Community ad was locked/deleted

Question

Just out of curiosity:

I put a link to a free-for-non-commerical-use web application I am affiliated with in the community ads section.

Now a moderator locked and deleted it telling me rules I did not read anywhere:

Ads for services you are affiliated with - especially for commercial services - are absolutely prohibited.

The application is similar to Dropbox which seems to be tolerated in the community ads section.

My question:

Is there kind of hidden (at least to me) policy page that states the rules and explains also why Dropbox seems to be OK?

Answer 1

There has been some discussion about whether ads for services that have a commercial purchase option should be permitted:

• Define Scope of Community Promotion Ads?
• Should we allow commercial products in the community promotion ads?

There has not been a definitive conclusion yet, but the general consensus is that ads for services with a commercial aspect should not be allowed. The Dropbox ad is under consideration for removal as well.

The key to why I removed your ad is that it is self promotion. Your profile links to your website, which is clearly for the same company that the ad promotes. Self promotion is generally discouraged on Super User. Community Ads are supposed to be a way for the community to promote programs, projects, and events of relevance to Super Users, and which are of broad interest - not to promote your own products. This was the primary reason that I removed it - if you want to promote your own product, you can purchase ads through Stack Exchange.