Advertising and Links in Signatures

There has recently been a big increase in the amount of Spam and Advertising posts on the forum. I believe one of the strengths of this forum is the limited amount of advertising that takes place, and I want to see WDWMAGIC remain as free from advertising as possible. Whilst WDWMAGIC is a community, it does not exist to promote other websites, or act as a resource for those sites.

I would like to remind everyone that in an effort to prevent the forum becomming a mass advertising board, there is no advertising or linking to external sites permitted on WDWMAGIC without prior permission. You may link to your non-commerical site in your site profile (set in your USERCP), which will then appear as a hyperlink should someone view your profile.

Any signatures with advertising, or links, will be deleted. Members who continue to advertise will ultimately be banned.

Some of you have links to your personal websites and other fan sites in your signatures and avatars. In the past I have not enforced these links as being against the rules here, but to be consistent in the enforcement of the no-advertising policy, I am going to ask these be removed. You may continue to have your non-commercial site as a link in your forum profile.

Thanks for reading

Did you get my PM Steve? About my link?

I assume that because you said no linking to "external" sites that my link is still permittable? It goes my photo album here.

Slight question.... Is mine in trouble.. It has been like this for about 2-3 years now... Infact i made it smaller a year an a half ago... and no one has told me ya or nay...

Just to clarify:

What is acceptable:
- link to your WDWMAGIC photo album
- link to a third party site that contains a photoalbum
- link to a particular thread on WDWMAGIC
- link to your WDWMAGIC Members homepage

Unfortunately due to the recent increase in the amount of spamming and advertising taking place, I believe it is best to eliminate it altogether from signatures.

Figment1986 said:

Slight question.... Is mine in trouble.. It has been like this for about 2-3 years now... Infact i made it smaller a year an a half ago... and no one has told me ya or nay...

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Yes your link would be considered advertising. If the site is not commercial, you may link to it in your user profile.

I have a link to my online Disney World Photo Album in my signature. By one definition it sould be OK, as it's non-commercial, but It's not a WDW Magic album. I hope it's OK to stay, but if not let me know. :wave:

Steve, is mine ok? The links are to my Disney photo album on my own domain and my page with photographs I've taken at WDW to download as desktop wallpaper. Well, they're not really links. It's just the address, as you can see, without the hyperlink.

Links to photoalbums are fine. Thanks

Steve, can I link to a site that's filled with advertising, has no pictures of me, has nothing to do with Disney, and contains explicitly ographic images of midgets with goats...if I make the link really small?

(Well, you didn't SPECIFICALLY mention that type of site, so I thought I'd ask.) :lookaroun

The information on my monorail site is WAY too much to post in a thread. That is why I linked it.

I love the signiture i have... (I was trying to remove the link & part about the link but it kepy saying must be below 200 characters..... Can you please increase it to like 250.... I love having the quote & all the color in my sig which i lost some color..)

monorail_man said:

The information on my monorail site is WAY too much to post in a thread. That is why I linked it.

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You can retain a link in your user profile, but not in the signature. If no advertising rules are to apply, they have to apply to all.

wdwmagic said:

If no advertising rules are to apply, they have to apply to all.

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I personaly don't see anything wrong with a little ad here or there as long as it's not selling somthing.

I thought that the point of the boards was to han gout and chat about whatever, even if that whatever is about another board.

I see it like this. We have a shared intrest, Disney, and there are many places to express that intrest on the web. We all know that this is not the only Disney board out there. True this is one of the best, but thre are others that are good too. So why not share the joy? If we all only went to one place. We would miss out on alot of stuff offered at the other places.

Just my opinion. I like it here. As I said this is one of the better Disney boards. But Ithink you would want to be a littl emore open about a little link here and there for another site. Thats how people find out about places.

If it wasn't for a link on another Disney board. I would have never found this place. (I know alot of you wish I hadn't)

Thanks

It is policy.. (the only board I'm on that has the rule.. and i have the case of hving it for about 3 years.... and my sig.... and no one complained.. I ask and took it out after 3 years of it sitting... Rules are rules.. they constantly change... I accept it.. (Rules at my school change weekely..))

Remember, folks, the rules haven't changed at all. They've always been there, but Steve has tried to be lenient about them, I think. When some people take advantage of that fact, he has no choice but to clamp down on everybody. He's trying to be fair, and all the moaning just makes his job tougher. :wave:

Yeah, but it's still sad that a few choice people had to ruin it for everyone with the constant barrage of spam.

nibblesandbits said:

Yeah, but it's still sad that a few choice people had to ruin it for everyone with the constant barrage of spam.

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"A few choice people" and not the majority have ruined alot of things in my life :lol: :lol: :lol:

wdwmagic said:

Links to photoalbums are fine. Thanks

Click to expand...

:sohappy:
Coolio - Thanks

monorail_man said:

I personaly don't see anything wrong with a little ad here or there as long as it's not selling somthing.

Just my opinion. I like it here. As I said this is one of the better Disney boards. But Ithink you would want to be a littl emore open about a little link here and there for another site. Thats how people find out about places.

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What you say works on small forums, and it has worked here for 3 years. However, recently, the forum is becoming targeted by organised spammers almost daily. These are people who are coming here specifically to sell items, or to promote a website.

I work hard to make WDWMAGIC as advertisment free as possible. Finding other ways to fund the site is not easy, but I believe it is in our best interests to keep advertising to a minimum. Since I am striving to do this, it seems unfair to WDWMAGIC to limit advertising revenue, but to still allow people to advertise in their signature space. It would mean my efforts at limiting adverts are being undermined by my own signature rule.

Whilst I wouldnt have a problem with the vast majority of sites that are in peoples signatures remaining, there is no way I have time to go through each and everyone. It is also the case that I have to be consistent in enforcing the advertising rule. I cannot simply allow some, whilst denying others.

I believe that it is fair to allow members to post their website in their user profile. There is no need to have it on display with every single post they make. For example, is it neccessary for a user with 4000 posts to display their website link 4000 times? I think if someone is interested in that person's website, a link in their profile should be sufficient.

In the event of someone having a website which references a specific Disney topic, and it is of relevance to a thread, it could be listed in a post discussing that topic. I do not see limiting signatures as reducing the knowledge of the forum. Third party sites can still be referenced and accessed.