What do you think of people using the Geeks messaging/inviting system to advertise another blog/site?

When I joined up, I had the intention of only putting my new site in the allotted profile field and leaving it at that, not using Geeks solely to spread awareness of my venture. I consider that out of respect for Chris, as without his advice I would not have really yet known about the direction I wanted to go in setting up my site. I err on this side of caution by default whenever I don't see any particular set of guidelines indicating whether it is permitted.

I have recently been getting invitations/messages to join other people's sites and I am wondering if this is one thing Geeks is willing to open up to, or if it is something that is undesirable (a.k.a. spam). I am not personally offended, and will certainly check out the few invitations I've been extended if it is clarified that it's ok on Geeks. I just want to make sure beforehand.

If this is or will be officially sanctioned, do you think there be some coordination to it, such as perhaps a forum topic or a group set up for it? Would there be limits, or free for all?

If it is not in the spirit of the site, how should it be reported/dealt with?

Tags: advertising, inviting, messaging, spam

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Q on October 24, 2008 at 6:30pm: Personally, I think it's kind of rude. We're basically squatters on Chris' domain, here by invitation and at his behest. It's a free service and one that he uses (roundabout) to kind of recruit bloggers for his own network. I really don't think he intended to put forth all the upfront cost only for others to go about spamming the users. I dunno. Bugs me.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mateus Augusto Lopes on October 24, 2008 at 6:44pm: I agree.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Lisa Lee on October 28, 2008 at 9:18pm: I agree as well. Enough spam around as it is.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kissa on October 24, 2008 at 8:51pm: I find it annoying along with the invites to groups. I pretty much ban from sending me emails those that do.
There isn't way to moderate it so it can get really out of hand. Sorta a all or nothing thing.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Christian on October 24, 2008 at 11:43pm: I don't mine, to an extent. I can deal with one message/comment from someone that is an ACTIVE member of Geeks. But I don't want to see a discussion made or multiple messages. Group invites kinda bug me cause right now I have 78 of them, which I have to individually decline.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Tazinator on October 25, 2008 at 1:17am: Ning networks have the ability to send invites to other ning networks if you use the same email address and password on each network you belong to you can then send invites to other friends no matter what network they are friends in.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Michael Wagner on October 25, 2008 at 3:39am: Everyone has a profile page where they can post links to their personal sites outside of this network. That can be more than enough exposure to this group. Perhaps if people devoted their spamming efforts to writing good forum and blog posts it would entice others to go to their profile page to learn more about the writer and thus be more inclined to check out their pages outside of geeks!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by TheRetroMetro on October 27, 2008 at 8:14pm: I agree. Keep it to the profile pages. I've already seen several "spam" style group discussions, invitations and posts referring to other sites with "sales" and "top of the line shoes". There doesn't seem to be a "flagging" system in place at this time to alert admin to them. . . Unless I've overlooked it.

As far as the group invites go (within this site for the most part), that sort of comes with the territory. Folks are just trying to gather together like minded individuals. I figure as the site evolves, there'll surely be a way to decline multiple invitations, so I'm not concerned about it right now.

I'm trying to restrain myself on inviting folks to my group, but it is something I'm very interested in. I figure as long as I pace myself with the blog, my group will also grow as folks learn more about me. I have already joined several groups. It's very exciting for me to be able to share similar interests and/or have some sort of support system, but then *I'm* the one looking for them at my convenience.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kissa on October 27, 2008 at 8:49pm: You can use the "report an issue" located in the footer of the site. Just include the link to the page that the spam is on. There are only so many admins so it is hard to have eyes everywhere. We do need your help if you run across something that needs our attention.
Kissa - Geeks Admin; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by TheRetroMetro on October 29, 2008 at 11:05am: Thank you. If I come across that shoe site again, I'll surely do that! Sorry I missed that link. DOH!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Daniel Vining on October 29, 2008 at 11:10am: A shoe site? Now that IS spam. Unless the shoes are some kinda super tech shoes that let you jump tall buildings with a single bound, or run faster than a speeding bullet.

Seriously, that is the kind of promotion we don't want on Geeks.; ▶ Reply to This