Banned from 2 forums... UGH!

Unfortunately you'll find a huge percentage of forums will ban you and you just gotta dig out a forum that will respect your right to have a link to your stuff in your sig.

Make the posts first. Add your sig later. lol...

Establish yourself in the beginning. Otherwise you'll appear like a spammer...and get banned.

Forums often have unwritten rules. As you found out you're allowed to post at their discretion. If you're genuinely interested in contributing to the forum post at least a few times without using a signature. A single link, two at the most would be more typical of a non-im forum.

Observe the culture then wade in gently.

There isn't one. Forums are private property. If the owners don't like you - for any reason, whether it's a good one or not - they'll kick you out.

If you can't resolve it, just shrug and move on to the next forum. There are several forums out there where I simply can't participate, because the owners are... well, in my opinion, jerks. It's one thing when mods and staff enforce rules fairly, but when they play adolescent games, it's just not worth it.

ummmm.....you weren't writing about killing everyone in the music cd industry was you?

In the "old days" we were taught that forum etiquette consisted of.

1. Lurk for a good while before joining to get the feel of the community.

2. Then lurk for a while after joining to establish a dated presence.

3. Then participate by asking questions and finally participate by giving valuable comments and answering questions.

4. Then and only then take advantage of the sig file for promoting yourself.

Maybe the forums you joined subscribe to the "old school."

I know when a few new Warriors were told this in the past, their answer was, "Hey, I'm not new to IM I'm just new here. I probably know more than 'YOU' do." (YOU not being me but whoever brought "etiquette" to their attention) This seems to be the norm now.

George Wright

From what I have read in the many posts on this forum regarding
harsh commments, Allen has been very patient.
On the other side it is nice to belong to a forum where foul language
is not tolerated. Thanks Allen.

Four links is too much, whether you're participating with real sincerity or not.

Read the TOS of the forum

This is how I had the links posted (they are all two keywords)

link1 | link2 | link3 | link4

It was one line of links and I did not refer to them at all in any of my posts.

I think I just feel frustrated that I read the TOS and did not believe that I was breaking any rules. Maybe I feel a bit embarrassed that I may have come across as a spammer also especially when the topic is one that I am genuinely interested in.

I think, for the time being, I will open a new account and participate in the forum with no links in my sig. I may put some links in at a later time.

You know I keep reading how Forum Marketing is so effective. I don't know. The moderators either wrote the books or read the books and know exactly how to keep forum marketers at bay.

Ah...the old mistaken perception that;

rights equal license.

Some things never change...especially around here.

I feel like I've never been away.



Thomas

My advice is to participate a little and go check out some of the bigger boys and girls in the forum to see what they are doing with their sigs.

See how they are formated, what they contain and see if you can't mimic that when the time is right.

And try,for goodness sakes, to look normal. Blend in, weave in, profit.

Kirahster,

Four links in your sig coming out the gate? I own a forum and that would give me pause in any newbie. (Newbie to the forum, that is.)

Anyway, I see another problem. Rejection hurts. And it is a major morale sucker. Don't let it get you down. My advice is just move on and keep on keeping on.

But if you really like a forum that banned you, get in contact with the owner and explain what you are doing. Then ask what is the best way to proceed so your participation is win-win. Forum owners are people after all. (Well... most of them, anyway...)

Incidentally, I got the strangest impression from your sig file here on Warrior. Seeing the words all bunched together in the URL, my mind unraveled them as follows:

Super Kungfus Kills

I know a plural kungfus is a stretch, but tell that to my subconscious.

I clicked on the link expecting to see blood and gore. Sadly, it was not to be...



Michael

Don't spam and you are good.

People who join a forum and day one have a sig. stuffed and are "pretending" to discuss topics are really easy to spot.

So then what is the solution?

Do the opposite.

Discuss things in a normal flow. And put 1 link in your sig. after a bit. And if you see over the course of actually interacting on a real level with other people in the forum that you can have more than one link in the sig. then add another.

I think four links is too much, especially if you were new. I know some forums don't even allow any links in your sig until after you have a certain amount of posts.

