Posting Websites

Fighting Irish

What is the rule about posting links to websites on boards? I thought it was OK aslong as its not some spam or referral thingy Are you only allowed post links to websites that aren't yours?


Its just in relation to this thread: http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054903988

I have nothing to do with the OP, but his site seemed alright. You could upload your pics to him and he would post them on the site(free of charge), thats all i remember, i forgot to bookmark the site

flogen

You're not allowed advertise your site on boards.ie; while this one was free to use it was probably created with the intention of making money... regardless of the income a site makes advertising it is still banned; when I started here I got into a load of trouble for posting those annoying "hey, look at my cool site!" type posts; the site wasn't a scam, it wasn't selling anything and I wasn't making a penny from adverts but it was still spam (unsolicited)

Fighting Irish

flogen wrote:

You're not allowed advertise your site on boards.ie; while this one was free to use it was probably created with the intention of making money... regardless of the income a site makes advertising it is still banned; when I started here I got into a load of trouble for posting those annoying "hey, look at my cool site!" type posts; the site wasn't a scam, it wasn't selling anything and I wasn't making a penny from adverts but it was still spam (unsolicited)

Thats what i don't understand, if its not a money making site why ban people from posting. I could start a site and post it here saying "hey look at this cool site i found" people would think its not mine. i don't know what to write now im too drunk ill post again tomorrow sorry guys

actually hold on ill try again, if you own a site post it saying its not your site (example bebo.com) and its OK but if you own the site its not allowed??

Does anyone get me?

Happy St. Patricks Day

KdjaCL

Linking to websites on boards can be a pain in the arse if someone deems it to be spam, which is most of the time.

But in reality its just something useful. And Shilling has everyone paranoid about any new user with a link.


kdjac

rsynnott

He presumably plans to make money off it at some point. He started a thread to talk about it. He only has two posts. Hence, spamtastic.

**Timbuk2**

Yesterday I reported a post in the Computers/Technology forum about some user who said that they asked for help in a thread... and then they gave a link to the thread, and it looked like this
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054903988
but it didn't really go where it said, it went to a site that was full of malware (opened up 100 instances of "Internet Connection Wizard" on my computer :eek:

He did something like this
http://www.google.ie

It does not open the page that it says

I hate posters like that, but thanks to Sparky-s the post was deleted and the user banned... (but he came back in the PI forum) but then he was banned by his IP instead of his handle I think

flogen

Fighting Irish wrote:

Thats what i don't understand, if its not a money making site why ban people from posting. I could start a site and post it here saying "hey look at this cool site i found" people would think its not mine. i don't know what to write now im too drunk ill post again tomorrow sorry guys

actually hold on ill try again, if you own a site post it saying its not your site (example bebo.com) and its OK but if you own the site its not allowed??

Does anyone get me?

Happy St. Patricks Day

When a poster has 2 posts and says "look at this cool site I found" people will probably get suspicious, when a poster has 200 posts and says the same, they probably wont (unless the site is questionable)... it's all about reputation, if you have 200 posts of decent contribution, you've earned enough trust to assume that you're not a spammer, with 1 or 2, you probably are.

rsynnott

flogen wrote:

it's all about reputation, if you have 200 posts of decent contribution, you've earned enough trust to assume that you're not a spammer,

Not necessarily.

flogen

rsynnott wrote:

Not necessarily.

true; but people are more likely to be trusted based on their post count; fewer muppets will bother getting 800 posts just to get banned; they may as well go straight for the kill and get banned.

EKRIUQ

Is it allowed to do it like this guy, business site??

rsynnott

BingoBongo wrote:

Is it allowed to do it like this guy, business site??

Dangerous ground, I would think...

KdjaCL

Tony has helped more people here with issues solved in the forum, so his input to Satellite is impressive.

I have needed help in there and got it from him, and if any people in RL need a sat installer i would push them in his direction.

