Advertising links, aka SPAM

[Tina Brooks]

And I don't mean the canned kind of spam.

It hasn't escaped my attention that we have heretofore been very lax with the NO SPAM rule.

Because this is such an informative forum for both chiliheads and hot sauce and BBQ pros alike, we have been relatively informal about eradicating topic specific spam.

I know that for many, spam is annoying. It is for me, and we moderators take it very seriously, as you can see.

So... the question is whether or not we should hard-line on-topic links. If we were to take a hard line, the following would not be allowed in messages:

Links to commercial sites or sites owned by industry professionals. (That would include signatures which link to our home pages) Links in one's profile should still be acceptable.

Links to EBay auctions

Links to Sites that sell any kind of products.

Ok... so I think we're doing a good job and the only spam you guys see is on-topic.

So, before I take an official stance for future postings... how do YOU, our members, feel?

T

[bubbaschili]

i can see where your comming from..i think each one should be looked at on a one on one basis......for example i was searching thru ebay and i found something weird like the clothes for the hot sauce....it was not my auction but i thought it was hallarious. now what i was wondering is i just didn't pop my head in say hey i got this one bottle of hot sauce on ebay come and see it..im a established member and if i put some hot sauces that i got up for bid on ebay i would like to give yall a heads up..mabey it would be something you would like.
myself have deleted several threads that went to sites that had nothing to do with chili or peppers or nothing.....just crud..
so it dosent matter to me i will do what yall say and try my best to help enforce it.

[imaguitargod]

Eh, I'm indifferent on the subject but since there wasn't an "I really don't care all that much as long as I'm not getting annoyed" answer, I voted "Yes"...

[chuk hell]

So, Tina, if I understand what you are saying, you would have to remove that "peppermaster" link from your sig?


I saw the link to the ebay auction and I do consider it to be spam...thought about deleting it..BUT, I left it alone because it IS "on-topic spam".

I'm not real big on a whole lot of rules. Since quite a few of the regulars here DO have products for sale, things could get sticky trying to enforce this rule in a hardcore way.

I'm ramblin...sorry. I guess what I'm trying to say is I like the way things are now. With four mods here...and were all pretty active except for maybe Nick, I think we can handle any spam that's really annoying on a case by case basis. If someone get's out of line, we can handle it diplomaticly. I'd like to see this forum grow and having a bunch of strict rules tends too turn people off.

[thehotpepper.com]

Linking to your own ebay sales is fine as long as they are in the advertising (Marketplace) section.

Spamming would be people that sign up just to post prescription drug ads, and other unrelated garbage, or posting the same thing all over the forum, related or not.

[Tina Brooks]

So, Tina, if I understand what you are saying, you would have to remove that "peppermaster" link from your sig?


I saw the link to the ebay auction and I do consider it to be spam...thought about deleting it..BUT, I left it alone because it IS "on-topic spam".

I'm not real big on a whole lot of rules. Since quite a few of the regulars here DO have products for sale, things could get sticky trying to enforce this rule in a hardcore way.

I'm ramblin...sorry. I guess what I'm trying to say is I like the way things are now. With four mods here...and were all pretty active except for maybe Nick, I think we can handle any spam that's really annoying on a case by case basis. If someone get's out of line, we can handle it diplomaticly. I'd like to see this forum grow and having a bunch of strict rules tends too turn people off.

Exactly why I asked the question.

I'm hoping a few more members will check in. It seems to me that the Mods are already of a mind on this.

And yes, if we went into full enforcement, my Peppermaster link would go.

T

[thehotpepper.com]

Advertising in signatures is fine. Also, if that ebay link post was in the Marketplace instead of The Lounge it would be fine, just needs to be moved.

[chuk hell]

done

[thehotpepper.com]

All good points Tina, but I think members need the ability to sell hot products if they have them, let's just make sure they are in the Marketplace if they are blatant sales ads, whether it's ebay, or links to their stores.