Forums Can we solidify the Advertising rules?

[LW]

This thread is less of a usual rant, just something I thought of recently and wanted to get clarifications on.

Without being backed by data other than experience here, I'm very certain that advertising is the most commonly broken/enforced rule. Hit-and-Run is a problem that's existed on the Forums for a while. The advertisement rules are unclear in some parts, let's take a look:

I: Advertising

Forum Advertising

Advertising on our forums is only allowed within the allocated sections. In order to create threads in these sections you need the partner badge. Here is the sections you can advertise in:

• Content!

Advertising in any section besides the above mentioned will result in a warning.

Click here to apply for a partner badge!

Here's the thing: Define Advertising. Does every rule from the Advertising section just disappear in the Promotion Section or does that section only allow you posting your videos? Here's the main problem I've seen here:

Advertising is a broad statement.

If advertising is allowed in that section, does it need to be a video or a Discord server, does the advertising need to be the main scope of the thread? Let's take a look at how many Promotion Section threads since pretty much the start of the month have had a description with affiliate links or other stuff that would run against this by a certain definition:



That's 1/3. That is a lot. Part of the issue is something I'll bring up in a later thread with lots of statistics but let's stick to this for now.

We need to find a better definition to the Advertising Rule.
​

What if I post my new video from YouTube and post my Patreon Link alongside it to get people to donate to me?

The main scope of the thread is still the video, sure. But whether or not this runs against the No Advertising Rule is the question. I see this daily on Promotion Threads but am not sure what to do with it. Should I flag it for including a Patreon Link? Should I move on because it's just the dump section?

The definition for "Advertising" is really broad. Does the thread need to ONLY EXIST to promote the Patreon Link or does it just need to include one? I genuinely don't understand this rule and hope to receive some explanations on it.

Thanks,
~LW001

 

[zeke morgan]

Personally I would see any advertising, including links to Youtube / Patreon or other links completely fine in the promote yourself section or indeed the media section as long as they have followed the other rules. I wouldn't say all of the advertising rules disappear in the sections I mentioned previously, for example any inappropriate advertising would still be enforced.

This is something we could definitely look at and I have made a note of this and will bring it up during our next meeting to see if we can't get a bit more clarification about this, so there is no more confusion about this

 

[riganthor]

I kinda dont see the reason why we should allow these links on this site they have nothing to do with freedom and its very easy to just delete this stuff out of your description for the forums. I am sorry but I am 100% against letting links to sites in the description the mess that can invite is too big for me as a person.

 

[Crazylawrence]

This statement is not official and has no other meaning except my personal opinion to the matter stated.

Forum Advertising should be defined as promoting any aspect of your social profile. Your social profile includes but is not limited to; Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit, Playstation, Xbox, Steam or any forum based profile, which is a 'social space'.

As the rule suggests, we do not warn users for promoting any social aspect of themselves in the Promote Yourself forum, however anywhere else on the forums is not allowed.

Personally, Promote Yourself is a forum section for showing off your 'content' from your YouTube Channel. Freedom! is a partnership with YouTube and only that social platform should be advertised either in normal video form or stream. Anything else should not be included, even if it is from a description.

To finish, the rules should be amended to say:

I: Advertising

Posting YouTube Videos

We only allow users to include their YouTube content, either in the form of a video or stream, on our forums within the following allocated sections:

• Promote Yourself
• Community Reviews

Posting YouTube Channels

The only section that you are allowed to include your YouTube channel in is:

• Community Reviews

Users must also read the pinned section rules before posting.
Advertising any other social platform in general or advertising YouTube profiles in any section besides the above mentioned will result in a warning.

 

[Koala_Steamed]

I don't really mind users promoting things other than YouTube, as long as it's not breaking other rules or linking inappropriate sites. I could create a new prefix "Other promotion" or "non YouTube" something like that.