Commercial sites??

[sorcerer]

I imagine that the aim of prohibiting links to "commercial sites" is (or should only be) to keep GS away from becoming a tool of sales promotion.

If partial portions of a "commercial site" have no effect in promoting profit, especially if the information contained in such portions are useful and interesting to the fans of figure skating, the brousing of such portions do not mean any profit to the "commercial site", hence the links to such portions should be exempt from the prohibiting, IMO.

"Announcement" thread says "Links to commercial sites such as Champions on Ice, Stars on Ice and other touring/production companies are prohibited."
But such links are done in GS forums and are welcomed by moderators.
Indeed it should be welcomed since it's at each one's discretion whether to go and see or not. Introducing the official sites of skating shows are nothing to be prohibited unless it is posted by the organizer/insider for promotion purpose.

The more so on other useful information on "commercial sites", IMHO.

But I might be blind in some ways, so please share me your insights.

[gsk8]

I imagine that the aim of prohibiting links to "commercial sites" is (or should only be) to keep GS away from becoming a tool of sales promotion.

Correct.

If partial portions of a "commercial site" have no effect in promoting profit, especially if the information contained in such portions are useful and interesting to the fans of figure skating, the brousing of such portions do not mean any profit to the "commercial site", hence the links to such portions should be exempt from the prohibiting, IMO.

There is no such thing as "partial". A site either promotes and/or sells services or it doesn't. When such site/sites have figure skating information and news, Golden Skate is happy to trade site and news links. Otherwise, said posts are auto-sent to the Announcement folder.

"Announcement" thread says "Links to commercial sites such as Champions on Ice, Stars on Ice and other touring/production companies are prohibited."
But such links are done in GS forums and are welcomed by moderators.

You left out the part of the post that said "If you wish to post links to your personal skating-related site, please ensure you have a reciprocal link to Golden Skate on your site. Thanks!" Self-explantory.

Indeed it should be welcomed since it's at each one's discretion whether to go and see or not. Introducing the official sites of skating shows are nothing to be prohibited unless it is posted by the organizer/insider for promotion purpose.

While suggestions are encouraged and reviewed, in the end, Golden Skate has it's reasons for the rules incorporated. To go into detail as to why is not always appropriate.

[sorcerer]

Thank you for the reply.
My intention is certainly not making objections, but to know the matter in a clear view.

So these are additional questions to clarify what I still can't grasp.

You left out the part of the post that said "If you wish to post links to your personal skating-related site, please ensure you have a reciprocal link to Golden Skate on your site. Thanks!"

I was not referring to personal ones; this has long been in the Announcements folder.
http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/sho...ry-cast-of-SOI
I can't take time to search all but I remember seeing one or two other examples like this.
I understood that this might have been okay to be there because it was not posted by the company itself.

Is this right to keep such understanding?

Introducing the official sites of skating shows are nothing to be prohibited unless it is posted by the organizer/insider for promotion purpose.

Otherwise, said posts are auto-sent to the Announcement folder.

The official sites of skating shows, of course including Japan, has ticket information on it.
Are links to the official sites of, say f'rinstance the Kanazawa or Fukuoka shows, which fans like to know their cast, forbidden?
Or are they just sent to the Announcements folder?
What about SOI Japan Tour (2 cities)? Differnece with DOI (not a tour)?

... the Announcement folder.

I can't find my post which was "auto-sent".
Could you help me find out where it is?
Is "Announcement forum" not "Announcements" folder?
"Your post was moved to the Announcement forum ...."


Lastly, is FSU considered to be a site where it "sells services" ?
We must purchase seasonal passes to get to the competition discussion area.
If we are to follow the policy strictly, can we or not post links to any part of FSU (not just payed areas), when no "partial" is considered?

Thank you for your time.
Again, this is just for clarification on what we must keep as posters here.

[gsk8]

I can see your confusion and have just edited the Guidelines to read:

Linking to commercial sites
A commercial site is defined as a site which sells products and/or services. Posts containing links to soley promote and/or send traffic to commercial sites are forbidden on Golden Skate with the exception of advertisers, sponsors, and/or partnered sites. Posts containing links will automatically be sent to the Announcement Forum or be removed completely.

News sites that do not offer products and/or services are also exempt and do not fall into the commercial category. Examples are: ESPN, CNN, and Eurosport, and figure skating organizations such as Skate Canada, USFS, etc.

I have also removed the post in the Announcement Forum.

I was not referring to personal ones; this has long been in the Announcements folder.
http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/sho...ry-cast-of-SOI
I can't take time to search all but I remember seeing one or two other examples like this.
I understood that this might have been okay to be there because it was not posted by the company itself.

Correct The post did not appear to be submitted by SOI itself for promotional purposes, and thus was kept instead of deleted.

The official sites of skating shows, of course including Japan, has ticket information on it.
Are links to the official sites of, say f'rinstance the Kanazawa or Fukuoka shows, which fans like to know their cast, forbidden?
Or are they just sent to the Announcements folder?
What about SOI Japan Tour (2 cities)? Differnece with DOI (not a tour)?

These posts should be placed in Announcement folder anyway. GS does not have a complete list of all the official skating shows (i.e. Japan) and therefore posts may not be auto-sent to Announcements but moved manually when found.

I can't find my post which was "auto-sent".
Could you help me find out where it is?
Is "Announcement forum" not "Announcements" folder?
"Your post was moved to the Announcement forum ...."

It is called the Announcement Forum but is sometimes referred to as a folder. Try looking again and let a moderator know if you are unable to find it. You may want to view all of your posts to try to locate it.

Lastly, is FSU considered to be a site where it "sells services" ?
We must purchase seasonal passes to get to the competition discussion area.
If we are to follow the policy strictly, can we or not post links to any part of FSU (not just payed areas), when no "partial" is considered?

FSU is not considered a commercial site. Nor are other skating forums. It is fine to cross-link FSU and other forums in the GS Forum as long as posts are not copy/pasted. In terms of FSU's paying area, I'm certain they have their own policy about sharing/linking these posts to external sites.

[sorcerer]

Thank you again for the reply. My brain seems to have been much sorted now.

I might add that, it may be, contrary to the notification, only the first post of a thread is auto-sent by the CGI script and the later posts in the threads are merely deleted. I'm not sure but I think so since I get no search results. I'll ask the mods just in case.

BTW speaking of CGI ... um HTML rather, it seems to me there is a misscripting on the Office banner. Should be written the same way as "Arena" or "2010-11 Competitions and Events", categorically ... repetition with Feedback is occuring. Minor thing though; please never mind if troublesome to fix.