Links policy

[SnowJapan 178]

Before reading this please note:

This thread does not constitute a big shift in our policy.

The people this will affect by far the most is the people who want to gain by having links on here!

 

Thanks for using the Forums. The snow season is nearly with us. Ace.

 

In the run up to this new season, we want to make our policy concerning links on the Froums a little clearer so as to avoid any misunderstandings.

 

Due to the increasingly large amount of traffic on SnowJapan and these Forums, a link placed here to an outside website can be a very valuable thing for the website that is linked to. For that reason there are often cases of people posting links on here in an effort to gain more traffic to their - or their friends/colleagues/company - websites.

 

In an effort to prevent the forums from becoming over-run with unsolicited advertising while at the same time be fair to the people and companies who already support SnowJapan, as well as to ourselves, we have guidelines regarding linking to outside websites on these Forums. As you will probably have noticed, these forums are 'advertising free' and we do not take well to people trying to use them and bend this particular rule.

 

Here is our basic policy on the subject, only slightly unchanged from what we have been working with the last few years. We try to be as consistent as possible, though there may be times when we are more or less strict on any of the below issues. But we need the guidelines to be laid out so that you know generally what is and what is not acceptable.

 

LINKS THAT ARE OK:

 

1

Links to any page on the SnowJapan site ( http://www.snowjapan.com )

 

2

Links to any page on the SnowJapanForums ( http://www.snowjapanforums.com )

 

3

Links to any page on the SnowJapan.tv site ( http://www.snowjapan.tv )

 

4

Within reason, links to an outside non-commercial information source that is relevant, of interest and expands on the topic being discussed -- as long as it doesn't come across as being promotional in nature and/or is not in one of the cateogies below.

 

LINKS THAT ARE NOT OK:

 

1

Anything that comes across as promotional - whether blatently intentional or not. Please do not try to promote your friends business on here, however well-intentioned. If you wish to help someone with a one-off mail, an email might be more appropriate rather than post a link in public. If a company has information on pages within SnowJapan, post that link.

 

2

Links to commercial websites. Things of the nature "I stayed at this lodge www. lodgewebsite. com and it was really really great" are generally not allowed.

 

3

Threads that exist purely to promote a link. (ie. a thread created with a link and almost no other content).

 

4

There are some websites that we simply do not want links to on SnowJapan - for any number of reasons. We're not going to be posting a list or explaining this, but such links if they appear will be removed.

 

5

Links to inappropriate sites (porn, etc)

 

6

Commercial messages in Private Messages are strictly not allowed. Sending multiple Private Messages with commercial messages will result in a ban and deletion of your account. If you find someone sending you such a message, please let us know.

 

Posts, signatures and Private Message advertising websites, services and forums are treated as commercial posts.

 

 

A FEW GENERAL COMMENTS:

There may be times when we make decisions that you do not agree with. Perhaps they could be seen as 'borderline'. Perhaps you cannot understand why we do not wish for there to be a link on SnowJapan to a certain page or site. But please understand that it's going to be up to us to decide what constitutes an advertisement, promotion, borderline or a link that we do not want on SnowJapan.

 

Even if you don't understand a decision, please try your best to try and respect our right to make these decisions!

 

THIS IS NOT A CHANGE:

As we mentioned at the top of this thread, this does not constitute a big change in our policy, though we may implement our guidelines more than we had before. But for normal posting and general usage nothing has changed. We just want to be clearer on this issue before the busy winter season gets underway.

 

More information on general policy can be found here:

http://www.snowjapanforums.com/ubbthreads.php/ubb/postlist/Board/12/page/1

 

Thanks and we all hope you have a great season.

[Yuki's Passion 1]

what about youtube? Still allowed to imbed videos?

[SnowJapan 178]

Yes of course. Just like before. As said at the top, really nothing has changed. We're just laying out the guidelines and get the message out of our wish the Forums not be thought of simply as some sort of link directory.

 

You have a cake I see - happy birthday!