What is with the dramatic increase of advertising posts in the Advertising Opportunities and Requests that carry NO information? I am a little annoyed seeing ads advertising PR-this and PR-that websites with no information provided whatsoever.

Not only they require other members to contact them, but some wouldn't even disclose the sites up until you pay them. Sorry, but I don't like playing by *their* rules. There has been specifically an increase in advertising opportunities coming from text-link resellers who can just sit all day and copy and paste opportunities from their web sites, without giving you relevant information (like the URL of the site) until the action takes place. I might be mistaken, but it sounds like spam to me.

Just by looking at that forum now (just its first page), these are the examples I am talking about:
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=460120
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=459845
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=459370
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=458963


Now, am I wrong in understanding that this is a public board and that sharing the critical advertising information will actually not only help make a decision, but will result in attracting more potential clients? Isn't getting exposure what these people are looking for in the first place? Then what is the logic?

I know we have a rule in place that states: This forum is not for simply announcing your site. Soliciting for new members or moderators of your forum is strictly prohibited. But other than just reporting suspicious posts (which is hard to judge anymore), can't we just revamp the rules and set a certain standard to advertising posts that will make the advertising sections as productive, and useful, as they were 3 years ago? It seems like without a new standards, we'll continue to see the drop in overall quality WHT's advertising sections had just a couple of years ago.

I wouldn't mind making those sections PAID, if it means improving the quality of the advertising sections.

:crap:

Best,

Some of them cant spell either:

furthur etc

Shall we just pm all of them asking for the URL, and then post the URL in the thread? :)

The "Pr10 link for sale" topic was really dumb, I think it got pulled.

They wanted you to pay like a thousand dollars for the link, and THEN find out what the URL is. Maybe they could have faked the PR? And said "too bad, it is still a PR10, faked or not, we cannot refund your money as you bought a PR10 link and it is a PR10"

There are like only 10 PR10's, someone posted it, maybe a mod can bring that back, and he said "Yeah, it's on that list"

My issue:

Why can't he say the URL? I mean, it's already posted there. I think he is trying to scam people. It's a PR10, it's not like it's a secret site.

I think the "PM for URL" should be gone in that forum, but I would say OK in the hosting offers because they want to keep the sale of the business private and whatnot.

. . . I think the "PM for URL" should be gone in that forum, but I would say OK in the hosting offers because they want to keep the sale of the business private and whatnot.What if they're selling advertising on an adult oriented site?

They wanted you to pay like a thousand dollars for the link, and THEN find out what the URL is...
Why can't he say the URL? ...
I think the "PM for URL" should be gone in that forum...
Exactly the issues I am having. URLs of sites the advertising is sold on should be available publicly, unless it is an adult website.

What if they're selling advertising on an adult oriented site?
That can be the only exception, but website owners should also warn of such content.
If they have some decency they should also post if any executable files would be forced into our PCs, because I visited one of the websites and got bombarded with pop-ups and executable files.

What if they're selling advertising on an adult oriented site?

Then have them put a disclaimer next to it. It's not like adult sites can't be found by typing pretty much any adult-related keyword into Google. I think WHT members can handle it.

If you're selling links on a site, you should be able to publicly disclose that site URL. Legitimate link sellers disclose the URL all the time. I agree with Artashes and others that it makes the legitimacy of the ad go down several notches to not include the URL.

Personally, if I read an ad, "Advertise on my site!" and they didn't include the information I needed to make a decision, I'd move on to the next ad.

Personally, if I read an ad, "Advertise on my site!" and they didn't include the information I needed to make a decision, I'd move on to the next ad.
We can certainly avoid it. *What I do.
Or we can improve standards of the advertising forum.

Turning our backs on the problems won't help make that particular place better.

Report the ones that look suspicious. We can ask them to contact the helpdesk with the URL (as we've done before) and if they can't even do that, the ad gets pulled.

What if they're selling advertising on an adult oriented site?


In all hounesty even if its an adult website, so what? WHT is not ment for "kids".

As such, perhaps a mod that allows the thread started to specify the post as 18+ can be added, meaning user is warned or blocked if thier age is below 18 (force age details on signup).

