Banners and Self Promotion

Post by **Cameron_Losco** » 06 Nov 2007, 10:34

I have noticed that a few people have a PC Solutions Banner in their signature, if you read the rules I state the following:

6) No advertising or self promotion. If you are a regular user you may announce your site in the forum once, there after you are only allowed to have a link in your signature (no banners). Please don’t just join to advertise on the forum, it will get deleted/locked.

So why is it that there are a few of you with the PC Solutions banner in your signature?!
Please remove all PC Solutions banners from your signatures before the end of the day, if I find a user with this banner in their signature after this I will ban you. I also see that there is a single owner of the domain, for this reason only the owner of the domain may have a link to this site in their signature but no banners will be allowed.

The reason why I chose to allow the announcement of your sites was to help you guys get a little head start, but as per usual there are a number of individuals that choose to take advantage; if this sort of behaviour continues, I will ban any kind of self promotion unless paid for!

Post by **Cameron_Losco** » 06 Nov 2007, 16:40

Just a reminder to all of you with PC Solutions banner in your signature, remove them immediately. The same goes for all other banners linking back to your own sites. You may, however, have a text link in your sig.

Post by **maxxis** » 06 Nov 2007, 16:48

Noted and changed

Post by **Cameron_Losco** » 14 Dec 2007, 10:21

I have decided to unlock this thread to explain a few things because I see a few questions have been asked in another thread.

So, why is it that you don't allow hyperlinking of banners in signatures?

The answer is pretty simple, people pay money to advertise their sites and if I was to allow people to advertise (hyperlinking banners and so on) in their signatures for free, it would be rather unfair to those that pay for advertising.

But then why do you allow a text link in the signature?

Again, the answer is simple. I allow text links to help give our members a little push start to help them get some visitors to their site. This is the same reason why I allow Web site (just one please) announcements from regular members. Abuse it, and it will be GONE!

Okay, but what about having a commercial banner without a hyperlink?

Nope, I don't want to see those either. At the moment, I don't mind a banner giving your system specs or even naming your site but I won't tolerate actual advertising. Take Maxxis for example, he has a banner of sorts with a name in it but doesn't actually advertise anything. So, it's a bit of a grey area but if it does get abused I'll have to change the rule and be more strict about things.

Hope this clears things up!

weasel · Post by **weasel** » 14 Dec 2007, 10:26

So my banner in my signature (as it's now) is illegal?

Post by **maxxis** » 14 Dec 2007, 10:32

Yes.

@Cameron if my sig is in any way in conflict with the rules of the forum then I will gladly remove it. I understand its a grey area and it will not become a banner

weasel · Post by **weasel** » 14 Dec 2007, 10:36

So, if I take the http://www.pcperfect.co.za of from the banner ... and but it as a text link underneathe the banner .... then that's legal?

Post by **Cameron_Losco** » 14 Dec 2007, 10:38

weasel wrote:So my banner in my signature (as it's now) is illegal?

Yes, it's fine, for now anyway. Obviously it might not be if we make amendments to the rules but you don't have to worry about that now.

maxxis wrote:Yes.

@Cameron if my sig is in any way in conflict with the rules of the forum then I will gladly remove it. I understand its a grey area and it will not become a banner

Don't worry maxxis, you'll be the first to know if I have any problems with your signature

weasel · Post by **weasel** » 14 Dec 2007, 10:41

@ Cameron - Thank you

@ maxxis -

doo_much · Post by **doo_much** » 14 Dec 2007, 10:43

Sorry Cameron but that seems to be paying lip service to the rules?

Text in a pic or just plain text - I mean wtf.

Believe me I understand the need for rules and enforcing them but then you shouldn't leave grey areas like that?
Might it not then rather be better to change the rule and get it over with?

Anyway - the guy runs the site as a hobby, it's not a commercial venture. That should count for something?

Post by **Cameron_Losco** » 14 Dec 2007, 10:50

doo_much wrote:Sorry Cameron but that seems to be paying lip service to the rules?

Text in a pic or just plain text - I mean wtf.

Believe me I understand the need for rules and enforcing them but then you shouldn't leave grey areas like that?
Might it not then rather be better to change the rule and get it over with?

Anyway - the guy runs the site as a hobby, it's not a commercial venture. That should count for something?

Yes, it is a bit of a grey area but there hasn't been all that much abuse so I'm not worried currently. Perhaps I should make some changes to the rules, you are right about getting it over with. I'll give it some thought...

PS. Update for SPCA story happening this afternoon.

doo_much · Post by **doo_much** » 14 Dec 2007, 10:57

Cameron_Losco wrote:
Update for SPCA story happening this afternoon.

Now THAT is good news for a change!

Those guys REALLY need money this time of the year. Some idiots go on vacation and leave pets behind - unattended.
Damn sad really.

If you're up for it we could maybe get the drive going again? Get some forumites to donate some of their hard earned Christmas bonuses maybe?

PaperCut · Post by **PaperCut** » 14 Dec 2007, 11:11

hope my sig doesn't go against the rules...

somebody please enlighten me...

Post by **maxxis** » 14 Dec 2007, 11:14

Nope. Its 100%

PaperCut · Post by **PaperCut** » 14 Dec 2007, 11:17

maxxis wrote:Nope. Its 100%

*sigh of relief*

Coz my sig advertises teh PaperCut to teh fullest! Feel free to explore. No, no money will be transfered into my account :sneaky:

b:rr::rr:

thanx maxxis
:bigups:

DAE_JA_VOO · Post by **DAE_JA_VOO** » 14 Dec 2007, 11:43

The key here is to not let this stuff get abused. As soon as people start taking advantage and start abusing the privileges we have, we'll lose all of this.

Thanks Cammie

DarkRanger · Post by **DarkRanger** » 14 Dec 2007, 11:51

Cool, thanks for clearing that up cam!!

Obituary · Post by **Obituary** » 14 Dec 2007, 15:43

Mine is fine right?

Post by **Ron2K** » 03 Jul 2008, 13:05

I'm bringing this up again as we seem to be having issues with advertising lately.

We're going to be quite tough on our implementation of the advertising forum rule. You can pimp your site, as long as it's personal in nature, by having a link to it in your signature. That's it.

Some common scenarios...

A user has a link to his blog in his signature.

Absolutely no problem with that - go right ahead.

A user has a link to his blog in his signature, as a banner.

This isn't allowed - text links only.

A user has a link to his business in his signature.
A user is advertising someone else's business.
A user is promoting his or someone else's business in the forum.

No way. As far as we're concerned, if you're a business and you want to advertise your stuff, you must pay for advertising. We don't give away advertising for free on this site. This is also the reason why we don't allow dealer prices to be posted on the forum, and also why dealers are not permitted to advertise in the For Sale section.

If you fall into this category and would like a banner ad on the site, check this page out for contact details. You can also get hold of Dalfers on the forum. If you decide to advertise on the forum for free, expect us to remove the offending posts and warn/ban you if you're particularly annoying.

A user joined the forum specifically to advertise.

Instant permanent ban. No questions will be asked, no reasons will be heard.

Post by **maxxis** » 03 Jul 2008, 13:12

Thanks for posting Ron.

Post by **maxxis** » 04 Jul 2008, 08:58

Deadline for removal of links to corporate websites and any form of self promotion for personal gain as per above rules is 15:00 this afternoon.

Thereafter we will start taking action.