Have you looked at http://www.edocr.com by any chance? We are not about templates nor about various file types, but more about business documents concentrating on post-production document interactivity. Our users include companies such as Sun Microsystems, Ariba, Forrester and others and growing at a steady pace. We have over 650 users and 850 documents, small quantity compared with Scribd and docstoc.

Whilst we have technology and content overlaps, I believe the focuses are different. Would be great to hear what you think about edocr. We did all this with

Having said that, I would hasten to add that you can’t just download a document from docstoc, change the names, and save the expense of a lawyer. Every deal is different and what works in one deal may not be appropriate and could even be harmful in some cases. For one thing, the document may have been written for the laws in New York and if you’re in Ohio where the law is slightly different, that could be a problem. Alternatively, a lease for example may have been written from the landlords’ perspective and if you are the tenant, there will be provisions you would rather not include.

When I download a document from docstoc or any other forms website, I rarely, if ever, use it as is. Rather I use it as a starting place to save time as compared with starting from scratch.

So, yes, I think the stuff on docstoc is reliable, but it needs to be used responsibly and with an understanding of what the limitations are of getting a document off the internet.

I also have to say that, in my opinion, reading through the post it seems very obvious to me that Deborah was writing about her opinions on the site based on the information she was attempting to gain from it. This was HER experience with it. I didn’t see anything stating that she was providing anything other than that in her statement or the overall “tone” of the post. Therfore, one can logically deduce that these are her opinions – again her experience.

We write about products and services regularly here at Small Business Trends. Been doing that since the beginning.

Why? Because it is a service for small businesses to learn about products and services.

I actually pay Deborah out of my hard-earned money to write these reviews. Yet, I have received not a single dime — not one cent — from DocStoc or anyone else to write this article. Nor has Deborah received anything from DocStoc — she is paid by me and by me only.

She conveyed useful information and wrote a product review of an online product.

First, Deborah did an interview and got quotes. That’s not an infomercial. That’s what journalists do. Pick up a magazine and you’ll see the same thing.

Second, she went through the site, experienced what it was about, and wrote about her impressions. She reported what she thought.

Third, she actually wrote some things that were not all that positive about DocStoc. For instance, I do not consider the following all that positive, because if it were me reading the following 2 paragraphs she wrote, it would raise a big red flag to me about downloading any documents:

“One question: How reliable are the financial and legal forms? DocStoc’s “terms of agreement” removes liability for the quality of the forms submitted by contributors other than DocStoc associates.

Also, it is not clear exactly what use you can make of forms and documents if you download them from the site. For instance, DocStoc’s lengthy “terms of agreement” state those who use forms cannot alter the forms without the permission of the form’s creator. I would use caution if you are considering downloading documents to use in your own business. Read the “terms of service” carefully first.”

Reading that, would you feel comfortable downloading anything? I sure would NOT. How is that an infomercial? Explain that to me.

Furthermore, I don’t accept what Jason of Scribd wrote that there’s a factual error, and I don’t think Deborah should have been so quick to let herself be beaten up by him. Deborah wrote what she thought. Perhaps it wasn’t phrased as clearly as it should have been, and I will take responsibility for that, because I reviewed what was written before it was published and may have taken out something important she wrote. So blame me for the lack of clarity, not her.

But her point was, for the types of documents SHE was interested in, there were more at DocStoc than at Scribd. Scribd may have more documents in total, but if they are not what she wants, Scribd is still not going to stack up as positively.

And if Scribd doesn’t like what we write, that’s too bad. Scribd has not paid me a dime, either. And I wrote about SCRIBD for free too, last year.

We’re not the PR arm for these companies. We write ‘em as we see ‘em.

Not everyone will agree with everything we write. But wouldn’t you rather have us write something, than not? Most readers here say, yes, write about them.

So kindly explain to me this infomercial stuff. If you are going to make an accusation like that, then you are going to have to defend it.

Anita

I am surprised that you allow this kind of INFOMERCIAL to push Docstoc software.I did
not think that this kind of writing could be passed off as a blog by Deborah Brown or a
“Small Business resource” by Small Business Trends.

Jason, I wrote about Scribd here at the site almost a year ago, in April of 2007:

http://www.smallbiztrends.com/2007/04/distribute-business-documents-at-scribd.html/

So I think we’ve been more than fair, having written about your product almost a year ago.

I suggest people read both articles, visit both sites … and reach your own judgment.

Anita