Need members badly......

[Johan Gielen]

I defintely need some members for my Sims EZboard !!

http://pub40.ezboard.com/bthesimsworld

Please join (and post!)
If you're not planning on posting or reading much, then please don't join ! But if you are a Sims fan, please join !!

I'm also in need of some good moderators, so you can tell me if you want to moderate one of my forums ! http://forum.pcmech.com/images/icons/icon6.gif

[glc]

Johan: Please read the FAQ for this site - we don't permit advertising of other sites except as a discreet link in a signature. We do appreciate what you are trying to accomplish, but how would you feel if a member of your site started advertising their site? Thank you for understanding.

[LawyerRon]

What's the Sims?

[DrZaius]

It's a "life simulation" game.

[des9845]

hey whats up....just wanna say that i am building my own pc and i am gonna try to use that "build your own pc" tutorial i found on here and see how it works...i will post my results...hopefully it works lol

[DrZaius]

Hey des9845, welcome to the forums!

[Johan Gielen]

Originally posted by glc
Johan: Please read the FAQ for this site - we don't permit advertising of other sites except as a discreet link in a signature. We do appreciate what you are trying to accomplish, but how would you feel if a member of your site started advertising their site? Thank you for understanding.

O well sorry.... at the other forum I'm at, they don't make it such a point. In fact I advertised for the PcMech forums over there also... Some other members thought I was gonna get in trouble for advertising, but the administrator said:

Yup, it's fine by me. I find it really pathetic that some board admins/mods won't allow you to post the addresses of other boards in case the members like the other one better and don't come back.

Everytime someone asks for links to other boards you get the same tired old answers like "check out this link" and the word link is a hyperlink to the board you're already on. Then 10 other people do the same thing right under it without reading the rest of the post. All the rest just say "this is the only board you'll ever need so don't ask". They're like frightened little kiddies.

I agree, if someone advertises on my forums, I don't make it such a point either. I can understand their situation, because I am in it right now, so I know how it's like if you need members.

[Hpro]

Hard Work will bring you members - before looking for members you should finish your website .. Anyway I blocked people on my website for doing the same thing -- so GLC went on using his soft way - don't waste it..
A pcmech member..
Hpro

[glc]

Everything is cool, folks - no harm done!

[wedor]

I didn't think it was cool, I found Johan Gielen's post insulting.

[Hot Rod]

I'm just playing Devil's Advocate here because I can see both sides of this. It is a touchy subject with a fine line.

glc is correct in that you don't want to drive members to another forum because you are losing "eyes" looking at your site. It is considered advertising. These are the rules that were set up for this forum and members should abide by them.

However......there is a lot of this "advertising" taking place already on PCMech by people referring other members to Maxtor's web site, the Colorcase web site, Microsoft's site, etc... By asking people to check out a Sims forum...does this drive PC Mech members away from the PCMech forum. You have to ask yourself a couple of questions. Is the Sims forum trying to accomplish what the PCMech forum is trying to accomplish. Are they in competition.

I run a Musicians Referral Service Web Site and we do have reciprocal links with several other sites that offer the same type of service. I just feel that it offers my visitors more avenues to get the word out. But it is a free service so I'm interested more in sharing information than making money off of it.

I hope I don't upset anyone with this....just trying to shed some light on both sides.

Cool?

[doctorgonzo]

I can certainly understand the reluctance to allow advertising. I have been to many sites that have been taken over by trolls who just hawk their nutball websites and schemes, and it really takes away from the purpose of the forum. Almost everybody here has some website to show off, so it can become an issue. Doing things discretely is best.

[wedor]

Hot Rod, I think doctorgonzo is on target, your theory assumes that reason for not allowing other sites advertised is loss of readers.

[Hot Rod]

I just based that theory on the comment that glc made in his first post here....."how would you feel if a member of your site started advertising their site." I take that as being concerned that you are losing members to another forum. I could have just misunderstood his intention in that comment though.

I see what Johan is doing is what a lot of people are trying to do. Just trying to promote their site without having to spend a fortune to get the top rankings in a search engine or buying banners on other sites.

I do realize though that if everybody started doing this, the forum would become cluttered with a lot of people promoting their own sites and not a lot of PC assistance going on.

This subject brings up the entire subject of Web site promotion all together. I think it is a disturbing trend that you have to pay to get a decent listing on search engines. The number of search engines that take free submissions anymore is dwindling. You can pay a fortune for banner advertising but there are A LOT of not for profit sites that you will never be able to find. My Musician Referral Site is non profit so I can't spend a fortune on advertising. I rely on other sites with reciprocal links or people mentioning my site in forums.

But the bottom line point is....those are the rules that this forum is operated under and members need to abide by them. Notice how I mentioned my Musician Referral Site several times but never posted a link to it. he he he.

[Hpro]

May some update on that subject -
A few years back I was doing the same thing as I do here -- on Cnet - and right after the beginning of it - I answered a question and placed a direct link there to my website - not the one which is on here - and not even 5 hours later I got a message from the Admin telling me that he deleted my post because of I placed a link to my site - and I was going to help out some people there -

I immediately stopped to post on Cnet for quite some time - then one day I got a mail from another guy there who came to Admin position - who knew the story - and asked me why I didn't post anymore - OK I told him the story in full and also told him that if the former admin had deleted my post because of ADVERTISING MY WEBSITE I wouldn't mind.- but I did not adveritse neither I asked anyone to step by - this are the rules as it is on the internet - so If you guys like to get your sites under the people - I have every week a few hundred visitors - I know this ain't much but it counts up - as I never had made any ADDS for the sites I run..all you need to do is send me the link -- then I will place this link on the front page - and you at least get a better chance - even it can not be compared to Pcmech - but at least there is one more place where your link shows up - for Free..

Now this here - pcmech isn't a advertisement website and I know that it's none good to do so here - this for several reasons - there is a FAQ and if you read it then you as soon you pressed the submit button you agreed to it - so you have to stick to it..

It doesn't matter if this is in confrontation of the material you have on your website - it matters that this is in confrontation with the rules of PCMECHANIC -

For both of you - Hot ROD and Johan you can set the World wide web button in your profile - and I can assure you that many many people will click on it - bringing them to your website - and no one even says anything about it - there then you can make a membership link - this is neat and clean and it doesn't is in conflict with the pcmech rules..
Sorry for the long post..
Hpro

[Hot Rod]

That is what I was trying to point out. I'm not here to advertise my sites....it's not the point of me being here. I'm just saying that I can understand why Johan is doing this. Agree or disagree on PC Mech's rules....those are the rules.

Anyway...on to better subjects now.

[Paul Victorey]

FYI, this can be found under the rules by hitting the FAQ button:

"Members are not allowed to advertise their own website or business on these forums except for in their member profile or signature. "

The reason for this has nothing to do with losing members, and everything to do with keeping the forums from being nothing more than people hawking their own websites.

We have a pretty permissive policy on links; we allow links to material that answers a user's tech questions, we usually allow links of the "check this out" nature, so long as they're not offensive/illegal/etc. In fact, directly advertising your site is about the only thing we don't allow. If you want to get members, by all means, add a link in your sig. We hardly forbid links, we simply forbid people posting for the sole purpose of promoting their website. Individuals and businesses have tried this before; if we allowed this kind of thing, we'd be swamped with ads.

[drisley]

Hey guys,

As the person who codified that policy for this forum, I echo Paul Victorey. That was the reasoning. Losing members to another site is far from my concern list. :)