Promotion of Other Forums - Should we allow it or not?

[tjrgg]

Hello folks!

So, I'm writing up this thread to see what you guys think about allowing users to promote other forums and websites.

Currently, it is not explicitly stated in our rules that the promotion of other forums and websites on MCM is disallowed. However, it has been stated publicly that we do not allow the advertising of other forums and websites by Mick.

This has resulted in a little bit of controversy about what is and what isn't against the rules. So I'm here asking for your feedback. What do you guys think about members being able to promote other forums on MCM? Should we allow it? Should we not? Why do you think what you do?

Let me know what your thoughts are.

 

[frozenheat]

ya

 

[tjrgg]

We should allow the postings, of youtube accounts.
I really wanna advertise my YT acc on here.

This thread doesn't have anything to do with YouTube accounts. It's more about the promotion of other forums.

ya

Could you elaborate?

 

[frozenheat]

This thread doesn't have anything to do with YouTube accounts. It's more about the promotion of other forums.


Could you elaborate?

I think people would be able to give links out, because ...
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

We should allow the postings, of youtube accounts.
I really wanna advertise my YT acc on here.

 

[Ajdin]

I'm generally a curious guy. I love to see things grow, people establishing something and going from nothing to a great success.

I personally don't see it being a problem. I feel like adding a rule to prevent this would come over like being scared for possible competition. It would also cause a lot of questioning on whether posting thread links of a different forum could be considered advertising.

I personally think it's a silly unnecessary rule.

 

[ItsRandall]

I think you should add this, but only on one condition that staff allow the person requesting to post there site permission to show off their website, as people could make inappropriate sites and unrelated sites.

 

[thebaum64]

I think that it would be ok for all sites minus mcm spinoffs

 

[Charlie]

I think it should be allowed. We see various users every day posting links to spigot

 

[kitcat]

Yes, but not MCM copies.

 

[kitcat]

Exactly what I said...

Not exactly, but revolving around the same point.

 

[ajthemacboy]

Despite the fact that I somewhat agree with what people are saying about "As long as it's not a MCM copy", I feel it should be disallowed completely for these reasons:

• A forum should function as an independent ecosystem. If it's a link to another relevant forum post that's fine, but not another forum itself.
• Private messages are a great way show share links to other forums. You shouldn't do it in threads though.
• This is considered advertisement, even if it's not to your own forum
• Finally, a selfish reason: Links to other forums will take away the popularity of MCM, even if it's NOT to other Minecraft-related forums.

However, I feel that:

• Links to other websites, like YouTube, Twitter, etc. should be allowed
• If the linking of other forums DOES become allowed, I feel it should only be in General Discussion subforum, or in the entire Support forum.

 

[Dustco]

I wouldn't see this as a potential issue nor a big one specifically. But, users will have to promote their forum or website in a proper way for sure.

 

[tjrgg]

Well, now that some people have shared their thoughts, I'll share mine.

My thoughts lie in the realm of what ajthemacboy said. Personally, I feel that MCM shouldn't be used to promote another forum, especially a forum of similar nature (a marketplace forum or a Minecraft forum). Sharing links to threads on another forum is completely different than intentionally using another forum in an effort to get more users on your own forum. I don't think it's cool at all.

For those of you that say "as long as it's not a competitor", I give you this to think about. All other forums are competitors. I know what you're thinking. How is some random forum a competitor to MC-Market? All forums are competing for attention, folks. That's what all of the internet is doing. Competing for attention.

Like I said, in my eyes, it's one think to simply share a link that happens to be a thread on another forum, but it's a completely different thing to blatantly go around on a forum and make a thread on that forum for the sole purpose of advertising and promoting another forum, which is effectively stealing away attention from the forum where the thread is posted. I have no idea how any forum administrator would see that as okay.

If anyone feels differently than I do, please do speak up. I'd love to hear what you have to say. I may be overthinking this a little, but I'm not sure I really am. All you really have to do is think to yourself: If MC-Market was my forum, would I want one of my users to promote their own forum on mine, which effectively will steal attention away from my forum?

That's where my head is at with this.

 

[Ivain]

Allow the promoting of fora that are not in the same area as Mcmarket. And bind it to strict rules. A thread needs to have an actual contribution. if its just "join my forum this is the link: randomforum.org" then its a low quality post.

However, if it is a thread that makes an actual contribution to Mcmarket as well, mentioning other fora should be allowed. So if you want to ask a question about a forum you're making, or want to design a new one, that's fine. As long as you're not setting up a competitor to MCmarket or try to draw people away from here.

 

[ajthemacboy]

A lot of text

You're certainly not overthinking this. If you don't make the rule specific and clear, future admins won't know whether someone is guilty or not, and/or users may interpret the rule incorrectly.