Affiliation Rules - Too Strict?

[meetah12]

I agree that the small sites will never get active! I have a new site, removed , and you see like 23 visitors, but only 10 members! I advertised here, and that's where the guests came from, but I DO sign up for even the smallest sites. In fact, I believe that the smaller sites are more fun, since the admin's are less strict, and you get to personally know everyone!

[Candice]

Jul 22, 2010 20:14:04 GMT -8 meetah12 said:

I agree that the small sites will never get active! I have a new site, removed , and you see like 23 visitors, but only 10 members! I advertised here, and that's where the guests came from, but I DO sign up for even the smallest sites. In fact, I believe that the smaller sites are more fun, since the admin's are less strict, and you get to personally know everyone!

Hi,

Please do not advertise your site here, there is an advertising board.

Thank you.

[amflutist]

I think affiliating is so much nicer than the clutter that comes with advertising. Though I have the advertising option on my own forum, it really annoys me that every few minutes another advertise pops up, blocking some quality posts in the actual forum. It just feels like SPAM.

I'd much prefer affiliates because when you affiliate, you're helping one another out. It's also not the same SPAM situation as advertising because the affiliates can all be located nicely in one spot, not in multiple posts that just keep popping up. I think to have free advertising but have rules for affiliating is just plain silly, and a bit stupid as well.

[Owlstar]

I never understood those rules. Some forums are new and looking for members, and affiliates are the best way to do that. Advertisements can get pushed to the back of the board by other ads, but affiliates are there on the main page all the time. What I don't understand is why forums with high member counts apply this rule. I mean, how long did it take them to get to that member count? Probably a while. Affiliation probably helped them, and they must remember how it feels to be trying to get new members. So I don't think having a requirement on the members for affiliation is such a good idea.

[( RYAN )]

I think, from the forum owner with the most members' point of view, a new site will not get him/her any members on their site, whereas the new forum is likely to get a lot more out of the affiliation than the bigger site. If there were about 50 members on one site, and 5 on the other, through affiliation with each other, which one is more likely to get members from it? As well as this, with the amount of members required for affiliation, the bigger forum can be more confident that the forum they're affiliating with will stay active for quite a long time.

It isn't exactly fair for a new site to be limited like this, but I think an active site sees affiliating with them as a waste of time. People always want things in return, and I guess the bigger sites just don't get that in affiliating with a new one? As a new forum owner (hypothetically speaking), I would try to build my forum up through other advertising methods, and when I've established an active site I would then seek affiliation with other sites.

[celine.]

I was lazy and didn't read the replies. But I'll throw in my opinion anyway!

I had a forum starting up on its feet and instead of affiliating with everyone (because I knew they probably wouldn't accept) I advertised my butt off. That's just a part of it unfortunately. I think those sorts of rules are necessary for affiliation because the site owners worked hard on getting their site to grow and have every right to eliminate people mooching off of their members. I find it frustrating when a site with 5 members affiliates with my site which has 70 members. Of course not all are active, but that's not exactly the point; even if I deleted all of the inactive ones (which I will attend to) we'd still have like 40 members compared to their 5.

[AdamKane]

Would affiliation/advertising rules like these be too strict?

The following rules apply when advertising your website on MutantXtacy:
1. Do not advertise boards/sites which contain pornographic content or content of a sexual nature.
2. Do not advertise boards/sites which contain drug or alcohol discussion or contents.
3. Do not advertise boards/sites which violate any laws.
4. Advertising any boards/sites which contain objectionable material will lead you to getting warned.
5. Your board or site must advertise this one.
We check each link which gets posted!
6. In order for your board or site to be an affiliate of MutantXtacy, it must be a Mutant X fan site.
7. Only admins can post affiliates. Well, only I can because I am the only one who understands the code.
8. At least 70% of your websites content must be visible to guests.

If you want to affiliate with a banner then post the following here:

<a href="site url">
<img src="banner url" alt="site namel" width="100" height="50" />
</a>

Edit only the red parts.

