Advertising and Links in Signatures

[ogryn]

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.

Would having a link in each and every signature also increase the said sites google ranking? (I think Google ranks by the number of sites linking to it). If yes, then people could use Steve's resources to bump their own pages, which isn't really fair.



(And on a side note about profiles Steve, you know the link to the photoalbum... could you make it an actual link cause at the moment you have to copy/paste it which is a pain in the bum! :lol: Thanks :wave: )

 

[wdwmagic]

Would having a link in each and every signature also increase the said sites google ranking? (I think Google ranks by the number of sites linking to it). If yes, then people could use Steve's resources to bump their own pages, which isn't really fair.

This is true. I'm not suggesting that the vast majority of members here are trying to do that, but I am sure that for a few that is the intention, particularly with the organised spammers that have been visiting recently.

Having links in signatures works for small forums. But when there are potentially 18,000 signatures as there is now on WWDMAGIC, it is too big to manage and control. Unfortuantely the policy has to be no linking.

 

[Invero]

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..)

I had the same problem... I went in, deleted my homepage link, and it told me my signature was too long. I always thought it just had to be less than 5 lines? I ended up deleting one of my quotes to be able to get it in.

I just did a character count with MS Word, and with both my quotes it was 112 characters... is the coloring affecting character count?

 

[wdwmagic]

I had the same problem... I went in, deleted my homepage link, and it told me my signature was too long. I always thought it just had to be less than 5 lines? I ended up deleting one of my quotes to be able to get it in.

The 5 line rule varied depending on the resolution of the users screen, so it was not a reliable way of restricting length. Some members also just plain ignored the rule. For the past 6 months signatures have been limited by the number of characters.

 

[Figment1986]

the characters are couting the fonts & colors.... any code... so even [ is a character... such a pitty he had to limit it to 200.... some were really great but had to be edited to remove a link.. and thus be changed forever....

(How many people still are violating the rule??)

 

[monorail_man]

I had the same problem... I went in, deleted my homepage link, and it told me my signature was too long. I always thought it just had to be less than 5 lines? I ended up deleting one of my quotes to be able to get it in.

I just did a character count with MS Word, and with both my quotes it was 112 characters... is the coloring affecting character count?

Same here. I had a few links (to threads in this site) and with the color codes and everything. MS word said it was 194 charaters, and yet when I saved my sig it still said it was over 200.

 

[wdwmagic]

I think the content of your posts should be more important than your signature. This is a discussion forum afterall, not a signature showcase. Does it really matter if a word in your signature isnt in the color of your choice?

 

[Laura]

I used to have my sig linking to my family website at andrew-laura.com but I edited so now it links to my photo album page at http://andrew-laura.com/Albums. I hope that's ok!

 

[Erika]

I think the content of your posts should be more important than your signature. This is a discussion forum afterall, not a signature showcase. Does it really matter if a word in your signature isnt in the color of your choice?

I have to agree; really, the very last thing I notice is the color of a person's sig.

 

[Al]

I'll remove my link straight away Steve, I understand why you are having to do this and appreciate that you let us keep the links in our sigs for so long :slurp: :wave:

 

[WDWScottieBoy]

Steve, I realize you have this at the top of every new page that's opened, but is there anyway to sticky it in the individual areas as well. I have a feeling many people aren't going to open this, let alone read it. Some take advantage of certain things and don't realize the cost of it (literally). Thanks for posting this.

Also, do email accounts go against this as well....like in my signature I have my email (for d-troops.com) which is another site, if you want that taken off I would be more than happy to.

Scott

 

[Kingdom Konsultant]

Thank you for this thread Steve. I had noticed an awful lot of website addresses in signatures lately and I was starting to wonder what was going on.

Thank you again for having the best Disney forums on the internet!

Pam

 

[Figment1986]

I think emails could be in the Profiles too.... it just looks good there...

 

[FigmentJedi]

What about the link to the story I'm writing at fanfiction.net? Is that okay?

 

[askmike1]

Is it okay if we just say something like "Come visit XXXXXXX" without an actual link? If not, it's no problem.

-Michael

 

[wdwmagic]

Is it okay if we just say something like "Come visit XXXXXXX" without an actual link? If not, it's no problem.

-Michael

That is basically the same as linking, so that is also not suitable for a signature.

 

[wdwmagic]

What about the link to the story I'm writing at fanfiction.net? Is that okay?

As listed above, personal homepages are fine in your profile, but we are not linking to webpages (except photoalbums) in signatures. Thanks

 

[Legacy]

Just so I know before I leave, is my avatar ambiguous enough to let slide? If not I'll take it down.

 

[monorail_man]

Does it really matter if a word in your signature isnt in the color of your choice?

IMO, yes. I think if the features are goign to be offered, they should not count as taking up character space since after all the code is not seen inthe sig, the results are.

"character count" should only count for what is seen in the sig.



Just my $.02

 

[monorail_man]

I think emails could be in the Profiles too.... it just looks good there...

How many people really check a person's profile???? Really?

I think maybe allowing one link in a sig would be ok. I understnd that having everyone with 5 links in their sig is a bit much. But after all isn't that the point of the sig, to have a little "personal" shout out.