Posted By Ruth Doyle
Dear members,
This is not a decision that has been come to lightly – and the threat to advertising revenue in SHP may sound dry and dull, but it is nonetheless a vital one. Let me try and explain why.
SHP has only one source of income: advertising revenue. It has no cover price, is not sold via news-stands and the vast majority of its subscribers are IOSH members, who get it for free. The estimated value of advertising income lost to these forums, because employers have been advertising for free, runs to six figures.
This abuse of the forum’s acceptable use guidelines comes at a very real price to members – each lost advertisement takes money away from SHP, from IOSH, and from you, the members. By allowing it to continue, it may provide some immediate benefit to a small number of members (let’s say hundreds), but ultimately threatens a key member benefit for 30,000 members. The ultimate consequence (if we left it to continue) would be to ask members to pay for their magazine, or increase membership subscription rates – and I can’t see 30,000 members agreeing to that.
The question I would ask you all is this: why should any business get free advertising, particularly at the expense of a charitable organization and its members? I can’t think of any other organization that would allow that to continue.
You may think that SHP advertising is expensive – but it doesn’t have to be. Ads can cost hundreds, not thousands – it all depends on the size and position of the space you buy. This is considerably cheaper than the rates we have to pay our local newspaper whenever we need to hire someone here at IOSH. Ads can also be posted on SHP online straight away, without having to wait for the next publication date.
Members have been involved in taking this decision: our web moderators are all IOSH members who volunteer their time for free to keep your forums functioning well within the AUGs. The advisory board of the SHP includes IOSH members, as does the Communications and International Committee. They have all been involved in making this decision. All of these members are nominated, or elected, or volunteer to represent you, the members, in the decisions they make about how IOSH operates. Sometimes they, and staff, have to make decisions that are unpopular in the short term, but which ultimately benefit the widest group of members.
There is no attempt to stifle free speech here – rather, we want to encourage members to make use of the members only area. Because of IOSH’s charitable status, the OSH chat forum is open to non-members. However, when there are issues that are of specific relevance to members, it makes sense that these discussions can carry on freely among members only. This area is accessible to any members who wish to register – Neal Clarke’s posting explains how you can do this.
As the original email stated, IOSH and SHP are now working together to develop a new jobs online service, with improved features, and linking directly with all the relevant career development information on this site. This will be available at the end of the year.
In the meantime, individuals looking for work can continue to post on this forum.
I hope this answers some of the issues raised on this and other related threads. However, if you wish to raise any specific issue with me, you are welcome to email me directly, and I will try and address your concerns.
Yours,
Ruth Doyle,
IOSH Director of communications