[wp-forums] To what extent should we allow volunteers to placelinks to their site

[mrmist]

In message <9DACB7E7EF454E2D97E2CDA364BF166A at diamond>, t31os 
<wp_t31os at t31os.co.uk> writes
>.
>
>My point was simply this..
>
>There seems to be a growing trend (perhaps I'm imaging that though) of users
>posting links to their sites only to give more vague and inferior solutions
>to questions that are well documented in the Codex (I'd wager they may even
>be aware of this). Not always, granted there are some very friendly and
>helpful users that do offer valid and friendly help (I try to be one when I
>can).
>


You get similar stuff on the Codex, too. People see an article and pop a 
link at the end of it, to their site where they may have done something 
that vaguely relates to the Codex page.  I have to admit I'm not 
particularly consistent in moderating such things.  Sometimes the links 
appear genuinely useful, other times they are tenuous at best.

I think it has to be a judgement call.  A Codex link is obviously 
preferable, but the key function of the forums surely has to be 
providing a solution to the problem at hand.  That's what the users 
want, and to be critical, it's sometimes hard to get it on the forums 
due to the interface and extreme churn, so if the link is external but 
does fix the problem, I'd probably let it fly.

Of course, I don't moderate the forums, but if I did I'd play 
whack-a-mole on the external links that I felt were just deliberate 
attempts of promotion thinly disguised as help.  Generally you can tell 
from the user's prior replies where their motives lie.
-- 
mrmist