I'm fed up of referral links

[Boo Radley]

New Deadline to get your signatures fixed: Thursday July 15, 2009

I'm fed up and tired of all the BS that's going on with referral links.

If people can't respect the fact that I'm allowing referral links in the first place (MOST deals websites do NOT allow referral links what so ever) then I'll have to disallow referral links all together.

I place very few ads on SC because I respect my members. Surprisingly some members post banners (larger than the ads on here!) with referral links and do not show any respect to other members.

I'll give all members 1 week to sort this out and significantly reduce the referral links clutter and if it's still a mess I'll censor all referral link websites, disallow any linking in signatures and disallow any referral links on SC.

Here are some suggestions for making the referral links work smoothly. If these are not implemented by next Thursday I will completely ban referral links from SC. If you see someone else not following the suggestions below please feel free to point them to this thread. It is up to SC'ers to decide, based on their actions, the fate of referral links on SC.

Here is what has to be done by next Thursday:

• Do not post more than 2 referral links in your signature and make sure it's the regular font size, not balded, not italicized and in the regular blue colour.
• Do not post banners or any images that links to a referral program.
• Do NOT start new threads about websites with referral links and post your referral link. If you want to let people know about a website that has referral links post the normal link without your referral code and then ask the next member to use the link in your signature.
• Do NOT expect everyone to use your referral code because you started a thread. You should have a chain where A refers B then B refers C etc.
• I don't care if the website gives a special prize to a person who refers the most people. Go advertise your referral link somewhere else.
• Do not argue or fight about whose referral link to use
• Do not post a referral link to any website that provides points by shopping at stores similar to the ones in SC's cashback. Come on, please respect the effort put into SC or just leave.

If all these suggestions are not being followed by next Thursday referral links on SC will be history.


I respect every member on SC. I never sent out mass emails, never tricked people into signing for anything for my benefit, never posted any referral links myself and always kept advertising to the very minimum to the point where I have actually had to pay for some stuff on SC from my own money because trust me Google ads doesn't cover the cost of everything going on in here. If you can't follow the same level of non-selfishness, SC isn't the right place for you.

[tinytina]

agree!

[kittyc]

I am sorry

[FreebieChick]

Yes, i totally agree with you Boo. I think when people start a thread in hopes of everyone signing up under them, they should be doing it only for others to benefit from it, not for themselves to; like you said; get prizes for the most referrals they received. It is also up to everyone else to sign up under that person, someone else they know that's also signed up or just sign up on their own. A better way to go about this, is to place your referral links in your personal outgoing emails.

[samhoque]

While we are at it, can we also take care of the hugeee images/banners in some of our members' signature? Its not a bad thing to show off your dog or how much you like britney, no offense, but can we have the image sizes to a minimum. It just makes going through a post more pleasant to the eyes.

[foggydayz]

its the sob stories that make me cringe,,,, everyone has problems, leave that stuff out.

[alajen]

While we are at it, can we also take care of the hugeee images/banners in some of our members' signature? Its not a bad thing to show off your dog or how much you like britney, no offense, but can we have the image sizes to a minimum. It just makes going through a post more pleasant to the eyes.

I think there is an option to turn that function off in your user profile so you don't have to plow through the signatures at all - Under User CP, Settings&Options, Edit Options --> Thread display options --> Show signatures.

[momg]

is this ok? if not let me know i could change it.

[koala]

I see where you are coming from Boo.

[WandaJean]

I just started the thread the pigsback thread because of the contest I was in, it was not meant to cause problems..I only did what so many others have done here..vote for me in this contests...click my referal link...help me win this contest..vote for my video..vote for my recipe.I have given lots of support to SC members, voting..clicking on referal links to help them out etc etc. And when its my turn to ask for support I get Blasted for it I think asking for support for a contest and/or referals should be banned completely.

[Sally888]

While we are at it, can we also take care of the hugeee images/banners in some of our members' signature? Its not a bad thing to show off your dog or how much you like britney, no offense, but can we have the image sizes to a minimum. It just makes going through a post more pleasant to the eyes.

I like seeing peoples signatures, sometimes the size of those items depends on the resolution and size of your monitor.
There a lot bigger on my lappy then on my desktop. Ive never had a problem with them, other then on another site the avatar is too big and I had to scroll over. To me getting rid of signatures or keeping them really small depersonalizes a site. Just IMO really.

I agree with the refferal link thing, whenever i signed up for anything I just grabbed the last refferal in the thread or grabbed a random one via the thread, ive never clicked ANYONES banner for refferals.

[koala]

I respect every member on SC. I never sent out mass emails, never tricked people into signing for anything for my benefit, never posted any referral links myself and always kept advertising to the very minimum to the point where I have actually had to pay for some stuff on SC from my own money because trust me Google ads doesn't cover the cost of everything going on in here.

This is a good time to remind everyone the click on the google ads. This is SC's bread and butter.

[samhoque]

I think there is an option to turn that function off in your user profile so you don't have to plow through the signatures at all - Under User CP, Settings&Options, Edit Options --> Thread display options --> Show signatures.

aah.. That wasn't too bad.. Thanks..

[alajen]

I just started the thread the pigsback thread because of the contest I was in, it was not meant to cause problems..I only did what so many others have done here..vote for me in this contests...click my referal link...help me win this contest..vote for my video..vote for my recipe.I have given lots of support to SC members, voting..clicking on referal links to help them out etc etc. And when its my turn to ask for support I get Blasted for it I think asking for support for a contest and/or referals should be banned completely.

I don't think this is aimed at you personally, WJ.

I read this thread as trying to bring back order in forum where people are going crazy with HUGE links in their signatures. So, if the signatures are shown every time a person posts, someone like me, for example, could end up with over two thousand links clogging the forum. Basically a big personal ad campaign.
I am using myself as the example because I don't want anyone to think I am targetting them.

Oh, and concerning the voting thing, I also like supporting long-standing members who need help with voting/contests, etc, as long as it is done respectfully for other members on the forum. So many people contribute to the forum, I see it as a way of giving back to them on a more personal level.

Where I have an issue is when newbies join the forum for the sole purpose of trying to leverage the forum members for personal gain. Maybe they should demonstrate some giving before partaking of the site's benefits?

[ycswid]

I agree Boo.