To GNHQ

MayBeMaw

I think quite a few people have said why they see this as a non-starter.
A sponsored thread is generated by a company very much like an ordinary tread but paying for it as they are canvassing opinion to inform their marketing (aka drum up business.)
You could sponsor a discussion thread and pay for it if you wanted to, I suppose.
That is not what you are suggesting.
And the subjects you are proposing clearly do not appeal to anybody else.
Could it be any plainer?

Thank you for replying.

Would people like a sponsored discussion by a seed company about flower seeds and the thread be for a week from a Thursday morning to the next Wednesday afternoon?

Unlike the recent Wills sponsored discussion where people asked questions, did not interact with each other, and need to wait for the replies, the Flower Seeds sponsored discussion would proceed much as a regular Gransnet discussion except that a member of staff from the seed company would join in with expert advice and answers to questions, so the person would be a horticultural expert, not just a person from the sales department. If successful it could perhaps become an annual event.

No need for a prize draw with one winner - but a discount code for orders for everyone participating (not just the company's new customers) could be good.

Has anyone any suggestions for the topic or topics he or she would like for a sponsored discussion of the suggested interactive format please?

MayBeMaw

^Or saying as a metaphor that someone is 'only a little person' as if someone of small stature is of no importance^
In which case being a person of some stature you should revel in observations regarding your height instead of being so sensitive.

But look at it like this please.

Suppose you were out shopping. You have been to various shops and bought things, just normally.

Then you go into a shop to buy something, you go to the counter to pay for it, and the shop assistant looks at you and says "ooh, you're a woman!"

Now suppose that that happens from time to time with no predictability when it happens, and has happened for over fifty years.

I thing the unanimous reply EP is that nobody wants a sponsored discussion on any subject.

Gosh EP you really are like a dog with a bone… feel free to take offence if you wish..

Shinamae

Gosh EP you really are like a dog with a bone… feel free to take offence if you wish..

I have no reason to take offence.

The use of that expression has caused me to wonder if I can think of a vegan version.

How about some music?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pus4VEqVhvY

Just thought of one

like an angel with an edelstein

Oh I like that

ElderlyPerson

Just thought of one

like an angel with an edelstein

Oh I like that

?

A pretty metaphor, but is it a universal enough image to have much general appeal? I had to look up edelstein to even start to understand it. "Edelstein is the German word for "gemstone". Edelstein is also a surname of German origin which means "noble stone" or in its literal sense "precious stone" Wikipedia

A metaphor needs to be so graphic, relevant and universal that it paints a picture that illuminates its subject - like the dog with the bone, who keeps gnawing at it and won't let go of it, growling at anyone who tries to take it. I can't see an angel being as tenacious and obsessive about a gemstone, that would imply a non-angelic greed and worldliness.

Thank you for saying a pretty metaphor.

What I like is the way it includes a secondary reference to English medieval coins, linked together.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_(coin)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_(English_coin)

Surely we already have this - nicely hidden away in Forums under 'Product test and Survey'

In itself it is pretty, and to anyone who is aware of the links to the coins it will convey the mening of a guardian of precious valuable objects but to be effective it needs to be used where it will illustrate the point being made. I would say that it could describe a parent or grandparent with a beloved child, or the warden of a historic national monument. If used to describe some things it would be irrelevant, and detract rather than enhance.

As you have an interest in the use of language, have you posted on the threads in "Pedants's corner" ? You might find that topic very interesting. www.gransnet.com/forums/pedants_corner

Perhaps the angel metaphor would not appeal to an atheist. I am all for enriching the English language though.
Would you expect a sponsored discussion to include a live chat with the sponsor? That would be costly for them.

I had not thought of a live chat but that is a good idea if it could be set up.

As an overview how would it work? I have used chat on various websites and it has been a very helpful way to get help.

For example the chat facility on Papier. I used that to find out details about making one-off custom greetings cards.

www.papier.com/

The option to chat just pops up in the lower right corner, and if it is out of hours one can leave a message.

Yet that chat, as with others I have used, is one to one, so if a chat were done with a sponsored discussion it would need to be many to one, so maybe it would need to work by people sending a private message to the expert, then the expert does a copy and paste to the chat and then answers. Sort of "I have been asked ... then the question.

