New policy: Ban of commercial weblinks (URL) in member signature or homepage link

[Wise Young]

Over the last three months, a new wave of spammers have flooded CareCure. Thousands of spammers have registered on our site and put lists of commercial links in their signature, homepage link, and other parts of their Profile page. They then post in heavily trafficked topics so that these commercial links show up and people might click on them.

These are essentially advertisements. Spammers have realized that they can increase their traffic to their web sites with such posts. Because of the high traffic that our site gets (many of our topics get thousands of views), even a few posts can harvest clicks for sites that they are promoting. Every day since October, we have had 10 or more such spammer registrants, often exceeding the number of legitimate registrants.

To discourage such spammers, we are implementing a new policy regarding commercial links in the signature, homepage, avatar, and other parts of your member profile. We have long discouraged posting of commercial advertisements on the site. Starting today, we are banning any commercial links (URL) in the signature, limiting commercial links in the home page that members can indicate on their profile page, and restricting certain types of commercial advertisements in visitor messages on the Member Profile.

1. Signature. Your signature appears with every post that you make. Spammers are using the signature as a way of advertising their wares on our site. There should not be any commercial links in your signature. If you have a URL in your signature, it must be clearly related to you and must be non-commercial.

2. Homepage. Your homepage link should be related to you in some way. For example, you can put your blog site, facebook, home page, or even your company's or organization's web site as your homepage link. However, it should not be a link to a general web site advertising commercial products.

3. Avatar. Your avatar should not advertise a commercial website nor link to one.

4. Profile Posts. You can post information on your Profile's Visitor Message board concerning products or services that you are providing, including fundraising and commercial links. However, drug advertisements and links to pornographic sites are not allowed.

New registrants will be banned if we find any commercial links in the signature section or commercial advertisement in the homepage link. We encourage all members who have commercial links on their signature to remove them as soon as possible.

I am announcing another policy regarding spamming. Do not post commercial links in Visitor Messages (VM). We are getting hundreds of new members registering on CareCure and who post commercial links on Visitor Messages to other members. W are automatically banning members who do this.

CareCure is an information site. Members ask questions and provide information to each other. They can recommend and discuss commercial products. We have been flooded by spammers in the past five years, advertising products on our site. Therefore, we have established strict rules concerning advertisements on our site.

We do not want commercial organizations, manufacturers, clinics, services, doctors, and others to advertise themselves or their products in posts, signatures, or visitor messages. If you have question or information for our members, you are welcome to post but please, no advertisements of your services, products, or organization to our community.

We do have a forum entitled "Equipment & Services" where you can post about equipment or services for sale that is relevant to our community. But, that is the limit of the advertising that we allow on the site.

Wise.

[MarkPals]

HOORAY! Thank you!

[Keiser]

comment removed for lack of relevance hehehehe

[keps]

Oh my god, just came on the forums this morning and it is a SEA OF SPAM. I've never seen CC spammed so hard. I wish I could remove it.

[NorthQuad]

Awesome!

[teena]

yay, Wise! A very smart move! Thank you!

Teena

[thehipcrip]

Brilliant. I look forward to seeing the policy in action.

[keeping on]

Wise, we have enough to worry aBOUT AND TO DISCUSS, WITHOUT THESE THIEVES. Get them off and let them live with themselves.

[SeabeeMom]

Ditto w/Keeping On....enough's on our plates.....Thanks, Wise!!

[trainman]

I'll keep this in mind when posting, thanks for your hard work.