Uhhhhhhhhh, why not just copy and paste relevant parts of the TEXT of the review into the appropriate thread? Or why not just say, "Yeah, I beta tested it and it's...". Why MUST linking to your site be the only way for you to get this information out to people? Is it because you don't actually want to disseminate information, but really only want to drive traffic to your site? Well, that's exactly what this rule is meant to prevent. If you're really "only" concerned about the developers' sales, then you would just say, "I beta tested and wrote a review. Overall, the game is [insert information here!!!]". What is the problem? Edit: The poster, Carlos, is one of the most legit and effective "reviewers" in the forums. He writes simple Pro/Con lists and a summary. His reviews have pushed me to purchase a number of games. There's no reason why you'd just NEED to post all 700 words or whatever into a thread.
Woosh. That's the sound of the point going over your head. Maybe people want others to visit their sites. Ohhhhhh. Arn isn't doing this out of the goodness of his heart. It is business and he wants visitors for the same reason: his income depends on it. Spam can get out of hand but that is something moderators should be moderating. It is the vertical integration model that can become problematic. The analogy in the business world is to deprive your competition of oxygen by holding his head below water.
You seem particularly cynical about this. Posting a link to your site to drive traffic to it is 100% spam. It's spam when it's about buying viagra and it's spam when it's about visiting your site. And this is how we are moderating it. Edit: And even if this were all to be malicious to "drown" the other sites, if your site can't survive and grow without the benefit of links from this forum, then you need to reassess your long term growth plan. arn
You are right that TA is and should not be the only avenue to acquire traffic. And you are also correct that I am cynical. If you do not believe the decision to blacklist other sites is out of a self-interest, please enlighten me.
If you need cred feel free to PM it to developers for your beta invite or whatever. Other than that I think it's rude to advertise what is certainly competition on these boards. The last thing I want to see among a sea of "me-too" apps is a sea of links to "me-too" websites.
There are very few sites that are "blacklisted". There are probably 3 sites that are truly blacklisted -- in that no one is allowed to link them. The blacklist is a last resort when people keep posting spammy links to them or otherwise cause too much trouble to deal with on a post-by-post basis. And the sites on the blacklist are not big sites or otherwise particularly competitive... they just take a disproportionate amount time to moderate them because those users have gone out of their way to promote them (multiple shill accounts, repeated warnings ignored, etc...). Meanwhile one site has been banned for life because a reviewer from there told me to **** myself and proceeded to post similar profanities throughout the site and comments. arn
Just to clarify, I don't find TA ethically deplorable or I wouldn't frequent the site. I don't always agree with your methods, though. This is an instance of disagreement.
Content is king. If I'm not willing to copy or type a review (I like mini-reviews myself) into toucharcade forums that I write on my blog or website then I'm of little use to toucharcade's forum base. I realize that maybe 70% of online forum users (571 online now with 171 logged in with 400 visitors) are NOT logged in and thus can't view image attachments. That's why I always try to link the images offsite so visitors can view them too. Personally I don't like to read super long reviews no matter how good the game is. I like concise and to the point. The way this is going who knows we may soon not have signatures allowed and if we don't I can't say I'll blame arn if he does make that decision. Like he said if your running a website and think getting traffic from forum links is a substainable model then your way off base and that is just drops in the bucket and I pity your naivety in the web traffic business.
At this point, most of what I'd like to say in response has been said. But since you addressed me personally, I just want to let you know that the point was certainly not lost on me. In fact, I think I brought this discussion back on point. This is a simple spam policy. As far as I know, people are still allowed to link to unbanned websites in their signatures as long as they don't abuse the privilege. Put a link in your signature and be done with. If you don't notice an increase in traffic, I sincerely doubt it's because people are waiting for a personal invitation. Maybe people who are already at the largest iPhone/iPT gaming site aren't interested in being directed to some teenager's blog. This is in no way about shutting down competition. It's 110% a spam policy. And as a user of this forum, I am fully content with it.
