became costly. So we had to charge somebody to keep the website free for its members.
We decided to charge companies who already run their businesses by selling to the type of member we are online for. The electricians. So a supplier of training, or tools, or whatever, can pay to advertise their business on the forum. They get threads posted, a sidebar banner, the odd email shot etc. And a chance to be involved in the forum at a community level. To get involved.
So, who can advertise? And when do they need to pay?
The electrician doesn't need to pay anything. Whilst we have an optional subscription service for that type of member, it currently (at the time of writing) only comes with a tag to say they've done so. And they can even subscribe and opt to not have the tag showing too so they're not even paying for that really. They're financially supporting the forum if they choose to.
We host the forum, give them a directory listing, help them get business in when we can, that kinda thing. But the main thing they come for is the discussion and advice. Of which we have loads of, contributed to the forum by fellow electricians. That's them giving something to the forum, and why remains free of charge for them. And always will.
They can pretty much use the forum as they wish, as long as they're not being too spammy. Replying to several threads from years ago with their business name, website address, and telephone number, not only wont get an electrician business in from the forum, it will look spammy on behalf of the company. And it's easy to get a bad reputation online these days. So to help them, we don't allow that. One or two threads, sure. Several? Nope.
If an electrician starts to develop a product, and uses the forum for market research on that product, we would act on a per-user basis and take a look at what they've given the forum over the years as to whether we would allow it, or need to move the thread to a less public area perhaps.
An electrician importing bits from China? - Yes. You need to pay. And we're likely to refuse hosting that kinda stuff at all. Paid or not. We're not fleaBay or ConTree.
Suppliers to electricians need to pay if they're aiming to make money. The moment the owner of an electrical supplier comes on board. Or even worse, tells their sales team to make an account, they need to pay for that. We can't host content where somebody is aiming to make money from our members without first checking they're legit. And second, charging them to put that money into hosting the forum and paying for its many services it needs to stay online and load quickly, every time, from anywhere on the planet.
Thanks to OUR SPONSORS (that's a link to our sponsors) we stay online free of charge for our members. And we host some content for them in return, so they can put their news and products and services in front of the members who come here. And we have thousands of members and millions of hits a year. (Request advertising info by clicking here)
That's our position on this, at the time of writing. We may change that stance as it suits the community. And we wont be held liable when we do that, and it upsets somebody as a result. Old threads with different information in them need reporting and editing over time, so ignore those if you find one. Perhaps do us a favour and report it for us.
So if you're hoping to make a few quid out of our members without paying towards the forum, make yourself known in your first post and we'll link you to this and you can consider your next step whilst being well informed. If you're a sparky hoping to advertise yourself on here, crack on, but do it in a way we all do it on here. So we know the drill and can help you with that.
Members get access to the forum for free. You just sign up an account, login, and post a question and get involved. But the hosting of all that content over the years became costly. So we had to charge somebody to keep the website free for its members.
We decided to charge companies who already run their businesses by selling to the type of member we are online for. The electricians. So a supplier of training, or tools, or whatever, can pay to advertise their business on the forum. They get threads posted, a sidebar banner, the odd email shot etc. And a chance to be involved in the forum at a community level. To get involved.
So, who can advertise? And when do they need to pay?
The electrician doesn't need to pay anything. Whilst we have an optional subscription service for that type of member, it currently (at the time of writing) only comes with a tag to say they've done so. And they can even subscribe and opt to not have the tag showing too so they're not even paying for that really. They're financially supporting the forum if they choose to.
We host the forum, give them a directory listing, help them get business in when we can, that kinda thing. But the main thing they come for is the discussion and advice. Of which we have loads of, contributed to the forum by fellow electricians. That's them giving something to the forum, and why remains free of charge for them. And always will.
They can pretty much use the forum as they wish, as long as they're not being too spammy. Replying to several threads from years ago with their business name, website address, and telephone number, not only wont get an electrician business in from the forum, it will look spammy on behalf of the company. And it's easy to get a bad reputation online these days. So to help them, we don't allow that. One or two threads, sure. Several? Nope.
If an electrician starts to develop a product, and uses the forum for market research on that product, we would act on a per-user basis and take a look at what they've given the forum over the years as to whether we would allow it, or need to move the thread to a less public area perhaps.
An electrician importing bits from China? - Yes. You need to pay. And we're likely to refuse hosting that kinda stuff at all. Paid or not. We're not fleaBay or ConTree.
Suppliers to electricians need to pay if they're aiming to make money. The moment the owner of an electrical supplier comes on board. Or even worse, tells their sales team to make an account, they need to pay for that. We can't host content where somebody is aiming to make money from our members without first checking they're legit. And second, charging them to put that money into hosting the forum and paying for its many services it needs to stay online and load quickly, every time, from anywhere on the planet.
Thanks to OUR SPONSORS (that's a link to our sponsors) we stay online free of charge for our members. And we host some content for them in return, so they can put their news and products and services in front of the members who come here. And we have thousands of members and millions of hits a year. (Request advertising info by clicking here)
That's our position on this, at the time of writing. We may change that stance as it suits the community. And we wont be held liable when we do that, and it upsets somebody as a result. Old threads with different information in them need reporting and editing over time, so ignore those if you find one. Perhaps do us a favour and report it for us.
So if you're hoping to make a few quid out of our members without paying towards the forum, make yourself known in your first post and we'll link you to this and you can consider your next step whilst being well informed. If you're a sparky hoping to advertise yourself on here, crack on, but do it in a way we all do it on here. So we know the drill and can help you with that.
Last edited: