What IS the forum's policy on SPAM ?

Aside from giving forum SPONSORS threads (??) the other thing I see is SPAM from 2 or 3 (or more) people who are members but on a regular basis push off their services on anyone reading a post from them. Some of these are more aggregious than others, but still....

It's like going to a movie at a theatre (where you pay as much as $10 depending on your area) and then being assaulted with something that is supposed to be entertainment but has COMMERICALS in it.  At the theatre, "First Look" is a half hour long set of "features" interspersed with promos for upcoming TV shows, commercials for acne cream and you name it.  This isn't a strictly parallel comparison, but I think you get my drift.

I know it is fairly lax here in regard to being "off topic" in any given thread and a certain amount of lattitude is always nice in several areas (including spam), but I would also think that the half dozen or so PAYING sponsors would have a complaint about text based (not banner ads) populating the threads where discussion takes place.

Just throwing this out there. Don't know what (or if) anything should be done about it.

I see your point. But imagine if you were watching a movie and and the actor was drinking a Coke. The camera zooms in and you see the label clearly. We all know that Coke probably paid to have that endorsement. Now, think how silly it would look if they zoomed in on the can and it plainly said "SODA" or "LIME DRINK". It would look weird wouldn't it? Some type of beverage was going to be used in that scene anyway, why hate on  Coke for trying to promote their business? I don't get mad when when I see a bread truck with an advertisement on it drive by me.
Some advertisements & commercials are even entertaining.

You can't get mad at the TV networks for playing commercials, if it wasn't for the commercials, there would be no free TV. As a matter of fact, every now and then, I am glad to see a commercial, especially if it promotes a product that I can benefit from. Surely, someone has seen my URL in one of my posts and found our website to be informative. If nothing else, to rip off our domain name. (This actually happened last week.)

I have read some posts on this blog that were just plain spam. They have catchy titles, you click on the post and its just a web address with some lame statement. These people are clearly detracting from the content because they don't contribute anything to making this forum more informative.

I have included my URL in most of my posts; however, I try to be respectful to everyone, contribute to the well being of this forum and offer my insight on interesting subjects.

The point is that we are all exposed to hundreds of advertisements every day, either consciously or unconsciously.
If the advertisement blends into the content and doesn't detract from the viewer's overall experience, what is the big deal?

Are you proud of me Movieman? ....No URL in the content, except in my signature.

Yea I would like to keep as much of the advertising from sponsors in the sponsors thread. I don't mind links in your signature or what not. I don't mind someone introducing themselves to the forum stating what kind of business they do to promote their products but I would like it to stay at that. As long as you contributing to this forum with good content and not just straight spamming your business there will be no problems. I will probably come up with a few basic forums rules down the line here as the forums grow!!

Well, you could have spent that same $1,500 on Versace, but it then you wouldn't be bullet proof.
Perhaps you could market your new clothing line to law enforcement as some kind of Kevlar vest.