Report the ones that look suspicious. We can ask them to contact the helpdesk with the URL (as we've done before) and if they can't even do that, the ad gets pulled.
What if they can provide the URL - how will it help the members know what the URL is?

Imagine the workload that can get eliminated with the introduction of one single rule to provide URLs in their posts, and leave a note with those that target adults.

Personally, if I read an ad, "Advertise on my site!" and they didn't include the information I needed to make a decision, I'd move on to the next ad.

Agreed.

In all hounesty even if its an adult website, so what? WHT is not ment for "kids".

As such, perhaps a mod that allows the thread started to specify the post as 18+ can be added, meaning user is warned or blocked if thier age is below 18 (force age details on signup).

WHT is meant for anybody in the web hosting industry, and imposing 18+ rules is slightly ridiculus. How about you PM the guy if you are interested in the URL. Whats wrong with PM for URL? I don't have a problem PM-ing somebody if I want more information.

Agreed.



WHT is meant for anybody in the web hosting industry, and imposing 18+ rules is slightly ridiculus. How about you PM the guy if you are interested in the URL. Whats wrong with PM for URL? I don't have a problem PM-ing somebody if I want more information.


99% of the people on here are 18+ probably.

99% of the people on here are 18+ probably.
Let's not shift the subject of this topic please, because statements like that open a whole new can of worms. :)

I'm quite a big fan of the whole:

If it doesn't appeal to you and/or you don't feel like PMing them for more information, then just don't.

As far as the comment about having to pay to advertise, look at what it has done to the SitePoint market place.

As far as the comment about having to pay to advertise, look at what it has done to the SitePoint market place.
From what I have seen, it left only those publishers participating who marketing value is.
Paying for advertising is just one of many solutions possible. I am not proposing to pay $10 per new thread, but simple, small and widely affordable $2.95 can make a huge difference.

From what I have seen, it left only those publishers participating who marketing value is.
Paying for advertising is just one of many solutions possible. I am not proposing to pay $10 per new thread, but simple, small and widely affordable $2.95 can make a huge difference.

I'd much rather have some of those other solutions ;) Even $.01 is annoying and will drive people elsewhere as well as open up a whole new can of worms.

I can see the lounge now:

OMG I PAID $2.95 just to open a thread and the mods CLOSED IT! I want a refund! WHT IS DA UB3R L0SER!

in addition to that, paying to open a thread in the advertising section would make WHT seem more money orientated than I personally think it should be.

I am still lost as to what the problem is, if you don't like the thread/ad then don't read/purcahse ;) I come across many stupid threads every day in every section of the forum, doesn't make the threads bad.

I'd much rather have some of those other solutions ;) Even $.01 is annoying and will drive people elsewhere as well as open up a whole new can of worms.
First of all, $0.01 is not worth the effort and cost of implementation. If you introduce a paid forum, establish a reasonable charge so you can grow and develop it further to live up to that charge, which I can see WHT do very well.

Second of all, the whole idea *is* to drive those who spam the forums now as far away as possible.

A new can of worms? Sure, for about 2-3 threads, and then people will move on again. Don't see anyone complaining about premium memberships anymore.
in addition to that, paying to open a thread in the advertising section would make WHT seem more money orientated than I personally think it should be.
It already is a money oriented community. This change, however, will serve to the quality of advertisers who truly target the professional community of web hosting professionals and those in related fields, because those guys are ready to pay a small fee to be able to gain that privilege. Not to mention that a charge will only compliment the price that you pay for stickies.

I am still lost as to what the problem is, if you don't like the thread/ad then don't read/purcahse ;) I come across many stupid threads every day in every section of the forum, doesn't make the threads bad.
Surely not, but it wastes your time and lowers the standards of the forum, which in return backfires on its marketability.

The comment about $.01 was to show that I feel paying to post in the advertising section is a bad idea at any cost.

Point me to one thread that is spam and has not been taken care of by the mods. When you say spam, I think you are speaking more along the lines of:

"Threads that do not meet my expectations". Instead of saying, we should make people pay to post, wouldn't it make more sense to ask for a rule change in order to prevent this spam?

