Self promoting vs Signature promoting

[Zstream]

Can someone explain the difference between self promoting in a post vs. having a link show up every time in a signature?

Putting a link in a signature, receives more publicity as it follows you everywhere you post. Referencing the signature in a post is doing double advertising.

So if the topic creator has information that is not considered spam and is relevant to a forum, why is it against the rules?

 

[esquared]

First let me say that self-promotion isn't allowed at all. If a member wants to self-promote his/her website, they need to purchase advertisement. This is what we will tell the members when we see it.

As a courtesy, we do allow a simple link to a member's business or website in their sig. And that means just that. A simple link. If the member then starts getting descriptive in the sig explaining what they sell, service, etc, we will ask they to remove it. That type of sig, crosses that line of self promoting.

If a topic creator has a post/thread that is relevant to the forum, which involves his or he business, you have to realize that the only reason they are posting in the first place is to sell.
They might be a member in good standing but what matters again is pushing their products.

Referencing their sig in a post isn't allowed either. If you see case of that, please PM the mod account and we will look into it.

esquared
Anandtech Senior Moderator

 

[shortylickens]

Is that rule just for websites that make a personal profit for the member in question?

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: shortylickens
Is that rule just for websites that make a personal profit for the member in question?

We will look at everything presented to us and attempt to make a decision based on what we see.

 

[Gillbot]

Originally posted by: Zstream
Can someone explain the difference between self promoting in a post vs. having a link show up every time in a signature?

Putting a link in a signature, receives more publicity as it follows you everywhere you post. Referencing the signature in a post is doing double advertising.

So if the topic creator has information that is not considered spam and is relevant to a forum, why is it against the rules?

Most of the time, the difference is that a user doesn't post specifically to "publish" their sig and if they do, it's quite obvious what they are doing.

Often though, people will post a nonsense reply with links in a thread with the sole intent to drive traffic to their site for personal gain. We review each on a case by case basis as has been stated.

 

[Perknose]

Are you folks reading this starting to get an idea of how difficult it can be to be a mod yet?

 

[shortylickens]

Originally posted by: Perknose
Are you folks reading this starting to get an idea of how difficult it can be to be a mod yet?

Must resist urge to be horrendously sarcastic right now................

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Originally posted by: shortylickens

Originally posted by: Perknose
Are you folks reading this starting to get an idea of how difficult it can be to be a mod yet?

Must resist urge to be horrendously sarcastic right now................

As long as you find the original pic of that hot babe, I support your sarcastic remark.

😀

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

I use Google Analytics on my websites and I can tell you that my sig has drawn enough traffic to my site that I can count the page views on one hand. I'd hardly call it "self promotion" 🙂 But I have had a couple of people visit my Flickr page and PM me very kind compliments on my photographs 😀 To be clear I sell nothing on my websites, not even advertisements, just free information that may be useful to a tiny number of people.