promotion

sionnach "Some cringes just have to be shared, though."

A common misconception, but in fact, no, they don't. Really. They don't. :)

(Did I mention that hot foxes are waiting to talk to you at my subsidiary website www.sionnach.com. Hmmm. Domain sionnach.com is available .....) Jan 7, 2008

reesetee Coming late to the discussion, but in general I agree with chained_bear. You're quite fair already, John. Also, I would not vote for listing URLs as words--just the thought of it gives me hives. ;-)

As for promoting one's website, blog, etc., I always look on a person's profile page under "more about..." if I'm curious. Seems like the best place to self-promote. Jan 7, 2008

john Oh, and I myself cringed when 'teachable moment' popped into my head! Some cringes just have to be shared, though. Jan 7, 2008

john The general attitude seems to be that it ain't broke, so we shouldn't fix it. Fine by me. Every once in a while, in my role as Barney Fife, I poke fun at something promotional, and I always feel a little badly when the pokee gets bent out of shape about it. Hence my hand-wringing.

re: sionnach, I think I intended to say cialis? Or possibly vitalis. Jan 7, 2008

chained_bear P.S. I do mind listing URLs as words, or as list titles, or anything other than in the comments section of a word or list. Jan 7, 2008

chained_bear John, IMHO, your initial stance on self-promotion on Wordie is an eminently reasonable one, so why consider changing it? So far, some people have posted relevant links as comments on relevant words, and there have been few (if any) real problems.

The example you cited in parens in your comment ("I'm a vegangelical...") seems to be an example of what's been happening already, and is hardly objectionable. "Here's the URL if you're interested" is clearly a way of saying "don't click on this if you don't want to know any more." It's not the same as spam filling up your inbox.

I'd leave the policy as is. You're already being fair; you don't have to bend over backwards to prove it. Jan 7, 2008

mollusque John, from your initial reaction, I'd guess metaphotography's email address is at metaphotography.eu. If so, the comment under metaphotography was self-promotional: the image and definition come from that website. Before realizing that (assuming it's correct), the comment didn't bother me. As self-promotion, it's tolerable, but close to the border.

I wouldn't go as far allowing URLs as words. Jan 7, 2008

sionnach John:

I followed the link here, as you suggested (I'm forgiving you the appalling teachable moment reference because, like all my fellow-wordies, I love you to death). I was a bit surprised at the reaction to metaphotography's posting, and appreciate your taking the time to respond.

I confess that I've been enjoying the pleasant atmosphere here at Wordie (general lack of disturbing imagery, unobtrusive ads, virtually no irritating drive-by spammers or textually garbled links to sites or products of dubious legitimacy) without giving too much thought to what enforcement safeguards might be necessary to maintain a pleasant environment. Examining my feelings on the matter, the type of link which interests me most tends to be one which leads to further (non-pornographic) intellectual or artistic content. Links to products and services don't interest me so much, but if clearly identified as such, wouldn't bother me particularly either, I think.

I agree that direct listing of URL's as words seems undesirable, though I'm not 100% sure how that might work - do people just type in the http://.... address in the word box? Of course many links included in commentary are highlighted in the same way as words can be, but that just seems like good HTML practice, replacing an address that is potentially very long by a shorter label.

Also, a blanket ban on linking to the word vialis might be a little too draconian. There are linguistic contexts which legitimize its use, as the following Wiki excerpt indicates:

The prolative case (also vialis case) is a declension of a noun or pronoun that has the basic meaning of "by way of". In the Finnish language, it has a highly restricted, almost fossilized meaning "by (medium of transaction)". The vialis case in Eskimo-Aleut languages has a similar interpretation, used to express movement using a surface or way. For example, by way of or through the house.

(Sorry, I can't help myself, apparently ...) Jan 6, 2008

jennarenn I don't mind listing URLs as words, but the link should be on the comment page, not a direct link from the list. (I don't know if that's what you mean, but I thought it should be mentioned.) Jan 6, 2008

john People have used Wordie to promote various things, and I think I've been a little heavy handed in branding all such activity as spam. I think perhaps I should lighten up a little. Cases of obvious spam (posting vialis links, etc.) will continue to get you banned for life, but I'm thinking we should be more tolerant of edge cases.

But posting a link on a relevant word, where you taking credit for it and provide contact info ("I'm a vegangelical myself, and am actually a pastor at the First Church of Vegetables, here's the URL if you're interested...), I'm now thinking that's probably ok. Heck, listing URLs as words and linking to them, something I've slammed in the past, maybe that's even ok.

Thoughts? Jan 6, 2008