"Please join my forum"

[Beverly]

What do you think when you see other forum owners (on this forum or other admin or webmaster related forums), openly begging (or worse spamming links) to their own forum? Seems like every other post, they are referring to some great new discussion started with the line, 'check it out' or 'join my forum'.

It's not so bad when forum owners post a signature line with details but beyond annoying when they keep harping on how everyone on one forum should jump ship to go to their (nearly identical and probably copy cat) brand new forum.

Just thinking it must be very stressful for the forum owner and admin who's site is getting leeched on by the newer site owner, especially if members actually quit to join the other site.

How do you handle this type of situation on your own forum?

 

[VirusZero]

I've never really had people like this come to my site...

For me, instead, I've had come to the site under the guise of wanting help. Like they'll ask how to add a bit of code or how to insert an effect onto their site.

Or they'll want me to have a look at their site for a review. (I've done site reviews before, but I do them on my terms... Meaning they post their site up for review on a site like FP and then I decide whether or not I'm interested. I don't like being PMed by people to review their sites and in most cases I turn these down.)

But then (after either asking for help or a review and getting an answer there) they start the "please join my site" stuff. Very often followed by some PM advertising.


Whichever route they go, they usually end up with their account banned and their forum's url added to word filters (so even if they use a duplicate account they aren't going to be using that link again).

I don't allow advertising on my forum (other than in the signature, anywhere besides there is deleted and dealt with promptly).

 

[Migi]

Every webmaster wishes their websites to succeed, gain lots of attention and visits and posts/comments to be an active community. Therefore, I fully understand why advertising exists. I also think that there is a sense of 'take and give' in this kind of situation. So those who are not willing to 'give' to their target communities will not be able to 'take' anything.

Spamming links to make someone join a forum is absolutely inappropriate. If a member goes by the rules and give positive impression, it's more than likely that the advertising will bring some good results.

 

[lludawg]

I can understand this as every new site owner has to gain initial traffic somehow. As long as the poster is still helping out the community and not spamming then I think it is fine. These links should be kept in their signatures though. Naturally if other users see that this poster is posting quality then they will click the signature.

 

[Chadook]

I agree with phio, everyone has every right to advertise to succeed, however some people do it in the wrong way, through PM spam, to be honest i have never gotten such those messages before.

 

[CM30]

I haven't had anyone advertise like this on my sites, so I don't really care one way or the other. And on other sites? I just check out the site, judge it on what I consider its own merits and don't take the 'ethics' of the owners and their promotional activities into consideration.

 

[buysell-browse.com]

Advertising is good - it keeps the forum's wheels turning. Unfortunately, many people simply don't know how to do it tactfully. Begging for subscriptions is definitely not the way to do it.

On the other side of the coin are paranoid forum owners who make users' lives miserable and discourage any kind of promotion on their forums. There has to be some mutual benefit from posting in a forum. Otherwise, you can simply start your own blog and rant away at the world...

 

[Violetstar]

I have a section where members can post details to their own forum so there is no excuse to spam it all over the forum itself, it's worth asking for a link to yours posted on theirs in return. For the most part it works.

 

[Elenitsa]

Sending once an invitation "I like your writing and I think you would be a good match to my site" is one thing. (and not to everybody - just to known people). This is all right - the receiver can ignore it if not interested, or can join if interested. Discussing a second time uninvited, no way.

 

[Oxycide]

I've never really had to deal with this but if people ever ask me i give them the following line

"Keep it to ONE link in your sig dont clutter things up"

If they wanna PM each other thats OK so long as i dont get reports of it being spammed everywhere, i have faith in my members that they will still continue to post on my forum even if they do sign up elswhere

 

[karateninja]

I've never had those kind of people on my forum, but it sounds annoying.

 

[Delirious]

Since my forum is not for advertising, though I will allow you to have a link or image/link to your forum/website in your signature. I make a News Post - Signature Guidelines which will show at the top of every forum. That way people have no excuse for not seeing it.

 

[Soapbox]

It's not very enticing.
When we come off needy, what user is that going to attract?
You wish people would take 2 steps back and invest some
thought into strategy. I think that who we are as people will
inform, lo & behold, how we run our businesses & forums.
We all no doubt have a ton to learn but you attract people
by strength, not by weakness

 

[Claraviolet]

Ah...I have seen this a lot.Believe me,it's annoying.Even though we allow advertising in our sub-forum,it's hard to keep those users in that sub forum.What a pain!

 

[Mikaya]

haven't come across people like that...yet. 😛

does sound annoying though. If it were to happen, a nice little reminder should suffice. if they continue, warnings or even a temp ban would be appropriate. It's fine if they advertise within the rules, with some information/updates about the site, but there is a limit. 😛

 

[Quacker Jack]

Every webmaster wishes their websites to succeed, gain lots of attention and visits and posts/comments to be an active community. Therefore, I fully understand why advertising exists. I also think that there is a sense of 'take and give' in this kind of situation. So those who are not willing to 'give' to their target communities will not be able to 'take' anything.

Spamming links to make someone join a forum is absolutely inappropriate. If a member goes by the rules and give positive impression, it's more than likely that the advertising will bring some good results.

I like how Phio_chan worded this. To add to her words, I'll bring in my Community Team Leader experiences here.

At a forum like FP, these types of users are totally welcome. After all, we are a promotion community. However, it is important that these user's respect your forum's rules regarding that. If you have rules set in place saying that they shouldn't be spamming links or PMing users to ask them to join their forum, then by all means, you should give the user a reminder of the rules and then the next offense take action. If you do not have set rules, I'd recommend PMing them at least asking them to stop it. If they do not, you should still take some sort of action against them.