Posting links to other Forums

[MerlinJones]

I must ask that members refrain from including links direst to other Forums in their posts.

Bruce,

I think I'm OK in this regard but happy to comply anyway. I'm not being funny but instead asking a sincere - although maybe dumb - question: why?

1 - Because it's in our Terms and Conditions, as drawn up by the experienced team of Admin managing this Forum.
2 - Because it's the easiest way to avoid precipitating inter-Forum spats and politics. For example, imagine someone on this Forum wants to state that black is white and posts a link to Forum B, where someone else has stated that black is white and our member uses that other Forum's arguments to support their case. If I believe black is not white and say so in here, I'm likely to end up having to defend myself from trolls from Forum B, posting in our Forum and taking offence at being told that they speaketh shoemakers.
3 - Because it's considered poor form to direct Forum traffic to other Forums. It's a bit like going to a party and, half way through, telling everyone that there's a better party off down the street.

I'm sure there were other reasons that I cannot recall right now.

Regards,
Bruce

[AndrewR]

Sorry Bruce, but I have to politely disagree with you.

I did post a link to a discussion on another forum, because it is called "Citing a reference", rather than making an unsubstantiated claim, which is a fundamental part of my professional practice...

I agree that we should not post links to other sites when it could cause a dispute to arise between the other site and this site.

However, I did not make any commentary on the reference, merely acknowledged that I had seen it, and I cannot see that this is going to lead to any dispute with any of the participants in that particular discussion.

But this ruling (which I hope has been endorsed by the rest of the Admin team) effectively means we cannot reference any other build on any other modelling site, even if we make no comment. This strikes me as absurd.

Regards

Andrew

[T-21]

I can see what Merlin means ,I am guilty of this but only to keep forum members informed of new products particularly overseas members and any builds/references to assist members getting the best out of the hobby and in the best interests of this forum.

[MerlinJones]

I have made a mistake in my interpretation of our Terms & Conditions, particularly with reference to posting links to other Forums. For this I apologise, unreservedly.

As a consequence of my actions, the relevent threads were pulled by the rest of the Admin Team and the issue discussed thoroughly. This is how it should be. However, I am aware that both Martin, Andrew and T-21 may be concerned that they had done something wrong. This is most certainly not the case and I apologise again for any anxieties experienced by those two Forum participants.

Following the discussion amongst Admin, our Terms and Conditions relating to the posting of links to other Forums, will be updated and clarified. A link to this will be provided and, as is usual, you are all free to comment accordingly.

Regards,
Bruce

[AndrewR]

Apology accepted unreservedly Bruce.

Some regulation to prevent derogatory or disparaging comments following posting of a link would be a good idea, to prevent the possibility of causing problems with other forums, which was your concern. I look forward to seeing the amended forum rules.

Cheers

Andrew

[mattbacon]

The rules on posting links to other Forums have been updated here:

http://uamf.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=176;

It says this:

Posting links to other forums

There is no issue with posting links to other forums -- as is evidenced by the number of those links to valuable content scattered throughout threads on this Forum. Links to any other web-based resource are welcome provided:

1) Do not quote significant chunks of CONTENT from other Forums in your posting. A simple link is usually enough. Remember, they are their words, not ours.
2) Please introduce the link with a few words or a sentence explaining what's there, so that people don't HAVE to click on the link to find out what's at the end of it.
3) Be sensible. Mischief-making will not be tolerated. Don't post a link to another Forum because you want to poke fun at what the Members of that Forum are saying or doing, or comment on that Forum in general, or because there's a debate going on there that you won't (or can't) contribute to on that Forum. Just to clarify that last one -- if we have a discussion going on about the Italeri Sunderland, then it's absolutely fine to say "so and so over at Britmodeller says this about the exhausts -- see link -- but I don't agree, and this is what I think."

In general, if you're going to link to other forums, be as polite and considerate of their members as you are of our own, including their rights to their own content.

best regards,
Matt

[AndrewR]

That looks good Matt.

cheers

Andrew