explosion of coaching site spam and the fact? that mods are involved

[ama0330]

I think TT has a decent point about the software forum, programs like PAHUD, Full Tilt Shortcuts, AHK scripts got a huge amount of free exposure on the forum. Some are not for profit but I definitely found out about PAHUD/Holdem Manager/FTS etc from the software forum, and I had to pay for them. Its hypocritical to allow one and not the other.

[*TT*]

[ QUOTE ]
Its hypocritical to allow one and not the other.

[/ QUOTE ]

I prefer to use the word oversight. There is a time and place for everything, for example if my proposal is approved I wouldn't expect it to be rolled out immediately, things take time to get all the ducks in a row. Patience is a virtue, users (not singling out you or other mods, I'm talking users only) who think its hypocritical take the internet way to seriously or they are pissed because they are loosing free advertising.

[Lottery Larry]

Some of this has been my problem to struggle with, in a different way.
Even when I was performing as a "ghost mod" in Home Poker, I wasn't sure how over the line that HP was getting.

We're constantly giving free advertising to websites, companies that sell items, etc... just by answering threads and adding a link, or referring people to a site for certain items they are asking about. I tended to pick out the spammy ones, but our regular posters do this a lot (I did, as well).

I was even thinking about having a sticky with links, as part of an FAQ, to certain sites such as homepokertourney.com and chiptalk.com, some of the game-listing sites, and so on. This discussion has made me rethink that idea.

I'm not sure if Home Poker should have a different standard that some of the other forums, or if we need to crack down somehow. I'm not quite sure what standard I should be setting in the forum.

AJFenix and Mat, thoughts?

[AJFenix]

While certain links were clearly removable, certain links did slide that were about table assembly, chipsets, etc. Some of those sites may have had some advertisements on their pages, but it was relatively harmless, probably nothing that was competing with 2p2 revenue, and the links themselves were helpful and pertained to the discussion. I'm def interested in what Mat thinks as to where to draw the line with links that go to pages with ads. I think using judgment as has been done up to this point is best, personally, but if there is to be a specific ruleset thats fine.

[Lottery Larry]

I generally agree, but the recent crackdown on coaching posts and avatars makes me think that Mat's input would be helpful.

[Mat Sklansky]

This needs further thought, so we'll have to continue with silliness for awhile. Just do what you feel is best.