An issue has been cropping up quite a bit lately with people posting links in signatures. Some people have been posting blatantly commercial sites or attempting to self-promote their own community sites. I've been pretty lenient in the past around only correcting people via a direct email message rather than calling them out in the forums... and then only if it's an obviously commercial site or an attempt to create a community site exactly like this one. Or only correcting issues when people email me directly to complain.
However, some of the people that have had to change their signatures have complained that I've let other folks with non-personal signatures slide, especially if they've been a part of the site for a while. So, in the interest of fairness, the forums guidelines have been updated to explicitly clarify the fact that only links to personal sites (which means sites about you) or personal blogs are permitted. Other types of sites may not be self-promoted in your signatures even if you're the only one running that site.
The signatures policy has always been personal sites only. This is simply a clarification and a promise to enforce it evenly for all members to head this off before it turns into an argument and spills over into the forums from email. So, if you link to anything besides your personal site in your signature, please update your signature and any posts you've made in the last couple days to follow the forum guidelines.
Thanks for your time and understanding.
Regards,
John
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I guess that means me and Ryan. Shame but I see why.
Yours
Steve Lamerton
Er, Steve, I have no links to Libertà and Cube Games is my personal site.
I'm fine.
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Ryan McCue
Cube Games
Life is like a sewer. What you get out of it depends on what you put into it.
(Tom Lehrer)
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
Actually, Cube Games has multiple app authors hosted as well as forums and stuff... so it isn't really just a personal site anymore. I had to clarify this in the forum guidelines due to complaints from other people who felt singled out. A personal site is a site about you with your own stuff on it. Basically, if you can't make the link be "My Homepage", it isn't your personal site and shouldn't be linked in your signature.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Bye Bye Linky!
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Ryan McCue
Life is like a sewer. What you get out of it depends on what you put into it.
(Tom Lehrer)
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
Does this mean my signature aswell then John. Although my site is my own apps that I have done, I actually have a favourite link area on each page referring to Cube Games and Liberta amongst others.
Link removed until clarified
Dell XPS M1530 Laptop
Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 2.5GHz
4GB Ram
256MB GeForce 8600M GT
This is all about what's a personal site. We're talking personal homepage here. A website about you and all the random stuff you do. Your tanisthalon site may be run only by you (and hence "personal" in one way) but it can't be classified as your personal homepage could it?
Now, if you had a personal homepage that had your resume and other personal stuff (photos, links to friends sites, other random geeky stuff, etc) and, in addition to that, you posted some portable applications on that site... you'd be fine linking to it.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Just to clarify, Cube Games is my personal site, Cube Games Portables is my portable apps site. I have no resume (I'm 13 for god's sakes :P) or other personal stuff like photos (see above bracket), links to friends sites (my friends don't even know what HTML is).
I do have other random geeky stuff, like my other projects, but my life basically revolves around Portable Apps.
Still, I'll get rid of link to avoid arguments.
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Ryan McCue
Life is like a sewer. What you get out of it depends on what you put into it.
(Tom Lehrer)
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
Rather than having to police this and have it be all judgement calls, what do you guys think about just ditching links in signatures (or maybe ditching signatures altogether). I can maybe hack the flatforums module to link to people's personal homepages that they have listed in the profiles.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Ditch links, keep signatures.
Check my profile, it already links to it.
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Ryan McCue
Life is like a sewer. What you get out of it depends on what you put into it.
(Tom Lehrer)
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
How about a forum for posting our own sites. I mean I Just started a couple of sites like Ubuntu Multimedia Center and Portable Apps World. I think a forum like this gives us an opportunity to support each others websites and it wouldn't be violating the forum rules.
your friendly neighbourhood moderator Zach Thibeau
That's the whole point of not allowing self-promotion. You can link to your personal homepages. And, of course, on your personal homepages, you can link to all your other projects. So, when someone gets to know you, they'll check out your homepage and your other stuff, too... and maybe even link it from their sites. Keep in mind that many of the largest community sites, like WebmasterWorld, for instance, don't allow *ANY* links at all. So, you can't use these community forums as a vehicle to self-promote your other stuff. That's not what they're here for. Especially when one of those things is designed to compete with this site. How fair would that be?
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
I guess your right
your friendly neighbourhood moderator Zach Thibeau
I get around 100 hits with the referrer being my profile page. Once people know and/or trust you, they will check out your site.
Speaking of that, I'm doing a button on my site which will point to Portable Apps. Should I send it to you first for approval, or post on the forums?
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Ryan McCue
Life is like a sewer. What you get out of it depends on what you put into it.
(Tom Lehrer)
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
This is what I use in all the forums I visit, so I hope it's ok...
Edit: the links don't work...
My Site
My Computer
Do this: My Site
You need the http://
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
I've changed my site!
It's now my personal site with no other posts (except those old ones).
John, can I add my link back now?
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Ryan McCue
Person 1: Oh my god. You will never believe what just happened.
Person 2: What?
Person 1: I can't remember, I've forgotten.
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."