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Outbound 
podders Helping podders - pHp 
Joined: 19 Nov 2009 Location: Oshawa, Ontario Online Status: Offline Posts: 767 |
 Topic: An open discussion about links to the other forumPosted: 01 Sep 2010 at 10:25pm |
I disagree. Draconian rules will only drive away users. I think that the idea of link-banning, or even obfuscating links (for example, replacing all rpodnation links with indirect links through tinyurl) is the wrong approach. Looking at both forums from a broad view, they currently offer the same thing. Both forums offer a place for discussion and sharing of ideas. Both offer a mish-mash of posts with only the broadest of organization. Hell, they both use the same forum software with slightly different colour schemes. The way to draw users is to offer something different and unique.
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Craig :: 2009 RP171 towed by a 2017 F150
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techntrek
Admin Group - pHp 
Joined: 29 Jul 2009 Location: MD Online Status: Offline Posts: 9059 |
Posted: 01 Sep 2010 at 9:04pm |
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rpod-owners.com was created to ensure an open and balanced discussion forum would exist for people who love their 'pods. This has included the open invitation to post links to dealerships, competing campers/manufacturers, and anywhere else. This kind of open discussion (and links to any competition) is not possible on the other 'pod forum - bottom line, it is owned by a dealership and they think that is bad for business. Threads and posts have been deleted, links have been removed. Several of us were publicly flogged for fighting against that policy; as a result we do not post there anymore and do not wish to support them. Which brings us to the crux of this discussion.
Links here to the other forum are currently allowed, as part of the "open to all" policy. Unfortunately those links directly and indirectly support that site. Internet search engines (like Google) partly rank the position of each link in search results based on how many links to a site exist on other sites. With more links on our site, the other site appears higher when you do a search; that is indirect support from us. Links here to the other site drives our users to the other site, which is direct support from us. We want open discussion, and expected some discussion and occasional links for the other forum. Unfortunately our expectation was wrong and links appear almost daily - to events, discussions, pictures, etc. We would prefer that information to be posted here, instead of a link, for the reasons stated above. The mods here have had a very long and tortured discussion about what to do. The easy solution would be to just ban links to the other forum, but that brings us to their level: heavy-handed forum operators that don't care what you want and edit/delete posts at will. We haven't done that once (except to help fix links, fix formatting, or move posts to more appropriate areas of the forum). And we do care what you think. So, what should we do about these links? If they stay it could lead to the end of this forum. If they go we can become a stronger community. Sincerely, the Mods |
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An open discussion about links to the other forum
