Jim McClain
Veteran
- Location
- Teh REAL Northern California
Since I was honored with running the next Photo Challenge, I thought I could get a little extra traffic by adding a link to that thread in my forum signature. I'm familiar with the forum software, so I was mildly surprised that the Preview Signature button was missing. But I was even more disappointed that I couldn't add a URL.
I realize that some people will try to use that as a spam tool, or just try to get traffic to their own site thinking it will improve their ranking in search engines (it won't). However, there are features and options in the forum software to limit those issues. One option I use on my own forum is to only allow signatures to members in specific user groups - one of the benefits of being a regular or special member (in my forum, it's being employed in the flooring industry). Here that could be a member who posts a certain number of times over a specified period of days, weeks or months. Or it could be someone who has upgraded their account. I searched for threads that could answer my questions about that, but found nothing.
Speaking of Account Upgrades... I thought maybe links in sigs would be one of the benefits of an account upgrade. Unfortunately, there is no description or list of benefits/additional permissions available on the Subscriptions page or anywhere else I could find. I was kinda hoping all I had to do was donate 5 bucks for the one-time, 30-day deal and then I could spam the Photo Challenge in all my posts during my tenure as the keeper of the salon. But without a description of what my donation gets me, it would be a gamble. I'm not a gambler.
So for now, all I got is a plea in my signature and no link that would make it easier to get members and potential members to visit that topic and maybe post a photo that could make them the next Challenge Winner.
I realize that some people will try to use that as a spam tool, or just try to get traffic to their own site thinking it will improve their ranking in search engines (it won't). However, there are features and options in the forum software to limit those issues. One option I use on my own forum is to only allow signatures to members in specific user groups - one of the benefits of being a regular or special member (in my forum, it's being employed in the flooring industry). Here that could be a member who posts a certain number of times over a specified period of days, weeks or months. Or it could be someone who has upgraded their account. I searched for threads that could answer my questions about that, but found nothing.
Speaking of Account Upgrades... I thought maybe links in sigs would be one of the benefits of an account upgrade. Unfortunately, there is no description or list of benefits/additional permissions available on the Subscriptions page or anywhere else I could find. I was kinda hoping all I had to do was donate 5 bucks for the one-time, 30-day deal and then I could spam the Photo Challenge in all my posts during my tenure as the keeper of the salon. But without a description of what my donation gets me, it would be a gamble. I'm not a gambler.
So for now, all I got is a plea in my signature and no link that would make it easier to get members and potential members to visit that topic and maybe post a photo that could make them the next Challenge Winner.