Post removed

[thomas]

It appears that a thread that I started has been removed

http://community.actinic.com/showthr...2&goto=newpost

Can anyone advise me what I have done wrong to have the thread removed?

Thanks in advance

[Golf Tee Warehouse]

I can only guess, but perhaps it was seen as commericial advertising for your new business directory. I have looked at the google cached version of the page and that's the only reason I coule see.

[thomas]

No explicitly commercial postings promoting products or services are allowed

I assume Darren this is the rule you think perhaps I have fallen foul of.

If that is the case as a member here since 2004 a polite note from those whom moderated would have been appreciated.

[leehack]

It was perhaps presumed that as a member of 6 years, you knew the rules.

[Golf Tee Warehouse]

I would guess so, as I couldn't see anything else in the thread that was likely to result in the deletion of the thread.

[thomas]

It was perhaps presumed that as a member of 6 years, you knew the rules.

Well you know what they say about assuming.

[leehack]

Well you know what they say about assuming.

It's not the first time over the past few months from what I can recall, i think you've had to have a few posts removed. If you sail close to the wind, expect to get blown over once in a while.

[thomas]

It's not the first time over the past few months from what I can recall, i think you've had to have a few posts removed. If you sail close to the wind, expect to get blown over once in a while.

Well Leehack I must admit to be confused - I genuinely had not idea and had certainly had no idea that I had

sail close to the wind

from some of my posts.

I had until recently had a forum (on a different subject) and am fully aware of spamming etc and in fact today asked the owner of another forum if was it ok to post about my directory.

So as I mentioned in my first post if the moderation team had said we are removing this because of x y z then no problem, but I would be happy for you to pm where it is I having been sailing as of late, as it is not my intention to spam the forum.

[leehack]

I may have recalled wrongly Thomas, I just seem to remember your name (my son loves Thomas the Tank). I personally remember reading some of your posts thinking those are purely there to get the link in the signature spidered and were offering little if anything at all to the forum.

When i read your latest one about your directory, i too thought it was against the forum rules, but i left it as it was a close call. Others have obviously felt the same and done something about it. Many of the spam or rule flouting posts/threads are highlighted to us by users of the forum who report them as such.

Don't take it personally, the forum has been under continued spam attack for a while now and many of us along with the reporters of the spam are working hard to keep things as clean as possible. As a guideline if you are posting something in this forum, make it actinic related. An actinic business directory would have sailed through for instance. If you're not sure, just ask.

[thomas]

I may have recalled wrongly Thomas, I just seem to remember your name (my son loves Thomas the Tank). I personally remember reading some of your posts thinking those are purely there to get the link in the signature spidered and were offering little if anything at all to the forum.
.

Signature removed from my account to stop confusion - (for the record I have no problem having search engines spider any of my websites)

I took a look at some of my last post's and in my opinion they seem to helping with the questions asked.

http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?t=45741

http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?t=46075

http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?t=43139

http://community.actinic.com/showthr...t=45623&page=2

http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?t=45862

http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?t=45741

Sorry to keep on, but I must admit to taking offence to the implication that I have some how

being sailing close to the wind

In 2004 I bought my first Actinic software, went to the head office etc and had training whilst helping my wife set up her online business and I was always stuck by the lack of information sharing (not here) with regards to things like search engines and as a result felt where I can give a little free advice on seo I would.

[leehack]

Signature removed from my account to stop confusion

Your signature was not the problem (if there was a problem), it was your posts. You've removed the wrong thing.

I took a look at some of my last post's and in my opinion they seem to helping with the questions asked.

They'd have been further back than that, i'm not sure after being deleted you'd be able to see them any more.

Sorry to keep on, but I must admit to taking offence to the implication

If you cannot see that your post regarding your business directory, goes against the forum rule "No explicitly commercial postings promoting products or services are allowed", then i'm not sure if we discussed this for 3 years that we'd agree on the subject. I thought it was against the forum rules when i read it and somebody else clearly did cos they deleted your thread.

