True... taking something away only became necessary when the amount of spam is borderline unmanageable (over 1M posts have been deleted... manually). In the past we took away new user's ability to post links or have signatures at all, and it helped somewhat. We took away the global member list because spam bots were harvesting usernames, and IM usernames and then spamming PMs and IMs to users. The point is that sometimes taking something away is necessary for the good of the site. It's certainly not like I sit around thinking of things that we can take away from users. In fact, quite the opposite... Most of the time is spent planning or developing new stuff to give users. But there are the occasional times where removing something is better for the "global good" of the site. Again... I'm not opposed to dofollow links themselves, we just don't have the time to realistically monitor/manage/approve all the links people post, that's all it's really about... just resource management. One could argue we should just add more moderators... but we would probably need around 250 moderators JUST for link checking/rechecking (in case the link started redirecting or the destination page changed after it was checked manually).
I can understand some heartburn...nofollow is an annoyance made necessary by spammers. Another case of "law-abiding citizens" forced to bear the expense. OTOH, I'm not in the SEO business, just a lowly webmaster looking to improve his sites. I have no use for do-follow links here. But I DO have use for good information. And the signal-to-noise ratio has been getting out of hand such that I really was becoming disillusioned with the place. A single solid tip on managing a website is worth more than any do-follow link in the long run.
I agree that it wont make a huge impact on spam but even if it cuts down 2% on spam in the short run and 5% in the long run it will be significant. I think we can all agree that it will at least cut down 2% of the spammers but probably not more then 10%. As shawn mentioned about, over 1 million posts have been deleted MANUALLY. So if he has the ability to cut down on the amount of spam he has to delete even by 20,000 posts or 50,000 posts that is very significant. In order to keep things moving forward, hard decisions must be made. Deleting 20,000 posts takes a lot of time. If this move saves shawn from having to delete even 2% of the posts, he will have more time to spend working on new tools or features that will make the forum more enjoyable for everyone.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!! Expect a sudden drop in traffic. This is not spam though. There is going to be a lot of change once a majority realise this change. I mean I can understand the no-follow change was necessary but I would never have expected this. This could potentially lead to lose of some good members. Although I read and post on some forums for help I also stay to fix other members problems knowing the forum supports do-follow links. (I am more likely to) I realise my take on this is really unnecessary because there are some better members than I that agree with this completely so that is great for Digitalpoint forums. Whenever I visited a forum and found out that the forums were no-follow, I always thought the owners are bit too... strict and that discouraged me from staying. I look forward to see what affect this has on the site. So just to confirm the Premium accounts are completely do-follow?
Ya. Imagine that... One of my main reasons for not liking this. I come here to ask questions about stuff because you get an answer or help here quicker. If I have a Wordpress or VB question I can get an answer here faster then their forums. I worry that this will change and less people will be helping around here.
This is hilarious. I really don't understand any of your arguments Indy. From what I can see, the only people who are annoyed by this move - are the people whom Shawn is trying to slow down. Honestly. Why are you communicating on a forum, for a few measly back links? Surely you are smart enough to comprehend that the aim of this forum is to act as a communication platform, and community. NOT as a place to get a free back link. I'm extremely amused by all of these so called "SEOs" crying. What has happened to ideology of real SEO, link baiting and good content? Apparently - the only way to get a back link nowadays is to spam a forum for profiles and signature links - and also to spam blogs for comments. I PROMISE YOU that these links are of no real long-term value. I realise this is turning into a rant. But do you really believe that the all mighty google hasen't already got rid of any REAL value from signature links and blog comments? Do you really think that a link from your digitalpoint sig is going to get you to the top 10 in Google? Your payment for participating and help here is this. You answer somebody's question - and they (or someone else) will help you with your own queries. You have no right to demand a dofollow link for simply participating. Good job Shawn - hopefully these people shall leave.
Are you just looking to argue or talk crap or something? If you would have read the entire thread then you would have seen where I mentioned I don't link to my sites here. Don't worry about what I do here. I do a lot. I get help, give help when I can, buy and sell services, sites and all kind of stuff. So like I said, don't worry about what I do here.
Guys, I am shocked to see today the DP links are not dofollow anymore.... Can DP consider to revert this decision ....
Or put your focus on dofollow links, and continued to increase, but the nofollow does not mean that had no effect
another reason to upgrade thats what most bussiness do they give EVERYTHING OUT candys , toys, beers, and then when they grow up by us, start to get that back with increases i really dont like the fact that just for spam, spam its always on the net, im not with it, but i just think that is not fair, but that just my opinion i hope i dont get a warning just for saying what i think
I don't blame you Shawn. If I were in your position, which others should consider, I would do the same. This is a very large and busy forum, the potential for spam is huge. You are assuring the quality of DP will get better. Well done from me.