Well said Ian, you just saved me a bunch of typing !!Originally Posted by Ian BarleyI just don't see the ambiguity that others seem to in the existing text but I have a few thoughts to share, for what little they may be worth.
Ebay links are a problem. It is difficult to ensure that the post does not exist mainly to drive traffic to the auction. "hey - look at this really interesting item on Ebay" posted by a member of 5 years standing with 3000 other posts is a safer bet than one posted by somebody who joined yesterday and this is their first post. Personally I don't feel that I miss anything by them not being here and would rather it stays that way. Don't care about auction numbers one way or the other but would not like to see direct hotlinks.
Other Forums. Again the problem is the extent of the work involved in making sure that they are the kind of discussion that we, by coming here, have chosen to be involved in. Somebody posts a link today and the other forum is all lovely and friendly as checked by one of our mods. Tomorrow Sammy the spammer goes onto that forum which is not moderated and posts links to a bunch of porn sites. Everybody still happy?? The problem with forums is that their content is more variable and volatile than other types of websites that could be linked to. I believe that an explicit statement that links to other public forums are not allowed is perfectly reasonable and conducive to SMC maintaining the character that we work at creating here. If it makes me elitist to not want to be involved in a childish brawl then I am elitist.