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[seemly]

You're going to attract spammers unless you have auto-modertion on any posts/comments with links in. Important to act now while in its infancy imo.

Links should be exposed in plain text in brackets ( google.com ) , not hidden behind link text google.com , so it's obvious where the link is going.

Also, simply disallow any posts with obvious tracking domains, including affiliate domains, and shorteners (auto resolve where possible)

and also disallow typical tracking parameters, i.e. utm*, aff= sid, tid, etc.

end of recommendations.

EDIT: oh and completely disable links in signatures (even better, remove signatures altogether), make any "links" just plain text only, if they most exist.

I do see what you're getting at, but it's incredibly easy to see the difference between a post that has value vs not.

It's also incredibly easy to spot members who consistently half-arse just to drop an affiliate link.

If I ran a forum, I'd have no qualms with users posting affiliate links if it promotes a wide range of quality and relevant user generated content, as it benefits everyone.

1. The forum always has fresh content.
2. New members more likely to sign up due to active membership.
3. The members generating the content with the odd affiliate link get a kick back, thus more likely to generate more quality content.
4. Potential sponsorship opportunities for the forum due to healthy traffic numbers.
5. More money into the forum = further development, and improved services & features.

It might take a little more moderation, but I think that's a fair trade, and I'd be happy to help moderate to keep the forum healthy.

 

[Breakline]

Well, at least this got us talking. I agree with most of your points.

 

[ben]

You're going to attract spammers unless you have auto-modertion on any posts/comments with links in. Important to act now while in its infancy imo.

Links should be exposed in plain text in brackets ( google.com ) , not hidden behind link text google.com , so it's obvious where the link is going.

Also, simply disallow any posts with obvious tracking domains, including affiliate domains, and shorteners (auto resolve where possible)

and also disallow typical tracking parameters, i.e. utm*, aff= sid, tid, etc.

end of recommendations.

EDIT: oh and completely disable links in signatures (even better, remove signatures altogether), make any "links" just plain text only, if they most exist.

I think links in sigs are fine if they are limited and given to established members. But I can see how they might be abused by new members.

 

[temp123]

I think links in sigs are fine if they are limited and given to established members. But I can see how they might be abused by new members.

I can see why established members may think links in sigs are of value ;) but i think on the whole they detract from the general value of the site and lead to un(in?)-organic posting ime. theres always a users bio page which gives intent of interest.

 

[seemly]

I can see why established members may think links in sigs are of value ;) but i think on the whole they detract from the general value of the site and lead to un(in?)-organic posting ime. theres always a users bio page which gives intent of interest.

I think there's also a danger with anonymous users signing up that don't introduce themselves with information about who they are, what they do, what their business is, what they're looking to bring to the table, what they're hoping to learn, etc.

Links in posts and/or signatures is very much a non-issue in comparison to maintaining honesty, integrity, and quality of the forum. We've already had numerous fake and purposely antagonistic users sign up for the sole purpose of rattling the cage.

 

[ben]

Temp123, worst antagonistic new member username signup award this week. Maybe @DJ was right. Perhaps we should have some form of identification check.

 

[temp123]

Temp123, worst antagonistic new member username signup award this week.

Go away, @adm can I block people? This guy is consistently on my back and clearly has a problem with me (which I don't care about)