I belong to a multitude of forum, some vocationally oriented and some nonvocational. I didn't realize how tightly controlled this site is maintained.
What is the purpose of this forum? Is it to freely exchange new , even old ideas. Not with this "permission" attitude! Another word for your concern over content would be "anal"!
My last post! Thanks and goodbye....
Martin,This community started with no restrictions. However, as it became more popular, some people started abusing this free platform to promote their sites.
We have implemented two ways that have successfully reduced spam:
1) We manually review and approve all new accounts (usually within 24 hours). We recommend users NOT to use free public email accounts such as gmail, yahoo, hotmail, etc... as most spammers use these accounts.
2) Do not use more than 2 external website links per posting (including your signature). We use a "points' tracking system that ranks members based on the content they publish on the community. If you have more than 2 backlinks on a post, that specific post will need to be approved by a moderator (usually within 24 hours).
3) Your content has to be relevant to vacation rentals or helpful to people involved in vacation rentals.
I am always happy to receive feedback from members so that we can continue to improve this community and make it a better resource for travelers, property owners and everyone else involved in vacation rentals.
Vacation Rentals, Vacation Rental Agents & Managers, Vacation Rental Resources by VacationRental.org
I think it's a fair system. If it were possible, I would recommend whitelisting certain people after a given amount of time/posts that way they don't have to wait.
VacationRentalsAD - 20000+ Affordable Vacation Rentals - Homes - Villas - Apartments
Yes, members get whitelisted automatically if they don't abuse the system. However, if a whitelisted member all of a sudden tries to publish a post with more than 2 external links, then a moderator has to approve that specific post.
Members that post links and content not relevant to vacation rentals get banned. This has helped keep the community targeted only to vacation rentals and has also helped the website rank #1 under many 'vacation rental' terms in all the major search engines, including Google and Yahoo.
I think you are acting reasonably, John. Some forums get filled with junk advertising, and members have to put in comments like, "Stop doing that!" or "Go away!" That scenario seems to show a dereliction of duty by the moderator, not censorship! Keep things as they are John - but I think you know who you can trust in many cases not to abuse the system.
No need to be sheepish! You can give me some of your baguette end, if you wish!
http://holiday-home-in-normandy.co.cc
http://gite-en-normandie.info
Actually, I love this forum as it allows also some self promotion. This allows professionals to clearly disclose their business without having to disguise themselves as a happy customer!
The fact that this community allows advertising via signatures and in the posts themselves is a great benefit to members. I think this is the reason why so many leading vacation rental website owners are members of this community. I think website owners in general are too busy to just contribute to forums without reaping any benefits.
Luxury Vacation Rentals by Owner
John,
Sounds reasonable to me!
I've hosted several blogs (not related to Vacation Rentals) - and the spammers and ":epitheters" are incredibly notorious.
Does your "system" of points allow automatic "non-moderated" status at a certain point in time automatically? Or must it be manually handled?
Thank you!
KonaSky
Konasky,
Actually, all members are "non-moderated" unless they start posting several external links right away. If they do, then they become automatically moderated until they reach a ratio of links per posts that averages out to 2 or less links per post. If a moderator feels that a user is trusted, they can manually whitelist a member (we like to whitelist members because it is less work for the moderators!).
I'm in agreement with everybody here. Well, almost everybody... I think this is fantastically well moderated forum and one of the most spam-free that I post on. I am baffled by the fact that anyone would be offended for having to wait a day or two to have a post accepted by a moderator. What could possibly be that time sensitive?
Keep up the great work John!
«Every human being has to wear himself out. It would be dreadful if he weren't worn out and then just died that way. That means you really have to burn yourself to ashes, otherwise it's just not worthwhile.» Joseph Beuys