I was always stuck by the lack of information sharing (not here) with regards to things like search engines and as a result felt where I can give a little free advice on seo I would.

You stopped posting in Mar 2006 and then more than 3.5 years later (Nov 2009) you came back posting, that doesn't sound like someone looking to share information to me.

There are 2 sides to any story and you may well have given the wrong impression to at least a couple of us. That impresion could be well off the mark, but that's the impression you gave, i can only let you know how i saw it. People rarely wake up after 3.5 years with a burning desire to add something to a forum they left so long ago. When you see it tbh, you're not so sure that the account hasn't been hacked after that amount of time.

Look at it this from this angle, massive timescale between posts, one or two liners when writing new posts and a link in signature to a non-actinic site, followed soon after by a directory advertisement. It's a classic 'get link back' that we see around 10 times a day. It may have been very wrong in this case, but you clearly broke the forum rules with the business directory and that is the crux of this matter.

Reinstate your signature and come join in and help spread your knowledge for sure, that's exactly what the forum wants. Have a look at the stickies in the SEO forum, these kind of guides can be invaluable to the people that need them.

[pinbrook]

An actinic business directory would have sailed through for instance.

I agree with the sentiment here that links in the community should only be actinic related, but in this case a business directory for only actinic is not a credible or viable directory.

Its probably better to consider whether a wider business diretory would benefit an actinic website - the answer is probably yes. But if the post was from yell dot com it would have been removed...

so its a no win situation

[leehack]

I don't set or write the rules Croccy, i understand what you are saying, but if it's not actinic related don't post it, it's quite clear. We've known for years that we can't discuss services, costs, quotes etc. on here, that's just the way it is.

In much the same light that an actinic directory is not really feasible or large enough, than in itself makes posting the directory in a forum totally actinic related as unfeasible IMO. Was it posted 100% for the benefit of actinic users, it simply cannot have been IMO and therefore has been treated accordingly (as I see it).

[thomas]

I had thought about carrying on this discussion quoting this and that from the above.

The facts are that you said Lee that I have sailed close to the wind with my posts, I then show you some of my last post where I see no reason to class as a spammer and you say

They'd have been further back than that, i'm not sure after being deleted you'd be able to see them any more.

So your argument for me sailing close to the wind is some posts that may or may or not

been further back than that

sounds convenient

You stopped posting in Mar 2006 and then more than 3.5 years later (Nov 2009) you came back posting, that doesn't sound like someone looking to share information to me.

Not sure if that qualifies as breaking the forum rules.

A change in circumstance has led me back to doing something I enjoy - SEO, and have visited many forums from the past and started to post again.

From my point of view there is no benefit to carrying on this thread but to say I have never intentionally tried to spam this forum, any post I have made has been made in the spirit of a forum (the sharing of information) and hope has been taken in the spirit it was meant.

[cbarling]

Let's all chill on this one.

I used to post to another forum quite regularly. Then I had a major post deleted and I must admit to be being very irritated. This was particularly as I had supplied some information that as far as I know had never been available anywhere else on the web and I thought was very interesting. (It was about the performance of identical flat HTML sites versus dynamic sites in Google rankings).

But because I mentioned Actinic, I was deleted. I argued with the moderator and even the forum owner. I mention this just to illustrate that I understand the annoyance of being moderated.

The truth is that there are loads of spam posts flooding into the Actinic community all of the time. The moderators delete them without reference to their authors (or mostly to each other), and we probably get it right 99% of the time. If we contacted everyone before (or after) moderating it would take quite a bit more time, so that's why the approach has evolved this way.

Mostly that approach is OK. It sounds here like we may have got it wrong, and that there's been some "collateral damage".

So, Thomas, we may have got it wrong in this case and if so I apologise. After this thread, I'm sure you will be treated with kid gloves in the future

Chris