Changes in signature rules

[WagerWitch]

Well I'm back and rather p.o'd.

I had no idea that this would be an issue worth discussing - yet here we have a multi-page thread - webmasters up in arms over a policy that changes the sig rules. So in short, you are participating here just to boost your site or gain some traffic? This long and hard about that - that is extremely self-serving in my opinion.

And even when I changed the policy over a week ago, a number of you decided to just drum your fingers, roll your eyes and wait, some even changed the link to a pseudo link - WTF?

Tell me why I shouldn't just shut off the sigs globally, or a least just for the webmasters.

It's your site Bryan - absolutely. WITHOUT A DOUBT...

And if you want no signatures that is cool.

Reasons (as you asked) - I hope I'm answering the question you asked.


I DO like clicking easily on the small link below other people's posts to get to their sites if I want to. So for me --- about other people - it means EASE of use.


This is just me:


Do I participate in CasinoMeister Forums to boost my traffic? NO.
I haven't seen a lot of traffic from people from CM - I think maybe 20 in a year??? or something like that. Which is cool - and really nice, and I appreciate it a lot... But that isn't why i like it there.

Do I only want "MY" link in so that people want to click on me? NO. I mean -I love it when I get visitors and comments and people using my bonuses HECK YA --- But really - I just think it makes it easier than having to click on my profile to get to that info... Still - its not the real reason why I like signatures.

Do I want to leave my link just for SEO? NO (because I know it makes no major or real difference - the slurpmobile only really looks at one link... For the WHOLE site - RIGHT?)

I guess overall - just like it there - maybe to save people time - or just as a "pride" mark, I dunno.

But still - Again - I really have no space to talk. THIS IS YOUR SITE... And I do see that many people have made links that are horribly blinky or very annoying, etc.....

And I don't know why I'm bothering to tell you - because I certainly do not want to upset you, since I do like you... You're funny as all get out. I just thought maybe my 2 cents would be worth something, perhaps.

I guess I just kinda feel like my site is my baby - and the link is kinda like my badge of honor... Dunno if that makes sense...

To me - my signature now - with or without the link -- I think its pretty - and it's small and I colored it and put an underline to emphasize it... To me - it's my little badge of pride about my work that I have done. Yanno?

Anyhow - hope I don't upset you --- I didn't realize that this was a topic that wasn't open for feedback and discussion - regardless of the decision or final decision.

 

[zebedy]

Dont people still have links to there homepages here , or am i missing something,
does it matter if the link is below there post, or in the drop down box by there screen name, i cant see how it could matter that much, a link is still a link

 

[WagerWitch]

Dont people still have links to there homepages here , or am i missing something,
does it matter if the link is below there post, or in the drop down box by there screen name, i cant see how it could matter that much, a link is still a link

Why am I getting Picked on?

 

[BingoT]

WagerWitch

[COLOR= "DarkSlateBlue"]WagerWitch [/COLOR]
Change it to this.
WagerWitch

 

[dendrite]

Tell me why I shouldn't just shut off the sigs globally, or a least just for the webmasters.

Shutting off the sigs completely for everyone sounds perfectly OK. I think it would make the forums even more readable. People can just visit the profile page if they want to find out about the poster, so I don't really see why people would have issues with it

Something confuses me about this solution to this spam problem, though...

If the reason for disallowing links is simply because of spam, it sounds as if you like the idea of links, but not when they are spammy in their format. If that is the case, then there must be a way to allow links, but to present them in a non-spammy way. Limit the number to say, three links, present them with no colors, sizes, fonts, or surrounding text, but just a simple, plain text list of links that would look something like this:


------------------------
https://www.casinomeister.com/
https://www.casinomeister.com/rogue-casinos/
https://www.casinomeister.com/poker/

 

[dominique]

, some even changed the link to a pseudo link - WTF?

Ok, what's a pseudo link - is that what I have? Maybe this needs to be a bit clearer, because I assumed this is what you wanted...

 

[dendrite]

I think it was what I put in one of my earlier posts, Dominique (13th September 2009, 02:26 AM)

I put it in hoping to have a bit of a jovial laugh when the links got switched off, I thought someone might notice and say "hey look, why isn't that link switched off?" - just for a bit of fun (well, at 2am in the morning, when I put it in, I thought that might be a comedy moment, anyway, lol)

But then the debate moved on, with people getting all annoyed and then I found I couldn't go back and edit the post...

 

[lots0]

Tell me why I shouldn't just shut off the sigs globally, or a least just for the webmasters.

Turn em off, don't matter to me one way or the other... never has.
As a matter of fact I will remove my link from my profile right now and would you please remove me from the webmaster group... I'm tired of being green.

Bryan I gotta laugh about about your comment

...that is extremely self-serving in my opinion.

