

This Event is Cancelled - riffer
http://londonist.com/2010/08/this_event_is_cancelled_courtesy_of.php

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wccrawford
That has half the intended effect: Convince people that their poster was
pointless.

However, it doesn't discourage future posters much (they'd have to know the
'cancelled' sign was fake, and if everyone knows that, they 'cancelled' sign
doesn't work any more) and it doesn't do anything to clean the poster off.

Since the intent is to keep the place clean and beautiful, leaving the poster
violates that. It still has to be removed, and it's still just as hard to
remove it.

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jdietrich
Flyposting in London is an organised, professional business. There are a few
people doing it themselves, but the major campaigns are organised by large
agencies on behalf of club promoters. The clubs design posters with the small
print "not for flyposting", the agencies distribute them through freelancers
who aren't told specifically what to do with the posters other than to get
them seen. The only person who can be held liable is the guy on the street
with the paste brush. The council can't go after the people paying for and
profiting from flyposting, and they can't afford to remove enough posters to
make it unprofitable.

The club promoters are well aware of what's going on and it's a significant
disincentive for them to pay for flyposting if there's a chance that it will
do their event more harm than good. The council aren't trying to completely
stamp out flyposting, they're just trying to make it less attractive than
flyering or advertising on pirate radio. It's a rather clever economic nudge,
designed simply to increase the CPA of flyposting.

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Ixiaus
Why is this being posted on HN? Flagged.

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sorbus
From the guidelines: "Please don't submit comments complaining that a
submission is inappropriate for the site. If you think something is spam or
offtopic, flag it by going to its page and clicking on the "flag" link. (Not
all users will see this; there is a karma threshold.) If you flag something,
please don't also comment that you did."

~~~
Ixiaus
Hmm, depends on your interpretation, I always deem flagging a submission
worthy of _asking_ why it was posted even though I disagree with it's content
being worthy of HN. I don't consider that to be complaining, it's a valid
question.

I generally like to admit that I flagged the post for discretionary purposes
during a conversation in the comments, but since you're being pedantic and
four other users agree, it doesn't do me any harm to leave that bit out when I
ask why an article is being posted on HN.

~~~
bmelton
I can't imagine any other way to interpret "If you flag something, please
don't also comment that you did."

Please enlighten me?

~~~
Ixiaus
No enlightening needed, I already explained that "Please don't submit comments
complaining that a submission is inappropriate for the site." was up for
interpretation (I wasn't complaining in my comment, I was asking a question);
and also admitted that "it doesn't do me any harm to leave that bit out" (in
reference to stating that I flagged something).

