An experiment on posting links

skein · 11-20-2003, 07:54 PM

(EDIT) This is a test that we are performing on the Salty Dog board ONLY at this time. Thanks to Pitch Pocket for bringing this up. We have not extended this to the ifish community at this time. We are still on a trial basis, on Salty Dogs until we are satisfied that it is working! Thanks,Jen

After a lot of thought and discussion among the mods and admins, we agreed we would like to loosen up a bit on the posting of links. Sometimes a product or service is simply not available through one of our established sponsors, and we feel in those cases it should be all right to share a link or address. Since the whole spirit of Ifish is sharing and helping others, we agree that banning all direct links is often too stringent.

Please consider these guidelines when posting a link:

* We will allow posting of business contact information or URL's, unless it is direct, targeted marketing.

* We will allow linking to articles and stories that pertain to the subject at hand, i.e. fishing or gearing up.

* We will allow linking to products that aren't normally available though our sponsoring businesses.

No-No's:

* No guide url's unless they are Ifish sponsor guides. See list at the bottom of this page.

* No direct links to ebay. You can say you saw someting on ebay, but not provide the link.

* And of course, no direct, targeted advertising or marketing. (see examples below)

As always, we appreciate your sensitivity in remembering who sponsors the software to run this board.

We think this will work and still be within the business guidelines Jennie set for Ifish. The goal is to be helpful rather than restrictive. This is also a test case, and not the last word. We may yet have to make changes and improvements but as always, we want to err on the side of our members.

Targeted Advertising or Marketing examples:

Someone at "Floater's Fleet Discount" monitors the board and posts links to their products every time they have a sale.

Someone responds to every inquiry about lower units with a plug for their boat shop.

Another situation might arise when:

Someone asks, "Where is that new sport store out on 45th Street?" and getting the response, "Oh, Albacore Alley? It's at 4245 SE 45th Street" or "You can get directions at www.albacorealley.com."

We would like to steer away from either of those scenarios and encourage you to handle that with personal emails.

The Moderating Crew.

[ 12-04-2003, 09:07 AM: Message edited by: Jennie@ifish ]

Nofish · 11-20-2003, 08:03 PM

Skein,
I know you moderator types have your work cut out for you - these new guidelines seem more than fair. Thanks for your effort on this and let's hope this works out. Bob

corrirod · 11-20-2003, 08:45 PM

Thanks Jim,Jen, and the rest of the crew for revising and reconsidering. That's what like about this board.

crabbait · 11-20-2003, 08:46 PM

Thought we might pin this to the top for a little while.

My thanks to Jim for putting the words together and to Jennie and the rest of the admin/mods for being open minded enough to give this a chance. [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

If anyone has questions on what is or is not kosher, just let us know. We will do our best to provide answers. :whazzup:

[ 11-20-2003, 09:54 PM: Message edited by: crabbait ]

Onokai · 11-20-2003, 09:01 PM

Thanks for the clarity. Mark

ONOKAI

WP · 11-20-2003, 10:06 PM

[img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]
Flexible, consistent, and fair....It is always good to see progress that is not too tainted with bias! Good job Jim and company.
Dave

fish assassin · 11-21-2003, 06:44 AM

WP:

Post #666??? The devil made you do it, right?

-assAssin- (sorry, couldn't resist)

Pitch Pocket · 11-21-2003, 06:44 AM

That's great! Seems way more reasonable. Thanks for your consideration and flexibility.

I'm curious though, why no direct links to ebay?

corrirod · 11-21-2003, 07:23 AM

I think it's because Ifish has it's own classified section, but maybe there's more?

skein · 11-21-2003, 07:55 AM

Quote:

Pitch Pocket asked:
I'm curious though, why no direct links to ebay?

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helv">
It's the same reason we don't allow links to items in our own classifieds - we don't want the forums to get cluttered up with sale items. We want them to stay focused on fishing.

Besides, we'd like our own members to give the other ifishers first chance at items they have for sale rather than post them on ebay and then tell our folks about them (admittedly, that's usually the way it works anyway), and oftentimes ifish gets a donation when we sell things here.

Skein

[ 11-21-2003, 08:58 AM: Message edited by: skein ]

Miss B Haven · 11-21-2003, 08:23 AM

[img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

Good move I think. There will be a learning curve I'm sure. No hard feelings (on my end) if I post a link that's not acceptable and you edit it, bound to be some learning curve for us. There was for me on the "old rules" anyway (but then maybe I'm just slow- seems I do ride the short bus on occasion!).

Question? Lots of folks like to post links to boats they see for sale somewhere. Either for others benefits or asking a question about it to the board. Is that OK now (technically wasn't before.. but seemed to slide a lot).
I'm wondering because e-bay isn't OK, and there are some boat dealers as sponsors. On the Dogs the boats posted don't seem to compete with what the sponsors are selling but it's too close to call for me. [img]graemlins/1zhelp.gif[/img]

skein · 11-21-2003, 08:59 AM

Quote:

Miss B asked:
Lots of folks like to post links to boats they see for sale somewhere. Either for others benefits or asking a question about it to the board. Is that OK now

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helv">

That's a good question, Miss B, and actually asks two separate questions. Remember, the last thing we want to do is start making determinations on a case-by-case basis.

If you're interested in a boat and want opinions, how about grabbing a pic and posting that instead of the link to the actual ad.

And if it's a boat you've come across that's for sale, we'd rather you posted that you knew of a particular boat and invite interested parties to email you for the link. It's a little more work on your part, but it helps keep the board clean.

Sound fair?

Skein

Miss B Haven · 11-21-2003, 09:18 AM

Fair? Heck no!

Just kidding, that's fine. If I forget I'm sure you'll remind me! :blush: :grin:

Pitch Pocket · 11-21-2003, 02:12 PM

Thanks for the explanation Skein.

CAPT KUJO · 11-23-2003, 07:51 PM

As an IFISH sponsor, I want to thank you for protecting our sponsorships! [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

CAPT KUJO [img]graemlins/program.gif[/img]

Reef Diver · 11-25-2003, 12:10 PM

As a Wise old Dog once said..."Dont Bite The Hand That Feeds You".
We need to Honor our established Sponsors!
Great Job! [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

Fshklr · 12-04-2003, 07:08 AM

Perfect!! With the new policy towards links..

"Let the links begin!"

and continued protection of the Valuable Sponsers already here! [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]
Thanks Jen and Mods.

[ 12-04-2003, 08:10 AM: Message edited by: Fshklr ]

Reno Reeler · 01-08-2004, 11:58 PM

Thanks for establishing order and direction!