If this behavior is consider appropriate here, then I'll update my expectations and I apologize for causing such a fuss (least people accuse me of "trolling"), but in this case I'll suggest explicitely stating in the forum policy that advertising is allowed here, since that's not the standard expectation on a typical internet forum.
"This behavior" isn't considered appropriate as a general rule. However, the history of CFAR's creation reveals that CFAR is pretty much an effort to bring LessWrong material into practical application. Nearly all of the CFAR material is built from or inspired by LessWrong content AFAIK, and some of the more recent LessWrong official posts are closely linked to discussions that happened around CFAR.
As such, it's reasonable to expect that most people on LessWrong would like to know what's going on with CFAR and would like to be informed about services CFAR provides, since CFAR is (so far) the best platform we have for structured training of LessWrong skills.
On the other hand, I agree with army1987 that it is questionable whether this belongs in the "Main" section of LW, and I think it belongs more in the Discussion section, even if that would risk getting it less exposure.
Do you know any other meaning [for "commercial"]?
I often hear and use the term to mean "where a provider of goods or services is attempting to maximize profit by getting more customers or getting customers to pay more", taking the context of advertising into account. By these connotations of the term, CFAR is not a commercial organization, and this advertising isn't "commercial" because they don't aim to make as much profit as they can from people who attend the training.
This meaning is often used to put contrast between "commercial intent" and "altruistic intent", or similar comparisons.
CFAR is taking LW-style rationality into the world, this month, with a new kind of rationality camp: Rationality for Entrepreneurs. It is aimed at ambitious, relatively successful folk (regardless of whether they are familiar with LW), who like analytic thinking and care about making practical real-world projects work. Some will be paying for themselves; others will be covered by their companies.
If you'd like to learn rationality in a more practical context, consider applying. Also, if you were hoping to introduce rationality and related ideas to a friend/acquaintance who fits the bill, please talk to them about the workshop, both for their sake and to strengthen the rationality community.
The price will be out of reach for some: the workshop costs $3.9k. But there is a money-back guarantee. Some partial scholarships may be available. This fee buys participants:
CFAR is planning future camps which are more directly targeted at a Less Wrong audience (like our previous camps), so don’t worry if this camp doesn’t seem like the right fit for you (because of cost, interests, etc.). There will be others. But if you or someone you know does have an entrepreneurial bent[1], then we strongly recommend applying to this camp rather than waiting. Attendees will be surrounded by other ambitious, successful, practically-minded folks, learn from materials that have been tailored to entrepreneurial issues, and receive extensive follow-up to help apply what they’ve learned to their businesses and personal lives.
Our schedule is below.
(See also the thread about the camp on Hacker News.)
WORKSHOP SCHEDULE: NOVEMBER 16-18, 2012
Friday, November 16: Know the World
Saturday, November 17: Know Your Self
Sunday, November 18: The Big Picture
Note: Ordering shown is typical rather than actual. To allow each session to have only 6 participants, each session is held at multiple times during the day. (Session groups will be frequently remixed; everyone gets a chance to meet everyone else.)
Click here for the workshop overview
Click here to apply
[1] Many attending the camp will be entrepreneurs; but there will also be folks from finance, programmers, managers, and others who combine analytic thinking with an interest in ambitious, real-world projects.