For example,

I have been asked what flowers can I grow as my garden is basically clay and I am not in a position to go digging it or digging anything in?

Though maybe just posting in a thread like this and the expert just replies as posts are made would have the same effect as maybe chat could not work other than one to one.

A thread would provide a permanent record of questions and answers.

I suppose that if a business finds it beneficial to have people available for one to one chat all day then maybe for a week for a special event having one of them on Gransnet for a week might be no problem, it need not be the same person all day, and it could indeed be two people, each a specialist in different topics. I have found the chat advisers at Papier to be very knowledgable and helpful.

I have used one chat facility on one website to order items, but others are order online oneself and the chat facility is just for advice, about any of the product, delivery options, how to use the ordering system.

As to being costly, the member of staff involved would otherwise be on the chat line, so cost neutral there possibly, and Gransnet would charge a fee. But the business might get some orders as a result, so basically a form of advertising. So we might never know whether they made a profit or a loss by doing it.

For a business that does not have someone on a live chat facility it might be a different situation, but they do often have email support or a telephone helpline.

I know that views vary on whether people watch things like advertisements on television or pop and put the kettle on, but television channels that are basically all advertising are still going, for example QVC.

One can even watch it on the web in the middle of the night if one wishes.

I remember once, years ago, I saw a cookery hour on one of the shopping channels, I forget which, and maybe they had had comments about a previous show, because the presenter started off by showing a glass jug with lots of metal spoons in it and a plastic bowl and he made a point of saying that when the picture shows them getting a spoonful to taste something being cooked that each time they get a clean spoon to dip in and then taste it and then put the spoon in the plastic bowl to go to washing later and not used again in that particular show.

"when the picture shows them getting a spoonful to taste something being cooked that each time they get a clean spoon to dip in and then taste it and then put the spoon in the plastic bowl to go to washing later and not used again in that particular show." That reminds me of my mother telling me how, when she was a kitchenmaid in the thirties in various establishments, there were two kinds of cook. There were "cook generals". These did their own washing-up, and tasted everything with the spoon it was stirred with. Then there were "lady cooks" who had the kitchen-maid do all the preparation, washing-up and dirty work generally, and used a clean spoon not only each time they tasted anything, but also every time they gave anything a quick stir, so that there was always a heap of spoons waiting to be washed, and a mountain of bowls etc. You can guess which kind the kitchen-maids preferred.

Hello again EP, I’m back. Just a few unrelated things

How about ‘dog with a scone’?
I’ve already shared with you ‘to feed two birds with one scone’
(and if I remember correctly Maw, it lead to a debate about the pronunciation of scone).

Mumsnet have had live webchats, so they already know how it works perfectly well.
I’ve even been invited to a couple (get me!)

I used to love QVC, but it’s gone really down hill and down market.
Their returns policy is great though.

I have done a couple of the live webchats too, they absolutely know how to run them, or they would do if Mumsnetters in general werent such disruptive buggers.

Oh Galaxy, I bet that they are dead entertaining!

So, a poem could be

Tenaciously working all alone
Like a dog with a scone
Persisting until the the problem was gone
Like a dog with a scone

ElderlyPerson

So, a poem could be

Tenaciously working all alone
Like a dog with a scone
Persisting until the the problem was gone
Like a dog with a scone

If you say so EP…

Still in training for the Poetry competition EP ?

Yes, I am hoping to enter the National Poetry Competition.

poetrysociety.org.uk/competitions/national-poetry-competition/

I have started to write a poem.

Did you see my poem in the following thread?

www.gransnet.com/forums/other_subjects/1301338-Poetry-now-your-turn

I originally posted it in the following thread.

www.gransnet.com/forums/chat/1301063-Would-you-like-to-join-my-merry-band

Ah, not the “dog and the scone” then.

I am enjoying the writing and I am hoping that if I can complete something and submit it, then after the competition has been completed and the winners announced, to typeset my poem in a nice font, get a quality print made and then frame the print and then I would have a permanent art object as a result.