I know it is probably not cool to find humor in that statement, but then I am a very cynical old man.

 

[dendrite]

Bryan, here is some data that might help explain why this has become more of an issue than you predicted it would

The debate here made me go and look at my google stats (I used to have a link up in my sig) to see what sort of traffic the site got directly from Casinomeister. Remember I only have 90 posts, so am very low profile here, but these were the stats nonetheless:

130 visits
89% new visits
4.1 page views per visit
3.06 minutes on the site per visit

The stat I don't get to see, however, is how many of those went on to click banners, become players, deposit etc. It's not possible to get that from google analytics, so I can't say whether the traffic made me money or not. I just don't know

But, what if I had thousands of posts, rather than 90? - the traffic could be considerable. It might even be bringing thousands of online casino enthusiasts to the site every year and many of those might bookmark the site and click banners, play at the casinos etc. So, you would have to say that for some posters here, the links could have generated quite a bit of revenue, no matter what they say

To be fair, I think most newbie webmasters like myself just put links in because experts at GPWA and CAP tell everyone that if you do take part in forums, you may as well add your links in the sig. The idea was that you might just get an SEO benefit as an added bonus to posting. I'd never thought about direct traffic from the links before, but now I looked at the data, it makes sense. Thousands of posts and thousands of sig links could equal significant dollars

The other thing this data tells me is that you might get a deserved and unexpected positive effect from taking out the links - it will probably mean tens of thousands of people that were leaving your site to visit portals in the sigs will now stay at casinomeister and hopefully click your banners instead. That is great, imo as it's your site and you should get the rewards

Finally, there is also the benefit of the newly discovered 'no follow link-sculpting' revelation by google. For those that don't know, all the pro SEOs have recently been telling their clients to remove all unnecessary 'nofollow' links from there sites asap, after it was revealed by Matt Cutts of google that this could hurt a site's position in the search engines

So, overall, this has to be a good move by you - for a start, the forums will be easier to read without links, they will be a much better place to visit. But also, you, as the owner, deserve the unexpected benefit of not leaking traffic via the sigs and also deserve the other unexpected benefit from the link-sculpting situation. It's a win win situation and hopefully very good for this excellent site and its forums

The only people it will hurt are the webmasters that were being helped out by the traffic from the links

 

[lots0]

I only have 90 posts, so am very low profile here, but these were the stats nonetheless:

130 visits
89% new visits
4.1 page views per visit
3.06 minutes on the site per visit

Thats because you are new and the regulars here were checking you out.

I have well over a thousand posts and I don't get that many visits from here in six months.

Actually I have found that because of some of the things I have posted here (speaking your mind has a cost).. having my link in my profile here has hurt my site far more than it has helped... hence my decision to remove my link.

Do any of you remember the minesteringangel thing? Those friggin jerks spent six months trying to hack my site... they found my site only because of the link in my profile here.

 

[RobWin]

Well I'm back and rather p.o'd.

I had no idea that this would be an issue worth discussing - yet here we have a multi-page thread - webmasters up in arms over a policy that changes the sig rules. So in short, you are participating here just to boost your site or gain some traffic? This long and hard about that - that is extremely self-serving in my opinion.

And even when I changed the policy over a week ago, a number of you decided to just drum your fingers, roll your eyes and wait, some even changed the link to a pseudo link - WTF?

Tell me why I shouldn't just shut off the sigs globally, or a least just for the webmasters.

I thought that based on what you had previously said in your post, your email and your Private message that you were going to turn off Sig's globally but I may have misinterpreted all of that because I see peeps here now who had nothing but writing in their Sig's that now look like this "COLOR="DarkSlateBlue"]WagerWitch[/COLOR]" as my Sig below does too... and then I still see several other peeps who are not mods have live links that look like this....(just using Spear as an example) there are others too...Sig Pic below taken at 12:35pm EST 9-19-09

Old Attachment (Invalid)

so IMO I think everyone is still confused about what is allowed and what is not just to be fair to all. Like the others have said, it is your forum Bryan and I for one respect that and as you noticed on day 1, Thurs. Sep. 10th when you first issued this statement for everyone to remove their links, I complied with your wishes and removed mine immediately as posted in this thread on page one I believe. So there again I have to assume that this was a volunteer thing to do out of respect for your wishes I presume.

Here we are now 9 days later and there are still several peeps here who still have live links as of my posting this. Personally I would not add my Website Sig back to my posts here now if I was told by you it was ok. Hell, before I became an affiliate back in January of this year I had already made almost 4000 posts to Casinomeister over the previous 5 years IIRC, so I can live with the Sig's or without the Sig's myself. I can even deal with the text looking like crap in my current Sig below.

What does peek my curiosity though is why some of the other highly respected members here that are not mods have chose to leave their Sig's live and also why they don't look like crap like some of the others do, does that in fact mean that they too think they are getting benefit or link juice out of those live Sig's?