So I would just start off with one, and take the above suggestions, to move slowly.

You have super kung fu skills, yes? But do you have the etiquette? When you walk into someone's dojo/dojang/kwan/kwoon, you don't wear a t-shirt that says "Super-killa-kungfu-dood-I-can-kick-you-@$$-in-2-sec" and start "sharing" your super-duper killer techniques.

Not if you want to become a part of that group.

You walk in. You get to know the people there: the teacher, the seniors, the juniors, even the janitor, if they have one. You observe, you listen (which is also a superb M.O. if you plan on challenging anyone of them), you learn. You leave the killer t-shirt at home and wear plain.

When I go to another dojo, I wear a white belt, even when the head instructor is a good friend of mine. It's called Respect. I once joined a forum about a certain subject in which I had some considerable experience.

No sig, nothing. Just contributory posts. And none of that "show-you-up" attitude that seems to accompany a lot of new "sharing" posts in any forum. In less than 10 posts, they knew I knew my stuff and was accorded a level of respect seldom shown to any newbie, regardless of their stature or knowledge or experience in that subject elsewhere.

Share, teach, respect. Forget the sig for now. Forget the technicalities of "I was within the rules, my sig was withinthe rules, etc" Just contribute. Nothing else. You were probably banned because you may have given the impression that you were sharing just to get your sig seen.

Not cool in a lot of circles, regardless of the "rules".

Heeeeyah!

Kenneth

Send a message to the Administrator and ask the 'hidden' rules - they will tell you straight up usually.

Your blog is quite unique
Have you made any money from it?

Imo, wait till you have a bunch of posts and then put just 1 link in your signature.
A poster with 0 posts and 4 links in a signature will just set off a red flag for both mods and users, whether they decide to ban you or not (since you did leave good posts) depends on a forum. But 4 links in a signature on your first post isn't really the way to go imo.

I have a simple 'rule'... It's based on a question I ask myself:

"IF someone removed my signature (and won't let me include it again),
would I *still* post this message, and participate in this discussion?"

When the answer is "Yes", I take the time to do it.

The 'signature ad' is just icing on the cake.

And the "surprising" thing is that way, your 'ad' won't get deleted -
maybe even NOTICED and clicked!

Or, stated differently, give VALUE FIRST. Always.

All success
Dr.Mani

I am new here & I am not spam, I will post here, contribute, talk, discuss, ask, help, and all that I can do in real.. no promotion nothing...

I am sure, I will not get banned here

Hi Kirahster,
Yeah...I'm with the 'shake the dust from your sandals and move on' camp on this.
Regards,
James Pateman

Try this thread

http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...en-trying.html

La dominatrix

I always look at the sigs of lots of people with high post count in many threads to see if any of them have commercial sites in their sig. This makes it really obvious to see if I will fit in there.

I agree with Greorge Wright and Blue Squares... I am a forum owner, and we are seriously like a community, a clicky bunch of girls.... If someone joins us to ONLY sell us something, I ban immediately because thats not what I want on my forum, I want people who are actually there to contribute, even if your product is useful for us, we dont want to be SOLD by someone.

BUT, if you make like 20 posts or so and we get to feel you out and like you. And you actually tell us in your introduction area that you made this product and stuff and thats how you are trying to make a living etc. I mean, if we get to know you and then you sell us the product we will PROBABLY buy, just because we are loyal to you as one of us. Seriously, I think you should establish a presence, get to know some of the key members (higher posters) then sell sell sell..

I bet it would work out so much better albeit take a little more time.

Become friends with mods first. They you can be spammy pammy and not get a ban. Just kidding, most forums are very risk averse now. They will ban you if there is even a hint of conflict. Rules use to be different a few years ago.

I know how frustrating it can be to read all of the rules, feel as if you're following them, and then still be lumped with spammers and scammers.

Marketing forums tend to be fairly lenient with sig files, but in some niches it can be hard to find an active forum that allows links (especially commercial ones). So when you do you need to be on extra good behavior.