The can of worms remark was not only speaking about the complaining that will go on, but more along the lines of people feeling that they are owed a refund when they pay their price for a thread and it is binned. You also will see quite a drop in the amount of ads placed, and cheaper products will more often than not go away.

A money orientated community would be something along the lines of DNForum. Why don't we implement a pay to post feature for every forum? That would really keep the spam down right?

How much time have you honestly wasted by reading ads that did not want to publically post the address of the site they were selling advertising on, and how does this lower the standards of WHT?

I am sure we will go around and around on this, but paying to post in the advertising section is something I feel very strongly against ( I also do not post very many ads, so it's not fear of the costs ).

The comment about $.01 was to show that I feel paying to post in the advertising section is a bad idea at any cost.
That is your opinion which you are entitled to.
In my perspective, those who are not thinking in single-digit dollar amounts, will not be afraid of such charge to get good targeted exposure on this community.

Point me to one thread that is spam and has not been taken care of by the mods. When you say spam, I think you are speaking more along the lines of:

"Threads that do not meet my expectations". Instead of saying, we should make people pay to post, wouldn't it make more sense to ask for a rule change in order to prevent this spam?
Both. First, I listed a few of them in the first post (those who resell text-links). And the solution that we are discussing is just one. The first one I proposed is rule change.
And, as far as we talk about this, these threads *do not* meet my expectations.
Altogether, we are trying to find a way to fix the advertising forum AND put less work on mods' shoulders.

The can of worms remark was not only speaking about the complaining that will go on, but more along the lines of people feeling that they are owed a refund when they pay their price for a thread and it is binned.
If you don't break the rules - why would it binned?
A refund, in that case, should be non-refundable. If you break the rules - you gotta pay for it. Actually, if anything, but charging a fee for posting advertising would actually enforce more people to follow the rules to avoid cost.

You also will see quite a drop in the amount of ads placed, and cheaper products will more often than not go away.
Finally we'll see a drop in ads. And those who would continue to be published, will get more attention, which is what they are paying money for in the first place.

A money orientated community would be something along the lines of DNForum. Why don't we implement a pay to post feature for every forum? That would really keep the spam down right?
That's irrelevant to our discussion as we are discussing how to help WHT get better control and improve quality in just one single forum that needs attention - Advertising Opportunities and Requests.

How much time have you honestly wasted by reading ads that did not want to publically post the address of the site they were selling advertising on, and how does this lower the standards of WHT?
Every ad I view that does not post the info is a waste of my time and I am sick of it. I don't want the responsibility of contacting anyone - I just want the information presented right. Hence, this discussion - how to solve it.

So far I proposed two:

(a) Rule change
(b) Pay a small fixed fee

Maybe tomorrow we'll get more brighter ideas.

PS: I would actually be very curious to see the opinion of someone from iNet. Perhaps Ryan could even comment what he thinks about the Idea "B". It worked well at SitePoint, DNForum as it keeps those forums' advertising sections standards straight and quality higher. Integration by itself is not that hard. I am sure Prohacker can figure this one easily. It is the move to that decision that is complex.

Best,

Charging people to open threads will drive users away, many of them legit. I do not see the problem here; if you do not like the contents of the ad report it, and move on. It is not your responsibility to look after others interests. You will never be able to get rid of spam, but you can educate people to know what is spam and what isn't. The way this thread should be going is on how to better educate WHT users so that they don't get scammed by spammers.

99% of the people on here are 18+ probably.

I disagree. There are lots of underaged kids, doesn't mean we can't handle business

I disagree. There are lots of underaged kids, doesn't mean we can't handle business


You cant legally sign a contract technically. And it still doesnt mean that the majority arent 18+

You cant legally sign a contract technically. And it still doesnt mean that the majority arent 18+

If this is the way the thread will go then it should be locked. There are many ways for people who arn't 18 to do business, and the majority very well could not be 18+. Stop assuming and get back on topic please.

Stop assuming and get back on topic please.
I second that. We have an issue to discuss here.

I guess no one sees the benefits of having some standards for the advertising forum (either rule change, small charge, or anything else that would make people disclose information when they try to "sign-up" clients at WHT).

Ah well, what do I care then... :)