 

[BingoT]

This all reminds me of the time where you had a promo area for members and you took that away.
And that place you can post any link to any poker,bingo,casino you have to offer.
But I do have to say many members that use to post in that area are no where to be found today.and to me they are the one's that used you.
And some members are still here after all that like myself.
Life goes on.
~T~

 

[WagerWitch]

This all reminds me of the time where you had a promo area for members and you took that away.
And that place you can post any link to any poker,bingo,casino you have to offer.
But I do have to say many members that use to post in that area are no where to be found today.and to me they are the one's that used you.
And some members are still here after all that like myself.
Life goes on.
~T~

I dunno - I promote Casinomeister on my site.

I have both links and a VIDEO on that - I also twitter interesting info - and tell people to come here.

That does not sound like I'm "USING" anyone.

I like signatures - as long as they aren't annoying or flashing...

Just me.

 

[WagerWitch]

I removed my signature and whatever that extra stuff (HTML) showing was...

SO y'all boogers can quit pickin' on me... Sniffle (cry) Sniffle...:Angel:


Just FYI - I rank 21-30 in Google for Casinomeister Forum.... Which shows that I do absolutely PROMOTE Casinomeister.

 

[WagerWitch]

By the way - I didn't realize that BEING AN AFFILIATE was considered a bad thing - SINCE IT WAS AN "option" as a group of people.

I thought it was a badge of honor...

Kinda like I think putting your site below your name as a signature was.

I guess Others have differing views - and AFFILIATES are scumbags or something.

I mean - that is what I'm getting out of all of this.

Well - I'm not a scumbag affiliate... That's all I want to say. I'm a decent affiliate - and I share links and I put people in my site - and actively promote others... And you know what? I'm also a very nice person. So there... Pfffffffffftttttt.

 

[Casinomeister]

By the way - I didn't realize that BEING AN AFFILIATE was considered a bad thing - SINCE IT WAS AN "option" as a group of people.

I thought it was a badge of honor...

Kinda like I think putting your site below your name as a signature was.

I guess Others have differing views - and AFFILIATES are scumbags or something.

I mean - that is what I'm getting out of all of this.

Well - I'm not a scumbag affiliate... That's all I want to say. I'm a decent affiliate - and I share links and I put people in my site - and actively promote others... And you know what? I'm also a very nice person. So there... Pfffffffffftttttt.

Hi all,

Some of you are taking this way way too seriously. I already explained the reasoning behind this - many members who were ignoring the current guidelines. There was nothing wrong with placing a link to your website with a brief description or catch phrase. But when the rules explicitly stated "No ad copy language 'Best Casinos', 'Best Bonuses', etc.," then that was the impetus for their removal.

They will probably come back, but only after one of the mods goes through and ensures everyone has made the necessary changes.

And if the shoe fits, wear it. It seems that a bunch of you are thinking I was implying it was you who sparked the change - it wasn't; this is change I was contemplating for some time.

 

[TOC]

Everyone is talking about a message board here, how hard is that? If you want a board that allows links then lets start one, are we not webmasters? I personally don't add my link here, don't need it but would be willing to help with a board that allows links if this is really a big deal. It's not the end of the world and the internet is a big place! If not deal with it and move on...

 

[jetset]

Trying to get back to the root of this 10 page thread isn't easy but I have the perception that it was the players who originally objected to the links and the overt manner in which some members of CM were allegedly using the forum to promote their wares.

I guess at least some of this issue comes down to one question - do you visit Casinomeister for the more upfront benefits of PAB services, the enjoyment / interaction with the other members and relevant information about a shared interest.....or is your main objective to use a very popular and respected website and an influential webmaster to further your own fortunes in a business sense?

The other comment that disturbed me some pages back was the implication that coming here on a regular basis and offering advice and help in some way made overt promotion more acceptable for some individuals.

I don't share that view - we're all here because we want to be here (for one reason or another) and noone has compelled us to come or to contribute. Whatever the extent of our involvement, I believe that in general most of us have probably received more than enough in general to keep us returning....and I therefore don't think this site owes any of us 'special promotional dispensations'.

 

[dominique]

I have always thought of a signature link to your site as the honorable thing to do.

It identifies you and shows you stand behind your site, it shows that you invite scrutiny, and it makes it perfectly clear that you are an affiliate.

I guess I have always been annoyed by affiliates who preach this or that but won't tell you what their site is, makes me feel they are hiding something. I prefer transparency.

But, either way, it isn't affecting the usefulness of Casinomeister.

Dendrite, that's a lot of visits. I get maybe 4 or 5 and probably will continue to get these anyway - and I send players from my site to Meister also.

 

[lots0]

I have always thought of a signature link to your site as the honorable thing to do.