[Dr. Octagonapus]

Affiliation can be difficult. I mean, Gifted of Avalon (a site I belong to, see my signature) has had a bad inactivity thing going on. All the staff members (even the admin, but she is at college so that isn't much of a problem because we understand) have given up on it, except one of the Mods. Its literally three people keeping the site going ^_^"

(If anyone does want to affiliate, please get in contact :])

[Candice]

Sept 2, 2010 9:12:41 GMT -8 Dr. Octagonapus said:

Affiliation can be difficult. I mean, Gifted of Avalon (a site I belong to, see my signature) has had a bad inactivity thing going on. All the staff members (even the admin, but she is at college so that isn't much of a problem because we understand) have given up on it, except one of the Mods. Its literally three people keeping the site going ^_^"

(If anyone does want to affiliate, please get in contact :])

Hi,

This is not the right board for asking for affiliates. Please do that in your signature.

Thank you.

[Arwen4CJ]

So far, I haven't had problems with getting too many affiliate requests.

My affiliate rules may be considered strict by some, but I have no interest in affiliating with a site that doesn't abide by my site's rules. My only requirements for affiliation are that: 1.) A site puts up my banner and 2.) that it abides by Proboards TOS. I don't want to affiliate with any site with mature content on it. People wanting to affiliate and getting denied over this have gotten a little nasty to me about it.

I don't see what the big deal is with denying sites that are rated above PG-13 or that have adult threads, boards, and password protected boards.

I don't care about number of members or their activity. Right now, I'm just accepting any requests that meet my requirements.

[Melisma [Rayne]]

Aug 12, 2010 5:43:57 GMT -8 ( RYAN ) said:

I think, from the forum owner with the most members' point of view, a new site will not get him/her any members on their site, whereas the new forum is likely to get a lot more out of the affiliation than the bigger site. If there were about 50 members on one site, and 5 on the other, through affiliation with each other, which one is more likely to get members from it? As well as this, with the amount of members required for affiliation, the bigger forum can be more confident that the forum they're affiliating with will stay active for quite a long time.

It isn't exactly fair for a new site to be limited like this, but I think an active site sees affiliating with them as a waste of time. People always want things in return, and I guess the bigger sites just don't get that in affiliating with a new one? As a new forum owner (hypothetically speaking), I would try to build my forum up through other advertising methods, and when I've established an active site I would then seek affiliation with other sites.

I see your point about who gains the most between small and large sites, and if my site were larger, I'd probably do the same. What annoys me are the small sites that implement this rule. Not too long ago, I was on a site whose rules asked for at least 15 members before affiliating. (This isn't much compared to others I've seen.) But, at the time, I had nine members, and the other site had five. I thought it was utterly ridiculous.

Smaller sites should definitely be more considerate of their peers. It's just like the business world, I guess. The small fish should band together, that sort of thing.

As for my rules, they aren't strict at all, except for the fact that I choose affiliates based on my perception of the site. This gives me room to turn down sites that break ProBoards rules or are too tasteless in my opinion, or that use poor grammar or have an ugly layout. I'd wager that this turns off a lot of people, but I'm not so desperate for affiliates that I'd be willing to pair with a site I think poorly of.

[`rainyday]

For small sites, it is hard to find a site that is bigger and active to affiliate with, and is a bit frustrating when they have rules about member counts and such. But they need to get something out of it, or else what's the point?

[Xylish]

Affiliation requirements strict? Some board may be, yes. But most of the boards which I see have a reasonable expectation. The whole point of affiliation is a mutual exchange of different traffic with different demographics of users. In that way, you'll have a mix of members and potential new guests.

[Time™]

I can see why Some Affiliations are strict. Some are outlandishly ridiculous though.

I see it as, If You wanna help eachother out, awesome. If you wanna promo your butt off, awesome too.

[Imprintation]

I think affiliate rules should be basic. Sure I understand the please post their own affiliate before your aloud to put yours on their website. I get that. I don't agree with the ones that say you must have a certain amount of members. If these restrictions are aloud on affiliates and then not on the advertising, what happens if the site dies anyway? It would be a waste either way. What if you're site is new and you just want to get it out there to be able to get those 30 members? I think the affiliate ruling is starting to get a little bit too strict and they need to be toned down a little.