Negative marketing is allowed, or not allowed?

Hey, so I noticed a thread where a user asked for reddit downvote getting deleted today. I understand that this is negative marketing, which is against the terms of BHW.

However, I have seen multiple BSTs in BHW which offer the exact same thing! Let's say, reddit downvotes and youtube downvotes (I also got an infraction for asking for youtube downvotes, about a year ago, pls check my infraction list in case you are interested). As for example:

https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/r...ce-price-from-0-1-front-page-service.1074949/

This thread offers reddit downvotes (check the description). I am sorry for calling out OP of that BST directly. I have nothing against him/her. Just took the first thread I could find. This is pretty much double standards IMHO. I have also tried reporting those BSTs multiple times, but nothing happens to them. So... a little confused.

My question is.. what is the official stance of BHW admins regarding this? Is it allowed to sell downvotes here? If so, why are the wtb threads deleted like this, and the users receive infraction for asking the same?

It’s not against the rule to offer such service (downvotes), but against the rules to request in an open thread to do a negative marketing

se900se said:

It’s not against the rule to offer such service (downvotes), but against the rules to request in an open thread to do a negative marketing

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Do you have any link to this please? I can't find anything written anywhere which mentions this. If this is true, then it's even weirder.. but anyways..

Gogol said:

Do you have any link to this please? I can't find anything written anywhere which mentions this. If this is true, then it's even weirder.. but anyways..

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It’s my assumption

@Apricot this woman can answer your question properly.

This is the interesting balance between the 2 positions. If I can use an analogy, is it legal in the US to go a buy a gun - yes. Is it legal to buy bullets with that gun? - yes. Is it legal to shoot and kill someone with that gun in peacetime? - No. It comes down to intent. We don't discuss specific infractions handed out by mods but in general, the answer has to be a most dissatisfying. Maybe....

Infractions are handed out mainly for breach of section 3.1 of our terms of service https://www.blackhatworld.com/help/terms .

We don't delete all threads that are reported but each time you report a thread you should get a notification with a reason it's not been accepted.

In this case the service you mention isn't in breach of any of our rules as it's not defining what the intent is with that purchase. If it was "Screw over your competitor on platform XYZ" then it wouldn't be approved. It's all about the intent.

Official response requested and answered thread closed.
At a time when lawmakers are becoming more digitally aware this is an area we're constantly focussing on.