It identifies you and shows you stand behind your site, it shows that you invite scrutiny, and it makes it perfectly clear that you are an affiliate.

I guess I have always been annoyed by affiliates who preach this or that but won't tell you what their site is, makes me feel they are hiding something. I prefer transparency.

I guess we all have our own definitions of 'Honorable', 'self promotion' and 'spam'.

I have removed all my links from CM. But the links from my casino directory to here remain in place. I don't see this as 'dis-honorable' I see it as practical. When you are an out spoken, opinionated jerk like myself the negatives of having promotional sig links here out weigh the positives, at least in my opinion.

Most(but not all) affiliates that promote their site here and elsewhere with sig links are afraid to speak their mind for fear of retribution from the casinos, affiliate programs and anyone else that they may 'accidentally' offend or expose.

God forbid that you say something here that may cost you a buck or two.. So some affs think it's just better to say nothing at all or just be 'nice' to the Rogue ass holes so they don't come after you.

 

[WagerWitch]

I'm not afraid to speak my mind...

But I also don't like to hurt ANYONE'S feelings or make things bad.

I try to see the positive side to everything.

I do see it as a badge of honor tho - and thanks Bryan for thinking about putting it back - I would really appreciate it - even if it is a few months down the road.

Interesting tho: Within ONE DAY of removing my link - my site jumped UP at least 5 spaces in almost EVERY keyword on Google.

Just an FYI - for those who thought that keyword linking and backlinking here made a difference.

In my opinion - it may have had a negative impact --- and even if that is true - (I don't know for sure) - I would still want my link on here - because I am proud of my site - and do think of it as a pride issue - and not necessarily a LINK issue. I mean - if people really want to see me - they CAN go to my profile page here... so it isn't "THAT" hard.

Anyhow - Bryan - thanks for at least looking at the issue from all sides.

WW

 

[aksana]

Links, links, links, I'm tired to hear that links are very important for SEO, "your website can't live without links". Today I have talked to a one SEO manager, who tried to sell me his links from thousands of his sites, and I tried to explain him that buying links is not very important (maybe I'm wrong), but for me it's really not important, but he couldn't understand my position.

I stopped exchanging links two or maybe three years ago, and my site is still live, and moreover now I have much more traffic than I had earlier. I'm very glad that I'm not worried about any links.

Of course, if it's allowed to add links to signatures I'll do it, because it's allowed

And I like this new rule, because the forum really becomes very clean.

Sometimes strict rules make us only stronger!

 

[dominique]

Forum links are not worth anything in google. No matter how many you have, they are counted as one.

That's why forum link spammers are usually hit and run - hoping their one link survives.

Google is up-dating to caffeine at this time and that's responsible for any changes in serps.

 

[RobWin]

Forum links are not worth anything in google.

That's not what Google Webmaster Tools is telling me, 10 days ago it was showing me 396 backlinks from "Forum Posts" here, and now it is showing me 294 backlinks from "Forum Posts". The backlinks are now dropping off the radar like flies in a Raid spray...

The 396 number had gradually been increasing over the past 6 months. I check it everyday in GWT so I have been keeping a close eye on the pulse of my backlinks all this year.

No matter how many you have, they are counted as one.

Are you sure about that? I have evidence of just the opposite from pics taken straight from "Google Webmaster Tools".

Old Attachment (Invalid)
Old Attachment (Invalid)
Old Attachment (Invalid)
Old Attachment (Invalid)
Old Attachment (Invalid)

If that is not backlinks from "Forum Posts", then someone please explain to me why Google is counting all those links there? And that is just from one page in Google Webmaster tools.

I can also show you the exact same scenario in Bing and Yahoo too.

I keep hearing some of you guys state the fact that they are not important and that Google does not count them or that Google only counts them as one when I can clearly see that that is definitely not the case. I think it also confirms the fact I mentioned in my previous post about why other members here have failed to remove their hyperlinked "Sig" links even after being asked to do so!

I could be wrong about this, wouldn't be the first time I've ever been wrong. But the fact still remains why some are allowed to keep the hyperlinks "Live" and others have even had non hyperlinked Sig's turned into a 'script look' like this (

"). See "Sig" below!

I will even be more than happy to remove my remaining couple of links from my profile page too if needed and if that is Bryan's wishes, but I still would like to keep it real here by knowing how others managed to dodge this "Sig" bullet and still to this very minute have "Live" Sig Links in their Sig's? I'm not talking about mod's either. Did I miss something here? I hope you see those as fair questions there.
____
____​

 

[dominique]

From what I have heard, no matter how many you have, they are still counted as one.

Google shows you there how many you have. It doesn't mean they carry any weight.

Google obfuscates links on purpose, never believe what counts you are shown.

Yahoo webmaster tends to be more accurate.