Btw the podcom website that fightin posted about is actually a good site and would have been useful to anyone with a camera phone looking to get a pic hosted.


kdjac

rsynnott

KdjaC wrote:

Btw the podcom website that fightin posted about is actually a good site and would have been useful to anyone with a camera phone looking to get a pic hosted.

Not really the point, is it? I'm sure my commercial website would be fabulously useful to literally tens of people; I don't spam it tho.

Fighting Irish

flogen wrote:

When a poster has 2 posts and says "look at this cool site I found" people will probably get suspicious, when a poster has 200 posts and says the same, they probably wont (unless the site is questionable)... it's all about reputation, if you have 200 posts of decent contribution, you've earned enough trust to assume that you're not a spammer, with 1 or 2, you probably are.

So in other words, if you wanna spam and not get caught you have to get a fair few posts then post your link on boards and try mislead people into thinking that its not yours and you just found it etc etc

rsynnott

Fighting Irish wrote:

So in other words, if you wanna spam and not get caught you have to get a fair few posts then post your link on boards and try mislead people into thinking that its not yours and you just found it etc etc

Yes. You also get a spot reserved for you in a brand new extension of hell built for the purpose

Fighting Irish

rsynnott wrote:

Not really the point, is it? I'm sure my commercial website would be fabulously useful to literally tens of people; I don't spam it tho.

so is there an actual rule writtin down somewhere? link?

Fighting Irish

rsynnott wrote:

Yes. You also get a spot reserved for you in a brand new extension of hell built for the purpose

So how do we weed out the good people? Like bebo.com is being posted everywhere who's to say its not people who run bebo spamming it around boards?

rsynnott

Fighting Irish wrote:

so is there an actual rule writtin down somewhere? link?

No, just basic human decency, really.

CuLT

Fighting Irish wrote:

who's to say its not people who run bebo spamming it around boards?

Who indeed.

Harken, a boy cryeth wolf.... again.

flogen

Fighting Irish wrote:

So how do we weed out the good people? Like bebo.com is being posted everywhere who's to say its not people who run bebo spamming it around boards?

It's OK, I emailed bebo and they said it wasn't them.

Seriously though, it's a matter of common sense for mods; some people are obviously pimping their sites, but if someone asks where they can get a nice hat, and the owner of a hat shop says "I sell nice hats; here's my site for you to look at", that's generally not a problem; they're not spamming, they were invited to offer an option.
If the AH mods banned people posting about bebo, then they'd have to ban people posting about a funny result on a google search too; and so it goes on and on.

This is how I react to a site-plug when I see one;
1) Is it on topic? No; remove it, yes continue to snoop
2) Is it posted in a multitude of forums? Are they all worded the same? Are they off topic??
3) Is the poster new or a member of some time?
4) Is the service offered of any use to the forum viewers, is it selling them something or is it free, is it something that will come in handy to the average forum user?

There are other factors to consider, but generally if the thread is on topic, posted in one forum, posted by a regular user, (seemingly) not an advert for a service and of some benefit to the viewers then it's likely to be alright; not always but in general IMO.

Fighting Irish

flogen wrote:

It's OK, I emailed bebo and they said it wasn't them.

Seriously though, it's a matter of common sense for mods; some people are obviously pimping their sites, but if someone asks where they can get a nice hat, and the owner of a hat shop says "I sell nice hats; here's my site for you to look at", that's generally not a problem; they're not spamming, they were invited to offer an option.
If the AH mods banned people posting about bebo, then they'd have to ban people posting about a funny result on a google search too; and so it goes on and on.

This is how I react to a site-plug when I see one;
1) Is it on topic? No; remove it, yes continue to snoop
2) Is it posted in a multitude of forums? Are they all worded the same? Are they off topic??
3) Is the poster new or a member of some time?
4) Is the service offered of any use to the forum viewers, is it selling them something or is it free, is it something that will come in handy to the average forum user?

There are other factors to consider, but generally if the thread is on topic, posted in one forum, posted by a regular user, (seemingly) not an advert for a service and of some benefit to the viewers then it's likely to be alright; not always but in general IMO.

