Forum Moderators: open
Anyway, I found this site via google when I was looking for recommendations on tracking and analysis software, specifically NetTracker versus WebTrends. However, I noticed that one thread was "locked" and others mentioned that discussing brands is verboten. But still, there were tons of mentions and threads related to these brands.
So what's the rule? I'm really interested in ClickTracks and want to get some opinions, but don't want to break any rules. ;-) (I figure an intro post is a great place to break a rule...)
Molly
Welcome to WebmasterWorld [webmasterworld.com]!
A quick read through the WebmasterWorld Terms of Service (see link at bottom of page) and reading the "Charter" of any forum before posting to it will help you to steer clear of most problems.
Promotional URL drops, links to commercial sites, and quoting of specific search phrases are forbidden here in order to keep the discussion at a professional level. Otherwise, we'd get a bunch of people who came by simply to promote their own sites, products, and affiliate programs, or to "rat out" their competitor's search engine spamming techniques in a public forum, rather than "risk" reporting spam by contacting the search engines directly.
That said, I can't answer your real question, so hopefully, this reply will bump your post up in the active list. :)
Jim
A quick read through the WebmasterWorld Terms of Service (see link at bottom of page) and reading the "Charter" of any forum before posting to it will help you to steer clear of most problems.
Unless you are a lot smarter than I am it will leave you with more questions than answers.
To get the answers you need to know something about the philosophy behind the rules. A good intorduction is to read Brett's initial post in the Professional Forum Spammers [webmasterworld.com] and as many of the followup posts as you want. Let me suggest that you at least read the whole first page. There is a lot of good stuff later, but things do tend to get repetitive after some time.
And, as with any forum I've been a member of, the community creates its own set of informal guidelines that sometimes overlaps TOS and sometimes overlooks it. People tend to forgive TOS violations from people they see as members in good standing. TOS becomes a way to control trolls and spammers.
Anyway, I'll take a look at the link you posted!
Molly
I just couldn't resist
Here's a good thread in the Tracking and Logging forum to start you off...
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When all else fails a sticky to the moderator of the forum will get you an authoritative answer.
Your question belongs in the Tracking and Logging [webmasterworld.com] forum, moderated by sugarkane [webmasterworld.com].
>People tend to forgive TOS violations from people they see as members in good standing. TOS becomes a way to control trolls and spammers.
Not here. That depends entirely on my mood swings. We also keep NFFC in a cage in the back, but we do allow him to roam freely in the early mornings. heh, heh, heh...
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[edited by: rcjordan at 2:02 pm (utc) on June 14, 2003]
rcjordan responds:
"People tend to forgive TOS violations from people they see as members in good standing. TOS becomes a way to control trolls and spammers."
I think it is a little more complex than that. As golly-molly noted NetTracker and WebTrends get mentioned by name constantly.
It seems that the market leaders are exempt from the general TOS rule. We may say Oracle, Microsoft, Sun, NetTracker and WebTrends and the names of other top-tier products.
The rule only applies to second-tier products. Even this is not universal, one may talk about the second-tier browser Opera by name andthe second-tier database software MySQL.
Second-tier products make their way in the marketplace by solving problems for segments of the market not covered by the more general products. Censoring them does not seem to me to be a positive thing for the forum memebers.
You are right that all communities have their own informal guidelines. My experience has been that "it depends"
I have found that it depends on:
Sorry that is not much help. Any other suggestions (like asking the moderator) have already been mentioned.
Shawn
I don't think it has so much to do with "2nd tier" products. That is subjective itself. The problem is many of us here promote products, some specifically related to the business we discuss. So, it gets more difficult to determine who is self promoting.
Enterprise level databases are much less likely to have a Joe ForumSpammer generating buzz here about their product than an independent software author/marketer looking for airtime. So yes, massive companies may get a pass that unknowns/littleknowns might not.
As suggested above, when in doubt, stickymail the moderator of the appropriate forum. Some products, such as databases or browsers, may be allowed more freedom than say, tracking products, which are more commonly spammed here.
Absolutely Cyril, and if we ever were to decide to have a product review forum the developers of those second-tier products would have a splendid opportunity to hawk their wares, which is certainly not the case currently and never has been. Nor do I believe it is likely to be moving up as a priority on the to_do list in the forseeable future.
We do, however, do a smack_down, bang_up job of providing a wealth of invaluable information here so that such developers can learn to go out there and promote their products. We most certainly are not providing them with the capability of putting out their bait here to catch fish for themselves; rather, we deem it a far better way to help them to learn to go out fishing for themselves.
And as rcjordan has already mentioned, if such developers try we have NFFC waiting in the wings.
Well good_golly, miss_molly! Big welcome, glad you joined us, it's good to have you here!
