Website Links?

[mattjs]

Sorry, I know this was asked previously but I was just looking for a little more clarification on board policy re: offering links in reply posts to other disney resources on the internet. Two questions I guess.

1. Is it unacceptable in a reply post to offer links to any other information sites on the internet? Lately I've seen quite a few links being edited out by moderators (including a couple of my own ). However, at the same time, I've also noticed that some links (again including some of my own) have stayed up. So, I'm just wondering if you could offer some guidance on which ones (if any at all) are acceptable here at Intercot.

Examples of a few sites I might personally refer someone to would be, wdwig, pscalculator, wdwmagic, tikimans' fantastic Polynesian site, screamscape, wdwmagic, etc. Personally, I think with the remarkable size of the Disney web community, there are lots of cases where it's nice to able to point someone to a a high quality, secondary resource. Heck, I actually found Intercot from a posted link on another Disney message board.

But then, I have no knowledge of what running a website like this entails, and since you own it (and do a fantastic job of it by the way) it's your decision to make. We're visitors here and thank you greatly for this place.

2. If you don't want folks offering direct links to other sites, would it be alright to name the site without making it a clickable link? For instance, would it be okay to say, "in addition to checking the restaurant section here at intercot also be sure to take a look at the extensive, detailed reviews of Victoria and Alberts at wdwig.com?"...

Or "be sure to also check out the large collection of resort photos at ourlaghing.com"...

Or "be sure to visit pscalculator.net as another great Priority Seating resource. And sign up to the e-mail list there for PS information updates".

I'm getting carried away with the examples here, but again, it's just that there are so many great resources out there, it's awfully nice to able to direct folks to offer folks as much information as possible.

Just trying to stay on the right side of the law

Thanks, and keep up the great work!

[imported_PolyGirl40]

I'll see if I can shed some light here.

Firstly, the reason you have seen a lot of edited posts recently, is because there has been an abundance of posts providing links.

The Terms of Service everyone agrees to upon registering states:

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>
Intercot also does not allow promotion of other websites on our boards including advertisements, for sale / for rent posts, links or blatant promotion. Repeated/excessive posting of the same URL to the boards is also not permitted. Self-promotion of websites is not permitted. All web site and e-mail addresses are to be placed in your user profile and NOT in your signature file (should you choose to use one). Any of the listed violations may lead to your post being deleted entirely and/or your being suspended from use of the boards. <hr></blockquote>

There is no way for the Staff to Moderate off-site links. We'd have to access the posted site and everything clickable via that site -- and so on and so on. It would be never ending. INTERCOT prides itself on being a family Board. That could be jeopardized.

Another important issue to consider; The idea of a message board is to gather firsthand experiences. As well as ask immediate questions. These can not be answered by saying: "Click here".

It is rare that the information is not obtainable within INTERCOT. If that happens, and you can assist by finding it elsewhere then bring the information into the post that way. It is not necessary to name your source. You could simply say: I did a search and found this information. If you modify the text - it is not plagiarism.

INTERCOT would not be in existence if all we did was ship people elsewhere. There is a great and ever growing community here and we’d like to keep it that way.

Does this make sense? [img]smile.gif[/img]

Thank you for asking.

[imported_JohnY]

Carol is dead on with everything she said and I don't think I need to add anything further except to remind those who do have disney websites and want to promote them to sign up for WebDisney.com where that's all we do. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Nice work Carol.

[mattjs]

Thanks to you both for clarifying. That makes sense.

[Aurora]

Actually, I've wondered the same myself. I'm in the middle of posting my trip reports and reading others, and I was interested in several posts -- one has a link to photos from a recent trip and another has a link to the whole trip report!!

I'm especially interested in the pictures link because I'm planning on letting others know about my own photos, but I thought I would have to do this in my profile. Which is OK to do? I want to make sure.

[imported_PolyGirl40]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Aurora:

I thought I would have to do this in my profile. Which is OK to do? I want to make sure.<hr></blockquote>

The link to your picture files should be placed in your profile. [img]smile.gif[/img] Trust me - they will be found. I posted my pictures after my last trip and I've had over 8,000 hits - in less then a year.

The only place that I have the address is here at INTERCOT in my profile.

[img]graemlins/mike.gif[/img]

[ January 15, 2002: Message edited by: PolyGirl40 ]</p>

[tonyr]

clarification on pics?
ok some links are ok others are not. intercot decides. Why doenst a link to a single pic of me and my son in a post for a meet, first not work, then get deleted. the url was correct and was on geocities. It opens fine in a separate browser window outside of intercot. secondly I posted a pic of myself in my profile and that too doesnt work. with a proper url as well. Please advise. Im going to try to add the link to the one pic of us under homepage and see if that works next. any help would be appreciated.
tony

[imported_JohnY]

tonyr:

I have no idea. Obviously something is going wrong. I'd have to look at the specific circumstance. Feel free to *email me* about this issue and we will see if we can work thru it.