That seems fair enough :cool:

Crash

Flogen sums it up pretty well to be honest- if someone's actually providing a contribution to the forum, is upfront about it, is not spamming everywhere, then generally its allowable - its the same reason that when a new specific board is formed its nice to have a few people properly involved in stuff like - even if they're businessmen, its worth both their time and ours if its something you have a proper interest in to allow them on (in some cases, not all)

Fighting Irish

Just so you guys can see for yourself, heres the link from the orig thread http://imobio.com/ it seems legit, no ads(which is always a plus)

If a mod disagrees he can edit this post

rsynnott

Please don't repost spam. Good lord...

Fighting Irish

rsynnott wrote:

Please don't repost spam. Good lord...

:rolleyes: but its not really spam, its an interesting site

rsynnott

Fighting Irish wrote:

:rolleyes: but its not really spam, its an interesting site

If it is spammed here, then it is spam by definition. Spam-vertising is a disgusting habit; I'd say the same link was posted on a thousand other forums.

tallaghtdave

yawn

Fighting Irish

Fighting Irish wrote:

:rolleyes: but its not really spam, its an interesting site

For some reason, I thought of "He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy" when reading that post. Moving on...

WhiteWashMan

Fighting Irish wrote:

What is the rule about posting links to websites on boards? I thought it was OK aslong as its not some spam or referral thingy Are you only allowed post links to websites that aren't yours?


Its just in relation to this thread: http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054903988

I have nothing to do with the OP, but his site seemed alright. You could upload your pics to him and he would post them on the site(free of charge), thats all i remember, i forgot to bookmark the site

ok, this is something i have a lot of experience with from the work forum over the years.

i have no problem with people posting up sites.
but there are a few rules.

if the site is informational and free and relevant to the topic, even if the person who posts it is related in some way to it, then i allow it to remain.
why?
becuase its free and informatative and its on topic.

if its blatant advertisement, it gets deleted.
why?
becuase if you want to advertise, then buy a banner

if its someone asking for 'help' in making a website better etc, i look at it and make an assessment. usually i let it stick, becuase people come back and geive their feedback.
why?
because we are nice people and we like to help other people.

if someone links to a site that is pay only, i tend to just delete it.
why?
get an advert you bum.

if its a topic of conversation and people are talking about it (like bebo ort my space) i tend to leave it.
why?
becuase these are popular sites, and there is not really any point in deleting links like those. besides, the add to the topic at hand, or add as examples.

any other examples of linkage are really dealt with on ad hoc basis.
if i feel they are useful, or add something i leave them except if its is blatant advertising or spammage (and even that is based on my own subjective beliefs).

as always, there will be people who feel the need for hard and fast rules, but as always there is no way i can have them, becuase there are always exceptions to the rule.



however, there are two things that rule over everything here, and those two rules cover not just links and advertising, byut the admins, the mods and the users in every single way.

those two things are:

common sense.
the spirit of boards.ie.

everything else can be bent, broken or reshaped depending on need and situation. which is why mods will never be able to please everyone all of the time, and we will always have stupid 'boards is a dictatorship' threads here.

because we do have the ability to do things that are not subjected to strict rules. but more to guidelines.

it may not be strictly fair, but overall, its far more consistant than anything else. and i think we are consistantly consistant.

and i think thats fair.

Fighting Irish

rsynnott wrote:

If it is spammed here, then it is spam by definition. Spam-vertising is a disgusting habit; I'd say the same link was posted on a thousand other forums.

:rolleyes: so do we alert the whole internet that the site is spam and should never be posted anywhere? Its a simple website that provides a service that could be used by boards members and as far as i can see the owner isn't making anything from it

WhiteWashMan

Fighting Irish wrote:

:rolleyes: so do we alert the whole internet that the site is spam and should never be posted anywhere? Its a simple website that provides a service that could be used by boards members and as far as i can see the owner isn't making anything from it

is it in context with the topic at hand?
or a specialist forum?